Look at Me, I’m Important

For some reason we thought this was a good idea. The three of us anxiously waited. It was almost 12:30. We had strategically chosen the school parking lot right across from the biggest church in town, on the busiest street that passed through town. Any minute now thousands of people would pass by us and see our witnessing efforts. Surely some of them would be swayed by the information we were presenting to them.

Earlier that Sunday morning and the evening before, we had made our plans and preparation. We had carefully crafted our sign on a large piece of poster board. We had figured out a way to mount it on top of that little Chevy Chevette. We would have to wait until we got to our location to actually display the sign for fear it wouldn’t hold up as we traveled down the road. We had no doubt this was going to be an effective witness for our faith.

Being the youngest of the three of us, and still living in town, I was a little apprehensive as we pulled out of the driveway and headed the few miles to our destination. I would probably run into someone who knew me. My fear was short lived however, as my zeal to share my knowledge quickly overtook that fear. Certainly the Father’s blessing would be upon us and we would get the desired results.

We pulled into the school parking lot about noon. We hurried out of the car and took the sign out of the back. Wow, what a beautiful sign! We were proud of our efforts. We quickly mounted the sign on top of the car. There the message was displayed for the whole world to see in big bold letters. “HIS NAME IS YAHWEH, not the Lord.” The big x-mark through “Lord” was a nice touch. It really emphasized our point. We sauntered back into the car and waited.

The people slowly began to filter out of the church. They couldn’t help but see us as they headed out of the parking lot. Several churches in the area let out about the same time and before you know it the street was filled with traffic, mostly churchgoers who would take note of the important knowledge we had to share with them. The back hatch of the Chevette was filled with tracts. We were prepared. They would stop and we would enlighten them.

Well, we didn’t get to talk to a lot of people that afternoon, but we did manage to make some people angry. Others were just confused. One person did stop to check us out, a county sheriff’s deputy making sure we weren’t disturbing the peace. It was all over in about 20 minutes and we went home licking our wounds, not quite sure where we had gone wrong.

The above account is a true story that occurred over 20 years ago. It is a prime example of ineffective witnessing of the Glad Tidings. I call it the, “I know something you don’t so I’m going to share my superior knowledge with you” method of witnessing. This type of witnessing rarely works. When it does work it seems to attract others who also have a need to share their superior knowledge on some important subject. I can’t imagine it does much to further the message of the Kingdom.

You Poor, Poor Pagans

A slightly different variation on the above witnessing technique is what I’ll call “bashing the other guys religion”. The person with this mindset knows that whatever he believes is the absolute truth, therefore by definition anyone who disagrees with him is either hopelessly misled or an evil pagan. Either way the only possible way for this person to witness is to bash someone else’s beliefs.

A typical scenario might go something like this:

Mr. Truth: “So Ralph, I understand you’re a Christian?”

Ralph: (with joy in his voice) “Yes, I am. I read the Bible every day and love the Lord.”

Mr. Truth: (dripping with sarcasm) “That’s too bad.”

Ralph: (hesitantly) “What do you mean? I thought you used the Bible as the basis of your faith. I thought you believed in God too.”

Mr. Truth: (with vigor) “God, which god do you mean?”

Ralph: “You know, the Almighty Creator.”

Mr. Truth: “No Ralph, I’m sorry, but you aren’t really worshiping the True Creator. Your beliefs are nothing but pagan worship.

Ralph: Silent and totally perplexed.

In the above scenario, perhaps Mr. Truth actually had some insight he could share with Ralph. The truth of the scriptures is important in our walk with the Father. His condescending, mean spirited attitude will guarantee few people will ever listen to what he has to say. There is no love or joy in this type of witnessing. Sadly this type of evangelizing is prevalent among certain groups of believers.

I’m Don’t know, But My Pastor Has All the Answers

The Apostle Peter instructs us with these words, “But set apart Yahweh Elohim in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” In the heading to this section I could have just as easily substituted rabbi, priest, elder, minister, or even pope, for the word pastor. We all need training in the scriptures. We all need somebody to lead and mentor us as we learn of our faith. We all need to be taught by those Yahweh has placed over us in our spiritual walk.

These are people our Heavenly Father has brought into our lives to help us along the narrow pathway, but not when we are witnessing. Peter wasn’t kidding when he told us to always be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope within us. To effectively witness to unbelievers and believers alike we must show a confidence (not arrogance) based on an accurate understanding of and zeal for the Word. I know I’m not likely to follow someone to their place of worship if they can’t effectively and passionately explain the hope that is in their own hearts. I really don’t care what their pastor knows.

Now I’m not saying we all need to be Biblical scholars before we can be an effective witness for the Kingdom of Heaven, but too often new converts are sent out ill prepared to show the world why Yahweh’s way of life is better than any other way of life. Paul wrote the following to Timothy, “And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Yahshua the Messiah.” It was commonplace in the Jewish culture that Timothy was raised in, to be instructed in the scriptures from the time of one’s youth. Most of us don’t have that same training today. We need to take time to learn the Word so we can be an effective witness for the Father.

What Works Best?

I’ve given you a couple of examples of ineffective witnessing. Ok, so what works then? How do we really convey to those around us that we have something they want and need? How do we explain the beauty and preciousness of the relationship we have with our Savior and our Heavenly Father? This is really the easy part.

Yahshua the Messiah said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” It really is this easy. The most effective witness we can have for the Kingdom of Yahweh is in the way we live our everyday lives. There is something else our Savior told us. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.”

Most believers claim to have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. That Spirit should shine through so strongly in our lives that everyone we come in contact with can see a difference in our attitudes, our demeanor, our conduct, and our way of life. Those whom the Spirit is leading to hunger and thirst after righteousness will recognize and be attracted to that difference in us. Most of the time they’ll approach us and the witnessing can begin. They want some of the same fruit that the Spirit is bringing forth in your life.

I want to share one other thought on being an example to those around us. There was a time many years ago that my wife and I thought nothing of going to see an R-rated movie. This was when we both thought of ourselves as devout believers. I find this kind of mindset is quite common among believers. I used the example of movies, but it could be almost anything our society accepts as appropriate. We somehow separate our spiritual life, and what we accept or reject as appropriate, from our secular life and the types of things we are willing to do, because we are “mature adults”. I’m convinced this is one of the more insidious, effective techniques that satan uses to destroy our witness to others. If he can get us to look like the world and suppress the functioning of the Holy Spirit in our lives, he’s on his way to winning the battle.

Conclusion

I have learned a lot about witnessing in the last 25 years. I’m still not as good at it as I should be at times. Some people have the gift to evangelize. For you, these things I’ve written probably seem obvious. To the rest of us it can be a lot of hard work, but I think a necessary duty of each believer. Matthew 28: 19-20 gives the disciples of Yahshua a clear mandate to bring forth the message of salvation to the whole world. We should count ourselves among His disciples.

There is too much bad, ineffective witnessing among the Body right now. Too many of us aren’t willing to make the changes in our lives to be the shining lights we need to be. Much of nominal Christianity has become all about making money and making the converts feel good about themselves. The so called “sacred name movement” of which I was once a part, has never had an effective witness to the world. They are pretty much one issue oriented. The Messianic movement seems to have a problem with lack of leadership and consensus on direction. Perhaps our Father is about to do a work like nothing we’ve seen in 2000 years. Make sure you have your lamp filled with oil.

Scott Leys