The Great Commission (Cheque)? I have been thinking a lot lately about the great commission and what its all about. For me for the past eight years in sales, the great commission has meant I am getting a big pay cheque. So, here I am sitting in Tim Hortons observing and writing these words. There are three people sitting at a nearby table and I had a thought. The thought was: these people need Jesus. I am not sure why that thought popped into my mind, but it did. I then started to think about witnessing. Why do we witness? Why does the church place such an importance on witnessing, or do they today? Is witnessing a thing of the past? Do we talk about it often? Hmmm, interesting questions. The church seemingly used to talk about it a lot more than seemingly today. So much so that I thought it was all about getting the sales numbers up. The game was to see how many destinies could be changed from hell to heaven as a result of witnessing about Jesus. I almost approached it myself as a sales contest. It was almost as if the pastor should have put some incentives for the contest, like the person who brings in the most converts this month wins a set of steak knives, and the top witnesser at the end of the year wins the car, if there was enough revenue tied to the new converts. Now before you mentally tear a strip off of me for thinking this way, I know it is not the right way to think about the great commission, or about witnessing as a sales contest. But, what would happen if we did run such a contest? The problem with this type of thinking is it is self thinking. Look what I can do for Jesus and the kingdom type of thinking. If I do this for God, then He will do such and such for me. It is selfish thinking. Churches who talk about witnessing and evangelism know that their people know instinctively that they should be witnessing, and that they have a good idea as to the why behind it. Sometimes, however it is the corporate mission statement of the church that is driving them, and that isnt enough. It isnt enough to say we believe in the great commission, and that every believer should be promoting it. This isnt compelling enough for most people. Most people need a reason beyond carrying out the mission statement of the church. How many Christians actually fit into this group and witness just because they think it is the right thing to do, I dont know? I have a feeling some people do it out of guilt. I also believe there is another group of people who witness because they are competitive and they want to bring in more people than someone else. There is another group that simply say, I just dont feel it, and I want to be genuine in my faith, so I will wait until I am really prompted to witness before I talk about Jesus. I will wait until the Holy Spirit lines up the opportunity perfectly and there is no mistaking that I should talk to this person about Jesus. There is yet another group of Christians who are just struggling to get by in their faith, and that would be too much of a stretch to witness, and people dont really want what I have anyway. There are still others that could care less about the great commission. God made it evident to me this morning of the reason why witnessing is important. The real reason why people witness is because in their heart they genuinely believe that the other person would be better off with Jesus in their lives. They really want other people to feel and think how they feel and think about God. When our hearts experience the love of Christ that is too great to understand fully with our minds, we then want to have others share in that experience. It is all about Christs love filling us to overflowing so that we want to be like Christ, and we want other people to want that love also. That is the real reason to witness. How do we get on board with this plan? One way is to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Out of the overflow of our hearts, our mouths speak. And that is the reason many people witness and are at times a little overzealous, because they have met Jesus, and Jesus has changed their heart. They simply want their friends and families to experience this love from Christ that leads to the fullness of life. That is why we should witness or share our faith with others. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV) As we work our way through lent and into Easter, let us: consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (V.3) Let us consider Jesus and our own personal witness and let us preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary let us use words. Press on... Trevor
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:21:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015