Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected leaders of modern history. A Hindu, Gandhi nevertheless admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Gandhi he asked him, “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?”
Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Apparently Gandhi's rejection of Christianity grew out of an incident that happened when he was a young man practicing law in South Africa. He had become attracted to the Christian faith, had studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. And so he decided to attend a church service. As he came up the steps of the large church where he intended to go, a white South African elder of the church barred his way at the door. “Where do you think you’re going, kaffir?” the man asked Gandhi in a belligerent tone of voice. Gandhi replied, “I’d like to attend worship here.”
The church elder snarled at him, “There’s no room for Kaffirs in this church. Get out of here or I’ll have my assistants throw you down the steps.” From that moment, Gandhi said, he decided to adopt what good he found in Christianity, but would never again consider becoming a Christian if it meant being part of the church. Source: information reported at pursuingchrist.com
We began a conversation a number of weeks ago about what gives us meaning in this life and I suggested that the question is actually a mute point for those who call themselves Christian because if we believe that Christ came, died and rose again then we must also live out this reality. To live out this belief we are called to become a witness for Christ. An impossible role without the acceptance of the Holy Spirit, the power of God offered by the Holy Spirit for the single intent of glorifying the Lord through a commitment to live as a person who publicly declares a belief in, an adherence to, and an obedience coupled with resolve to share the good news of Jesus Christ for one’s life.
Today, I’d like to bring one final characteristic of a witness – success. But what does a win look like for Christ? To Christ? For the kingdom Jesus declared? Is success a bigger church building? A bigger Sunday school? A larger collection? A reputation in the community? A memorable Sunday morning service? No. All of those are byproducts of winning for Christ. God wins when individuals make a commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord, do the will of our Lord, are taught the intricacies of our cause and withstand the criticisms of those who are bound to come. Please make no mistake. Being a witness for Jesus will bring opposition. It has too. We propose a different way of interacting with the world around us. We will make others uncomfortable. However, some will gravitate towards this new way because it fills the hole in the soul while others will investigate the claims and not connect. Our role is to live His will, share and teach what it means to be a Christian witness.
Luke’s writing near the end of Acts make it clear. Paul never lessened the impact on one’s life a change in belief would have. We left Paul in jail in Caesarea last week; he was finally transferred to Rome after a 3 month detour when the boat he was traveling on sunk. He is now under house arrest waiting trial. Even in the final days in Rome, He never sugar coats the truth of God’s unfailing love for all his creation. Let’s listen in as Luke describes what Paul was dealing with in the early church. If you have a bible, please open to Acts 28:17…
17 Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. 18 They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. 19 The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people.20 For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” 21 They replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.”
As you will recall, the emperor Claudius had expelled all the Jews because of the riots that were being caused by the declaration that the Messiah had indeed come to earth, died and rose for the forgiveness of sins. A fact many still disputed. Claudius has passed away so it is a few years later and maybe the leaders were successful in squelching the conversation about Jesus or maybe this was just curiosity. The conversation continues.
23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus.24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.
I think this last line is so encouraging for us today, “Some were convinced and others were not.” If Paul couldn’t convince some people what makes us think we can. We are not the change agents for others. We are the delivery vehicles by which the Holy Spirit is given the chance to have others come into relationship with God. We are not responsible for the results. We are responsible to be the witness. Let’s continue to hear more from Paul.
25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
26 “‘Go to this people and say, You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
27 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!’
[29] After he said this, the Jews left, arguing vigorously among themselves. (This is a footnote because it is not in all the earliest manuscripts)
Isn’t scripture wonderful? It doesn’t say and they all believed, like some fairy tale. It brings truth. People would still reject the message. It would be controversial. From the beginning to now, the cause of Christ causes dissension because it brings an alternative worldview to the forefront.
30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
So what happened to Paul? We can’t say for certain. Tradition says he was released from prison and went on to share the message in Spain, arrested later again in Rome and beheaded by a Sword. Whatever the case, Luke’s goal was to write a biography of the Holy Spirit and His work through the church to spread the Gospel of the Messiah. The open ended conclusion presumes the gospel will continue to spread until Jesus’ return. (p. 1643 – Quest)
This is where our answer comes to the question: “What does a win look like for a witness for Christ?” It is the spread of the message that God is present, loving and forgiving; and be willing to do His will, to share His news through word and deed so that others may chose to come into relationship with the King. The promise from God is he will not turn anyone away. All are welcome who repent and believe.
Jimmy Carter is a former President of the United States. He is also a committed Christian. Every year Carter’s home church of Plains Baptist Church would have a week of mission in which congregation members would go out into the community inviting un-churched people to attend the church’s revival meetings. Once Carter was asked to speak at another church in Georgia on the topic of “Christian Witnessing” in his preparation he decided he would share about his involvement in his home church’s mission week. He began to note down that in 14 years he had managed to visit over 140 homes in the local community. Carter felt quite proud of his achievement, until he compared his witness for Christ with his witness for political office. Carter realized that in his 1966 campaign for Governor of Georgia he had gone out and met at least 300,000 people in an attempt to convince them to vote for him. “The comparison struck me – 300,000 visits for myself in three months, and 140 visits for God in fourteen years!”
Source: reported in Jimmy Carter Why Not the Best?
The big question, “Who will witness to your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers if you don’t?”
The most famous ship of all time is possibly the Titanic, the supposedly unsinkable ship that went down on its maiden voyage. Many movies have been made and many books written about the fateful journey. Few will include the story of Scottish evangelist John Harper. Harper was a passenger on the Titanic. In 1912 Harper was traveling to Chicago to take up his appointment as Pastor of Moody Church. He had his daughter Nana on board with him. His wife had died a few years earlier. When the Titanic struck the iceberg and began to sink he put Nana into a lifeboat and then ran throughout the ship yelling “Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!” When the ship finally went down he had already given his life jacket to another passenger. Survivors report that to the very end Harper was witnessing to anyone who would listen. One survivor recalls clinging to one of the ships spars when Harper floated near him.
“Man, are you saved?” cried Harper. “No I’m not” replied the man. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” pleaded Harper. The waves carried Harper away and brought him back a little later. “Are you saved now?” asks Harper. “No, I cannot honestly say that I am” says the man. Again Harper pleads with him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. Shortly afterward Harper went down. The man who survived was one of only six people rescued, but in a public meeting four years later, recounting this episode he said “There, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert.”
Source: Reported by Elesha Coffman, Christianity Today, August 7,200. The story is told in The Titanic’s Last Hero (Moody Press, 1997)
https://communitycenter.life/rev-robert-butler-info
