A Faithful Witness

​Rule Rage

In Psalm 2, the nations are depicted as raging against God’s rule. Such rebellion still exists in our day. On the personal level, nothing about the constitutional nature of human beings has not changed since Psalm 2 was written.

Individuals are still, in their fallen condition, at enmity with and rebellion against God and his reign in their lives. This human condition presents itself in different ways, perhaps in as many ways as there are people. But it all stems from their sinful, fallen, and broken condition.

​It shows up corporately as well. Such “raging” against God’s rule and reign is revealed in groups, systems, and even the culture at large, much of which appears as desiring and pursuing the opposite of what God wills and commands.

​Wag the Dog

Yet none of this is done in ignorance. The nations (and individuals) know what they are doing. This is where Romans 1:18-21 comes in. God has made himself plain (evident) to all so that no one has an excuse. Yet people in their fallen human condition suppress the truth they know about God in unrighteousness.

They neither glorify nor thank God, but instead, their thinking becomes futile, and their foolish hearts are darkened. They do not want a belief system that stifles their desires and pursuits. They don’t want a worldview and faith that leads to repentance and new life.  They don’t want to be ruled by Another. Thus, their desires and lifestyles wag the dog. In other words, they adjust their worldview to fit their desires and the ways in which they want to live. 

They mistakenly view the freedom God permits to be autonomy with impunity. We know this to be true because God’s Word teaches it. We know this is true because we once walked in their shoes. Thus, our hearts ought to ache for those walking in such rebellion and brokenness.

​Salt and Light

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be his ambassadors to bear witness to precisely these individuals, these systems, this culture. Christ tells us we are salt and light in this dark and decaying world. He commands us to go to and be for these people who were created in his image. Ours is a message of reconciliation and reclamation. It’s the good news that even in our rebellion against the King of the universe, he has made a way to re-create that fallen and broken image through our redemption in Christ Jesus our Lord.

​Our task is to learn how to faithfully bear witness to those in our spheres of influence. Instead of a cookie-cutter approach to our witness, we need to really listen to, learn about, and get to know our neighbors so we can discover how their sin, rebellion, and brokenness are manifested in their lives. We know what their ultimate need is. We know what (Who) the ultimate answer to their need is. Yet, we want to be able to communicate that answer to them in a way they will understand, and even appreciate, while trusting God for the results.

​Walking Points

• How does this message relate to your calling as a follower of Jesus Christ?
• In what ways are you bearing a faithful witness for Christ and serving as his ambassador?
• What is the hardest part for you in sharing your faith with your neighbor?
• What are some ways you have gotten to know your neighbors and learned about their struggles?
• How do groups, systems, and the culture at large rebel against God? In what ways is such brokenness revealed corporately?
• How can Christians faithfully bear witness to these groups, systems, and even our culture?

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Engaging Culture

I made a point in this post of highlighting our need, as Christians, to know the culture (and the times) in which we live. But what comes next? How do we engage the culture we’ve spent our time learning about? This series by T.M. Moore helps us think through the various aspects of engaging our culture.

T.M. Moore is a wise and godly man who walks closely with the Lord and has much to offer the church today. I have been a part of his online fellowship, The Fellowship of Ailbe, for about seven years. In fact, T.M. has been something of a spiritual friend and mentor over those years and I can attest to his deep commitment to Christ and his Kingdom.

This series, on how Christians ought to understand and engage culture, is a helpful tool for all who want to represent Christ well and reach the world for his sake. These studies work well as either your own personal devotional resource or as study material for your small group… or both.

1.) Repudiate (Engaging Culture, Part 1)

2.) Appropriate (Engaging Culture, Part 2)

3.) Redirect (Engaging Culture, Part3)

4.) Transform (Engaging Culture, Part 4)

5.) Innovate (Engaging the Culture, Part 5)

6.) Three “Legs” (Engaging the Culture, Part 6)

​7.) Three “Braces” (Engaging the Culture, Part 7)

The Call of Issachar

The Mission Field in Our Backyard

If you were called to serve as a missionary in a foreign land, you would no doubt seek to learn as much as possible about that land and its inhabitants. You would want to learn how to speak the language of the people, as well as discover their customs and beliefs, in order to get to know them and communicate effectively with them. How else would you be able to meet their eternal and temporal needs?

In our world today, what is true about ministering in a foreign land is equally as true in our own. As many missiologists and evangelists have pointed out, if we desire to effectively reach our diverse culture for Christ, we must know the language, customs, and beliefs of the people we’re around every day. Jesus reminds us that these people are our neighbors whom we’re called to love.

Yet, we know that behind people’s perceived temporal needs there lurk real and eternal needs that only the Lord Jesus Christ can meet. Irrelevance is not a mark of faithfulness or a virtue to celebrate. Seeking to understand where people are “coming from” spiritually, philosophically, psychologically, and emotionally is not necessarily accommodation and compromise. Building relationships, meeting needs, and giving answers that never include the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel is. It was the Apostle Paul who said that he had become all things to all people that he might win some to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:22). We can be certain he was able to do so without sinning or selling out. Should we not seek to follow in his footsteps?

Called to be Like the Men of Issachar

Issachar was one of Jacob’s sons whose descendants grew to become one of Israel’s twelve tribes. By the time of King David, we are told in 1 Chronicles 12:32, that among the great fighting warriors of Israel were the men of Issachar, who were distinguished by knowing or understanding the times in which they lived and were able to advise Israel accordingly.  It was the Lord Jesus who castigated the religious leaders of his day for being able to predict the weather but not being able to interpret the signs of the times (Matthew 16:1-3). God continues to call godly men and women to know the times in which they live to provide a faithful witness for Christ and his Kingdom in our own day.

Christians should help folk view the temporal world in which they live with and through the light of God’s eternal perspective. Whether the focus is theology, worldview, ethics, culture, Western civilization, peace, justice, economics, etc., godly men and women are called to provide those in their spheres of influence with biblically faithful, culturally aware, and practically useful wisdom and guidance. The goal should be to lovingly bear witness to those entrusted to their care as well as to faithfully confront unrighteousness and evil with God’s truth. Such vigilant ambassadors of God’s Kingdom are called to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in their own personal mission fields to which they have been called to serve.

The King of Our Mission Field

Jesus Christ is the Lord over every mission field and we want to communicate that touchstone truth to every man, woman and child in a way that is true, significant and attractive. We cannot save people ourselves but that doesn’t mean we should not bear witness to our Lord as lovingly, clearly, and faithfully as possible.

Like the men of Issachar, we need to know the times in which we live and effectively, humbly, and respectfully give an answer to everyone who asks us about the hope that we have in this world and the world to come.