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You are the key Romans 10: 13 -17
There was a young man who had an uncle who was a drunkard. Every night without fail his uncle would be drunk. But he was not the type who went out with friends to drink. He was one of those who liked to drink by himself. Nobody understood why he behaved like that. If he was not drunk, he was a very nice person. Many thought that he drank because he was lonely. Others thought that may be, he had some hidden problem and only drank because he wanted to drown his sorrows. Still others thought that he missed his wife and children who had been separated from him for over twenty years now. His wife and kids had gone back to mainland china and with the passing of years had stopped all contacts. Since then he began to drink.
One day this young man went back to his hometown during one of the festive season. When he was back, he heard that his uncle was critically ill in the hospital. He thought of visiting his uncle to share the gospel with him. But he had some matter to attend to and since he heard from his mother that his uncle seemed to have become better, he thought he would delay these gospel visits till he had finished with his own business.
To his surprise, the next morning he heard the news that his uncle had passed away at nine o'clock in the morning. When he heard the news, he was stunned and a sense of lost opportunity overwhelmed him. He knew his uncle was lost to eternity. There was no second chance anymore to share the love of Christ with his uncle. His uncle had lost the opportunity to accept the salvation of Christ because no one had shared the gospel with him. The man blamed himself for losing the opportunity and he felt remorseful for not sharing the gospel with his uncle.
In the story just now we saw how the uncle become lost eternally because his nephew lost the opportunity to share the gospel with him. The uncle could not enjoy salvation and the love of Christ because he had lost the opportunity to hear the gospel. In today's scripture reading, the apostle Paul in Romans 10: 13-17 says-.
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news' but not all Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our message?' consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."
The word of God says 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." if the uncle in the story could call on the name of Jesus, he would be saved and he would not be lost eternally. So Paul said rightly "how then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?" the uncle could not call on the name of Jesus because he had not heard the gospel. He did not hear the good news because no one preached the good news to him. His nephew had missed the opportunity to share the gospel with him because he thought he still had time on his hand. Therefore the uncle could not believe in the good news, he could not accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. If the nephew had taken the opportunity, the uncle might have been saved.
The verse 'everyone one who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." is a promise of God to us. The verse says, 'everyone', means it does not matter what race of people we are, God is no respecter of persons, as long as we call on the name of Jesus, we will be saved. This also means we are to preach the gospel to all unreached people irrespective of what race they are. It is our responsibility to share the gospel to all who have yet to believe in Christ. There are about 3000 unreached people groups in Asia, unreached people groups here is defined by ethnicity and language. Of these 3000 people groups, 1607 groups are among the least evangelized. In our own country, Malaysia, there are many groups of unreached people, for instance we do not have a hakka speaking congregation. Has God called us to be involved in reaching out to one of these groups with his good news? What have we been doing in response to this call?
The word of God further says 'how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news' this is another encouragement and instruction from God. In Isaiah 52:7 where this verse originate, the one who brings good news proclaim peace and salvation. God wants us as Christians to be bearers of good news. This good news is the good news of peace, it is the good news concerning the reconciliation between God and men. I am sure in our own lives we have experienced this peace of God that passeth all understanding. We have this responsibility then to share this good news to those who have not received this peace yet. We must be like the angels who brought good news of great joy to the shepherds. The angels went to the shepherds to proclaim the good tidings to them. Likewise we need to go to the people to bring the good news to them. We need to use not only our mouths but our feet too, we literally need to walk to proclaim the good news. We cannot just sit at home and hope that people will come to know the Lord.
When we faithfully go to the unreached to proclaim the good news, verse 17 will come true. Verse 17 says, i’ll read from the living bible, "yet faith comes from listening to this good news‑ the good news about Christ." Let us now reflect for a moment and ask ourselves this question, "How did l come to believe in Christ and accept Christ as my Lord and Savior? Did l have Christian parents who when l was very young started to tell me stories of Jesus Christ or when l went to Sunday school the teachers there told me many stories about Christ?"
