Witnessing Your Faith

Newsletter article for September 1997

© 1997 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

A witness in a court of law is someone who tells what he knows, or what he has seen. In the book of Acts the witnesses were the Apostles who had witnessed Jesus’ teaching, miracles, death, and resurrection. Because of what they had seen and believed about Jesus, the Apostles went out and told all who would listen about Jesus.

You are a witness whether you know it or not, and whether you want to or not. You show what you believe by what you say, and also by what you do. For example, Chicken Little believed that the sky was falling, so he went around telling everyone that the sky was falling. His actions were a direct result of what he believed to be true, despite the fact that he was wrong, and who knows what he was trying to accomplish except put people in a panic (never a good idea).

Your actions also show what you believe. It has been said, “actions speak louder than words.” If you believe that Jesus loves you and has forgiven you of all your sins (because He does, and has) then you will act differently than someone who is unsure of God’s love, or thinks that God hates him, and feels guilty over sin. This difference in action is similar to the difference between someone who has just won the sweepstakes, and someone who just received their eviction notice on the same day as they were fired from their job.

The language you use also is a witness to what you believe. Obviously, if you only talk about Jesus all day long that will be a witness (although it might say that you need to get out more and find some other interests). But your words are still a witness, even when you aren’t specifically talking about Jesus. If you are mean to people, and put them down, and talk about people behind their back then that is a witness to what you believe. It isn’t a good witness. Such actions say that a person really doesn’t believe that God loves them or forgives them, otherwise they would be more loving and forgiving themselves. So if you are kind to people even when they are not kind to you, that is a wonderful witness to your Christian faith, even if you do not bring up the name of Jesus until later.

You may notice that I have already alluded to both good and bad types of witnessing. Whether it is through words or deeds, your witness merely betrays the state of your heart. This is why as Christians we need to put our faith into action. If we, who are forgiven, do not forgive, who will believe us when we say that Jesus forgives us our sins? Likewise, if we, who are loved by God, do not love, who will believe us when we tell others that God loves them?

Much of our witnessing occurs unconsciously. That is, we don’t often consider how people will respond when we treat them kindly, we just do it out of habit. This is not a bad thing, but such unconscious witnessing has its limits. People might know that we act the way we do because we are Christians, but then again, they might not. Sometimes we need to consciously and deliberately tell people about Jesus. (Here is where people start to feel nervous, and begin to think of excuses of why “I can’t do that.”) It can be a frightening thing to witness your faith. Despite the fact that the Gospel is “Good News” it isn’t always received as such. However, there are some things you can do to overcome the paralyzing fear which would prevent you from verbally telling someone about your faith in Jesus.

The first step to reduce your anxiety is to know what you are talking about. Who is Jesus? What has He done for you? This is where the article (“How to Read the Bible”) in last month’s Newsletter really pays off. The only way you are able to know for sure who Jesus is and what He has done for you is to study and learn the Bible. Now we see that there are two advantages to this: your faith is strengthened, and now you are able to share your faith with others so that they can know Jesus, too! When you learn that you are a Christian because Jesus died to save you from your sins, you can begin to tell others. Even children can do this.

Once you know a little about what you are talking about, you can begin to look for opportunities to witness your faith to people. Not every moment is a good opportunity to talk about Jesus. We still need to get our jobs done at work, and that too can be a witness for Christ, and an opportunity to talk about Jesus. When others see that you are a hard worker, and dedicated to doing quality work, then you can give credit to Christ, who gives you strength, rather than taking credit yourself.

It takes practice to gain some measure of comfort and confidence in talking to others about Jesus. At first, you will very likely feel uncomfortable, but just remember Jesus’ words to His disciples in Matthew 10:19-20 “Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” When you are familiar with Scripture, and know just what God has done for you, it will become easier to apply the Bible stories to life so that your witness will not be awkward at all, but will come very naturally, because Scripture is God’s word, so when you tell people about Jesus it is God talking to them, and not you alone.

In our Sunday Morning Bible studies this Autumn we will be learning more about how to witness our faith. We will study the Biblical foundations of what we believe, and we will learn how to speak to others about Jesus in a very natural way. This will be a good series for every Christian at St. Timothy, even if you have no intentions of evangelizing, because it will help you to strengthen your faith by learning what you believe and why you believe it. I will not ask anyone to put this into practice at any specific time or place, but I cannot promise that the Holy Spirit will not. If He does ask you to be a witness, then it is much easier (and maybe effective) if you have prepared for it.

God’s blessings to you always through Christ Jesus our Lord.