Evangelism (Part 6)

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Evangelism (Part 6)

Discover the transformative power of living a holy and visible Christian life in Evangelism (Part 6) by Steve Gregg. In this enlightening session, Gregg emphasizes that true witnessing goes beyond mere words, emphasizing the importance of being a positive and visible witness. While miracles and signs can accompany evangelistic work, Gregg highlights that a consistent and holy life is a powerful witness that cannot be ignored by the world. By living a life in accordance with God's teachings, believers can create a powerful impact and become shining lights in a dark world, compelling others to inquire about the source of their difference.

Transcript

In this session I'd like to talk about what I would call the visible witness of the believer. And I do not mean that the visible witness is to replace the audible or verbal witness of the believer. But certainly one without the other . . . let me put it this way.

If you were to only have one and to lack the other, it would be more important to have the visible witness than the audible witness. Now, I don't say that to say that the audible or verbal witness is not important. It is.

But a verbal witness where there is no visible witness is of less value. Especially if the people are hearing you say something, but they see you doing something the opposite. That's what I'm talking about.

If what they see does not agree with what they're hearing, it will be a stumbling block. Whereas they might be seeing something very positive and hear nothing because you say nothing, and still be very impressed by what they see alone. So, I mean, if you were stuck with one or the other, if you had to make your choice, the visible witness seems to have the greater impact.

Though, one of the problems with the visible witness is without the verbal, people don't know exactly what it is you're witnessing about. Verbally, you convey the actual facts of the Gospels and the reasons behind what you're doing. But people will be more impressed initially and possibly in the long run also by what they see.

Now, the Bible indicates that God gives visible confirmation to his word. Jesus said in John chapter 5, after he was telling the Pharisees of all the confirmations about the truthfulness of his words, he mentioned John the Baptist, but then he said in verse 36, John 5 verse 36, But I have a greater witness than John, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do, they bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. Now, the works that he did, which very probably refers to the miraculous works, although the word works doesn't have to mean miraculous works, it could mean just his good works of charity and consideration and compassion, those works, in fact, also bear witness to who he is.

But let's start considering the miracles. The miraculous works, he said, were given to bear witness of him. Now, we usually think of witnessing as a verbal thing, and of course Jesus did that.

He verbally communicated his message. But he said, in addition to what I'm saying, you have a visible witness to me. The works that I do, you see those.

You don't hear them, you see them. And those bear witness of me as well. And we know that that visible witness of signs and wonders continued into the book of Acts, after Jesus was gone, that the apostles considered to do signs and wonders in association with the preaching of the word.

And in Mark's gospel, it tells us specifically that the purpose of those signs and wonders was to confirm the word, visibly. The word was spoken audibly, but God gave a visible attestation of the veracity of what was spoken. In Mark 16, 20, after Jesus gave the great commission to the disciples and ascended into heaven, Mark tells us, not verse 20, I gave you the wrong version of it, it's verse 19 and 20, it says, so then, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, and they, the disciples, went out and preached everywhere.

That's the verbal witness. The Lord working with them and confirming the word through accompanying signs. They spoke the word verbally, and the confirmation of the word was given visibly.

In this case, in the case of the apostolic preaching, the visible witness was that of miracles, just as with Jesus. He said, if you don't believe me, believe the words that my father gave me to do. If you don't like what I'm saying, look at what I'm doing.

That should convince you that the father sent me. And so the apostles also preached the word, but God confirmed the word with signs following. We also have a confirmation of that doctrine, of the purpose of miracles was largely to confirm the word.

In Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews 2 verses 3 and 4, it says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, again verbally, God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. Now, here the writer of Hebrews says, we have strong reason not to neglect this message of salvation. First of all, because of who spoke it.

There is a word first from the Lord himself, and secondly from his apostles, and then there is God himself bearing witness with visible signs and wonders and miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Another supernatural confirmation. Now, there are other good reasons to have signs and wonders, but none so good as to be a witness to the truth.

Obviously, healings may have value in their own right, so much so that even the heathen, our cultists, pursue healing. Although not to confirm the gospel, but just to get well. People want relief.

Miracles, at least the miracles of Jesus, almost always had a practical value in relieving somebody's misery or somebody's need. And miracles could be said to be of value just for that reason alone, that they meet the needs. But God doesn't always do miracles to meet needs.

Sometimes people have needs that go unmet, whereas God could do a miracle and relieve them. But he doesn't. So it's obvious that it's not simply a concern to meet needs that leads God to do a miracle or a sign.

It is, in fact, there's something more to it than that. Jesus did a great number of miracles, and in John's gospel, John said at the end of chapter 20 that many other signs Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, but he says, which are not written in this book, but these are written, that is, the ones that are included in the gospel of John, are written so that you might believe. Not just so that we would know that there's relief from pain and so forth through the miraculous power of God, but that we might believe the message of the gospel, to believe in Jesus.

