April 2017 Partner Letter
Have you ever considered how important your testimony as a Christian or your personal reputation is? Did you know that your reputation could decide whether someone else goes to heaven or not? We are talking about salvation. Let’s look at what the Bible says:
Romans 10:13-17
For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
To be born again a person must call on the name of the Lord, but how can they do that if they do not know who the Lord is? How can they believe on someone they do not even know? Well, God has the solution to this problem; send a preacher to testify about Jesus and salvation. This can be any born again Christian sharing about Jesus and God’s wonderful plan of salvation. Of course, this is all well and good, but what if the sinner is not acquainted with the preacher?
I was that sinner once and I can remember what it was like for people to witness to me. Usually I was approached by well-meaning Christians I did not know. This made it difficult for me to trust and believe them so I did not receive their message and we parted ways the same as we met—them a Christian and me a sinner in need of salvation and not even knowing it. I did not receive their message of hope.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying to stop witnessing to strangers or people we do not know well, by all means do so. Just realize some of the challenges you may be dealing with.
What if you were someone I knew and you shared the salvation message? If I knew you and you had a good reputation of being honest and a good caring person, I would probably listen to you. Here is an opportunity to witness to someone who is actually listening to you and may eventually accept Jesus as Lord like I did.
I listened to some of these people, mainly the ones I knew and liked, and began to think about what they were saying. They were planting seeds God eventually brought to fruition. The point I am trying to make is I listened to these people because they had a good reputation or testimony, I received what they said and eventually received Salvation.
Look at Romans 10:15-17 again, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
I did not believe their report for a while, but eventually I heard and I believed the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ.
If we want to share Jesus with others we must maintain a good reputation and testimony or people will not listen to us. God hates hypocrites. Why? I think one reason is that He wants us to share Jesus with others, but knows no one will listen to a hypocrite. Hypocrites make Christianity look bad. How many times have you heard people say they will not go to church because it is full of hypocrites? I have probably heard this said hundreds of time.
If the message we have heard through our relationship with Jesus Christ is the truth (and it certainly is), we should endeavor to live our lives in a way that communicates to others the love of God and the character of Christ. The Bible tells us just how people will understand if we know Jesus.
John 13:35
“By this it will be clear to all men that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.”
If people will not listen to us tell them about Jesus because we have a poor reputation, they may never accept Jesus as Lord and eventually go to hell. They must “believe your report”, so you must be believable. You can affect another person’s eternal destiny.
I remember people who were supposed to be Christians, but did not behave like one. I use to work with a guy who used foul language and told dirty jokes. I did not really want to be around him, what’s more hear from him about Jesus. Everyone at this job had a nickname and often you would not even know a person’s real name. They called me Preacher and this other man Deacon. He did not act like a deacon or even a Christian for that matter so one day I asked him why he was called Deacon. His reply was, “Because I is one.” Well, this deacon sure would not have made me a believer in Christ and I certainly didn’t want to be like him or have anything to do with his religion.
A good testimony among people is essential for us as Christians. People are watching you and many of these people need answers or help. If you are a Christian you have answers or, at the very least, you know how to approach God in an effort to help them. We all must guard our testimony; it may be the only thing standing between a sinner and the eternity of hell.
