In St. Mark's Gospel, chapter 16, verse 15, we
read the words of Jesus: "GO INTO ALL THE WORLD
AND PREACH THE GOOD NEWS TO ALL CREATION."
It is known as the "great commission." History confirms
that when the church has obeyed that commission it has
become alive, exciting, and growing, and when for various
reasons it has disobeyed that commission it has become
stagnant, dead and decreasing in numbers. The great joy,
or the great problem, for the Christian, depending on how
you look at it, is that part and parcel of being a Christian is
that we are to give witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we may not take that very seriously,
shrugging off the call of Christ, by saying, "Oh, that is the
minister's job" or, "I don't think it is right to shove my belief
on someone else" or "religion is a private matter," or "I am
a shy person when it comes to things like that". Those
excuses may sound great, but are shattered in face of the
words of Jesus, who said in Luke 9:26 "IF ANYONE IS
ASHAMED OF ME AND MY WORDS, THE SON OF
MAN WILL BE ASHAMED OF HIM WHEN HE COMES IN
HIS GLORY AND IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER OF
THE HOLY ANGELS." If I am hearing correctly Jesus and
the testimony of the rest of the New Testament, it means
that if we refuse to give witness to our Lord we in fact are
denying Him, and we will be rejected by Jesus Himself,
because no matter what we say, and how religious we
may seem, we are not one of Jesus' disciples. Does that
help to get our attention, and add some importance to the
question "how can a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ
witness to Him."
One excellent outline of how to witness is given by
John in his Gospel, chapter 1, verses 6 to 9: "There came
a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He
came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that
through him all men might believe. He himself was not
the light, he came only as a witness to the light. The true
light that gives light to every man was coming into the
world." If we examine these verses, we see at once that
they contain three statements about John the Baptist's
testimony: 1. He was not the Light; but
2. was sent to bear witness to the Light, in order that 3. all
men through him might believe. I suggest that if only
these three points are followed, the witness of any
Christian, no matter how halting it may be, will be
effective.
The believer must recognize in the depth of his
being that he is not the answer to other people's problems,
that he is not the light. A delegation from Jerusalem came
to visit John the Baptist to ask him who he claimed to be.
Was he the Messiah, or Elijah, or maybe Moses? John
rejected all three suggestions, claiming to be only a
"voice", one who had come to prepare the way of the
Lord. When he saw Jesus, he said, "He (Jesus) must
increase, but I must decrease." John wanted men and
women to forget him and see only the King. This should
be a goal of every true witness.
If we are to bear a witness to Jesus, clearly we
must know something about Him. And this means that we
must have a message. What is our message? The major
parts of the answer to this question are suggested in our
story. They are: 1. A witness to who Jesus Christ is; 2. A
witness to what He has done; and 3. A witness to how a
man or woman can come to know Him personally.
We witness to who Jesus Christ is. John did this
when he said, "I have seen and testify that this is the Son
of God." Jesus said of Himself, "I and my Father are one
(John 10:30)." He also told His disciples "He that has
seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9)." Most non-
Christians have never actually faced these claims, and
many have never even heard of them.
Then too, we witness to what Jesus Christ has
done. We want to share particularly the meaning of His
death on the cross , when we try to tell others about Him.
In his day, John the Baptist did this by reference to the
Jewish sacrifices. He said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world." Jewish people
understood that a sacrifice involving innocent blood had to
be made to obtain forgiveness. They also knew that in the
daily services of the temple, lambs and goats were
sacrificed as a substitute for those who had sinned. On
this basis, John , in pointing to Jesus and declaring
"behold the Lamb of God," identified him as means
through which our sins would be removed.
Finally, we also witness to the way in which a
person can come to know and trust Jesus for himself.
John did it by pointing to the fact that Jesus is the giver of
the Spirit. He meant that Jesus Christ was the One who
would give of His spirit to those who would follow Him.
Or, to put it another way, it means that Jesus would come
to live within the lives of His followers. Thus, when we
bear witness to Jesus today, we talk not only of who He is
and of what He has done, but also, of how a person can
come to have Him enter his life and fill it.
Someone will ask, "you say that Christ must enter
our lives, but you have not told us how that can happen.'
The answer is that it happens by faith as we receive Him
or open the door of our lives to His knocking. In
Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door
and knock. If any man hears my voice, and opens the
door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and He
with me. There are few greater joys in the Christian life
afforded the believer than to have a person respond to
Jesus by trusting in Him for forgiveness and inviting Jesus
to be His indwelling Lord. May we be good stewards of
the Gospel: GO AND TELL.
In Christian love,
Floyd McPhee 
