As seasoned Christians, we are often faced with questions from those who are curious about our faith. We have questions from our brothers and sisters who are babes in Christ that they may not have worked out in their minds yet. Though the questions may seem easy to answer at first, you dig into the deeper meaning and realize the answers may have eternal ramifications on the asker’s life. So it is with great humility and responsibility that we who are “eating meat” should approach and answer questions.
With that said, a Christian’s life is like this: You have been invited to dinner with a large group of friends and family. The place is a fabulous restaurant where you are encouraged to order a huge amount of appetizers, entrees and even dessert. Everyone around you is in a great mood, laughing and talking loud until… the waiter comes to the table with the bill and says, “Who’s picking up the tab?”
Every person at the table looks at each other, realizing none has thought about who called them to the celebration in the first place. All are wondering, “Am I responsible to pay the tab”, “Do I have to make my dinner partner pay for my dinner and theirs too?” and “Am I responsible to pay for their dinner if they won’t pay for it?” A general panic sets in until you remember the invitation was given to you by the owner of the restaurant. You remember your instructions from the owner and relay them to all the guests. The owner told you, “I want you to invite as many people as you can to this celebration. I want you to enjoy yourself and the experience of the dinner. I’m sending my son to the restaurant ahead of you to pay your tab even before you go. But remember this: you are responsible for telling everyone you invite that my son has paid the tab. If some of the people don’t believe the tab has been paid, patiently try to convince them the bill has been paid and continue to enjoy your dinner experience. If at the end of the dinner those people still don’t believe the bill is already paid, don’t worry, my son will show up at the end of the night and tell them they have to pay their own bill.”
Our witness as Christians is just like that dinner party. We have a responsibility to tell others that Jesus has already paid the price for the life we live more abundantly. Since Jesus sits on the Throne of the Mercy Seat, we have His testimony within us through the Holy Spirit. We are sent as emissaries throughout the world to tell them of God’s love, Jesus’ sacrifice and the Holy Spirit’s keeping power.
A dear sister asked me three questions:
1. As a Christian am I responsible for telling others about Jesus?
Yes. As Christians, God has commissioned us to share the Gospel with the world.
Matthew 28:19 says “Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Since Jesus is in heaven, through the Holy Spirit we have been deputized to be His representative on earth. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We as Christ’s personal representatives beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor now offered you and be reconciled to God.” God is counting on you to tell others about His Son’s sacrifice. Mark 16: 15-16 says, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” These scriptures point to the responsibility of the believer to spread the Gospel to a dying world. As a child of God, we know His love. And the evidence of this love is shown in part by doing His will. 1 John 5:1-3 says, “Everyone who believes (adheres to, trusts, and relies on the fact) that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) is a born again child of God; and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him (His offspring). By this we come to know (recognize and understand) that we love the children of God: when we love God and obey His commands (orders, charges) and when we keep His ordinances and are mindful of His precepts and His teaching.” (Amplified) Love is an action word. To tell a dying world of God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice is the greatest act of love we will ever demonstrate.
2. Am I supposed to keep witnessing to someone I until they accept Christ?
Yes and No. Even though it is our responsibility to witness to those who haven’t accepted Christ yet, a Christian should never badger, cajole or intimidate anyone into a relationship with Jesus. Think of it this way: Your girlfriend wants to set you up on a blind date with her brother. At first he sounds like a really nice guy. But she insists on talking about him all day and night. She says you would be a fool for not meeting him. She says your life would be a disaster if you don’t marry him! She bugs you to no end. Therefore what’s your reaction? You get turned off before you even met the man. You have a negative view of what he is without getting the chance to learn he may be the perfect man for you. It’s the same way we must approach witnessing to others about Jesus. Each situation and circumstance will be different, but the bible clearly states that in all things we are to operate in love.
Matthew 22:37-39 tells us the greatest commandments are these: To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul and mind and to love thy neighbor as thyself. If we truly love someone, we want to see them saved. But badgering them into the Kingdom is not the same as loving them into the Kingdom. As you grow in Christ, you will also realize there are some people who are not ready or willing to receive Christ as their Savior yet, or ever at all. John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” The Lord wants everyone to be saved, but some people are just not ready. Some people will just outright reject the Gospel and will be blasphemous toward it. From those flee. The bible says in Matthew 10:14, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.” Those people, no matter how hard you try, are not ready to receive the Word. So continue to pray for them and love them until the witness of your life becomes a testament of the saving power of Jesus. Francis the Assisi said this, “Sometimes the only bible one will ever read will be your life.” You can be the greatest witness to Christ by living your everyday life in God’s will and way.
3. If who I witness to doesn’t accept Jesus, and they die, am I still held responsible by God for their life?
No. The bible is very clear about the responsibility of every person on earth making their own choice. But as a Christian we do have a responsibility to tell everyone about the coming judgment. Look at it like this: If you see someone in a car leisurely driving down a road that leads to a cliff, do you allow them to keep driving down that road or do you warn them that the road abruptly ends? When the police arrive after they drop over the edge, they will ask you, did you warn them? God is going to do the same to us.
Ezekiel 33:1-9 is specifically addressing the watchman set over the house of Israel. But its truth applies to all of us. Verses 8 & 9 say, “When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his perversity and iniquity, but his blood will I require at you hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his evil way and he does not turn from his evil way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you will be saved your life.” Our responsibility for that person’s life ends when we do what we were supposed to do in the first place. Besides, we don’t save. We witness. Jesus saves. 1 Timothy 4:10 says, “…because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men…” We don’t have the power to place anyone in heaven or hell. Each person will have to explain themselves and why they did or did not accept Christ. Galatians 6:4-5 says, “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.” Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We must tell them, and pray for them and live our lives as an example for them. But we plant, God gives the increase.
I pray this will be an encouragement for those who want to evangelize to the world in a loving and powerful way. God’s grace and mercy would not have been known to us if we had not heard the Word of God from those who witnessed to us. We love the Lord and we want to be in His will. We want what He wants, that all would come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior. And since we love Him, we should be willing to live as Ambassadors for Christ, speaking, preaching and teaching The Way. Therefore, let us go out into a dying world to tell them, there is a way out; a way to have life eternal, through the gift of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
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