Effective Witnessing

Every believer should be a witness. In fact, every believer is a witness whether he wants to be or not. An impression goes out from every one of us concerning what we believe. Those in closest contact with us will know how much our beliefs really count in our lives.

Paul desired that his converts should be effectual in their witness, and wrote to Philemon expressing the secret of fruitful living. His prayer for the younger Christian was "that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus" (Philemon, v. 6). The implications of this verse are stupendous. When the truth of this verse was brought home to me by the Spirit, it was almost as though a new verse had been written in the Bible. I had been over this verse many times before, but had not seen all that is involved in it.

You have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Then you are a child of God, and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is dwelling within you, and you are commanded to witness the truth of Jesus Christ. This witness is the communication of your faith, which may be effectual or ineffectual. If that communication is to be effectual it must be done in the way that God has provided. You must acknowledge every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus, and to acknowledge something is to believe it and act upon that belief.

Recall from the Word of God the promises that are ours in Christ. It is not that I live but that "Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). That fact must be acknowledged. This means that we must deliver ourselves over to the Lord for the crucifixion death of the old nature daily (1 Cor. 15:31). We must look at ourselves as being dead unto sin and alive unto God (Rom. 6:11). If we are alive unto God, risen with Christ, we must be seeking those things which are above (Col. 3:1). We must be freed from the law, and standing in the liberty and grace of our position as sons of God (Gal. 5:1; Rom. 5:1).

It would be possible to go on and on through the Epistles, pointing out our glorious position in Christ. Every detail is ours because we are "in" Christ and the effectiveness of life is that He is "in" us, the hope of glory and the power of daily living (Col. 1:20; Rom. 8:10).

The more we enter into the acknowledgment of His presence, the more the communication of our faith will be effectual. Just as our Lord tells us that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2), so He tells us that we are not because we believe not. If we really wish to be something for the Lord Jesus, the secret of that power is readily available.

1. How urgent is the message of the Gospel to the world we live in? Do you feel like most Christians handle this message with such urgency?
2. What might hinder us from going on and proclaiming the gospel to the lost?
3. Should we feel responsible if unbelievers do not accept our message? Why or why not?