That the word is confirmed by them. And it's interesting in John's gospel that John has been very selective of the particular signs or miracles of Jesus that he includes. He doesn't record anywhere near as many miracles as the synoptic gospels do.

He records, I think, only seven or eight miracles, as opposed to over 20 or 30 in the other gospels. And he says that he recorded the particular signs that he did in the gospel of John so that you might believe. It's interesting that virtually every miracle that Jesus did that is recorded in the gospel of John had a spiritual message behind it, and it confirmed that message.

Jesus said, I am the light of the world, and he opened the eyes of a blind man to prove it. He said, I'm the resurrection and the life, and he raised Lazarus from the dead to prove it. He said, I'm the bread of life.

He proved it by feeding the multitudes miraculously. He said, I am the true vine, and he proved it by turning water into wine, which is what a vine does. And his signs confirmed his word.

His signs bore witness to the truthfulness of what he had to say. Now, obviously I'm going to say that it's very important, or I should say very useful, that we have signs and wonders accompanying our evangelistic work. However, I can't guarantee them to you, because I believe that it is God who works signs and wonders.

In fact, the passages we just read said so. The apostles preached, and God confirmed the word, working with them by working signs to confirm it. Also, that was in Mark.

In Hebrews, we read, you know, we heard it from Jesus, we heard it from those who heard him, and God himself bore witness by signs and wonders. It is a work of God. It is not the work of a Christian to do signs and wonders.

I was in conversation with a pastor once, talking about another minister who was a charismatic, but did not give a high place in his teaching to the subject of signs and wonders. And this pastor I was talking to was influenced very strongly by the signs and wonders seminars that had been going around the country, where ministers and others are taught, essentially, the principles of power evangelism and the need to confirm the word with miracles and so forth, and where these people are encouraged to go out and basically work miracles. I must confess, I've never been to one of these seminars, so I don't know exactly how the subject is treated in them, and I can't critique the seminars.

But this pastor I was talking to, as we talked about a third party who was a charismatic, whom I was in favor of, but this pastor I was talking to was not. He critiqued the man by saying, yes, I don't think he believes in signs and wonders. I said, that's not true.

We were reading something the man had written. I said, look, right here he says he believes in signs and wonders. And this pastor said, ah, yeah, but I don't think he teaches signs and wonders.

I said, well, I don't think the Bible teaches signs and wonders either. I don't know of any place where the signs and wonders are the message. I don't know of any place where the Bible teaches anyone how to do signs and wonders, or teaches them that they must do them.

I mean, sure, we have predictions that these signs shall follow those who believe. We do have record of signs and wonders being wrought, but we don't have any place in the Bible that people are commanded to work wonders and signs. There are predictions that they shall.

Jesus said, the works I do, he that believes in me shall do greater works. But again, that's not the same thing as a command, it's just saying that it's going to happen. Nowhere is signs and wonders the message.

The purpose of signs and wonders according to these passages is to confirm the message. The message is something else. The message is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The signs and wonders God does to confirm it. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't trust God to do signs and wonders. And if you're ministering to a sick person, you may feel very strongly inclined to pray for them to be healed.

Say, I believe God can heal you. I'd like to pray for you right now and ask God to do so. And, you know, God may, if you have childlike faith, God may well honor it.

At the same time, I've prayed for people with faith, with real faith, and they weren't healed. And I just have to realize that sometimes a sign or a wonder is going to be available, and sometimes God's not going to do that. He's going to do something else to confirm the word.

So what I'm suggesting to you is that signs and wonders are still for today. God still uses them to confirm the word, but I think a church or a person gets off-center when he starts to focus on signs and wonders as if that is the message. As if, you know, now we need to learn about signs and wonders.

We need to study them. I'm not saying that the seminars do that, because I personally can't critique the seminars. I haven't been to them.

But I know some people want to do this. They want to analyze, how do we do signs and wonders? What's the procedure here for deliverance? What's the procedure here for healing? You know, what are the guidelines here? What are the methods? Well, the amazing thing about Jesus is that he did many similar miracles in very different ways. He healed how many blind people in his ministry? Recorded.

Something like seven or eight or six. A certain number of blind people got healed on individual occasions. No two were done through the same method.

There were no two that were done alike. They all resulted in a blind man receiving his sight. But one case Jesus spit on the ground, made mud and put the mud in the guy's eye and told him to go wash it out.

Another time Jesus put his finger in his eye. Another time he just spoke to the man, healing and so forth. And you go through and find Jesus did not establish any normal methodology.

And maybe that's deliberate. Maybe that's so we would learn to trust in methodologies. I remember the first time I ever encountered a demon possessed person.

And the first time I knew of it anyway. I preached a message in a Christian camp. Actually our band played in a Christian camp and I preached afterwards and gave an altar call.

About six or so people came forward. One of them was a very attractive Mexican girl, but she was what ordinarily be attractive. But she was making all kinds of facial contortions.

