Soul-winning is a ministry

“As every man hath received the gift, [even so] minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1Pe 4:10 AV)

No mystery here!  As we have received so freely the gift of salvation by the grace of God, we need to minister the same to others.  We have made soul-winning a program and project to the point that we have forgotten what winning souls is all about.  It is not a goal to be reached.  It is not a number to tally.  It is not a map to fill in or a race to be finished.  Soul-winning is first and foremost a ministry.  If we were to understand this, we might have better results when we do go soul-winning.

Years ago, the church of which I was a member, used this program knocked on doors with the pretext of conducting a survey.  The survey would probe into a person’s religious beliefs and would end up with an invitation to hear the gospel.  It was misleading because we really didn’t care about their responses until the very last question.  And those who took the survey could figure this out really quick.  There is nothing wrong with a systematic method of reaching one’s Jerusalem.  Paul went from house to house.  He had a plan.  He went to Mars Hill.  He went to the Synagogue upon entering a new city.  There is nothing wrong with maps, promotions, or programs.  These offer discipline and structure.  But they should not be an end in themselves.  We can get so structured that we forget soul-winning is first and foremost, ministry.

Our problem is overcoming our knowledge the lost need this ministry against their own blindness towards it.  They do not know they need this ministry.  We need to open their eyes to a need which they may not even understand they need.  This takes grace and love.  This takes patience and endurance.  This takes the deep conviction that soul-winning is a ministry and not a goal!

Rejecting Opportunity is Sin!

“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.” (Jas 4:17 AV)

This verse is often quotes separate and apart from its context.  The principle is still the same.  If we know something is right to do, the we should do it.  If we do not do what we know to be right to do, then it is sin.  This is the simplest and most strait forward meaning of this verse.  However, the real power behind the verse is found in the context of the brevity of life.  James remarks that one’s life is but a vapor that soon passes away.  He then warns against bragging on tomorrow.  Making plans as though nothing will change and tomorrow will come.  Yet, the LORD may have a different plan.  Tomorrow may not come.  Our life may be over soon. Therefore, if one knows to do the right thing, he should do it because not to do it is sin and there is limited time.

Opportunity may come around only once.  Yesterday, we had the privilege to share a meal with our Missionaries to Germany.  When we were leaving, the cashier wanted to talk.  It was a Wednesday and therefore, a lot was on my plate.  Setting up for Kids’ Klub, running the bus, and setting up for the missionary all with about thirty minutes in which to accomplish it.  Needless to say, ministry to this soul was not on my mind because time was of the essence.  Yet, the missionary took the needed five minutes and as a result, we were able to give him a tract with the gospel clearly inside.

Time is limited.  Opportunities are limited.  Knowing what the right thing is comes first.  Knowing it is the right thing to take an opportunity is important.  Knowing also that time and opportunities are limited is wisdom.  Too many times we take too much time and the opportunity to do right passes us by.  If that is the case, God calls that sin!

Throwing Back the Life Line

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.” (Heb 10:35 AV)

A very interesting phrase. “Cast not away therefore…”  In other words, the confidence was there at one point.  But, it has been cast away.  Paul is speaking to the nation of Israel and in particular, the LORD Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham.  The confidence of which he speaks is the confidence and hope in the coming of their Messiah.  If they reject Christ, they have cast away their confidence which that have had for almost 2,000 years.  That promise which was the foundation of their endurance and there they are, at the precipice of rejecting it all.  It is quite silly and illogical.  When we place our hope in a thing and when that thing comes, we lack the faith that we had all along.  How silly.

It reminds me of a fella who was stuck in his home in the middle of a flood.  As the storm waters rose he went to the second floor of his home.  He dialed 911 for help and they told him they would be there as soon as they could.  Losing all hope, he began to pray.  “Father, if you get me out of this I promise I will walk more faithfully with Thee!  I truly have faith that You will come for me!”  Soon afterwards, he heard a voice from a bullhorn.  “Jump from the bedroom window and we will catch you and carry you to safety” came a voice from a military vehicle. “That’s ok, I am waiting for the LORD to save me”, was the reply.  A bit latter, there was a rap on the bedroom window.  Looking out, he saw men in a boat.  The same offer was made and the same response given.  Water still rising, he was forced to ascend to the rooftop.  Along comes a helicopter.  “grab the harness and we will pull you to safety” “No thank you, I am waiting for the LORD to save me.” Soon after, the man perished is the flood waters.  When he met the LORD he asked, “Father, I prayed earnestly for you to save me.  Why didn’t you come?”  To which the LORD said, “What do you think the truck, boat, and helicopter were?”

We pray for the LORD to answer and order our lives as though He will, but when He does, we lack the faith to accept it.  How ironic.

Just The Opposite

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new [covenant], he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old [is] ready to vanish away.” (Heb 8:12-13 AV)

Chapter eight is awesome.  Paul begins to make the summation that grace is better than law.  But even more than that, God decided to show grace to the sinner while satisfying His wrath on Christ.  This chapter really moved me because Paul very adequately argues for the failure of the law.  Or rather, the failure of Israel to follow the law.  He lays the foundation that law was given as a means to solidify the promise made to Abraham.  Law is not a bad thing.  Law is a good thing.  The promise was made to Abraham of a nation and land that would live to please the LORD and by doing so, would be blessed above all nations.  The law was not given merely to control a people.  It was the means by which the promise could be practically applied.  We don’t understand that.  We think law is a bad thing.  We don’t like to be told what to do.  That is not the intent of the law.  Anyway, I digress.  The point Paul, and more specifically the LORD, is making here is that Israel could not, nor would not, keep the law even though it was for their own good.  So, rather than satisfy His wrath upon them, He satisfied it upon Christ and gave the covenant of grace to mankind!  Oh, what grace!

