Go

What are you passionate about?  What is it that you just can’t live without?  What is it that you love doing so much that you would let everything else go because of it?  Pretty strong question, isn’t it?  As a Christian, we think we know what our answer is supposed to be.  We’re like the little boy in Sabbath School who, when the teacher asked, “Boys and girls, what is gray and has a bushy tail and scampers everywhere?”  said, “Well, I know the answer is Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.”

We’ve done the same thing in the church.  When we ask the question, “what does it mean to Go?” we often find ourselves giving the answer we think we should give, rather than what we really think.  We give the answer we’ve been given for years because it fits into our personal Theological framework and many of us have already written this posting off, because we think we’ve heard this one before.  Don’t write me off too quickly.  You might want to read all the way to the end and see if your concept doesn’t change at least a little bit.

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I have heard and believed that text all of my life.  But somewhere in my growing up years, I got a bit warped…(what? Let me finish) I got a bit warped in my thinking about what it meant to Go and preach the gospel or to go and witness.  When I look back at those years, there were a lot of people who tried to tell me or show me…but I’m not sure they had it all right.

In my earliest years, I remember being handed a can that said “Ingathering” on it.  Those of you who are older Seventh-day Adventist will remember this.  And to really help me out, someone would put a dollar in the can that would just stick out of the top so that it was like a subliminal suggestion to give dollars rather than just your change.  So they would put this can in my hands with the “bait” money sticking up and they would walk with me to the door and ring the doorbell and when someone answered, I was supposed to say, “Hi, I’m a little missionary out working for Jesus. We are collecting money to help those who are less fortunate. Would you be kind enough to help us?”  Of course, implying that if they were indeed a kind person, they would help…and likewise, if they didn’t help, they must not be kind.  Then we would go back to the church to drink hot chocolate and count the evenings haul.  And we could say that we had obeyed Jesus command to Go.

When I was a bit older, I joined that wonderful organization that just about anyone growing up Adventist has been a part of at one time or another: Pathfinders.  I loved Pathfinders.   What do you do with a group of 9-12 year olds on a Sabbath afternoon that will keep them out of trouble, and perhaps even advance the gospel?  I don’t know who thought of this, but at the time I thought it was sheer genius.  Literature bombing.  You read that right.  Literature bombing.  I think it came out of World War II, but I can’t be sure.  We would spend the first hour or so in the Pathfinder room taking all the stacks of leftover Little Friends, Primary Treasures, Junior Guides, and back then—here’s my age showing—The Youth Instructor, which predated Insight Magazine—we would take all of those stacks and start rolling them into well designed missiles, suitable for throwing.  We would have a younger kids box—Little Friends, Primary Treasures and maybe a Jr. Guide rolled together.  And an older kids box.  Jr. Guide and Youth Instructors rolled together.  Then we also would take some old people’s literature, like the Signs of the Times or Liberty Magazines that had been laying around the church for awhile and roll those together for any adults we might happen upon.

This first step was very important, so we took it seriously, knowing that the fun was about to begin, if we prepared carefully.  Once all of our missives were rolled into missiles, we would pile into staff members cars—always wearing our Class A uniform, of course—to give the proper impression and show that we were an official organization—and, I think, to let our parents know that the money spent on uniforms was well worth it.  So we would pile into cars with a staff member who had worked with the other staff members to divide up the territory—and then we would drive through the neighborhoods, hanging out the windows of the car, spotting hapless victims…er potential church members, size up their age, ask the munitions officer for the proper payload, and then prepare to unleash a missile, trying, of course not to hit them…but to get it close enough to them that their natural curiosity would cause them to go over and pick it up.  Ok…we tried to hit them…though we were told not to.  That was part of the fun for a 10 year-old boy.

So the idea was that they would get this literature, read it, be converted, find the nearest  Adventist church, which would be ours, of course, and come begging to join.  I can’t remember that ever happening, but I remember going home being praised for going out and “spreading the gospel like the leaves of autumn.”  Boy did we ever.  No bombing crew in a B-51 could have taken more pride and joy in unloading their bombs than we.  And back at the Pathfinder room, we would share our stories with joy of how we had “accidentally hit that one guy mowing his grass while shouting God loves you.”  We had truly witnessed.

As I grew older, it was Park Evangelism, where we stood by a booth covered with psychedelic posters and sang, “They will know we are Christians by our love”—All the while hating being out there…but doing our duty.  No one ever came to ask us why we were so happy.  Imagine.

In Sabbath School, they always took a few moments at the beginning of class to see how your personal witnessing was going as they went through a checklist of good things you might have done.  And of course you didn’t brag about it…you just held up the appropriate number of fingers so that the recording secretary could write it down and  hope the totals from your class beat the totals from the other classes.

Person’s Helped.  Number of items of food given away.  Articles of clothing distributed.  Literature distributed. That’s where I would rack up on the Sabbath after literature bombing…I didn’t have enough fingers so would have to politely say 57 or some such number, as the adults would nod approvingly.  Hours spent laboring for others.  And the biggie: Number of Bible Studies given.   And we could go home feeling like we were spiritual because of all of the things we had done.

No where in my growing up years was I introduced to the idea that Jesus called us to BE a witness, not just DO witnessing activities.  No where did the church really tell me that it was more about who I was than what I did.  As long as I looked good, I must be good.  Never mind that my heart was rotten to the core.  Never mind that my thoughts were impure or filled with anger and hate.  If I presented well, I was labeled a good Christian.  And believe me, I learned to wear the mask well.

