Why Everyone is Called to be a Witness For Christ

The Great Commission given by Jesus Christ was not only for the disciples; it is given to the whole church as an imperative command.

The Great Commission Omission

“Go into all the world,” but don’t forget to go next door.

The Great Commission given by Jesus Christ was not only for the disciples; it is given to the whole church as an imperative command (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). We are all sent to represent Jesus Christ as ambassadors so we must “go into all the world,” but don’t forget to go next door. Think of how many will pass into damnation without Christ; Unsaved brothers, uncles, cousins, sisters, sons, daughters, co-workers, aunts, neighbors….

They Must Hear

Romans 10:14-15 tells us we must use words…the Word of God…so we can be used by God to make new disciples. Paul asks, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” They cannot call upon He whom they have not heard, if they cannot hear if someone is not sent. That someone can be you. Truth be told, “we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:18).

Few Laborers

In John 4:35 Jesus said, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” The time to enter the harvest of souls is now…today! Look how Jesus’ heart broke for the lost in Matthew 9:35 where it says that “Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.” Let us have similar hearts as Jesus like “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:36). Knowing that so many lost souls are in the world, Jesus “said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matt 9:37).

We have the same problem today among Christians. Exceedingly few believers share their faith and fewer still lead someone to Christ. This is all the more reason to obey Jesus’ command to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt 9:38). Why? It is because the harvest is huge…but the labor force is not. Pray for other co-laborers to witness to your lost spouse, neighbor, child, uncle, co-worker and grandpa.

Silence of the Lambs

Woe to us if we don’t preach the Gospel.

We know that most people do not share their faith regularly, but some people who try to hold back from speaking for God find that they cannot stop themselves. Jeremiah the Prophet said, “If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail” (Jeremiah 20:9). The Apostle Paul said, “I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor 9:16)!

Be Ready to Witness

If we desire people be saved, then we must have a “unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Pet 3:8-9). And before God, before the church and before the public, we are to have hearts that “honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15).

We should know the gospel well enough to give people the reason we hope in Christ. If not, get prepared, but afterward, always be gentle and show respect, for they are blind without the Holy Spirit and lost and without hope. Have Jesus’ compassion. Share the hope of Christ, then just be friendly. Don’t mention it over and over again. Jesus never crammed His beliefs down anyone’s throat. No one was every debated or argued into heaven. If a debate breaks out, leave. People, the lost and the saved have only one way to identify who Jesus’ disciples really are, and it is by their love (John 13:34-35)!

Be Bold

Think the disciples were shy about talking about Jesus Christ? Acts 4:13 says that “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” Even though they were warned about mentioning Jesus, they said, as we must say, that “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). Even after the religious authorities threatened them further, the early church didn’t cower with fear but rather, “when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). In Paul’s ministry, he was always “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31). Jail or not, Paul was going to share Christ, showing he feared God more than he feared the rejection of men.

Ashamed of Christ?

Ephesians 6:19-20 asks for prayers, but not for safety, but “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” I want to pray that, don’t you? Are we like Paul who boldly says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16). Are there more believers today that are “under-cover, secret-agent, underground” Christians who seem no different than the world? Even in Jesus’ day, “many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42). Today, as then, many believers “loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:43).

Conclusion

Remember that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). God has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation in order that we might share it others! Now, “we are ambassadors for Christ [and] God [is] making his appeal through us” (2 Cor 5:20) to the lost.

I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.

Here is some related reading for you: What Does the Bible Say About Being a Witness?

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: evangelism, Evangelize, Great Comission, Witnessing