Witnessing For Christ

by Chamings, A. R. G. | Category: General | Sept 1968

If you have been cleansed by the blood of Christ then you are under deep obligation to the One who so wrought for you. The account of the leper who was cleansed, to whom Jesus said, "Go... shew thyself ... and offer the gift ... for a testimony unto them" (Matthew 8.14), has a voice for us. This particular leper was instructed to "tell no man", yet the evidence of his cleansing was such as could not be hidden, and for ever after men could see that he had been with Jesus. Here was one who could witness (Greek marturion)-a martyr indeed, if he would. This word, used here for the first time in the Gospels, is applied throughout the New Testament to the business of witnessing for Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness (Revelation 1.5).

Long before the Lord came the psalmist wrote, "Come, and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul" (Psalm 66.16). And when He did come, John had so heralded Him that men were alert to the presence of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world; and some followed Him.

There were many lepers healed by the Lord. On one occasion ten were cleansed and all were commanded, "Go and shew yourselves", but one only, when he saw that he was healed "turned back, with a loud voice glorifying God ... giving Him thanks". But, "Where are the nine?" the Lord sadly asked What a witness ten lepers together could have borne! (Luke 17.11119).

If there were only one Christian in the world and he worked for a year to bring a friend to the Saviour, and if these two continued each year to win another, and if every man won for Christ continued to witness, in little more than a generation (thirty years) every person would have heard the gospel. "He that is wise winneth souls" (Proverbs 11.20). In a moving article on this theme, Mr. J. Bennison wrote (Needed Truth, 1962, p. 133), "So long as 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel' remains in the Sacred Book, there rests on each called into the Fellowship of God's Son the personal responsibility of witnessing for Christ... Being a witness and bearing witness are both of the utmost importance. If we fail in these then ours will be the loss in that final day of reckoning".

The leper. Scripture leaves us in no doubt as to the direct application of the teaching of leprosy to the unsaved sinner. He is separate from Christ - outside the camp. If we sing light-heartedly, "Or eternally be lost" - the last words of the hymn, "When the Saviour said, 'tis finished'" - then surely we do so having forgotten our one-time lost condition. Is there anyone among our acquaintances for whom we tremble when we sing, "Hell's eternal gulf is yawning, and souls are perishing in hopeless sin"? You, 0 leper, now cleansed, must go. The command required action by the leper. He is not to talk first but to act, "Go"! Afterwards he may return to give glory to God, though in this case, as with so many, there is no record that he did. A cleansed leper glorifying God; a saved sinner can now "Go with the name of Jesus to the dying".

Shew thyself. Would the leper shrink from doing this, would he prefer to live out his life in loneliness, healed, but outside the camp? Yet, how many there are of the redeemed who do just this with the new God-given life!

Offer thy gift. A leper has, been cleansed, a sinner saved; the leper is to offer his gift, however poor he may be, the sinner is to enquire, "What shall I do Lord?" (Acts 22.10):

"Let none hear you idly saying,

'There is nothing I can do,'

While the souls of men are dying,

And the Saviour calls for you".

A few days before the massacre of the Auca missionaries one of the five, Nate Saint, was reading to his children the account of the stoning of Stephen. As he read he wept over the martyr's wonderful spirit as he faced death. Jim Elliot, another of the five, had already written in his diary, "When it comes the time to die, make sure all you have to do is die". How real it was to these men, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"! Offer thy gift for

A testimony unto them. All of us, at some time, have thanked God for natural healing processes. What a thrill it must have been to this leper when his flesh came again like a little child's and how glad he would be to show them what the Lord had done for him! Well might the blind man marvel that the Pharisees knew not the One who had opened his eyes (John 9.30). Both the leper and blind man had been close to the Master, both had been touched by that sanctifying, healing hand.

Mark tells us that the Lord appointed the twelve that they might be with Him. Their subsequent testimony to the world flowed directly from this contact. Even after His resurrection and ascension they so reflected as a mirror the glory of the Lord that witness was borne that they had been with Jesus. Contact with the Master cannot be hidden from our fellows. For Him the personal touch meant that "power came forth from Him" (Luke 6.19), a toll was exacted of Him. Such contacts make great demands. The Gospels leave us in no doubt that both He and His disciples expended themselves in the winning of souls. We must discipline ourselves to do the same.

Modern means of communication tend to hinder us in the matter of meeting and dealing with people. Many would cheerfully, and rightly, distribute a thousand leaflets, but time must be spent in the necessary reading of the word and prayer for personal contact. Reach homes through the children; perhaps we use far too little this valuable link through Sunday Schools. To be interested in their children is a sure way to many parents hearts. This is a time-consuming work, as also is the visiting of the sick and the aged. Remember the Lord's way with Nicodemus and the woman at the well, He let them talk while He listened. More than fifty personal contacts between Him' and individuals are recorded in the Gospels:

"Go, labour on; spend and be spent,

Thy joy to do the Master's will.

It is the way the Master went;

Should not the servant tread it still?"

Chamings, A. R. G. | Sept 1968
General