I mean her face didn't relax for a minute and it wasn't just a nervous tick. It was twisted. It was really strange.

And she kept doing this. And I took these people with along with the band members into the back room to counsel them and so forth. And tell them what it meant to be Christian.

And then I sent each of these people off with one of the band members. And the guy, I don't know if I'd do this again, but I sent a guy off who was a member of the band off to counsel this girl. And I noticed that the whole time I was counseling the group of them, she was making these strange, real strange faces.

And it was almost as if she didn't know she was doing it. I mean it wasn't like she was trying to react to what I was saying with faces that exhibited disapproval. She just had this, it appeared to be involuntary, facial contortions going on.

Anyway, this guy took her out to talk to her a little more and pray with her. And he came back and he looked like he'd seen a ghost. And they said, I think you'd better deal with this one.

And I was just, I don't know, 20 years old and I'd never dealt with a demon possessed person. But the first thing, as soon as he said that, the first thing that came to my mind was, she's got a demon. And I don't diagnose that all the time or anything.

It's not something I jump to conclusions about. But it was just something I felt, I witnessed in my spirit she has a demon. And I was kind of scared, just because I felt unprepared.

I'd never dealt with this before. I didn't remember ever reading any books on how to deliver people from demons. At the same time I wasn't scared because I knew Jesus cast out demons and the apostles didn't.

I had every reason to believe I could do the same through his power. But I just felt a little inadequate. I didn't know what the right methods were.

And I tried to remember in my mind what had happened in the Bible. There were so many different kinds of cases I couldn't get a handle on any methodology. And so we sat her down and I did a whole bunch of different things.

I prayed with her, I rebuked the spirits, I asked her to repeat after me a confession of faith if she meant it. I don't remember all the things I did, I just was kind of blindly doing everything I could think of. And she got delivered.

She actually, all of a sudden her face totally relaxed, brightened, it's like she began to glow. Tears came to her eyes, she said, what a rush, and she began to speak in tongues. And she was delivered.

And we followed up on her and she was still delivered later. And I don't know what I did. All I know is I was trusting God and invoking the name of Jesus and so forth.

Well after that I realized, hey, demons are really real and I may need to be more prepared next time. So I got books about deliverance from people who had been into it and stuff. And I learned the methods and the procedures and so forth.

And I've had a few cases afterwards of successfully casting demons out of people, but more cases where it didn't happen. I mean where I really felt there was a demon present and it seemed like it was so, but it didn't work. And I've often wondered why, and I think the answer is because the first time it worked very dramatically.

But it's because I didn't know any methods. I just knew the Lord, you know. I didn't know any methodology to this.

I just knew that Jesus could get the demon out of there if I somehow, you know, I trusted him to do it. Whereas later on I began to trust more in the methodology. I know how to handle this kind of situation.

First you get them to forgive everybody they've ever held a grudge against. Next, now they have to ask them if they've been in the occult. Now they have to renounce the occult.

And now they've got to do this, now they've got to do that. Now you say these words, now you, you know, all this stuff. And those methods I guess work at times.

But the problem was that I began to focus on the method instead of just on the Lord. And you can do the same thing with other kinds of supernatural displays of God's power, healing or whatever. You can read the books, learn the methods, and then trust in the methods.

And Jesus didn't give us any grounds for doing that. He didn't teach any methods. The only thing he said is they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover.

And they shall cast out demons. The closest thing to a methodology he gave was laying hands on the sick, but even he sometimes healed without laying on of hands and so did the apostles on occasion. So even that was not necessarily a necessary method.

What we see is that God sovereignly, and in different ways at different times, chose to substantiate the word that was preached by doing a miracle or a sign. And this became a visible witness, a visible confirmation. Now suppose you don't get many miracles, even though you want them, even if you pray for them.

Suppose you just don't see many miracles. You might say, well then we're really impoverished in the church in the Western world because we don't see the miracles they see in Africa and in South America and Korea and many different places. In Indonesia we read about all this revival of miracles and everything.

And we say, man, we must be really people of little faith here in this country because we just don't see miracles like that very often. I have another theory, and it's not just to say that we, I'm not trying to defend ourselves against the charge of having little faith. It may be that we do have little faith.

My problem is that there's been many times I know I didn't have little faith. I know that I had 100% confidence in God to do something and I still didn't see miracles. Or not the miracles I wanted to see.

Sometimes it's different, God did something different. But I want to suggest to you something for your consideration. And that is, the charismatic movement in some sectors, of which many of us are a part, I don't mean this church here, but I mean many of us come from charismatic backgrounds, has made gifts of the Spirit, signs and wonders and miracles a thing to focus on in itself.

When it was not ever intended to be that. That it's become something that we've desired, and part of the reason is because it seems like an easy way to get a quick fix to a bad situation. Especially if we're sick or handicapped or something.