Praise the Lord for Godly parents. They took up the responsibility of training us up in the fear of the Lord even when we were young. We should thank God for them and also personally thank them for laying a good foundation for us to be Christians. They have given us the opportunity to listen to the word of Christ and to come to believe in Christ. We can now call on Christ and be saved as promised in God's word‑. Romans 10:13 "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Well, you may say, "l have not come from a Christian home, my parents are nonbelievers." As for me, my parents are not Christians, l did not come from a Christian home. I praise God for leading me to Christ through the 3rd K.L. Girls' Brigade in Church. In the girls' brigade l first heard the gospel and l began to know who this person Jesus was. Later l accepted the Lord and was baptized and grew in faith and knowledge of the Lord. It is serving in the Sunday school and the girls' brigade in this Church that my faith grew very rapidly. I thank God for faithful G.B. officers and Sunday school teachers who have taken their responsibilities seriously.
So the apostle Paul said rightly, "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." if l have not heard the gospel l am sure l won't be standing here today sharing God's words with all of you. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to hear his word through the bible studies l had through the brigade activities. I thank God for all the faithful brigade officers who carry on to share Christ with young girls who join in their activities. Let us continue to remember their efforts and uphold them in our daily prayers.
Youth activities is one way of leading a young person to Christ. In the gospel of John we can see how a family member after he has met Christ introduced Christ to his own brother. Let us turn to the gospel of john 1:35‑42. 1 will read from the NIV version:
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "look, the lamb of God." When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "what do you want?' they said, "rabbi where are you staying?' "come", he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "we have found the messiah" and he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looked at him and said, "you are Simon son of John. You shall be called Cephas".
From the passage we can see how Andrew brought his own brother Simon Peter to Christ. Andrew had stayed with Simon and had found the Messiah, the Savior or the Christ. He then brought Simon to see Christ for himself. That was the first thing Andrew did after he himself had come to know Christ. Can we be like Andrew? Can we follow Andrew’s example, that is share Christ with our family members who have yet to become Christians?
Well you may say, l know my family members will not believe in Christ. Here l would like to quote what William Mcdonald has written in ‘One Day At A Time’ to give us some food for thought.
‘When we are first saved, we think it is so simple, so wonderful that all our relatives will want to believe on the Savior when we tell them. Instead we find in some cases that they are resentful, suspicious and hostile. They act as if we had betrayed them. Finding ourselves in such an atmosphere, we often respond in ways that actually hinder their coming to Christ. Sometimes we lash back at them, then become distant moody and withdrawn. Or we criticize them for their unchristian lifestyle, forgetting that they do not have the divine power necessary for meeting Christian standards. It is easy under such circumstances to give them the impression that we consider ourselves superior to them. Since they are likely to accuse us of a 'holier than thou' attitude anyway, we should carefully avoid giving them just cause for doing so.’
Another mistake we often make is to force the gospel down people’s throats. In our love for them and our zeal for their souls, we estrange them by our evangelism which at times can be offensive.
One thing leads to another. We fail to show loving submission to our parents, as if our Christian faith released us from any obligation to obey them. Then we increasingly absent ourselves from home, spending the time at Church services and with Christians. This, in turn, increases their resentment against Church and Christians.
Actually the first thing we should do is to give a simple, humble and loving testimony of our conversion. Our lives too should be changed lives. Changed lives speak louder than words. This will mean showing new honor, submission, love and respect for our parents, taking their advice unless it conflicts with scriptures. We should be more helpful at home than we have ever been before- cleaning our room, washing dishes, taking out the trash doing all these without being asked
As wives we become submissive as to the Lord. Submission as understood by the Lord and not in the traditional sense. As husbands we become more loving and understanding. After being married for almost ten years, l know how husbands and wives can take each other for granted. Perhaps in our new found faith, we can become better husbands and wives and in this way make a testimony for Christ.
Some of us may find ourselves in a situation where we have to love the unloving. Well, as Christians our testimony should be of faithful, devoted love that does not depend on what the other person is or behaves. We love in spite of the circumstances. We do all this through the power of the Lord Jesus and not by our own strength. And when we are enabled daily to give love, where love is not due, then our testimony will speak powerfully of Jesus Christ. Our loved ones may want to take a second look at our Jesus when they see him through us.
Let me emphasize this important spiritual principle. When we have Christ truly living in us, it means taking criticism patiently without retaliating. It will mean giving love where hate is the proper response. It means laying down our lives for our loved ones. Those who are exposed to such a witness will be pleasantly stunned by our spirit of brokenness, especially if they have never seen it before. Little kindnesses help break down opposition, little kindnesses like letters of appreciation, greeting cards, phone calls and gifts and even the deafening silence of acceptance of unjustified scolding will go a long way.
