Walk the Talk in Witnessing

People frequently encourage us to share our faith with others. But that raises the question, what are we to witness to. Are we to tell people what it means to be a Christian? Are we to be honest and tell them that it is not always easy? I grew up in a church where people were often told that if they gave their life to Christ and all the problems would be solved. What I have discovered is that it is just simply not true. In fact, you run into new problems when you are a Christian. We discover that some people dislike us, even hate us, simply because we are a Christian. Just because we are willing to say that we are follower of Jesus Christ. There are people in this world who will put you down, insult you, and lie about you. So when we are called to walk the talk in witnessing, we are called to speak the truth about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I am going to suggest that there are three elemental actions, we must take if we are going to be followers of Jesus Christ.

1. Fight the Faithful Fight

1 Timothy 6:12 NASB95

Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Why would Paul tell Timothy to fight the good fight of faith?

He was certainly saying that the Christian faith is a challenge, If you will a fight.

The Greek word that Paul uses for fight is agonizomai. It means struggle, fight; do one’s best; compete (of athletic contests)

Was Paul saying that snowflakes need not apply?

There is no place for wimps.

Isaac Watts wrote a great hymn in which he asks some pointed questions. The hymn goes:

Am I a soldier of the Cross, a follower of the Lamb?

And shall I fear to own his cause or blush to speak his name?

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend of grace to help me unto God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign. Increase my courage, Lord.

I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy word.*

We must—we must fight for the faith in these momentous times.

Knowing the Times, 59

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

The sixteenth-century English bishop, Hugh Latimer, was one of the first preachers of social righteousness in the English-speaking world. He was imprisoned for his courage and enunciations. While in the Tower of London, he wrote, “Pray for me, I say pray for me; at times I am so afraid that I could creep into a mousehole.” This was the same Latimer who later walked bravely to the stake in Oxford, saying to his companion, Nicholas Ridley, as he went, “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

Jones, G. Curtis: 1000 illustrations for preaching and teaching. Nashville, TN : Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986

2. Keep the Commandments Pure

1 Timothy 6:13–14 NASB95

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Keep the commandments pure. Why?

Because people are watching you.

Because what you do speaks louder then what you say.

Keeping his commandments assure us that we are ready for Jesus appearing.

Those who keep God’s commands may have assurance that they are people who know God; those who claim to know God while not obeying his commands are liars; those who say they live in God must walk as Jesus walked, that is, keeping God’s commands to them as Jesus obeyed God’s commands to him.

Colin G. Kruse Dr. Colin Kruse is a bible commentator and senior lecturer in New Testament at the Melbourne School of Theology.

3. Declare the King and the Kingdom

1 Timothy 6:15–16 NASB95

which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Maybe explore the portrayal of Christ as the 'only Sovereign' and 'King of kings,' encouraging listeners to derive confidence and hope from His supreme rule. Our witness becomes potent as we align our lives under His lordship, illustrating the peace and assurance that come from knowing Christ is ultimately above all earthly powers.

Everybody treats us so nicely. No one seems to think that we mean what we say. When we say “kingdom of God,” no one gets apprehensive, as if we had just announced (which we thought we had) that a powerful army is poised on the border, ready to invade. When we say radical things like “Christ,” “love,” “believe,” “peace,” and “sin”—words that in other times and cultures excited martyrdoms—the sounds enter the stream of conversation with no more splash than baseball scores and grocery prices.

—Eugene Peterson

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”  (Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk. Harper and Row, 1982)

We are to fight the faithful What?

What word do we have today that comes from the Greek word for fight?

Why do we keep the commandments pure?

What do we declare about the King?

Why should Church be dangerous?