23rd Sunday after Pentecost

November 3, 1996

Being an Effective Witness

I Thessalonians 2:9-13

One of the greatest tragedies of modern Christianity is the failure of God's people to witness effectively. It's not that they don't know the right Bible verses, the appropriate strategies or the latest techniques. The problem resides in the messengers -- in us. Without a doubt, it is becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between the saved and the lost, the believer and the unbeliever, the saint and the sinner. Many Christians have been so successful in assimilating contemporary values into their lifestyle that they lack the distinctive qualities of real discipleship.

Ironically, as more and more people begin to seek spiritual fulfillment and the meaning of life, they bypass the gospel for the ghetto of mystical experience. A couple of years ago, a woman wrote a book about a life-after-death experience. She claimed to have died on an operating table during surgery and had a conversation with Jesus in heaven before being brought back to life by her doctors. Today, she tells her story to standing-room-only crowds who long to hear her comforting words about everyone going to heaven, including beloved pets. Why do people listen to her? One of the reasons they deny the veracity of biblical truth for these empty promises relates to the absence of any significant testimony within the lives of co-workers, classmates and friends who carry the name of Christ.

For the apostle Paul, his testimony included more than words; it incorporated his entire life. God used Paul to plant new churches as he spread the good news about Jesus to the Gentile world. The secret of his success was based largely on a willingness to model the Christ-like life. In I Thessalonians 2:9-13, Paul reminds those Christians how he behaved when he was with them. His actions serve as a paradigm for Christians today if they follow four essential steps to being an effective witness.

Step One: Free Yourself From Prohibitive Dependencies

The first bi-vocational preacher of the gospel was the apostle Paul. Whenever he went to a new community he relied on his skill in tent making to provide for his needs. Occasionally he made exceptions and allowed the local Christians or another church to support his missionary endeavors, but Paul never wanted to be financially dependent upon those to whom he witnessed.

In this letter to the Thessalonians, he notes three reasons for being free from prohibitive dependencies. First, Paul never wanted a suspicion of greed to cloud the judgment of would-be converts (2:5). Even today, many skeptics believe ministers are in their vocation for the money. By refusing to accept "love offerings" from the local people, Paul precluded the development of doubts about his motivation for preaching in their community.

Likewise, Paul did not want to be a burden upon his new converts (2:9). He was not recruiting supporters for "Apostle Paul, Inc." and did not want to trouble these babes in Christ with financial hardship. Neither did he want them to feel resentful about their tithe to the Lord.