And so, it seems like an awful lot of the praying for the sick that goes on is praying for Christian sick people. And there's nothing wrong with doing that, by the way. But, if you're like me, you've been in services where a lot of sick people got prayed for and a few got healed.

Or sometimes none got instantly healed. Some of them got healed a little later and could say, well, I got prayed for on this occasion and got well better. That might be a miracle, it might not be.

But, we don't see in the Bible so much Christians getting healed. It was usually when evangelism was taking place that a healing was done to confirm the words of the unbelievers. Most of the miracles were done on the forefront of the mission.

Not where the established churches were. It wasn't that the churches began to be bless me clubs where we just all get together to get God to relieve all our pains. As a matter of fact, the few cases we know of where healing was desired and was not obtained was among Christians.

Paul's thorn in his flesh, whatever it was, he didn't get relief from it. Why? He was a Christian, he had grace for it. Timothy was certainly a Christian in the church and he had constant or repeated infirmities, the Bible says.

But Paul didn't say, now claim your healing, brother. He said, why don't you treat him with a little wine, that will help. There was another guy, an associate of Paul's, named Trophimus, who was sick and Paul said, I had to leave him sick.

In Miletum, I couldn't get him well. He was a Christian. No doubt Paul, who had healed so many others before, tried or prayed that Trophimus would be well too, but he apparently wasn't able to get him healed.

There was also a guy named Epaphras, who according to Philippians chapter 2 was an associate of Paul's and of the church of Philippi, who had become extremely sick and almost died, but he did get healed in the end. And Paul breathed a sigh of relief when it happened and said, that God had mercy on him and on me, lest I should have sorrow, but I'm sorry, he healed him. But the indication is that he was sick for a good long time and very close to death and that healing was by no means something that was in the bag, but God mercifully did heal him.

It's interesting that so many times among Christians in the New Testament, healing is denied them by God. But there are a great number of healings in the Bible among people who are not yet committed to believing in Jesus' ministry and that of the apostles. And in modern history too.

The study of modern missions will demonstrate, I think, that the majority of miracles that God is doing today are on the mission field, especially in third world missions and places where there's a confrontation between the gospel and pagan or occultic systems of religion, where God confirms the superiority of the gospel message by showing his power in these ways. And it seems like the miraculous power of God is most commonly seen at the vanguard, at the cutting edge of outreach, where the church is in contact with the world, and where the world needs to see some kind of confirmation of this message. After all, why should they believe a message that we tell them? Why should they believe our story more than someone else's? Well, God confirms it to them with signs following.

But you might say, but our society needs signs too. I mean, we've got a lot of unbelievers in our society. Yes, but there's another kind of witness.

Once the church has been established, there's another miracle that remains and is constant for the world to see. Jesus said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. In John 13, 35.

He also said in John 17, 21 through 23, he prayed for the unity of his people. He said, so that the world may know and that the world may believe that you have sent me. Now, this is not removing the validity of signs and wonders, and God still does them even among Christians at times.

But it suggests that there is a different kind of visible witness. Once the gospel has made a penetration into an area and has established a beachhead, and there is now a community of believers, the very lives of those believers are intended to be the visible witness. Now, when you're going to an area where there's no church, signs and wonders are the most miraculous way that God can confirm his word.

But where the church has been established, the ongoing presence of the church, of the Christian community, should provide the kind of visible witness that should convince the world. Look at the book of Acts, chapter 2. Beginning with verse 41, Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. Now, this was through a sign or a wonder.

The speaking in tongues that they heard miraculously was what got the attention of these people. But then there was a church in Jerusalem after this time, a big one, three thousand people in it. That's a pretty good-sized church even by today's standards.

And they continued to stand fastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.

So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And those, the Lord added to the church daily, those who were being saved. The witness of the church was powerful.

They had favor with all the people. They made an impression on society. How? Well, for one thing, the apostles were doing signs and wonders.

That obviously got people's attention. But the greater attention in the passage is given to what the church was doing. The church was exhibiting the joy of the Lord, was exhibiting self-sacrifice and service to each other, the rich giving to the poor and so forth, and sharing their concern and true Christian love and fellowship.

I mean, there is far more focus in these verses. There is a mention that the apostles were doing signs and wonders, but there's a much greater focus on what the other people were doing. And what they were doing was living as a Christian population, a Christian community, a church, relating as Christians ought to relate.

And this tended to give them favor with all the people and cause God to add to the church daily. Now, the church itself became a witness, not only verbally, but by the character of those who were in it. What would be more miraculous, for instance, than for you to stand up in front of a crowd of unbelievers and say, now watch, I'm going to do a miracle here.

Here is a black man, I'm going to turn him into a white man just by snapping my fingers. Or here is a zebra. Instantly I'm going to change its stripes.

Here's a leopard, I'm going to change its spots just with a wave of this magic wand. And then you do it. The black man turns white.

