Jesus’ final words before his ascension – “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) – make it clear that his followers were commissioned to serve as witnesses of his life, death, and resurrection, and the significance of these events for all of humankind.
But while it is not wrong to share the gospel with others in whatever setting we may find ourselves, it is usually better that it is not done indiscriminately. The book of Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time to be silent and a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7), and that certainly applies to Christian witness. Jesus talked about the principle of not giving sacred or spiritual things to those who are obviously going to reject them (Matthew 7:6), and it is clear that he often did not preach to people when he had opportunity to do so (Matthew 5:1; Luke 5:16; John 11:53–54; etc.). It is better to choose the time, place, and opportunity to share the gospel carefully rather than to feel that if we are simply around people, we should be witnessing to them.
A related principle to keep in mind is that it is preferable, whenever possible, to use a natural conversational opportunity to talk to others about Christ rather than to suddenly accost them with religious statements or questions. Extreme examples of this (such as “Repent or you will go to hell” or “Have you given your heart to the Lord?”) frequently arouse hostility in people and doom the effort to introduce them to the gospel. The apostle Peter doubtless had this fact in mind when he wrote: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter
3:15). Here, Peter places the emphasis on letting the unconverted person be the initiator of the discussion, and while that is not always necessary, it is certainly an ideal situation. And, of course, answering with respect – as Peter urges us – precludes berating people about sin or the kind of “in your face” presentation of the truth of salvation that many well-intentioned believers participate in.
Reading how Jesus guided his conversations with people such as the woman at the well in Samaria (John 4:4–26) can teach us a great deal about how we should present the truth to others. We can also lead conversations toward the point where others will ask questions. In any case, a great many natural opportunities arise in everyday conversation. For example, to a coworker offering condolences when they heard we had lost a relative, we can say “Thank you, but as a Christian I believe that just as Jesus was resurrected, so my relative will be – so I do not grieve as many people do who do not have this hope.” That kind of statement gives a totally natural opening for a conversation about the gospel if the other person seems interested. In the same way we can bring up some aspect of our beliefs when discussing books, activities, or in dozens of other ways.
Yet we should not feel under any kind of pressure to try to bring people to Christ quickly. The book of Acts gives us a good example of that fact when it records an important conversation between Paul and the Jewish king, Agrippa, who asked Paul:
“Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am” (Acts 26:28 –29)
In saying this, Paul showed that he felt no unreasonable urgency to bring Agrippa and others to Christ – just a desire for that outcome, however long it might take. Ultimately, we cannot convert people – only God can do that. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul tells us:
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Nevertheless, despite the pervasive spiritual blindness, God frequently chooses to empower our efforts when we desire to help others to come to the light. We are all called to share what we have been given, and the truth of the gospel is certainly the most valuable gift that we can ever share.
* This post is extracted from our free eBook Getting Christianity Right. Read the whole chapter and the book by downloading it here.
After nearly four decades of preparation, for the first time ever, the complete Bible is now available for the deaf and hearing impaired in American Sign Language. Those of us who have functional hearing may find it hard to realize just how important this milestone is. Most of us may think that even if people cannot hear the Word of God they can still read the Bible, but that is frequently not true because some 95% of the world’s deaf population is functionally illiterate.
That is where sign language comes in, but although there are literally hundreds of sign language systems for the deaf in existence, many of these systems are only known by a few people. In any case, only about twenty of the various signing systems have any kind of Bible material published in them.
American Sign Language (ASL) is by far the most widespread signing system used in the United States and is used by some in other areas also. But more than a half-million people throughout the US alone use ASL to communicate as their native language. This is a sizeable population that compares with many languages in which translators have translated the Bible.
Translating a book as complex as the Bible into ASL was not an easy task. ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the fundamental features of language, with its own rules for word formation and word order. Its syntax is, in fact, often different from that of English, so these are important reasons why deaf individuals need a Bible in their own language. And now they have one.
Deaf Missions, a ministry dedicated to communicating “the Gospel of Jesus with Deaf people through their heart language, culture and identity,” began the translation of the Bible into ASL in the early 1980s. Recently the ministry partnered with other translation groups such as Wycliffe USA, the American Bible Society, and others, and the final biblical books needing translation to ASL (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) were completed this past fall.
In March 2022, Wycliffe Associates released a translation of the New Testament in an entirely new concept-based language they developed named SUN (Symbolic Universal Notation). This new language represents the words in Scripture by small hieroglyph-like signs. The system is not extremely difficult to learn and can help both the Deaf and Blind to read the Bible, but the SUN language has to be learned before it can be used, of course. On the other hand, now, for the first time, the whole Bible is available to more than a half million people whose primary language is already ASL and also available to many more if they choose to learn ASL.
The Deaf Mission website notes that roughly 98% of the worldwide population of Deaf people have never been able to encounter Jesus in a deep and significant way, but now, finally, they have access to the Word of God through the word of God.
When we think of Bible versions we can’t understand, most of us might think of Bibles in the original languages of Hebrew or Greek, or perhaps a medieval Latin Bible. But we often don’t realize how much our own language has changed over the centuries and how difficult it would be for us to read a Bible in English from several hundred years ago. Below, we give the example of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6 – as it looked in English Bibles every two hundred years from the thirteenth century to today. Before the thirteenth century very little of the Bible was translated into English at all. The first complete English-language version of the Bible dates from 1382 and was credited to the translator John Wycliffe and his followers, so we begin with that time point.
Thirteenth Century – Manuscript in the Library of Cambridge University:
Fader oure that art in heve, i-halgeed be thi nome, i-cume thi kinereiche, y-worthe thi wylle also is in hevene so be an erthe, oure iche-dayes-bred gif us today, and forgif us our gultes, also we forgifet oure gultare, and ne led ows nowth into fondingge, auth ales ows of harme.
Fifteenth Century – Manuscript in the Library of Oxford University:
Fader oure that art in heuene, halewed be thy name: thy kyngedom come to thee: thy wille be do in erthe as in heuen: oure eche dayes brede geue us to daye: and forgeue us oure dettes as we forgeue to oure dettoures: and lede us nogte into temptacion: bot delyver us from yvel.
Seventeenth Century – The King James Version of 1611:
Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdome come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heauen. Giue vs this day our daily bread. And forgiue vs our debts, as we forgiue our debters. And lead vs not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill: For thine is the kingdome, and the power, and the glory, for euer.
Nineteenth Century – The English Revised Version:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Twenty-first Century – The Christian Standard Bible:
Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
The differences between these Bible versions become more noticeable the further we go back, of course, and considering that most of us know what the examples above say before we started to read them, we would probably agree that we would find it difficult to read a whole Bible of the thirteenth, fifteenth, or seventeenth centuries – even if it is in English.
While it may be interesting to see and realize the difficulty we would experience in reading a Bible in our own language unless it were of recent date, we can draw a useful lesson from this. Often, Christians think that the major work of Bible translations into other languages is essentially done. The Bible has, after all, been translated into over 700 languages, and the New Testament has been translated into well over 1200 languages.
While it is true that this means the Bible has been translated into most important languages, it is still equally true that there are many thousands of dialects of these languages that still have no Bible translation. We may think that local dialects are relatively unimportant – for instance, someone in the United States speaking a southern dialect can fairly easily understand someone using an Appalachian dialect – the differences in our dialects are relatively small. But in many language groups the various dialects are just as, or even more, different than what we see in an English Bible of today and an English Bible of the thirteenth century – that you and I would find extremely difficult to read.
The moral of the story is simple. While a great deal of Bible translation work has been tirelessly accomplished by dedicated translators over the past century or so, there are many millions of people who still have no Bible in their own language or only one in a related dialect that is very difficult for them to understand. Understanding this situation can help us to pray more, and more intently, for still-needed translations, and to see the need to support the ongoing work of Bible translators in whatever way we can.
One of the primary laws of success is not to try to pursue too many goals at one time. When we attempt many goals at once, we tend to stretch our efforts too thin – and if we are not careful we can become mediocre in everything we do. As a result, many leadership experts stress that it is best to focus on one major goal at a time, and to put most of our efforts into that single, primary, goal.
So how does this fact balance with what we are called to do in our Christian lives? The apostle Paul actually gives us at least three major goals for which we should be aiming – and we are not given the luxury of tackling one goal at a time! But let’s look at those biblical goals and then consider how we can fulfill them without lessoning our success with any one of them.
Goal One: Perhaps the primary goal Paul gives every warrior of the Way is to glorify God. The apostle made it clear when he wrote: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). In context Paul is talking primarily about food and drink, but the words “whatever you do” add a breadth of application that clearly means we are to glorify God in everything we do – and of, course, everything we think or say. That’s a huge goal, but it meshes perfectly with what Jesus himself said about the greatest commandment being to love God (Matthew 22:36-38). If we truly love God, we will be seeking to glorify him in every aspect of our lives.
Goal Two: Although the first goal of the Christian life we looked at is already incredibly broad, we can now add on a second goal: helping and strengthening others. Just as Jesus taught that in addition to love of God we must love our neighbor (Matthew 22:39), so Paul stresses the importance of loving others through helping them in whatever way we can: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10). We should note that Paul urges us not only to apply love in our dealings with everyone – but also especially to do what we can to help fellow believers.
Goal Three: We already have two major goals to contemplate, but Paul adds a third one: being a light to unbelievers. This is fulfilling the “Great Commission” Jesus gave his disciples before his ascension (Matthew 28:18-20), and it is called a “great” commission or goal for good reason. As Paul wrote: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47 and see also Acts 26:18, Philippians 2:14-16). In a figurative sense, of course, “Gentiles” includes all who are not part of “spiritual Israel” (Romans 2:28-29, 1 Peter 2:9, Galatians 6:16) – in other words, all unbelievers – which is another huge goal.
So the biblical evidence is clear. As Christians, we are given not one, but at least three major goals, and we are expected to fulfill them all! But given what we said at the beginning of this article, how can we possibly fulfill three such massive goals without diluting our efforts and producing only mediocre results in what we accomplish? Fortunately, the Bible answers this question in a very encouraging way. Unlike physical goals which usually require focused attention and effort that can be applied in only one area or another, the New Testament makes it clear that if we are diligently working toward one of the three goals we have been given, we will, in effect, be working toward them all.
Consider a small example of this. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his disciples: “… In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 ESV). Did you see it? If we are fulfilling the goal of letting our light shine before others, we will also be fulfilling the goal of bringing glory to God! Paul made exactly this same point when he wrote that through the spreading of the word: “… the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15).
Putting this example in a practical context means that helping a stranger or a fellow believer in some way not only fulfills the goal of serving and helping others, but our action also glorifies God – whether the person we help knows we are a Christian or not. A little reflection on the three goals we have been given will show that every one of them overlaps and interacts with the others in the same way. This does not mean that we need only attempt to do one of the things we have been given to do in our Christian lives, but it helps us to see that unlike attempting physical goals, we can successfully accomplish multiple spiritual goals at once. That is one of the most encouraging things we can know about the Way to which we have been called, and it is a powerful antidote to feeling that we are responsible for managing long lists of spiritual goals. We are given multiple goals, but when we strive to fulfill any one of them, very often we are working on fulfilling them all.
Empty can be such a negative word: the empty glass, empty promises, an empty bank account, and perhaps worst of all when we are driving late at night and far from a service station and our fuel gauge shows that we are running dangerously low on fuel. We are “running on empty.”
But in God’s scheme of things even something empty can represent something very great. This time of year carries a wonderful reminder of that in the message of the empty tomb of Christ. As Christians we celebrate the empty tomb with awe at what occurred and thankfulness for what it means, but do we stop there, or does the story inspire us to do something with the news we have heard? The Gospels can provide us with a reminder of what needs to follow the knowledge of the empty tomb in one of the details of the resurrection story. Notice what Matthew says regarding the experience of the women who came to the empty tomb and who were confronted by a messenger of God:
“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead…’ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (Matthew 28:5-8).
Here the women who were followers of Christ ran to tell the story of the empty tomb of Jesus and of his resurrection. It was the emptiness of the tomb that gave them a message that went first to those who were already disciples, and then outward to the whole world. And notice that they did not walk to deliver the message of the empty tomb, they ran. They were running based on the importance of the empty tomb – metaphorically they were running on empty.
Some two thousand years later the followers of Jesus should still be running on empty – every generation has the opportunity to run with the good news. But is that what we are doing? Is it enough to celebrate the empty tomb, then to go back to life as usual, or should we be carrying the news to others with a sense of urgency? If we are truly inspired by the story of the empty tomb and what it means – not only for us personally, but for all humanity – we, too, should be joyfully running with that message in whatever opportunity we have been given to deliver it.
“Your Mission, should you choose to accept it, is to” … “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).
The juxtaposition of twenty-first century fiction with first century fact may seem strange, but the analogy works. The “Mission Impossible” tagline transitions seamlessly into the words of Mark 16:15 because of the difficulty and the scale – the seeming impossibility – of the mission Christ gave his disciples. The analogy follows through because in both cases we see a small dedicated group struggling to fulfill its mission – despite the machinations of evil forces bent on the group’s destruction and the thwarting of the mission it has been given.
We know the ending, of course. We know the movie mission will be fulfilled, and that the Christian mission will likewise be fulfilled eventually, but that doesn’t stop us from living through some tense moments in the “mission” type movies we may watch, or in the “mission” lives to which we are called. For many of us, in fact, there are days when the “impossible” part seems more real than the “mission.”
Sometimes it’s the difficulty associated with fulfilling the mission we are given, at other times it’s the sheer size and magnitude of the task. But it is encouraging to remember this is how it has always been. If we backtrack to some of the earlier “impossible” missions recorded in the Bible, we find that they almost always involved moments of tension and doubt regarding either the difficulty or the size of the task that God had given.
The Book of Judges alone is full of such stories. Put yourself in Rahab’s shoes as she thought about how difficult it was going to be to explain to the king and his security forces where the Israelite spies were who they knew had been staying in her house (Joshua 2), or think about how Gideon felt about the size of the task when he was told to cut his army by almost 99 percent before a huge battle (Judges 7). But God has the ability and the will to routinely turn the impossible into the accomplished.
Christ himself had to remind his disciples of this fact: “… With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). We know this intellectually and spiritually, but often it helps to look more closely at the mission briefing and remind ourselves that both the difficulty and the scope of the mission are possible: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV).
Notice first that the difficulty of the job is covered in the promise to provide the necessary resources: “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Next, notice that the Son of God could have just said “you will be my witnesses to the end of the earth,” but he broke the mission down into successive, bit at a time, stages – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the whole world.
The mission parameters we are given specifically remind us that we will be given the resources we need to do the job – and they also remind us that we need to do the job a bit at a time. The answer lies on the one hand with faith in the help we are promised, and on the other hand with our ability to successfully break down the mission and firmly grasp a workable part. But we have not really accepted the mission if we accept it as an impossible-seeming task.
Our mission, if we accept it, is to trust, and then to take on a small part of the job and make it happen. Those are the two responses needed to fulfill the mission we have been given. What small part of the mission will you make happen today?
Recent Comments