Tag: witnessing

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1 Corinthians

Until Jesus returns

1 Corinthians

One other thing that strikes me as I read this passage concerning communion is the last part of verse 26. Paul writes,

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26)

“Until he comes.”

It’s something that most people don’t think about much as they take communion, but I think it’s important to remember.

Jesus is coming back. And as we take communion, it should make us think about what we are doing with our lives until Jesus returns.

What should we be doing? Paul tells us: “Proclaim Jesus’ death to the people around us.”

One way we do that is through the communion service itself as we saw in my last blog.

But as we go out into the world, as we go into the workplace, into our schools, and into our neighborhoods, we need to be taking the gospel out to the people around us. And we are to do this until Jesus returns.

As we get wrapped up in the things of this world, it can become so easy to forget that Jesus will come back one day. That this world will not last forever.

So communion is a way to remind us that all this is temporary. And now we need to use the time we have left to share his gospel with those around us.

How about you? Are you proclaiming the Lord’s death with those around you?

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Luke Luke 10

Ask…then go!

Luke

In this passage, we see Jesus not only sending out the 12 disciples, but 72 others. And he gives them pretty much the same instructions that he had given the 12 when he first sent them out.

But it’s the first few verses that strike me. First he told them something he had said before. He said,

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Luke 10:2)

Meaning, of course, that there are many people out there that are ready to hear the gospel and would believe if only we had enough workers to go out and reach them.

So Jesus said, “Pray. Pray that God would send people out.”

But Jesus doesn’t stop by saying, “Pray.” He immediately tells them, “Go! I am sending you out…” (Luke 10:3)

And he tells us the same. Certainly, he wants us to pray for more workers. But he wants to start with you. He wants you to hear his call and go out to reach those around you.

Sometimes, as we go out, we fear rejection. But Jesus reminds us,

He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. (Luke 10:16)

In other words, remember that if they reject your message, they are not really rejecting you, they are rejecting me. So don’t lose heart. And remember also that there will be those who will listen and be saved.

He then encourages us by saying,

Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Luke 10:23-24)

For so long, people like Moses, David, Daniel, and others longed to see the kingdom of God come with power. And now, with Christ’s coming, we have that opportunity to see it come into the lives of the people around us.

But we will never see it unless we go out. If we do, however, we will see his kingdom come with power in the lives of those who believe.

So don’t just pray…go!

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Mark Mark 7 Matthew Matthew 15

Bringing people to Jesus

The gospels

In these two passages, we see the great popularity of Jesus because of his healing ministry.

What strikes me as I read them is that most people didn’t come to Jesus on their own for healing. Rather, it was others that brought them to Jesus. And when people brought those who needed healing to Jesus, Jesus healed them.

Just as Jesus opened people’s physical eyes and ears back then, so he does now to those who are spiritually blind and deaf. Just as he healed those who were physically hurting, so he does now to those who are emotionally hurting.

I do believe in physical healing for today as well, but it is people’s souls and spirits that Jesus cares for most, even more than their bodies, as we saw in the case of the paralyzed man and his four friends. (Mark 2:1-12)

So in the same way that these people brought the sick and the hurting to Jesus, we too are called to bring those who are hurting spiritually and emotionally to Jesus.

We in ourselves don’t have the power to heal them, but Jesus can. And we need to go out and bring them to him, rather than just wait for them to come to him on their own.

That said, Jesus always asked the people he healed, “What do you want of me?” or “Do you desire to be healed?”

And only those who were open to his healing touch did he heal.

The same can be said of those we bring to Jesus. Once we’ve brought them face to face with Jesus, they have to make a choice. Do they desire healing or not? Do they desire what Jesus has to offer or not?

We can’t make that choice for them. They have to make it themselves.

How about you? Are you bringing people to Jesus?

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Luke Luke 8 Mark Mark 4 Matthew Matthew 13

Parable of the sower: Planting the seed

The gospels

As I looked back on the last blog, there was one last point that occurred to me that I want to put here.

So often, I think of the farmer as Jesus. But I think it’s equally if not even more valid to think of the farmer as Christians.

