Theme: Evangelistic Outreach
‘But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.’ 1 Peter 3:15-16
There is a saying that has been around for a long time that sounds so right but actually isn’t. It is ‘People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care’. This quote is attributed to John Maxwell. The second part of it is fine. Why should people listen to us unless they believe that we genuinely care for them? Fair enough. It’s the first part I have a problem with; ‘people do not care how much you know…’ In the context of the Christian Gospel, this should read ‘who you know’ not ‘what you know’.
The Christian Faith is not about knowing a lot of biblical doctrine, defences of the Gospel, and arguments against evolution etc. Christianity is about knowing Jesus as saviour and lord. It is an eternal relationship with the living God, not a knowledge-based religious system.
So many people are scared to share their faith in Jesus with others because they feel they do not know enough. This is missing the whole point by a million miles! Consider a court of law. To establish the credibility of evidence led, both prosecution and defence call in witnesses. There are two types of witness, experts and eyewitnesses. When Jesus said “and you will be my witnesses”, (Acts 1:8) He surely had the later sort of witness in mind. Our role is to witness about ‘who’ we know not ‘what’ we know. Leave the expert witness to the theologians and apologists.
You are called to speak about your relationship with Jesus. An expert can be challenged on points of fact but an eyewitness speaks of what she has seen and heard, and, provided it is truthful, this cannot be challenged.
A Christ-like lifestyle begs the question, “Why are you like you are?” The answer is an eyewitness account of your life in relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s not hard to witness. It doesn’t require specialist knowledge; it only requires that you know Jesus.
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