Marketplace Reflections (12)

Witness

I was led into a relationship with Jesus Christ because a coworker cared enough to share the Gospel with me. Howard Wall asked me, “Bob, are you a Christian?” I said “Yes” because in the regional America of my youth unless you were Jewish you were a Christian. Howard’s question led me to the Bible, and as I read the Bible and interacted with Howard I came to know Jesus Christ.

The Church exists for three reasons; to worship God, to edify and nurture the Body of Christ, and to share Jesus with the world. This is our purpose for living - it is pretty simple, and it is not optional for a follower of Jesus. In fact, we can distinguish followers of Jesus by the way they live - Jesus says as much when He teaches that others will know we are His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:34-35), that others will know that the Father sent the Son by our unity (John 17:21 - 23) - in other words the world has a right to judge us by the way we live.

In what we call The Great Commission Jesus tells His followers to go into all the world and to make disciples (Matthew 28:16 - 20, see also Luke 24:44 - 53, Acts 1:1 - 8, and John 17:18, 20:21). Notice that He says “make disciples” - disciples are men and women and young people who follow Jesus as a way of life, it is who they are, it is how they think, how they love, how they make decisions, how they choose to spend their time and money; Jesus is the core of life for His followers. Actually, in a comprehensive sense, Jesus is everything to His followers; and because He is everything His followers need not hold back anything as they love God and love and serve others.

The subject of “witnessing” is so vast that it can be hard to know where to begin. Perhaps it is so vast because we have made it complicated, and perhaps one of the reasons it’s complicated is because we insist on knowing all of the “what-ifs” of witnessing. “What if I’m asked this question, what if I’m asked that question? If I don’t know the answer I’ll fail, be rejected, maybe even be ridiculed.” Perhaps we also make it complicated when we confuse witnessing with “apologetics”, for once we start thinking about “defending” the faith we often begin comparing ourselves with leaders in apologetics and we think that if we can’t come close to their knowledge base or communications expertise that we ought not to witness. Whatever the reason, and there are many, Christians seldom share their faith with others, at least in North America.

I’m reminded of how the Federal Reserve teaches its employees to recognize counterfeit currency - it has them study legitimate currency. There are so many variations of counterfeit truth in the world that it’s doubtful that any of us can examine them all, but we can all know the truth of Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and what the Bible teaches. We can all know Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

This may sound simplistic, but if we love God and love others we will share the Gospel. I’m not suggesting it will be easy, going against the grain is not easy; and I’m not saying that it won’t be costly, the Cross is costly; but if we love God we will share Jesus Christ with others; if we truly love and care about others we will share Jesus with them - for it is a matter of life and death.

As I write these words I am convicted and challenged and I’m asking myself, “Does my own life line-up what I am writing? Do my actions demonstrate my love for God and others?”

I believe that if we are honest with others that we will share Jesus Christ with our coworkers - so in one sense this is about whether we are honest people or deceitful people. I know this sounds harsh, but consider: If I am indeed a follower of Jesus Christ, if my life truly belongs to Him, then if I am not sharing Jesus with others - especially with those with whom I have relationships - then I am pretending to be someone I am not, I am pretending not to know Jesus. It is analogous to me pretending not to be married, to taking off my wedding ring, to speaking and acting as if I have no wife when in fact I am married - to do so would be deceitful.

A holistic witness is a credible witness, for a holistic witness is grounded on who Christ is in us and who we are in Christ - our lives are integrated in Jesus Christ. Our words, our actions, our motives, our love, our care, our decision-making - flow from our relationship with God in Christ and in our fellowship with the saints. The Great Commandment is that the Lord our God is One Lord, and that we are to love Him with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, and all of our strength...and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:12:28 - 31). A consuming obedience to the Great Commandment results in a consuming obedience to the Great Commission.

We are not called to be salespeople peddling the Gospel, we are called to be people who love God and love others. A holistic witness in the marketplace includes integrity in our work, excellence in our work, a thankful attitude, respect for authority, respect for others, telling the truth, asking forgiveness when we ought to, apologizing when we should, and praying for our coworkers, clients and customers. If we have relationships with others we have many opportunities to faithfully witness because the very nature of relationships means that subjects and issues come up to which there are distinctly Christian responses - so we have a choice, to be who we are in Christ or to suppress our identity and act as if Jesus is not our Lord.   

The nature of the human condition means that our coworkers have times of pain, suffering, sorrow, and despair, as well as seasons of joy. In our fragmented society it is unusual when others take the time to care, to express concern, to listen, to pray - or to rejoice when good things happen. The stress and anxiety in today’s workplace is such that a word of comfort, of peace, and of reflection can be like a glass of cool spring water in a desert.

Over the past few years there have been attempts to introduce various vaccines, such as the polio vaccine, into areas of the world which have resisted inoculations. Some medical professionals have been beaten, others killed. Many people in these populations do not understand what a vaccine is, others are intimidated by radical groups opposing vaccines, others brave the risk of violence and are inoculated. The medical groups keep coming back, doing their best to educate both the general population and those violently opposed to inoculation. The medical professionals see their work as a mission; opposing paralysis, debilitating disease, and early death. They desire to improve the health and wellbeing of a population unware that there is medical help that can improve their lives, and especially the lives of their children. The medical professionals fight ignorance in the general population and ignorance in the violent opposition.

There is truth to the saying, “People don’t know what they don’t know.”

What does our mission look like?