One of the reasons why I am so adamant that the gospel should be declared when witnessing one on one is because of experiences I myself have had while witnessing.
I know a lot of people that hold the mistaken belief that witnessing is just handing out leaflets or an invitation to a church.
It is not.
On top of that, it would be one thing if the leaflets (or whatever is being handed out), actually had the gospel on it - but more often than not, it doesn't.
It's usually an invitation to a church instead of the gospel.
And if the person lives no where near the church, I guess that person is lost because the gospel was obviously not important enough for that church to actually put it on their leaflet - attendance at that particular church I guess is more important to them than the actual salvation of that person.
Many times, what is offered on the leaflet, along with a church invitation, is 'God will help you with your problems' - are you depressed, in debt, addicted to drugs and alcohol, well, Jesus can help you - come to this church at this time, where God will set you free.
Although those things are true, God can break the bondage of those things on your life, the problem is that the Gospel is what should be offered.
These people will come to the church looking to have a better life, not to be saved from the righteous judgement of God.
This is how many false converts are made. The church has offered them the wrong thing. And when the heat gets hot and these people fall away, the church calls them backsliders - but they were never actually saved to begin with, so they can’t slide back when they never left that state from the get go.
It really is sad.
Ultimately though, God is merciful and gracious. As we walk with God, our beliefs should change. Our understanding of the scriptures should get better and deeper, and the beliefs that we hold that are wrong should change.
If a person is truly saved, they can not stay the same over time - its not natural - and people who do stay the same need to be questioned on their beliefs to see if they are truly in the faith.
----
This happened many years ago.
I think I was in Birmingham and the group I was with were on the streets witnessing one-on-one.
I started to witness to this guy who was collecting for charity.
He admitted he wasn't a Christian, didn't go to church, and didn't know anything of God or Jesus.
I explained to sin, death, the bible, Jesus, salvation... everything.
You could see that he was being convicted. As a matter of fact He actually asked how could he be saved.
Now, here's the problem. The church that I met with believed that you had to be a part of their church to be saved - stupid right - at the time, i didn't really understand - so i told him that he needs to turn away from his sin, ask for forgiveness from God, and follow Him from now on - and.... go to our church.
He was happy doing everything, but he didn't actually live in Birmingham. He was only there for a charity fundraiser for the weekend.
Where he actually lived, none of our churches were in that location.
My heart sunk - here is a guy that is ready to commit his life to Christ, but because I've added to the gospel that he must go to our church, as far as I was concerned, how could he be saved then.
You see, I didn't believe that God could save someone and that someone not go to a church. Although I didn't fully believe that it had to be our church, but to not be affiliated with a church was contradictory to what the church I attended taught.
Now, my beliefs have changed - Thank God. I can only pray that the guy was indeed converted to Christ anyway despite my bad gospel presentation.
----
Now, in my witness encounter, if I had just given the guy a leaflet or invitation to our church, he wouldn't have heard the gospel because the gospel was never on the leaflets and posters, which is wrong.
Plus, he didn't even live in that city to be able to go to the church, so it would have been worthless.
I'm not saying that you can't invite people to church, but the gospel should be presented first - you have no idea whether the person will even live long enough to make it to the church to supposedly hear the gospel.
I say supposedly because if the church doesn’t find the gospel important enough to put on a leaflet or poster or whatever, you can be sure that the gospel isn't being properly preached in the church either.
At the end of any witness encounter, the person who is being witnessed to should at the very least leave that encounter hearing the gospel.
They should have had sin identified, their desperate need for a saviour, their current position before God, the role and actions of Christ, and what they need to do to be saved.
It is not our job to convict them. It is not our job to convert them. It is our job to tell them the gospel of Christ Jesus of Nazareth. The Holy Spirit does the convicting, drawing, and converting.
It pains me when I see or hear Christians supposedly witnessing to people and the gospel isn't even declared. Salvation from the wrath of God isn't even mentioned. It’s all about a change in your life, and God wants to bless you.
That was the motto of that same church that I used to be affiliated with. 'We do this to see lives changed'
I'm sorry, but many things can change your life, but its only Jesus that can save your life.
We see too many random murders on the street for little to no reason at all to assume that people will even have another chance to hear the gospel. The bible clearly says that no one is promised tomorrow, but no one is promised this afternoon or this evening either.
The gospel is at the crux of Christianity, why do we deem it of lesser importance than church attendance.
If the gospel was good enough to be instrumental in our salvation, why do with think we have to add to it?
When we do these things, not only do we do other people a huge disservice, but we misrepresent who God is.
Think about the way you witness. Do you present the full gospel? Can people honestly say that you explained everything to them so they could make an informed decision at following Christ? When you talk of sin and salvation, do they know what you are talking about?
Do you even know what the gospel is? Or are you just handing out leaflets promoting your church?
I urge you to seriously consider these things. Question and examine yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment