Wednesday, June 13,
2012, 5:00 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song “Full Release” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read John 1:35-51 (NIV 1984):
The next day John was
there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said,
“Look, the Lamb of God!”
When the two disciples
heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them
following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi”
(which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
“Come,” he replied,
“and you will see.”
So they went and saw
where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed
Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him,
“We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him
and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when
translated, is Peter).
The next day Jesus
decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Philip, like Andrew
and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him,
“We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the
prophets also wrote —Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can
anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said
Philip.
When Jesus saw
Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there
is nothing false.”
“How do you know me?”
Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw
you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Then Nathanael
declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus said, “You
believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater
things than that.” He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven
open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
A Personal Experience
About twenty years ago I met a young woman on a job. We were
both temporary employees and we were paired together in a room to do a job. At
that time I was struggling in my walk with the Lord, although I had been a
Christian many years. The woman and I talked, and she shared with me some of
her life story. She did not know Jesus. I knew I must tell her about Jesus,
even though I was not doing well spiritually at that moment in time. So, I began
to share with her the gospel, and I invited her to come to church with us and
to our home to become part of our family, as she had no family nearby. I
invested much time and love into her life, shared with her much about Jesus,
and through this I began to follow the Lord Jesus in obedience again, so we
helped each other essentially.
One day when she was at church, and she was in a different
group from me, another woman prayed with her the prayer of salvation and my
newfound friend invited Jesus Christ into her life to be her Lord and Savior,
and her life has never been the same since. Afterwards I heard all this talk
about how this other woman had led my friend to Christ. And, I remember how I
felt at that time, too. I felt slighted. I was not looking for glory or praise
nor for credit for the time and care invested in her life. It wasn’t about
that. I would gladly do what I did all over again with no thought to getting
any kind of recognition. Yet, it was as though, in the eyes of man, this woman,
who by God’s providence was the one there when my friend made the decision to
receive Christ, had been the sole one to lead my friend to Christ merely
because she was the one who prayed the prayer with her.
Leading People to
Christ
So, that brings up the question: “What does it mean to lead
someone to Christ?” When I hear people talking about leading people to Jesus,
they usually mean they were the ones who actually prayed the prayer of
salvation with the person when the individual invited Jesus Christ into his/her
life. So, what if you have invested much time into someone’s life, have shared
with them the love of Christ, have shared with them the gospel, have invited
them to church where they could hear more of the gospel, but you weren’t the
one to “close the deal”? Does that mean you did not lead that person to Christ?
I believe this is a very important question to answer, not because God requires
it, but because man often puts too much emphasis and value on the person who “closes
the deal,” and man puts too much pressure on followers of Christ to “close the
deal,” which then places believers under a cloud of guilt if they are not the
ones to actually pray the sinners prayer with someone.
I believe this story of Jesus calling his disciples gives us
insight into how to answer those questions. John the Baptist was with two of
his disciples. He saw Jesus passing by and he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
The passage says that when the two disciples heard John say this, they followed
Jesus. Now, John did not ask them if they wanted to follow Jesus nor did he “close
the deal.” He merely pointed them to Jesus, told them who he was, and they made
the decision to follow Christ. When Jesus saw them following him, he asked them
what they wanted, and they wanted to know where he was staying. Jesus said, “Come
and see.” Jesus invited them to come and to see, not just where he was staying,
but to come and see who he was and what he was about, I believe.
Andrew was one of the two who followed Jesus. The first
thing Andrew did was to find his brother and to tell him that he had found
Christ. Andrew merely shared his own personal testimony with his brother, and
then he took him physically to Jesus, i.e. he took him to the source so that he
could find Christ, too, but Peter made his own decision. Jesus found Philip and
told him, “Follow me,” and Philip found Nathaniel and told him about Jesus and
said, “Come and see.” He invited him to come and check out Jesus, and he did. And
Nathaniel believed Christ because of what Jesus Christ said to him about
himself. So, the people who had found Christ shared their own personal testimony
of finding Jesus Christ, they provided the opportunity for others to find
Christ, they took the people to or pointed the people to Christ, but each
respondent made his own decision to believe and to follow Christ.
Teaching of the Word
Ok, so what does the word of God teach us, instructionally
or doctrinally, on this topic? The Lord brought to mind Proverbs 11:30: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and
he who wins souls is wise.” The word “win” can be translated “take; receive;
get; fetch; lead; take to or for a person; bring,” etc. (Source: Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance) So, in this sense, John the Baptist won those men for
Christ merely by telling them who he was and by pointing them to him. Andrew
won his brother to Christ by sharing his testimony with him and by taking him
to the source so he could hear and see and learn for himself, and Philip won
Nathaniel to Christ because he shared his personal testimony with him, and he
invited him to “Come and see.” Yet, not one of these people “closed the deal.”
So, what does the New Testament teach us about winning souls
for Christ? Jesus gave two main commands or instructions to his disciples with
regard to winning souls: 1) He told them that when they received the Holy
Spirit that they would be witnesses for Christ to the ends of the earth, and 2)
he told them that they were to go and make disciples (followers of Christ) of
all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey all of Christ’s
commandments. As well, Jesus taught that we are to be lights for the gospel to
the world around us and we are not to hide our lights but to let them shine to
all men (see Matt. 5).
Ok, so we know what it means to be a witness for Christ and
we know what it means to let our lights (of the gospel) shine to all men, and
to not hide our faith and testimony, but what does it mean to make disciples? The
word “make” appears to mean “to be a disciple of one; to follow his precepts
and instructions; and to teach and instruct (source: Strong’s Exhaustive
Concordance). So, we have to first of all be a disciple (a follower) of Christ,
and then we have to be following his precepts and his instructions, i.e.
leading by example, and then we can teach and instruct others how to be
followers of Christ.
There is an old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but
you can’t make him drink.” We can’t make anyone receive Christ, though. That is
God the Father’s job to draw men to Christ (see John 6:44), and each individual
must make his own decision whether to follow Christ or to not follow Christ.
Even if we pray a prayer with someone to receive Christ, that is no guarantee
that person will actually follow Christ with his or her life. It is the Holy
Spirit who convicts men’s hearts of sin (see John 16:8), and it is the Holy
Spirit of God who does the work of transformation and regeneration within the
heart of man, so truly only God – the Father (who draws men), Son (who was the
sacrificial Lamb) and the Holy Spirit (who convicts and transforms hearts)
should get credit for winning souls to Christ. Case in point:
In the Corinthian church (see 1 Co. 3:1-9) there was
jealousy and quarreling among the believers in Christ. They were acting
worldly. One said he followed Paul and another said he followed Apollos. They
were raising one man’s work above the other, like what happened to me with my
friend I told you about. The woman who “closed the deal” was honored while I
was ignored. Yet, neither of us should have been honored in reality, and I had
no right to feel slighted, especially in light of my failing spiritual
condition at the time. I was acting worldly when I was jealous of her
recognition while I was overlooked. Although I did not do what I did for the
praise of men, but out of obedience to Christ, still I felt jealous when she
got the credit and she was raised up before men but I received no validation.
Paul said to the Corinthian church, “What, after all, is
Apollos and what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task.”
Wow! We need to get this! He continued, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered
it, but God made it grow.” I shared Jesus with my friend, the other woman “closed
the deal,” but God is the one who called my friend to himself, who convicted
her heart of sin, and who transformed her heart to be like Jesus. Only God gets
the credit! And, that is the way it should be. We are not anything, but only
God, and we are just merely his servants doing what he says. “The man who
plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded
according to his own labor. For we are fellow workers…”
How to Lead
So, what this says is that leading people to Christ or
winning souls to Christ involves many things - the planting of the seed and the
watering - but God is the one who produces the fruit in people’s lives. We lead
others to Christ by our example. We lead others to Christ by our testimony of
what Jesus Christ did for us. We lead others to Christ by sharing the truth of
the gospel with others. We lead others to Christ by teaching them the truths of
God’s word, and by pointing them to the Savior, and by telling them who Christ
is. And, we lead others to Christ by inviting them to “Come and See,” or to
invite them to receive Jesus Christ into their lives to be their Lord and
Savior, but in reality, the only one who “closes the deal” is God. And, he is
the only one who should be taking the credit for leading people to Christ. We
should, in all humility, just obey God in doing what he says as his servants
and leave the results to him. I have no idea how many people have come to know
Christ through my ministry, and I don’t really want to know. My job is just to
obey my Lord and to follow him wherever he leads me, and to give him all the
credit and all the glory!
Full Release / An
Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with my
Savior brings me joy.
Loving Father;
precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and my
Lord.
Gently leads me;
follow Him.
I’ve invited Him
within.
Now abiding in His
presence, oh, what peace.
From my self-life He
has brought me,
By His mercy, full
release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety Jesus brings
When I daily bow
before Him;
Obey freely; do His
will.
Follow Him where’er He
leads.
Listen to Him; His
words heed.
Now obeying his words
fully, oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from
above.
Loving Father;
precious Jesus, He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by His
Spirit,
I will endure to the
end.
Share the gospel, tell
what’s true.
Witness daily; His
will do.
Tell the world of how
their Savior bled and died.
On a cruel cross He
suffered
So that we might be
alive.
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