Saturday, February 14, 2009

What's absent in a non-witnessing Christian?

There is no argument among Christians that the Gospel is so important that we must share it to everyone. No Christian will ever dare say that witnessing is a waste of time. They know that evangelism is the closest thing to the heart of God.

A member of the Star Youth Ministries once told me of a group of young Christians who are in the music ministry of their church that led the praise and worship of a youth gathering that supposed to commence in a street evangelism session. These guys really appeared so spiritual while they sang songs. They were raising their hands and declaring in their songs their commitment to follow God even to the ends of the earth. They even sang several songs with evangelism theme. After the program, the host of the event announced that every one should start getting ready to go out in the streets to share the Gospel. Instead of heeding the call of the host, a majority of the attendees started heading to their homes and never even bothered to get a few copies of Gospel tracts. The Star Youth Ministries member who saw what most did approached the singers who were, at this time, likewise appeared to have no plans of joining the few people that decided to join the street evangelism program. This SYM member asked the singers, "Are you not gonna join us in distributing tracts and doing one-to-one witnessing with people in the surrounding streets?" The musicians answered, "Oh, we need to guard our musical instruments so we'll be staying in the venue. Besides, we've already had our part in serving the Lord today." These musicians received a mouthful of rebuke from our faithful SYM member after that answer. But, they still did not bother to leave the things more precious to them than pleasing our Lord... their musical instruments.

So you maybe be asking, "Why are there some Christians who seem to be not bothered with his/her non-involvement in evangelism?" Or a better question to ask is, "What's absent in a non-witnessing Christian?"

The answer is GRATITUDE. We all know how gratitude can direct a person's actions. A deep level of gratitude can make the most principled of persons to abandon his long-held life's philosophies in favor of the person to which the gratitude is directed to. In extreme cases, a person may even allow himself to be manipulated by another all because of gratitude. If a true Christian will only be filled with gratitude for the salvation he so not deserve, he will go to lengths in pursuit of the joy of his Savior. If only every Christian will remember and fully understand that he/she has been "bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20)" we will have a world convinced of the power of God to change lives from evil to holiness. No people on this world will anymore claim to have not been reached by the Gospel for Christians will rush to go to them wherever they may be.

Gratitude, which is translated to LOVE, is the very thing that moves any Christian to submission to God. What do you think caused the disciples to give their lives to the caused of the Gospel? Why do you think John continued on to heed the Great Commission even in his old age in the midst of the persecution of people who are against the message he preaches? It's GRATITUDE! John saw Jesus hanging on the cross, slowly dying in pain, which he understood was for him. He knew that if it was not Jesus, it would have been him paying for his own sins. And so, with deep gratitude, love and submission were developed do a degree that turned this world upside-down. Their gratitude to God, with only a few years after Jesus' crucifixion, made Christianity a big threat to the more established religions of the time. Why is Christianity not anymore a significant force as it should be in our present time? It's because Christians have lost their gratitude to our Savior.

What is the emotional experience that would lead to the development of gratitude? The answer is SHAME. Shame that both us and Jesus got what we don't deserve... He suffered punishment when He never committed any sin and we got God's grace when what we deserve was what Jesus got. 2 Cor. 5:21 tells us that "...he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him". If only all of us would fully understand the content of this verse, we will not be able to look to heaven anymore. That's shame. The message of the cross is, as what Paul Washer said in one of his sermons, very shameful. It shames us by making us realize three things: (1) First, by proving to us that we are not good persons (Rom. 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness".); (2) Secondly, by showing us how much we were unable to reach the righteousness of God (Romans 1:17 "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith..."); (3) Lastly, by showing us that despite our efforts to be good, we still are going to Hell. But despite these things, God still demonstrated His love to us when while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8), despite us unable to do anything to appease His wrath.

Several times, I have pleaded to people listening to me preach to internalize the sufferings that Jesus went through so that the penalties of our sins will have payment. I'm confident that if they will be able to do that, they will be able to deepen their love for God. Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength will be very natural if we will only have the picture of the cross posted in our minds in all of the twenty-four hours of the day. We should, from time to time, imagine the pain of the lashes Jesus endured, the crown of thorns, the long walk to Calvary while carrying a heavy wooden cross, the nails as it pierced his hands and feet, the long hours on the cross, the thirst, the people that mocked Him, and most of all, the absence of the Father's fellowship in all of these experiences. How painful it was for Him to think that the Father was consenting to all of the sufferings he endured so that justice for all of our offenses would be finally served (Isaiah 53:10 "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief..."). Jesus experienced the raw end of the Father's hard stick of justice which we should have received ourselves. That's so shameful! If these truth can't bring us to the point of surrender to God, I really don't know anymore what will.

So what caused the lost of gratitude among those that call themselves "Christians"? The preachers of the modern gospel message. The self-enhancing message they deliver does not explain our very significant part for the sufferings Jesus went through. All they declare is that "Jesus loves you and so He has a wonderful plan for you". We will never fully appreciate the cross until we understand that it was our selfishness that brought Jesus there. Oh, the Scriptures is so clear about this. Romans 5:20 says this... "Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." God's grace can only be truly appreciated if our sins would be magnified by testing ourselves against His standards... His Law. Modern gospel preachers have deliberately erased the Law in their message so that they could gain the approval of the people that listen to them.

A British friend a few weeks ago visited me. We talked about each of the evangelism work that we are involved with. I thought that I have had so many discouraging moments in the ministry that would have made quitting understandable. But as we talked, I realized that he had more. In my mind, I was asking, "So why is he still in the ministry?". I got my answer when he prayed. He said, "Lord, thank you for helping us in the ministries we are part of that aim to bring souls to you. We know you promised us crowns for this when we someday get to your kingdom. Lord, we will only give them back to you for you have already given us more than what we deserve." He has continued on sharing the Gospel because of his deep gratitude and shame for the love that God was able to give him when Jesus died on the cross to pay for his sins.

The road to the cross was unimaginably difficult for Jesus. But He went through with it anyway just so we can evade sure punishment for our sins in Hell. We should be moved by gratitude to tell the world about how we have offended God with our sins and what God did for us at the cross despite our selfishness. You have a big reason to be grateful to God, I hope you understand that.

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