The leopard changes its spots. That would be as much a sign or a wonder as any ever recorded. But the Bible says, can an Ethiopian change his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? It says, if they can, then so may you who are accustomed to doing evil, turn and do good.

There is just as much of a miracle when a person who is a sinner by nature turns and begins to live a righteous Christian life. That is a miracle equal to an Ethiopian black man turning white, changing his skin, or a leopard changing its spots. That's Jeremiah 13.23. It is a miracle when people's lives change.

We take it for granted because as Christians it's happened to us, and it's happened to so many people we know, that it ceases to be amazing. We cease to be amazed. And it is nonetheless an amazing thing.

Even the world maybe ceases to be amazed at times, but the Church, when it is living out the Christian life consistently before the world, is a visible witness that the world cannot turn around and ignore. Often they try to extinguish it. They try to silence the Church, or compromise the Church, or drive the Church out of town, or do something like that, because the Christians who are living a holy life among them bring conviction.

Their very lives are a confirmation that the message they are following is the right one. They are living the way everybody knows they ought to live, and the way that no one can live in their own strength, but only what God can do in a person's life. Now, let me give you three areas that the Bible suggests are areas where there could be a visible witness in the changed lives and relationships of Christians.

One, of course, is in the very servant heart of the believer. It is a mark of a changed character that a person ceases to press for his own way, for his own rights, for his own gratification, and puts those things aside permanently if necessary, in order to seek the good of someone else. I mentioned Mother Teresa earlier.

Why does she do that? Well, you know, people may give various explanations, but most would have to just say because she's a different kind of person than the average person. She is a person who is full of the love of God. Now, I realize she's a controversial person.

She's said some kinds of things that most evangelicals don't feel real comfortable with. I mean, she's a Roman Catholic. Obviously, Roman Catholics and evangelicals have some differences, and some evangelicals feel uncomfortable with some of the things she's said.

She's said things like she doesn't really make that much of a difference between a Hindu and a Buddhist and a Muslim and a Christian and a Jew. Well, that bothers evangelicals, because we know that there's a big difference in God's sight. And maybe some of the things Mother Teresa says are not really right on.

But it's not by having right-on statements that people will know who a disciple is, but by love. And in that respect, Mother Teresa outshines most evangelicals I know. And has made a tremendous impact on anyone who's been exposed to her.

The world knows her name. And I don't think she necessarily wants to be known by the world, but the love that she exhibits, the servant attitude she has, has become a witness that almost everyone speaks reverently of her when they speak of her at all. Because she is a woman, I think, of God.

That's my opinion. Some evangelicals have a different opinion. If Jesus said, you know disciples by their love, I'd say that she qualifies.

And she does it for Jesus. She makes it very clear. Some of her ideas might not be biblically informed, but that's not anywhere near as important as the love.

The Bible says, though I have all knowledge and understand all mysteries and have not loved, it profits me nothing. You might have a far more complete theological knowledge than she has. But you may be looking up to her a great deal in heaven, regardless of whether you agree with all the theological statements she makes.

A servant's heart is something that adorns the gospel. When people see a person willing to lay down their lives for other people, that is a witness. And of course, when that's coupled with a verbal witness, it's all the more powerful.

But even where a verbal witness may not be possible, a visible witness is very convincing. Eric Little, the man who's made famous in the movie Chariots of Fire, who won the Olympic gold medal for what was it, 400 meters in 1920, was it? 24? I forget. I don't know the details.

I'm not an athletics buff. But, you know, he became very famous. And he was very public about his convictions.

In fact, his convictions were made sensational news by the fact that his particular convictions about running on Sunday caused him to be willing to give up the chance to win a gold medal, which he certainly would have won. As it turned out in the Providence Guide, he was able to run a different race, which did not involve him having to run on Sunday. And he won a gold medal in an event that he had never trained for.

He came out five meters ahead of the person that was expected to win that one. But it's also mentioned in the movie, although it's not a big deal in the main event, he went on to China. He was born in China.

But after he won in the Olympics, he went on to China and served as a missionary. When the Japanese invaded China in World War II, he and all other Westerners were put into detention camps. They were not concentration camps of the sort where they were tortured or made to do forced labor, but it was still a very third world, very unsanitary kind of a place and a very undesirable place to stay, and they were detained there.

He died there of a brain tumor, as it turned out. But prior to his death, and even while he was suffering immensely from brain tumor, he was noted for his cheerful servant's attitude. There was a latrine in the camp that never... The drains were always clogged and they always began to fill up with sewage.

The human excrement was, as I understand, about ankle deep all over the floor of this place. No one really wanted to go and shovel it up, so he voluntarily did it. He'd go and he'd be whistling hymns or singing hymns while he was doing it, cheerfully, and that was just his whole spirit.

He was that way all the time. Even when he was dying of a brain tumor that was growing and there was intense pain in his head, he still maintained this cheerful attitude and always willing to lay down his life for others. And, you know, it made a profound impression on the people in that camp.