Because while Jesus was here for a short time, planting the words of God in the hearts of people, it is we, here and now, who are planting the seeds in the hearts of people today.

Taken that way, I think there’s one more valuable lesson to take from this parable.

Sometimes, as we plant the word of God in people’s hearts, as we scatter the seed, some seeds fall on hardened hearts. People hear us, but they don’t understand, and Satan quickly snatches that seed away.

Other people hear it, and we’re encouraged because they get excited. Perhaps, they even make a profession of faith. But then trouble or persecution comes, they get discouraged, and they fall away.

In other cases, people receive the word and start to grow. But then work starts to get in the way of their relationship with God. Or they start getting too wrapped up in money or possessions.

Maybe they still go to church every Sunday, but they no longer grow. They bear no fruit.

But for other people, they hear the word of God, and in their lives, they produce the fruit of God, making an impact for his kingdom.

What’s my point? We are not responsible for the results. We cannot shape people’s hearts. What can we do?

Plant the seed. Water it. And then pray. Paul put it this way: one person plants, another person waters, but only God can make the seed grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7)

Do you get discouraged because the seeds you plant don’t seem to bear fruit? You can’t control that. All you can do is keep planting the seed. Keep watering it. And leave the rest to God.

How about you? Are you planting the seed in the hearts of the people around you?

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John John 1

Pointing the way

John

A lot of times, Christians get scared about sharing Jesus with their family and friends.

Part of the reason is that they think they have to have certain qualifications to do so. Or that they need special Bible knowledge to answer all possible questions.

Certainly it helps to have these things. And as we grow in our faith, we should grow in the knowledge of our Savior.

But as we see from this passage, our main responsibility is not to convince people, but to point the way to Jesus.

We see this with John the Baptist first. When the priests and Levites came out to question him, they immediately asked for his qualifications. Are you the Christ? Are you Elijah? Are you the Prophet?

When John said no, they then asked him, “What then gives you the right to baptize?”

I wonder how John felt? Did he at all feel uncertain or intimidated by these people trying to stare him down?

One would think not, considering how he had lashed out at people like these before. But still, it can be tough when you’re facing a bunch of people with “qualifications,” all of them hostile to you.

I don’t know if it happened this way, but I wonder if it was at that moment that John saw Jesus returning from the desert. I wonder if it was because he saw him, that John said to them,

“I baptize with water…but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” (John 1:26-27)

In other words, “If you’re asking my qualifications, I’m a nobody compared to the one who’s coming after me. In fact, he is right here, right now. And I’m not even worthy to be his slave.”

People may question our “qualifications.” But let us remember that we are not preaching ourselves, but Jesus.

We are not preaching how great we are, but how great Jesus is. And so when people question our qualifications, we should point not to ourselves, but to Jesus.

The next day, John once again pointed the way to Jesus, and then again the following day. As a result, two of John’s disciples immediately left him and started to follow Jesus.

One thing we should remember is that we are not trying to make people disciples of ourselves, but of Christ. It is him we should teach people to rely on, not ourselves.

That’s what John did, and I imagine he was ecstatic to see his disciples go after Jesus.

These disciples quickly followed up on John’s example. First, they brought Peter (Andrew’s brother — Andrew was one of the two who left John to follow Jesus).

Then after Jesus called their friend Phillip, Phillip got into the act by bringing Nathanael to Jesus.

But Nathanael was very skeptical when they told him of Jesus, saying,

Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? (46)

As you can see, Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, did not exactly have a sterling reputation for producing prophets, or anything else spiritual for that matter.

But Phillip didn’t argue with Nathanael. All he said was, “Come and see.”

And when he brought Nathanael to Jesus, it was Jesus who did the convincing.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t make the effort to answer people’s questions. We should.

But ultimately, answering their questions will not save them. Only Jesus can.

You will never argue a person into heaven. And so after dealing with their questions, we should tell them as Phillip did. “Come to Jesus. You will see.”

How about you? Are you pointing the way to Jesus to the people around you?