With so many belief systems in the world, religious and otherwise, it can sometimes be overwhelming and intimidating to speak up for your Christian values. Often times it appears that from the moment we are saved we are expected to turn the world upset down for Christ. After all, the so-called pillars of the faith, old and new, like Charles Spurgeon and Billy Graham, are set before us as examples we are to strive to be like. Witnessing for the Lord has become a sort of badge of honor to be worn by the believer to show off to other believes or hide from the judging eyes of others if we don't have one to display. That is why when I hear Christians ask the following question, I cringe.
"What happens to me if I don't witness to someone? Will God still accept me?"
Now, we can sit and go through the list of all we have in Christ, acceptance being one of them, but it may not answer the question(s) asked sufficiently.
"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." Acts 9: 1-6
When we look at the conversion of the Apostle Paul, here referred to as Saul, we see an experience unlike any other mentioned in scripture. In fact, Paul's conversion is unlike anything else I have ever heard about throughout history. Paul, on his way to persecute Christians is encountered by, noneother than, Jesus Christ Himself. Upon this encounter, Paul does a complete 180 degree turnaround and begins his misson as, arguably, the most accomplished Christian evangelist of all time. Yet, one thing is noticeably absent from his conversion experience. Nobody witnessed to Paul. Paul didn't have a loving, longsuffering and patient believer trying to tell him about Jesus Christ. One could argue that if Jesus hadn't intervened personally, Paul would have continued his murderous ways right up until his death, never being saved. Paul was well known by the Christians and was feared by most of them, if not all of them, as far as we can tell.
"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name... When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple." Acts 9: 13-14, 26
When you think about it, why would anybody want to approach a man, bent on your destruction, even if it were to tell them about Jesus? I am sure it has happened at some point, but the times it has happened are, no doubt, few and far between. Many Christians today would say that if we don't witness we are being disobedient to God's command. After all, it was Jesus who gave the Great Commission to the disciples. But, we must remember that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. If there comes a time where we are presented with an opportunity to be a witness for the Lord and don't take that opportunity, regardless of the reason, we are not being disobedient. God will just use someone else, or He will intervene Himself in some way.
"Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Luke 19: 39-40
Jesus said the stones would cry out if His disciples kept quiet. This illustrates another point about God. He doesn't need us to get His message of salvation to the world, He wants to use us. That is why a Christian's reasonable act of worship is to make ourselves living sacrifices. We completely turn ourselves over to the Lord for Him to do as He pleases with us. It is He who lives the Christian life through us. All He asks is that we make ourselves available to Him to do it. But, if we don't, He will get His work accomplished through someone else, something else or do it Himself. I firmly believe that is why the Lord used Himself to reach Paul. There was probably nobody else willing to make themselves available at the time because they were afraid of him.
"When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now." The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" "No," he said. Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown." Numbers 22: 27-31
In what could be, in many ways, a foreshadow of Paul's conversion experience, we see Balaam carrying on a conversation with a donkey after an angel appears in the middle of the road. The point we can take from this experience is that God will get His work accomplished whether we are involved in it or not. On a side note, the experiences of Paul and Balaam, combined with the words of the Lord give me comfort that "those that have never heard" about Jesus are not left abandoned by God. I think that we sometimes underestimate God in some ways as crazy as that may sound. There was a time when I heard a Christian exclaim that he felt we can get in God's way through various forms of disobedience. I disagreed with this assessment because it gives the impression that God is limited by our response to Him. We forget that God didn't need our participation when He sent Jesus to this earth to purchase our salvation. So, I think it safe to assume He doesn't need our help to witness to the lost. The one thing a Christian should be preoccupied with is not whether they are witnessing or not, but rather if they are secure in the knowledge of who they are in Christ.
"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." Romans 15: 5-7
If we should fail to witness to an individual we should not fear condemnation or punishment from the Lord. You will only have missed out on an opportunity for God to use you to share the Gospel with others. Furthermore, that missed opportunity doesn't mean that you are accountable for the individual you failed to witness to either. Whether or not that person comes to faith in Christ is between them and God. They are not going to be able to use your encounter as an excuse should they not accept Christ by faith. We may never know of all the times someone failed to speak to us about the Lord, yet we still mananged to find Him. God is patient with everybody and if a person truly wants to know the Lord, there is more than enough evidence in the world for them to respond to. Scripture says that every knee shall bow before the Lord. I don't believe it would say this unless those bowing knew Whom it was they are bowing to. So, there is no need to worry about a missed opportunity. You may not be remembered as a great evangelist, but that doesn't make you any less a minister of the new covenant or any less accepted by God. He doesn't punish you for a missed opportunity, but uses it to strengthen you and encourage you so you will be ready for the next opportunity.
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