A bit here, a bit there…

Thanks for your stories about how God is bringing you to places and situations where you can share your faith with non-believers.  And about how they are responding.
It is exciting to think that the task of  spreading the good news is never done.
The disciples were part of it.
And we continue it.
And those who come after us will also continue – till Jesus ushers in the New Creation.
We’ll be digging more into that early in 2012 when we go back to the gospel of Matthew and land in chapter 10, which is an extensive teaching on mission.

It is the pre-Christmas season of Advent, a time when people are somewhat more open to having spiritual conversations, and perhaps even hitching a ride with you to a church service.
Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit will make us sensitive to such openness, and wise to respond in gentle and winsome ways.
Particularly to openness within those two or three people on our prayer lists for whom we interceding that the Lord would build bridges of  spiritual contact between them and us – for Jesus’ sake; what we called last week the “harvest prayer list.”

Thanks for sharing.
Keep me posted.
And may the Lord bless your faithful witness!!

Recently I’ve been blogging some key points to effective witnessing.

The first point was to check our attitudes.
- see the post “Attitudes In Witnessing”

The second key point was:
“Ask more questions than you make statements.”
- check out “Questions, Questions, Questions”

Point three today….
An interesting feature of Jesus’ ministry is that he had this habit of dropping little challenging thoughts and ideas into peoples’ lives, and leaving them to deal with them.
Rather than a full-bore, raging debate with someone, Jesus leaves them with one challenge or irritation that provoked thought and dialogue about who he was and what he came to do.

He would give people a little something to chew on, and then come back to them with something more later; helping them take the next step.

It’s a little like a gardener who doesn’t dump the whole load of fertilizer and the full bucket of water on a tiny seedling.  Just a bit at a time.  As can be taken.  And as is needed at the moment.  Bit by bit.  With time, and care and love.

Which, come to think of it, is how virtually all of us have grown in our Christian  walk, isn’t it?
We’ve developed, day by day, and year by year.
We’ve responded to nudges, encouragements, modelling, even challenges.
A little here.  A bit more there.
On and on.
Till today.
Trusting that there will be more of that in the future as we keep growing and maturing spiritually throughout our lives.
(That IS what we are praying for, yes?)

Same thing for people who are not-yet-believers.
We don’t have to dump the entire gospel presentation on them at one time, and look for a thundering immediate response.
Hey, sometimes it happens – just like it did to Saul on the road to Damascus.
But more often it is a process, a journey of coming to faith.

Which is why we need to stick to our guns, to keep at it and not give up on those for whom we are praying for a conversion.
Look prayerfully for the opportunities to drop a little nugget into their life.
Then move on – praying for another moment to be given by God later.
And always praying that one day the lights will come on, and they’ll surrender their life to Jesus.

In 1 Corinthians 3:6 Paul talks about the relationship that he and his colleague Apollos had developed with the Corinthian  believers.  He says:
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to
believe… I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

Planting,,, watering… growing – that’s a picture that assumes time.
Bit by bit.
Not all at once.

Knowing that we can affect the growth process.
We can contribute to the growth process.
But we CAN’T fully control it.

We have to trust that something beyond us will make the seed grow.
We have to trust that God is in charge of the witnessing project.
We plant.
Or water.
Whatever.
But that’s it.
In witnessing it is not first of all our incredibly wise saying, or truly deep question that is
going to make the difference.
It is the inner work of God’s Spirit on their spirit that will cause whatever
we’ve put out there to “take” in one way or another, and cause spiritual growth in their life.

Someone said, “Evangelism is sharing the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.”

There is part of the whole project of witnessing that is our job.
And there is part of the project of witnessing that is God’s job alone.
God puts them into the position of spiritual receptiveness.
And God alone can make them pay attention to what we offer,
rather than simply toss it aside.
It is God’s Spirit who will knock on the door of their heart and move inside.
That’s his part.

Our Job is to be ready to tell people what Jesus means to us.
Why we bother being Christians, anyway.
The positive difference it makes in our lives.
Encouraging them to consider it, too.

Our job is to be gently, and perhaps even playfully, dropping spiritual pebbles into other peoples’ lives as God gives occasion to do so.
We let other people have a peek at the joy and the hope and the peace that a relationship with Jesus Christ brings to our lives.
And leave them with something to think about.

If they question what we believe, perhaps we respond by leaving them with a question such as, “How do you come to that conclusion?”

If they express doubt, perhaps inviting them to wonder, “So, what if it turns out to be true. What if it turns out that there is a God who does care about you?”  Or wondering – “does it take more faith to believe there is a God, or to believe there is not a God?”

And we don’t do that aggressively, but respectfully.
And we engage in conversation with permission, not coercion.

Seeing such encounters as points along the journey.
Maybe the person with whom you are prayerfully sharing is a “zero” on the spiritual scale.
And you’ve been put in a position to plant a little something in their life that may help move
them towards becoming a “one.”
If you do that faithfully, you’ve been effective.
And maybe at some point you’re with someone who is further along, and who is ready to
admit that, yes, they want to invite Jesus Christ into a relationship with them, into their heart,
to become the Lord and Master of their life – The single best decision a person could ever make!

But – still, just a step.
When you surrender your life to Jesus, it is not game over. You don’t spiritually
“graduate” so to speak. You have not “arrived.”
Publicly, or privately, declaring your devotion to Jesus is just a step in a process
of growth and exploring and maturing and obedience that continues for the rest of your life.
And hopefully, along the way, there will be other believers who will drop pebbles in
your shoe, so to speak, which will challenge wherever you are spiritually at that point, and
motivate you to continue to study and pray and practice and develop in someone who more
and more becomes a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

And finally – do I even need to write this? – remember that St. Paul, who expresses trust that God will give the growth to the planting and watering that he and Apollos are busy with, says to another group of Christians, “I need you to pray for us that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ…. clearly, as we should.” (Col 4:3-4).

If it is God who makes things happen, and if we are trusting that He will make it happen, then it is critical that we close the loop, express that trust, and lean on it through prayer.

Let’s not ever be putting pebbles in peoples’ shoes without breathing a prayer for God to bless it.
Let’s not merely expect that it is all going to work out…. or not…. anyway so just do it and be done with it and carry on.

No – let’s we the question, drop a hint, offer a suggestion, make a comment, extend an invitation….. and under our breath, and perhaps out loud when we get back in our car or are back home, offer this action in prayer to the Lord and pray for him to supernaturally tend and nurture and bless what went on.

Thoughts on this? Love to hear your thoughts.

See you at Church, Lord willing!

The Living Lord be with you.

Pastor Ken

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