In the ultimate of brevity, God's plan for finishing the work in the earth is given in Isaiah 43:12: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God." God's plans are always simple plans. Much is covered in those few words, "Ye are my witnesses." A witness must know by experience what he is talking about. We cannot successfully witness for God without first having an experience ourselves. We cannot tell about the thrill of knowing Jesus as our Saviour unless we have experienced it. Can we extol the value and strength of a prayer life unless we are living that experience? No doubt one of the main reasons our witnessing for God is not as effective as we would like it to be, is because we do not know God as we should.
Pilate once asked Jesus, "Art thou the King of the Jews?"
"Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?" (John 18:34). "Pilate, are you saying this because you have a personal conviction regarding me, or are you just saying it because someone told you that I was King of the Jews?" As witnesses for the Master we must speak from our own experience. When we do that, it will carry tremendous weight. Merely repeating what we have heard someone else say about God is not witnessing.
God can use anyone as His witness, if that one is consecrated and knows God. This fact we as ministers need to reflect upon. How many times we pass by some dear brother or sister, thinking that we cannot use him. Perhaps he is not the progressive or aggressive person we like to include in our plans. It makes no difference how humble or backward he may be, God can use him to His glory if he is consecrated to Him. Read the story "An Angel Fills the Wood Box," which appeared in the Review and Herald of December 22, 1955. God used in a wonderful way a woman who had just recently become an Adventist. She was His witness.
Jesus in His ministry used as witnesses some folks that we would surely pass by as unusable. Read again the story of the two demoniacs. None of us would choose them and send them into a city to prepare the way for successful evangelism. Jesus was asked to leave. The citizens didn't want Him around. When the demoniacs sought to stay with Jesus as He was leaving, notice what He said to them: "Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee" (Luke 8:39). These men were His witnesses.
But notice what happened the next time Jesus went there. "And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him" (verse 40). The difference in the attitude of the people was the result of the witnessing of those men. These demoniacs didn't know much about Jesus. They had heard no sermon. They had seen Jesus only once, and had been with Him but a few hours at the most. They did not go out and give a series of Bible studies. They just did what they could. They witnessed as to what Jesus had done for them. This was their own experience. How wonderfully effective it was.
It is interesting to notice in the concordance how many times the words "witness" and "witnesses" are used in the book of Acts alone.
"Ye are my witnesses." Sometimes we get the idea that we are God's lawyers. Lawyers are the ones who, after all the witnesses have given their testimony, argue the fine points of the law and endeavor by argument to secure a decision in their favor. God never has called us to be His lawyers. We are called to be His witnesses. We may be able to argue ever so logically, but argument only produces argument.
The unstudied, unconscious influence of a holy life is the most convincing sermon that can be given in favor of Christianity. Argument, even when unanswerable, may provoke only opposition; but a godly example has a power that it is impossible wholly to resist.—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 511.
Here, then, is Heaven's simple plan for carrying a knowledge of the living God and a loving Saviour to the world. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God" (Isa. 43:12). The servant of the Lord puts it this way in The Ministry of Heating, page 100:
Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven's chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. . . . These precious acknowledgments to the praise of the glory of His grace, when supported by a Christ-like life, have an irresistible power, that works for the salvation of souls. . . . There is greater encouragement for us in the least blessing we ourselves receive from God than in all the accounts we can read of the faith and experience of others.
Notice another statement:
The followers of Christ are to be the light of the world; but God does not bid them make an effort to shine. He does not approve of any self-satisfied endeavor to display superior goodness. He desires that their souls shall be imbued with the principles of heaven; then, as they come in contact with the world, they will reveal the light that is in them.Ibid., p. 36.
The world needs today what it needed nineteen hundred years ago—a revelation of Christ.—Ibid., p. 143.
This is what we as ministers and church members must work to accomplish. We will need the help of every church member. It is a challenge to us as workers to find the place where each of our church members can be the most effective witness for the Master. This is not easy. Perhaps that is why it is not often done. It is easier just to preach.
Far more powerful than any sermon that can be preached is the influence of a true home upon human hearts and lives—Ibid., p. 352.
Not all the books written can serve the purpose of a holy life.—Ibid., p. 442.
There is an eloquence far more powerful than the eloquence of words in the quiet, consistent life of a pure, true Christian. What a man is has more influence than what he says.... In order to convince others of the power of Christ's grace, we must know its power in our own hearts and lives.—Ibid., p. 469.
The badge of Christianity . . . is that which reveals the union of man with God. By the power of His grace manifested in the transformation of character the world is to be convinced that God has sent His Son as its Redeemer. No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian.—Ibid., p. 470.
If we will in some way lay the challenge of witnessing upon our church members, it will work untold good. It will make the church alive. Our internal church problems will be greatly minimized. Our own pastoral work will be far more successful. Let us encourage all to be His witnesses.
Brethren, here is God's plan. Our human plans sometimes get pretty complicated. But God's plans are always simple, and if under His guidance we could convey this thought of witnessing to our people, what a tremendous power for the saving of souls it would be. It calls for a real revival in the church. This is where all evangelism should start.
All our denominational plans will fall into their rightful places when we correctly understand our place as witnesses for God.