You can't... I mean, even if you don't know of any of them who got saved, you know there must have been some who did. Or if they didn't, they are without excuse. To see a changed life of a man who's totally given up his own preferences in order to serve others, a servant who serves with a true servant's heart is an adornment, an ornament of the gospel.

Paul said that even as he spoke to actual servants, actual slaves, when he wrote to them in Titus chapter 2, in verses 6 through 8, he says, likewise... well, a little later, I should say, a little later in Titus... verses 9 through 10. He says, Exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. That word is interesting.

The behavior of these servants can adorn the gospel, adorn the doctrine. The doctrine is verbally communicated, but it is adorned visibly by the servant's attitude of a Christian servant. Of course, this is written to actual bond servants, which we are not, but we are supposed to imitate the mind of a servant, and it's quite clear that Paul indicated that a servant operating in a Christian spirit is an ornament of the gospel.

Earlier, it says in verse 6, Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded in all things, showing yourselves to be a pattern of good works, a visible witness, a pattern for others to follow, in doctrines showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound in speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. It's obvious that a holy life and a refusal to compromise and a willingness to lay down your life and live as a Christian should, removes any possibility of people discrediting your message. In 1 Peter 2, verse 12, 1 Peter 2, 12, Peter says, Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Here he's talking about people who are inclined to speak evil of you and of your gospel, but they have to change their tone, because they observe your good works, because your conduct is honorable. And so, a consistent Christian life, which is so rare, even among people who profess to be Christians, is very much a visible witness, and it is that which silences unbelievers. Also in 1 Peter 2, verse 15, he says, For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

You put them to silence, their objections, their criticisms of the gospel are put to silence when they see someone who consistently is doing good. And it's the will of God that you should put them to silence that way. It doesn't say by argument, although it does go on to say in chapter 3, that you should be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you.

Yet, why would they ask you anything? Because they see something. They see something and they wonder, what is this all about? Just like when they saw a miracle and said, what's the story here? What's this all about? And it gave the apostles a chance to preach. So when they see a life that's a life apart, a life which, as Paul says in Philippians 2, shines like lights in this dark world, they say, what is that? Where's that light coming from? What is this all about? Why are you so different? Philippians 2, verses 14 and 15, says, Do all things without complaining or disputing.

That's a servant's heart. You do things without complaining. You do things without disputing.

This is Philippians 2, 14 and 15. It says, That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. Now notice, you're holding out the word.

You're verbally bearing witness to the truth. But the way you do things, the spirit in which you do things, you do all things without murmuring, without complaining, without disputing. You live a blameless life in the midst of a crooked generation, and you shine as a light, and it attracts attention to the gospel.

Now, not attention to yourself. Of course, the attention might initially be to yourself. But when the attention is drawn to you, that gives you a chance to turn the attention to God.

Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men, that men may see your good works and glorify your Father. Not glorify you for your good works. They see your good works, and they glorify your Father.

That's in Matthew chapter 5. What verse? 16? So, Jesus and Paul and Peter all make it clear that it's a powerful witness to live out a servant-minded, holy, uncompromised, consistent Christian life before the world. And that means you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. Jesus exhibited this in John chapter 13, when he girded himself with a towel and washed his disciples' feet.

That was a dirty job, and a lowly job. And it was the epitome of servanthood. It was the lowest of household servants who were given that disgusting job.

And yet Jesus said in John 13, in verse 15, I've set an example for you that you should do as I have done. If I, your Master and your Lord, have washed your feet, how much more should you wash each other's feet? The servant mind of the Christian is something that the world has nothing they can say against. They can say you're stupid, they can say you're naive, but they can't say you're evil.

You exhibit the righteousness of the gospel and of what it does in the life of a Christian. And the fact that it really is the power of God and salvation, when you exhibit that you are living saved from your former selfish conduct, and living in a new way that is actually an adornment, an ornament to the gospel. Now, certain kinds of relationships are especially visible witnesses.

The Christian family, for example, can be. If you happen to be a family person eventually, you should view your family as just another tool to visibly glorify God in the eyes of unbelievers. It is extremely rare in our time to find, for example, mothers who are willing to live more simply so that they can stay home with their kids, and who are devoted to their husbands, and are not always in competition with their husbands, and are simply cheerfully, consistently submissive to their husbands.

In Titus chapter 2, again, we see Paul talking about this as a visible witness, again, verses 4 and 5. Titus 2, verses 4 and 5 says that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be blasphemed. In other words, their behavior toward their children, toward their husbands, toward their role as homemakers, that behavior causes the word of God to be made credible, and prevents it from being blasphemed. It is a visible witness, likewise husbands.

It's very rare to find husbands and fathers who are committed to their children and committed to their wives, who stay home at night with their families, rather than going out drinking with the guys, or just going out bowling or whatever else. Not that any of those things are bad, but when that becomes the pattern, every night is spent trying to get away from the wife and from the kids. Or when weekends are spent in ways that, you know, where the father just watches television and drinks beer, while his kids are running wild without his attention, without his care in their lives, that's obviously the normal pattern in the world.

