We don’t have to argue people into following Jesus. We don’t have to be great theologians, with all the answers. We simply have to bear witness to what we do know, what we believe to be true, and what we have experienced with Jesus.

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Experiencing Life Together #8.

Acts 2:47 – “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

We have been looking at the early church, and some of the things that characterized it. We’ve been seeking to apply those things to our own walk with Jesus, and, for those in the house church/cell church context, we’ve been trying to apply them to how we function in our churches. We see that when they focused on the bible, the fellowship, prayer, and the breaking of bread, the result was that God worked wonderfully among them to do miracles; he led them to be generous stewards of the resources he had give them; and here, we see that another result was that more people became disciples of Jesus.

We’ve mentioned this in the last few weeks, but it bears repeating. Jesus does not simply call us to “get saved.” He calls us to be disciples and to make disciples. That is our mission as individual Christians, and it is our mission as a church. Here’s how Jesus put it at the beginning of the book of Acts:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, HCSB)

And Mark records this:

Later, He appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw Him after He had been resurrected. Then He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:14-16, HCSB)

The essential thing to remember is this: we are called to be witnesses. It is our job to tell people what we have seen and experienced and come to know about Jesus. It is our job to let others see how our lives are different because of Jesus. We need to let Jesus work in us and through us to impact the lives of others however he wants.

Now, I want you to pay attention to what I just said, and how I worded it. It is not our job to convince other people. It is not our job to make them change their minds. In court, a witness tells, to the best of his ability, what he knows. He responds to questions as truthfully as possible. The job of the witness is to explain what he experienced, and what he believes to be true. The conclusions are up to the jury. A witness presents the information so that other people can make an informed choice.

This is important when it comes to Christians reaching out to those who do not know Jesus yet. We don’t have to argue them into discipleship. We don’t have to be great theologians, with all the answers. We simply have to bear witness to what we do know, what we believe to be true, and what we have experienced with Jesus.

The results are not up to us. Remember, the verse we started with says that the Lord added to their number. The church (meaning “all believers”) has a role to play, but the ultimate work belongs to God. Nothing we do can make someone put their trust in Jesus. No matter how appealing we make it, other people still have to decide for themselves whether to respond to our invitations to visit church or to receive Jesus. That is one of the reasons prayer is so important – only God can really influence the outcome of our efforts.

Some of the greatest mistakes in Christian history came about because Christians tried to force other people to follow Jesus. They thought the result was up to them. The Spanish Inquisition was a result of that sort of thing. Today, though no one is using the power of the law or government to force Christian faith on others, there are some people who turn others off because they feel like they must “get a conversion,” like it is somehow up to them to make it happen.

However, these days, the other mistake is far too common. Most of us stay in our own shells when we are “out in the world,” and we stay in our Christian bubbles the rest of the time, and we don’t even serve as witnesses, for fear of “offending” someone.

In Ezekiel 3:16-21, the Lord tells Ezekiel that he must speak to the people of Israel whatever the Lord gives him to say. The Lord says that the people may not listen to Ezekiel. If Ezekiel tells them what God says, and they ignore him, then they will suffer the consequences, but Ezekiel will be blameless. If however, Ezekiel fails to share what the Lord has showed him, then he will share in the blame for death of the person who does not follow God. Ezekiel was not responsible for the results, but he was responsible to say what he knew.

That is what it means to be a witness.

Jesus called Philip to follow him. Philip knew almost nothing about Jesus, but he followed him. He told his friend Nathanael about it. Nathanael was skeptical. He posed a theological question, and question that Philip could not answer. All Philip said was, “Come and see for yourself.” Both of them eventually became part of the group of the twelve original apostles (John 1:43-46). Philip just told Nathanael what he knew, which wasn’t much. Nathanael didn’t follow Jesus because Philip convinced him. Jesus himself convinced Nathanael. And Jesus himself will convince our friends, family and co-workers, if we simply tell what little we know.

Throughout the years we Christians have designed many intriguing ways to try to reach people for Jesus. Most of the innovations tend to relieve individual believers of their responsibilities to reach those who don’t know Jesus, and instead, make it the responsibility of an organization, program, or individual. Evangelistic crusades, for instance, take the pressure off most Christians, and place it on the evangelist. Church programs take the pressure off of the “common man” and put it on the pastor, or the church organization. But the truth is, the most effective means of bringing people to Jesus, is one-on-one relational interaction. Consider these facts. In a survey of over 14,000 lay people in churches, the question was asked: “What or who was responsible for your coming to Christ and the church?” The percentage of answers was as follows:

A special need 1-2%

Walked in to church 2-3%

Pastor 5-6%

Visitation 1-2%

Sunday School 4-5%

Evangelistic Crusade 0.5%

Church Program 2-3%

A friend or Relative 75-90%

You will notice that of all the paths to meeting Jesus, friends and relatives are the most frequent determining factor. None of the other “methods” even approach 10% at their most optimistic levels. Most churches concentrate on the least-effective methods. House-church ministry does not usually include a separate “evangelism program” – but we all have people who are friends and relatives to other people who don’t know Jesus. Even when tools like the Alpha Course (which has elements of “program” in it) are used, it is up to house-church members to invite people to attend it, and it is our relational sharing that will ultimately invite them to receive Jesus. Even the Alpha course will not work if we are not inviting others and praying for them. The “how” of bringing people to Jesus is not complex – in fact it is very simple. Love people, spend time with them, pray for them, and invite them, share what you know and have experienced. It is true that sometimes this is hard to do, but it is not complicated.

Acts 2:47 belongs with the verses which go before it. In other words, churches are most effective in reaching those who don’t know Jesus when they follow the underlying pattern of Acts 2:42-46. When churches are devoted to God’s word, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer; and when they allow and seek the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit; and when they also live as stewards with a single purpose – then more and more people meet Jesus. God still does the work, but in these verses He has shown us how to live in such a way that His work through us is most effective.

Should you behave differently when those who aren’t believers come to a house-church meeting? No. People are convinced by the Holy Spirit when they see Christians naturally living out their lives and “doing church” as described in Acts 2:42-47. It is a trap of modern thinking to assume that we must somehow “shield” non-believers from true Christianity lest they be turned off. As a pastor with years of experience in house church, I assure you that when people see you genuinely trying (and sometimes even failing) to live out God’s pattern for the church, they will be touched and excited. Don’t forget the statistics shown above! The Holy Spirit shows them the real thing, and trying to manipulate a church meeting to be “more sensitive” to unbelievers usually backfires. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be personally sensitive to those who don’t know Jesus; it just means you should do what you normally do as a church while including the visitor in as much of it as he or she likes.

We are called to be witnesses. We don’t have to be theologians.We don’t have to have all the answers. We are not responsible for the results. But we are responsible to telling others what we believe and know, and inviting them. The results are between them and the Holy Spirit.