Effective Witness

As a Pastor, I am constantly reading and researching and doing my best to broaden my knowledge and arm myself with relevant information. I am not just talking about having a deeper understanding of the scripture and spiritual principles but also of what is happening presently in our world and the Body of Christ. In the last decade or so much has been made over forming and building churches that are “seeker sensitive”, that is, churches that are focused on creating an environment where the lost that may have dismissed the church as not being authentic or meaningful can be reintroduced to Christ in a fresh and relevant way.

While I firmly believe in building and forming our churches with the lost in mind I also believe there is a bigger issue that must be addressed. It does little good to spend all of our time and energy to create “SEEKER SENSITIVE CHURCHES” if we never effectively build “SEEKER SENSITIVE CHRISTIANS.” It is something I address almost every Sunday on some level here at CCA. It has been well said that a person wrapped up only in themselves makes a mighty small package so here is this weeks moment of truth, you are probably within eyeshot right now of someone who needs Christ….. Do you even care? In Luke 10 one of the most famous and well known stories ever told by Christ is found, the story of the Good Samaritan. Inside the story are three simple principles that every Christian can do to be an effective witness.

1. OPEN YOUR EYES- Jesus once said “Open your eyes and look around you, the time for harvest is now.” The story of the Samaritan reveals that he wasn’t the first one to arrive at the scene of the crime but he was the only one who cared to see the need. Listen closely to this statement, what we see through our eyes is colored by the condition of our hearts. The others saw the same scene but they did not see it the same way. Compassion colored the Samaritans eyes while indifference seasoned the priests sight. Do we really see as Jesus sees?

2. OPEN YOUR HEART- We live in an age where people have more walls around there heart than ever before. The greatest tragedy of the Titanic was not that over one thousand people lost their lives but that the 16 life boats that were in the frigid water were only partially filled. Many more lives could have been saved but the people that were in the lifeboats had grown so comfortable in their salvation that they forgot about the fact there were still people dying in the water. We must not allow our hearts to grow hardened to those dying within arms reach of us everyday.

3. OPEN YOUR HANDS- The world’s theme song is “its none of my business.” I’m glad God did not look at my fallen and pathetic state and say “It’s a shame, but its none of my business.” My point is simply this true compassion is not measured by passionate sermons or flowery speeches, it is measured by ACTION. Please don’t think I’m trying to throw some guilt trip on you or say we are bad people if we haven’t shared our faith with someone today. All I’m saying is how will others ever know the incredible and life changing love of God without someone who cares enough to get a little uncomfortable and share it?

In World War II a statue of Christ had been blown apart by enemy fire in a small polish town. The soldiers who were cleaning around the small church were collecting the various pieces and putting it back together however no one could locate the hands so finally a soldier took a piece of mangled metal, placed it at the base and wrote these words “WE ARE HIS HANDS.”

Until next week, be his hands.

All for Christ, J.Mark