That phrase above is exactly the opposite of what we deserve.  Rather than taking vengeance on our unrighteousness (which He has every right to do), He is merciful upon it!  This is too wonderful for me!  This is too great for the mind!  How God can have mercy when He should have judgment, I cannot comprehend.  What grace!  What mercy!

It makes our sin all the more sinful!  Knowing that God will show grace, we sin anyway.  It is awfully humbling to know that God’s mercy is never ending.  It is always available to those who will repent and turn.  What love!  What mercy!  What grace!

Maintenance Plan

“[This is] a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” (Tit 3:8 AV)

Salvation is not the beginning and the end of being a Christian.  Being a Christian is not only about heaven.  Yet, this is how it is often treated.  There is an expectation of good works.  There is an expectation of a life that glorifies the LORD in all that we do.  I wish that my discipleship stressed this!  I wish that the discipleship I went through had a secondary follow-up regarding separation and holiness.  Classes that included purity, financial integrity, and outward separation.  Not just what the Bible says about these things, but practical hands on exercises that re-enforces Bible truths.  This is sadly lacking in our churches today and is the reason most people have issues with sin.

I know I have used this example more than once, but it works.  Growing up a Gerwitz meant something.  In our small town, specially among the Catholic community, it meant something.  There was an expectation of a certain type of child that would come from this home.  A child who was obedient and respectful, an A student, and one that served his community.  These are the values which my father instilled in us and came to be the values which the community expected.  If we ever failed, it was a big deal.

This is exactly what is expected of the believer.  Too much is made of the grace of God to the point it is miss or over applied.  God has grace.  Absolutely.  This grace is indeed amazing.  However, grace does not relax expectation!  Grace forgives when these expectations are not met.  But it does not change the expectations.  Today, grace is presumptuous.  As though God will put up with our failures and not expect too much which results in the freedom to fail.  Not so!  We are to continue in good works!  That is our responsibility!

Always Remember that You Are Loved

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Ga 2:20 AV)

It is easy to forget that when Christ went to that Cross, He loved me.  He loved me as though I was the only one for which He died, even though He loved all.  This is something we cannot fully comprehend.  How God can love us infinitely even though there are others whom He equally loves is beyond the ability of a human relationship.  We cannot fathom it.  We cannot understand it.  Yet, He loved me when He died for me!

As every parent knows, we love our children and grandchildren equally.  We love them for who and what they are!  We think we love them as God loves them, but that is impossible.  We cannot completely and wholly love them as though there were an only child or an only grandchild.  In fact, we have to remind ourselves (albeit not too often) that we are not to have favorites.  Even though our children or grandchildren may think we have favorites, we really do not.  We love them all, individually, and completely.  However, unlike the LORD, we are limited.  We only have so much emotional capital to invest.  We only have so much strength we can spend.  This human limitation hinders us from loving one child as though he is the only child.  When it comes to the LORD, He has no limitations.

I know what it is like to have to share my father’s affection with siblings.  Growing up in a house of 11 children, there was no possibility of being loved like an only child!  Yet, my father made a great effort in making us feel he loved us as an individual.  It couldn’t happen very often.  But the one-on-one times I had with my father were, and still are, priceless.  With God, it happens each and every time I pray and read the scriptures.  It was also the basis of Christ surrendering to the cross!  He loved me!

The Only One Who Thinks You're a Failure is You!

“Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” (2Co 2:14 AV)

If we feel like a failure, it’s not God’s fault!  According to Paul, where ever he has been given opportunity to share the knowledge of God, God has made him triumph.  That doesn’t mean churches with enumerable people had been planted.  What it does mean is the preaching and teaching which the LORD commanded Paul to do accomplished what God intended for it to accomplish.  Our problem is our eyesight.  We have our sight on the externals and cannot see the spiritual warfare of which we are entangled.  We cannot see the victories won.  All we see is numbers and choices.  What we don’t see is the slow growth which is often under the surface and hard to distinguish.  What we cannot do is give up and think that our ministry means little to nothing.

I will always remember my father as a math teacher.  That was what he did while I was in middle school.  He taught in a Catholic High School.  He also volunteered as a Boy Scout, and then a Girl Scout leader.  He organized our family to play music at church.  He served his family and community faithfully.  Much of it went under appreciated.  I am sure there were times he thought he was a failure.  Especially when those in whom he invested seemed to not take the same interests in life that he did.  But that is not the case.  I like to hunt.  Much of what I learned to be successful in the outdoors, I learned from my father.  How to identify trees.  How game moves.  Topography of the land.  Wilderness survival.  And my favorite – knot tying.  I still use the bowline hitch and two half-hitches.  First aid comes in handy.  Even all the music lessons came back.  I put down the acoustic guitar for thirty years.  Yet, when some friends wanted to play bluegrass gospel, all the cords came immediately back to me.

You see, it is God who makes us to triumph because it is God’s word which is going forth.  As long as we are willing to be used of the LORD, then we will triumph.  No matter what we can see.  No matter what we may think.  Being a vessel in the hand of God assures He will cause us to always triumph in Christ!