And people are often, they often take a double-take, you know, when they see a father who stays home with his kids on the weekend, and does things with them, and stays home with his wife at night, for the most part. I mean, people aren't accustomed to that. Paul said in Ephesians 5 that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for her.

And when people see a husband do that, it's unusual. And it's unusual enough to make them in many cases say, well, they've got a pretty good family, I wish my family was like that. They must have something going on that most people don't have.

And when they find out that you're Christians, it adorns the gospel. It adorns the gospel. A Christian family life.

Likewise, children. Not all children in Christian homes are Christian children. For example, I really don't know yet how many of my little kids are true Christians.

Obviously, they all believe in Jesus, they all know the right words to say. But as far as which ones have had a really, a regeneration in their hearts, I'm not able to tell. Not yet.

And so I'm not, at this point, with my children the age of their own, I'm not willing to vouch for the fact that they are necessarily Christian kids. If they were, and behaved differently than other kids, that would be a remarkable testimony, not only to their peers, but to the parents of children who are out of control. But even if my kids are not yet believers, I mean, believers in the sense of regenerated believers, I mean, they are believers, they believe in Jesus and God and so forth, but I don't really know that they know him yet.

I think one of them may, but I, in fact, I suspect that is the case. But even if we don't argue that they are already Christians, the fact that they are kids who are in good relationship with each other, that they are obedient to their parents, that they are learning, you know, to be considered to others and so forth, sets them apart as kids who are raised under different principles than the average. And if that happens to have been a Christian home that they were raised in, again, it speaks well of the gospel and what it does for families.

Remember, the gospel should be good for people. The gospel, if it's from God, should make their lives better, should enrich their lives. And one of the areas where people most want their lives enriched is in their family life.

They often are too selfish to do anything to enrich it. Many people are so committed to their self-interest, that although they wish it was sort of a pipe dream that they had the ideal family, they never will have it because they are so committed to themselves instead of to their families, that, I mean, they are just too weak morally or they are just too selfish, too blind to know what to do to have a nice family. Yet I don't know anybody who doesn't want their family to be idyllic.

Everybody wants their family life to be a haven. Everybody would like to come home to a family that's peaceful, where there's a haven from the world, a shelter, a fortress to come home to. But most people don't come home to families like that.

When they see a family like that, deep calls into deep. There's something deep inside that some yearning says, Man, I wish my home was like that. I wish my kids were like that.

I wish my wife was like that. I wish my husband was like that. What is it about these people? Why do they have it and I don't? And once again, it's a miracle.

It's a miracle when people relate well. Because people by nature are selfish. And when you see people laying down their lives for each other, and their family is a unit that is a consistent witness of a higher standard and a different way of life, then it becomes a visible witness.

It adorns the gospel of God. It prevents the word of God from being blasphemed. And it attracts people to the message just by what they see happening.

Well behaved, well trained children. High quality kids. The Bible indicates that they are a force for evangelism.

Over in 1st... or in Psalms 127. Yeah, Psalm 127. A short psalm which is probably the most... best known psalm about children.

In verses 3 through 5 makes this statement about them. Behold, children are the heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

In some margins, some readings say they shall overcome the enemies in the gate. The man with the most kids is more in the bargaining position in the community. He's got more voting members in his family.

He's got a bigger team playing with him. And bless his men who's got a lot of those. They're like arrows.

They're like weapons in the war. Well, of course, the warfare we're involved in. What kind of war is it? It's a war of truth against error.

It's a war to promote the kingdom of God and drive back the kingdom of darkness. It's a war on the issues of which have to do with getting the gospel into the hearts of unbelievers. And to have a lot of arrows in this war is of value.

The gospel is enhanced when the Christians are well armed for this battle. And in the fray, actually taking territory. And one of the things that contributes to that is a quiver full of children.

That is, of course, godly children, a bunch of rebellious children is no blessing to anybody. The assumption is that the godly person will raise his children to be godly, and he will have at his disclosal more resources for the battle. Children themselves are a resource for evangelism.

And many people have discovered this and tapped that resource effectively. Y1 has what they call the king's kids, for example. Kids of various ages go overseas and do songs and dramas and so forth and make an impact.

But kids who are not just following every Ninja Turtle fad or whatever that comes along, and are not grasping for material things all the time, and who are content and happy and respectful, and especially evangelistic, is a tremendous witness. And even if the kids are not evangelistic, because they may not yet be Christians, yet the fact that they are happy and secure and loved and respectful, because they have Christian parents who are teaching them those things, is a tremendous visible witness to the world around them. But in addition to the Christian family, you've got the Christian church, the witness of the church as a whole.