Instead of cutting ourselves off from our parents, relatives and those to whom we have been called to witness, we should spend time with them in an effort to strengthen relationships. Then they will be more likely to accept an invitation to attend Church with us and eventually to commit themselves to the Lord Jesus. It takes time to cultivate a relationship; there is no short cut to it.
Has this been our experience? If the Lord has enlightened us on why our family members are negative towards Christianity then, let us check ourselves and ask God to forgive us and ask him to help us to start afresh to be good witnesses for him.
If we have been good witnesses and yet our family members are still non-believers, let us not be discouraged but let our feet continue to be beautiful by bringing good news to them. Moreover, it is not our responsibility to make people believe in Christ. It is the spirit of God who will convict the person of sins and his need for Christ. Our duty is to faithfully introduce Christ to others.
Having said this let me encourage you on the far-reaching effects of our witness for him. Andrew brought Peter to Christ and Peter later became one of the apostles and a leader in the Jerusalem Church. If Andrew did not share Christ with his brother Peter, then we would not have the ministry of Peter in the form of the letters of first and second Peter. We will not hear of Peter's denial of Christ and later being reinstated to lead the band of apostles again. Are we willing to be Andrews in our Church? Let us all ask God to give us courage, wisdom and boldness to witness to our own family members who are not Christians yet.
Besides our family members, what about our fiends, neighbors and colleagues who are not Christians yet? Can we also introduce them to Christ? Can we share with them what Christ has done in our lives? Let us turn to the gospel of John again, 4:28-30…"then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me everything l ever did. Could this be the Christ? They came out of the town and made their way toward him."
I am sure we are very familiar with this story about the Samaritan woman. We know that she was an indecent woman and she was ashamed to associate with the town people. She went to draw water in the noon time, the time when most of the ladies of the town would be at home preparing meals for their families. After meeting Christ, her life was transformed. She was not afraid to face the town people anymore. She even went to them to asked them to go and see for themselves the man who told her what she had done in the past. Christ had given her a new status. Now she is not ashamed and timid anymore. She became bold enough to gossip the gospel or the good news that had entered her life. She is a new person and she can form new relationships with others now. She need not hide and avoid the people of the town again.
Let us read further in 4:39-42…'Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "he told me everything l ever did." so when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, "we no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
Yes, those who hear the words of Christ will come to know him better and will come to believe in him. For non-Christians to come to a saving knowledge of Christ, there is a need to proclaim the good news to them. In Paul’s word someone must preach to them. Is it true that people can receive Christ only in Church because only in the Church we hear preaching. No, preaching is not limited to the Sunday pulpit ministry only. Preaching here is gossiping the gospel. Earlier we saw how our lifestyle can preach the gospel. Our family members and our friends will judge Christ and God by the lives we live. Have we been living in such a way that our lights can shine forth before men that they see our good deeds and praise God the father in heaven? Have we been living in such a way that our family members, our friends, our neighbors want to know who this person Jesus is?
We need not be theologically trained to preach the gospel. Each one of us can be like Andrew or like the Samaritan woman, to bear witness to what Christ has done in our lives. I am sure Andrew and the Samaritan woman did not enter any bible college but they introduced Christ to others. When was the last time we shared our testimony to someone else? Or have we ever shared our testimony with anyone? We should learn to share our testimonies not only about our conversion but also how God has been good to us and how God has dealt with us.
The word of God continue to tell us that we are called to be witnesses first in Jerusalem, then in all Judea and Samaria and finally to the ends of the earth. We are called to bring the good news first to our family members if they are not Christians yet. We are also called to bring the good news to our friends, colleagues and neighbors. The work of evangelism is not for our pastors! Each of us has the responsibility of sharing Christ with others. Some of us are even called to cross barriers to share the gospel to other. These barriers may be geographical ones, they may be cultural ones, emotional ones or linguistic ones.
Are we called to witness? Yes, all are called. Are we called to evangelise? Yes, we are called to evangelise. May the Lord give us the strength and the grace to dowhat he has commanded us in the Great Commission.
By LCY.
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