"I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel..." (Rom. 1:14-16, NIV).
We don't want to be God's secret agents or Clairol Christians where only our hairdresser knows for sure whether we are believers. We are called to openly confess Christ before men with no embarrassment or shame. The extreme of flaunting our faith is just as wrong as to hide it and keep it a secret though. True faith expresses itself; the world has nothing against those who privatize their faith and keep it to themselves, but we have a mission to fulfill! We must not be apologetic or timid in our witness either; there should be no doubt where we stand, and that is not on the sidelines either.
You can never tell where lukewarm believers stand. We are in the world but not of it (cf. John 15:19). Sometimes it takes more faith to stand alone like Daniel did to defy the king's edict. Doing the right thing is not the popular thing to do, nor the easy thing to do. We must be Christ's ambassadors in the world, though we are not of it.
If they harassed Christ and taunted Him, how much more us who have an imperfect witness. Our testimony is so important that Christ said that if we don't confess Him before men, neither will He confess us before the Father (cf. Matt. 10:32-33). We represent the gospel in shoe leather to the world and to some people, it's the only gospel they'll know or experience. A life lived to His glory does a lot to honor our Savior. Those who are hypocrites and don't live out their faith are doing more harm than good to the cause of Christ. We want to be vessels of honor, not of dishonor. In other words, we don't want to be what Christians ought not to be as the example of learning what to avoid.
Baptism is the initiation into the local body and represents our commitment to follow on to know the Lord in discipleship. The first act of obedience after baptism should be to fulfill the Great Commission and do our part. If Christ got baptized, how much more do we need it! Standing up for Jesus entails a lot more than preaching in season and out of season, it means when it's inconvenient and it might cost us something or be a sacrifice. Yes, we might lose friends, but those are the kind we don't need! Let the offense of the gospel be the only true stumbling block to the infidel's coming to know the Lord, not our personal offensiveness.
Like Paul, we need to pray for open doors and the skill to preach the Word efficaciously (cf. Eph. 6:19). We don't just use a machine-gun type approach aiming our guns at everyone with the same ammo! We must adapt our message to whom we're a witness to, and be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. God will indeed give us opportunities if we are prepared with the fish bait for the catch of a lifetime--a soul for Christ. We must be savvy about these God-given chances and opportunities, because they may not come again, and if we miss them, hopefully, we will learn from our negligence and naivete. We are all slow learners when it comes to following Christ's perfect witnessing example and high standards--He really raised the bar and we must learn from our experience sometimes.
Remember, you may be the only person that can reach out to that person in your orbit or circle of influence and God has entrusted you with the message of reconciliation. It's not a matter of scalp counting or thinking that the more conversions we muster, the better witness we are (God's not so obsessed with the numbers game as a correlation to success or faithfulness); quality is just as important and to whom much is given, much is required--we must be faithful stewards:
To what God has blessed us with--our talents, gifts, opportunities, ambitions, energy, vacations, vocations, relationships, physical abilities, free time or down time, time itself, skills, areas of expertise, education and training, knowledge, wisdom, responsibilities, social life, acquaintances, contacts, real estate, possessions, resources, money, portfolios, belongings, reputation, friends, co-workers, servants, bosses, and even relatives that we are blessed with and will give account for. What God is looking for is a bold witness who will speak up at any opportunity and open door presented without shame or timidity--He will open doors to those ready and willing. Soli Deo Gloria!
We don't want to be God's secret agents or Clairol Christians where only our hairdresser knows for sure whether we are believers. We are called to openly confess Christ before men with no embarrassment or shame. The extreme of flaunting our faith is just as wrong as to hide it and keep it a secret though. True faith expresses itself; the world has nothing against those who privatize their faith and keep it to themselves, but we have a mission to fulfill! We must not be apologetic or timid in our witness either; there should be no doubt where we stand, and that is not on the sidelines either.
You can never tell where lukewarm believers stand. We are in the world but not of it (cf. John 15:19). Sometimes it takes more faith to stand alone like Daniel did to defy the king's edict. Doing the right thing is not the popular thing to do, nor the easy thing to do. We must be Christ's ambassadors in the world, though we are not of it.
If they harassed Christ and taunted Him, how much more us who have an imperfect witness. Our testimony is so important that Christ said that if we don't confess Him before men, neither will He confess us before the Father (cf. Matt. 10:32-33). We represent the gospel in shoe leather to the world and to some people, it's the only gospel they'll know or experience. A life lived to His glory does a lot to honor our Savior. Those who are hypocrites and don't live out their faith are doing more harm than good to the cause of Christ. We want to be vessels of honor, not of dishonor. In other words, we don't want to be what Christians ought not to be as the example of learning what to avoid.
Baptism is the initiation into the local body and represents our commitment to follow on to know the Lord in discipleship. The first act of obedience after baptism should be to fulfill the Great Commission and do our part. If Christ got baptized, how much more do we need it! Standing up for Jesus entails a lot more than preaching in season and out of season, it means when it's inconvenient and it might cost us something or be a sacrifice. Yes, we might lose friends, but those are the kind we don't need! Let the offense of the gospel be the only true stumbling block to the infidel's coming to know the Lord, not our personal offensiveness.
Like Paul, we need to pray for open doors and the skill to preach the Word efficaciously (cf. Eph. 6:19). We don't just use a machine-gun type approach aiming our guns at everyone with the same ammo! We must adapt our message to whom we're a witness to, and be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. God will indeed give us opportunities if we are prepared with the fish bait for the catch of a lifetime--a soul for Christ. We must be savvy about these God-given chances and opportunities, because they may not come again, and if we miss them, hopefully, we will learn from our negligence and naivete. We are all slow learners when it comes to following Christ's perfect witnessing example and high standards--He really raised the bar and we must learn from our experience sometimes.
Remember, you may be the only person that can reach out to that person in your orbit or circle of influence and God has entrusted you with the message of reconciliation. It's not a matter of scalp counting or thinking that the more conversions we muster, the better witness we are (God's not so obsessed with the numbers game as a correlation to success or faithfulness); quality is just as important and to whom much is given, much is required--we must be faithful stewards:
To what God has blessed us with--our talents, gifts, opportunities, ambitions, energy, vacations, vocations, relationships, physical abilities, free time or down time, time itself, skills, areas of expertise, education and training, knowledge, wisdom, responsibilities, social life, acquaintances, contacts, real estate, possessions, resources, money, portfolios, belongings, reputation, friends, co-workers, servants, bosses, and even relatives that we are blessed with and will give account for. What God is looking for is a bold witness who will speak up at any opportunity and open door presented without shame or timidity--He will open doors to those ready and willing. Soli Deo Gloria!
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