3 Essentials For Effective Witness

I can't stand Christian books with consumeristic titles like: "The 5 Keys to Reaching People" or "The 7 Success Principles". Why? Because you can't predict spiritual results in the same way you can often predict economic results. The church is not a business. Sometimes you can do everything right and get few results (i.e. Noah and Jeremiah). Sometimes you can do everything wrong (i.e. Joel Osteen and "Your Best Life Now") and get huge "results". One day God will reveal the truth about people's ministries (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

Therefore, I'm titling this blog: "3 Essentials For Effective Witness". They are essential, but they aren't automatic. In other words, doing these three things won't gaurantee you anything, but without them, don't expect results. Eating right doesn't gaurantee you won't have a heart attack at 40, but it's still essential in order to avoid a heart attack. The same is true of these three essentials. They don't gaurantee anything, but without them, forget about being effective. Here they are: 1.) Humility, 2.) Selflessness, and 3.) Grace. Let me explain...

As I was studying evidences for the resurrection, something very interesting came to my attention. It was a question: Were there any false motives the disciples had for telling people Jesus had risen from the grave?

Let's start with the first possible false motive: glory. Maybe the disciples knew that Jesus didn't rise from the grave and in order to save face after having followed him for three years, they spread the lie that he did. Perhaps they wanted to look like they were the victors in light of their dead savior. Perhaps they wanted to start a new religion with their names attached to it for purposes of self-glorification?

This line of argumentation doesn't hold up, though. The disciples went around proclaiming a message that was both offensive to Jews and ridiculous to Gentiles. The message of Christ on the cross made the Jews gnash their teeth in anger and it made the Gentiles laugh. The thought of God coming to this world and being crucified on a cross because we are unable to earn our own salvation through our own good works was, and still is, the most offensive and laughable truth in the world today. If you were trying to gain glory, save face, and get your name in the history books, why would you continue to pound home this message? If you knew that Jesus really didn't raise from the dead, why not preach something the Jews and Gentiles would have liked and accepted?

Well, maybe they did it for financial reasons. Maybe they did it for personal gain. Maybe they were the "televangelists" of their day: preaching Christ so they can live in luxury. But again, that makes no sense, either. How do you make money off an offensive, foolish message, such as the gospel? They didn't preach "God will get you a car if you sew a seed" like many televangelists do today. They didn't preach that God will make you successful, healthy, wealthy, and happy. They preached that if you accepted this message, you would suffer; you would be persecuted. In fact, Peter said that Christians were actually called by God to suffer (1 Peter 2:21). How is that going to get you money? What kind of a religion says, "You are called to suffer; you will be hated, mocked, and persecuted ... come join us"? So they couldn't have done it for financial gain.

"I know why they did it! They did it because they were trying to earn their salvation! Just like those Jehovah's Witnesses who think they're bettering their odds of making it to heaven by going door to door. They're just like those Muslims who think they'll awaken in heaven to a harem of virgins if they fly airplanes into buildings. That's why they're doing it!"

But this, too, doesn't hold up to scrutiny. The disciples actually preached that there was absolutely nothing a person can do to earn salvation (Eph.2:8-10). They preached that salvation was a gift, not a reward. Paul said that salvation is not something earned, like a wage for working. He said it was a free gift of God given to those who will simply hold out their hands and receive it. So, the disciples didn't even believe that anything they did could earn their salvation. So they couldn't have preached Christ for that reason.

So what other possible motive could they have had? The only other possibility is this: Christ actually did rise from the dead. It's the truth. They died for the truth. How else do you explain their martyrdoms? People don't give up their lives for a lie if they don't think it will benefit them personally in any way. Especially not all twelve disciples. They did it because it was the truth. They did it because Christ commanded them to do it after he rose from the grave.

So here's the application to us: If we want people to seriously contend with our message (the gospel), then we must be three things:

1.) Humble - we can't be in ministry for our personal glory. If people see that we're always trying to make ourselves look good, our message will become discredited.

2.) Selfless - we can't be in the ministry for personal gain. If people see that we're longing for the good life, the best car, the best house, the nicest things, they'll wonder what our real motive is for ministry. We need to commit ourselves to simplicity.

3.) Grace - we can't be in the ministry because we're trying to earn our salvation. If people sense self-righteousness from us, if they sense a spirit of judgment and a "holier than thou" attitude, our message will be discredited. But, if they see us being honest and open about our shortcomings and sins, they will believe our message of grace much more readily.

Humility. Selflessness. Grace. These are three essentials to an effective testimony.