And of course, all of our relationships in the church should bear witness to the truthfulness of what we believe and what we say with our mouths. Unfortunately, what many people call the church has not been a good visible witness. Unfortunately, the word church today has been associated with this building and that building and another building and the people who have their names on the membership rolls of the corporations that hold their official meetings in those buildings.

The true church, of course, is simply the people of God. Some of them are in this church, some are in another church, some are in another church. They're all over the place, and some are not going to any of those churches.

But they are living for Jesus Christ and living like Christians. And the true church, the true community of believers, the way they act toward unbelievers and toward each other, the way they share their possessions, the way they give up sleep to counsel each other late into the night or to go and volunteer work on their day off to help somebody who's got a big job that needs to be done or something, just the way they serve one another as a community is a witness. The early Christians were spoken about by the Romans, we are told, as those who love one another.

It was common for people to say, behold how they love one another, these people, these Christians. And that should be the visible witness of the church as a whole, not only the family or the individual life, but the whole church corporately. We saw in Acts chapter 2 that there was tremendous joy.

The world is desperately looking for joy. When they see people who really are joyful, not people who just have artificially pasted on a waxy smile because they know that as Christians they're supposed to be rejoicing in the Lord, but people who are obviously unruffled by crises that come up. You know, storms don't sink their joy.

They basically are cheerful for the most part, and consistently so. This testifies that they have some truth that most people don't have. They have some reality that others are not aware of, and it creates a confirmation.

The church's role in peacemaking, that is in bringing reconciliation between estranged parties, is a witness. Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called the children of God. Who will call them that? Well, God will call them that, of course.

But it doesn't say God will call them his children. It says they will be called the children of God, as if that's what they will be recognized as by their very activity of peacemaking. Not peacekeeping.

Peacekeeping is usually defined in military terms. Peacemaking is a ministry of reconciliation, where persons are conciliatory toward parties that are hostile. Christian counselors, marriage counselors and so forth, obviously are involved in this.

But Christians should be the kind of people that when they walk into dispute, if there's a fight or a brawl or an argument taking place, that the Christian just has a calming effect and a reasonable approach and a fairness that promotes peace in a situation that was volatile previous to their appearing. Now, of course, Jesus didn't say, I didn't come just to bring peace, but also a sword. And sometimes Christians, their very presence irritates unbelievers and causes riots.

Paul sometimes caused riots when he went places and the riots wouldn't have been there if he hadn't been there. But the fact of the matter is, Christianity is really a relationship, and it calls people to a relationship, of unity and peace with other people of goodwill, and even a desire to bring other people into peace and harmony with God and with their fellow man. And social involvement is often something Christians are called to do.

Again, that is maybe not always appreciated by the world. The pro-choice advocates do not appreciate the social involvement of the pro-life Christians. But it's a witness.

They think it's strange. They don't know how to interpret it. That these people, in order to save the life of an unborn child they've never met, would go to jail for two or three years.

Or get their arms broken by the police. Or have things thrown at them. But why do these people do this? The pro-choice heathen don't know why, and they don't appreciate it.

But the witness is not lost on them. They know that these people are standing for something. They may not approve of what they're standing for, but they know they mean it.

And Christians should take a firm stand as a group against things that we know to be wrong. Unfortunately, Christians too often compromise, or people who call themselves Christians compromise, in those same areas that other Christians are standing against. And that weakens and dilutes the witness of the Church.

But the visible light of the relationships of Christians with each other, the very morality and servanthood of individual Christians, and even Christian families in particular, are very powerful visible witnesses. I think as powerful as signs and wonders, maybe more so. Because a sign or a wonder happens in a moment, and then it's over.

Whereas the presence of consistently Christian lives is a sustained testimony that's always there whenever anyone looks that direction. That there is a God, and that the Gospel changes lives, and that it is what all people need, and that it is the truth. And therefore, in addition to the verbal witness, Christians need to be very concerned that they are participating in a visible witness to the world of the Gospel and its validity.

And there may be times when you go long periods of time without a good opportunity to speak about the Lord's people. But your life at all times, whether you have frequent encounters where you talk with a non-Christian or infrequent, at all times your life can be very witness, and will often give occasion for you to speak to unbelievers because they'll be so impressed by the way you live. So I do not want to rule out signs and wonders as a visible witness.

That still happens, and God still uses it. But as I said, I think those happen more often on the frontiers where new ground is being broken, there's no church there to be a witness. And therefore God does just unusual supernatural things to confirm the word where the missionaries are going.

Miracles still happen, somewhat less frequently it seems, once the church has been established. But that's because there's a more important kind of witness, that bears witness to God's greater priorities. God's greatest priority is not to heal the sick, because God's greatest priority is not to look out for the physical, temporal needs of man.

He does care about that. But his greatest priority is to change sinners into holy people. And the fact that the Christian is living a holy life is the witness to the fact that that's what God's priority is, and that God can do it, and God supernaturally changes people.