I could go out and witness with the best of them.  I could help when the evangelist came to town by passing out Bibles and then collecting them again at the end of the meeting until someone came so many nights and then they would be given that Bible.  Never mind the fact that the whole time the evangelist was preaching, I was trying out my moves on Linda or Holly or Rhonda or whoever happened to be forced to come by their parents.  My thinking was warped.  I thought you could do whatever you wanted to do, as long as you told people about Jesus when it was on the schedule.

I never got the connection between the head and the heart.  I just learned to play the game and I did whatever it was we were supposed to do—most of the time hating every minute of it.  I had no passion for witnessing.  I had no passion for Jesus.  I didn’t even have a passion for the church.  I just had a fear of it and of a God who could send me to hell if I didn’t have my act together.

And then I met Jesus.  I had heard all about Him, but never really met Him.  And I fell in love with a Savior who could take the worst in me, wrap it in love and dissolve it, leaving me forgiven and free.  I began to understand that He already knew me to my core and He loved me anyway.  He really wanted to save me.  And when I began to understand that, I began to get a passion for sharing.

When Sandy and I began dating, I was real wary, because I had been dumped 6 times in a row by 6 different young ladies that I thought loved me.  That’s another blog for another time.  But I was wary.  I wanted to take it really slow.  Those of you who know Sandy know that she has an infectious smile and you can get lost in the warmth of her eyes.  You know that she is compassionate to a fault.  She really cares about people.  She genuinely loves from the depth of her being.  That’s who she is.  And I fell in love.  I couldn’t help it.  And let me tell you—it was easy to talk about her to just about anyone who would listen.  It’s still easy to talk about her.  

I love Sandy for who she is so I don’t mind sharing.  It’s not a hardship.  It grows out of our relationship.  I love Jesus for who He is—and it gives me joy to share Him with people.  Especially struggling people.  Because I have a love relationship with Jesus, it has changed who I am as a person.  Witnessing comes AFTER I know Him and love Him.  It comes from who I am…it’s not just something I do.  I do those things because He loves me and I love Him…not in order to gain points in hopes that something might click and suddenly I’ll feel like witnessing.

The disciples had spent 3 and a half years with Jesus.  Jesus wanted them to know what He was like.  To learn to trust Him.  To learn to love Him as well as His ways.  Jesus knew that if they were ever to share the story about the love the Father has for this world, they would have to experience it first-hand.  But He also knew they needed more than that.  And so do we, if we are going to go out successfully.

 Acts 1:4-8 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  6   So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”  7   He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus said, “Go back to Jerusalem and wait.”  Why?  So they could receive the Holy Spirit.  Was it time spent in idle waiting?  No.  It was a time of repentance,  confession, finding forgiveness and continuing to seek what the Lord would have each of them do.  Then the Holy Spirit came.

Notice vs 8 again. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you AND you will BE my witnesses.  Did you catch that?  Holy Spirit first—brings you power AND you will BE.  Holy Spirit—you will BE.  Nice Pastor Don, but what does that mean?  It means that if you haven’t waited for the Holy Spirit to empower your life and your work, you are just DOING rather than being!  It means that you are not really being His witness, but instead are just doing witnessing events.  Doing without Being will burn you out faster than anything else in the spiritual life.  If you haven’t become a witness through the power of the Holy Spirit, and you are just doing things for the sake of witnessing—stop.

You heard me right.  Stop.  Because you and I can do more damage to the cause of God than help it if we are trying to do God’s work in our own strength.  These two—waiting on the power of the Holy Spirit and then being a witness…or a channel of hope for God to work through, are interlinked.  They must go hand in hand.  It is a cycle that is the pattern for holiness.  Be filled with the Holy Spirit—BE a witness.  Witnessing is not something you DO—it’s who you are!  And either you are taking the time to wait on the Lord for His Holy Spirit or you aren’t.  Either you are becoming a witness through His strength or you’re not.  They go hand in hand.

Wait-Go.  Wait-Go.  Wait on the Holy Spirit, Go out in His power.  It has to be a daily cycle.  If you go out before you wait, you risk misrepresenting God to the world around you.  Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, if that’s what a Christian is, then I want no part of it!”?  That’s because they are looking at a Christian who has gone out before he/she has waited.  They are looking at a Christian trying to make it on their own power instead of God’s.  That should be our weekly cycle as well. Come and fellowship, find renewal and new strength in the power of the Spirit—and then go.  Go out to the world and live as one who can bring hope and light to your workplace, to your home and to your neighbors. 

When you go out in the power of the Holy Spirit, you won’t have to work at witnessing.  It will come naturally.  The Holy Spirit will give you the right words to speak at the right time.  Luke 12:11-12 11   “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,  12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” 

If He’ll do it at those times, why wouldn’t He do it when you are seeking to share Him with someone else?  If you have taken the time to wait on the Holy Spirit, then of course He will.  But you have to wait before you go out.  You have to be filled before you try to work.  Think about it: You can’t give something you don’t have. 

The disciples understood this.  Though they were still tempted by their old sins and habits, they daily waited for the Holy Spirit and then moved out.  Author Ellen White,  in her book, Acts of the Apostles, pg 49, 50 says this:  Those who at Pentecost were endued with power from on high, were not thereby freed from further temptation and trial. As they witnessed for truth and righteousness they were repeatedly assailed by the enemy of all truth, who sought to rob them of their Christian experience. They were compelled to strive with all their God-given powers to reach the measure of the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.

Daily they prayed for fresh supplies of grace, that they might reach higher and still higher toward perfection. Under the Holy Spirit's working even the weakest, by exercising faith in God, learned to improve their entrusted powers and to become sanctified, refined, and ennobled. As in humility they submitted to the molding influence of the Holy Spirit, they received of the fullness of the Godhead and were fashioned in the likeness of the divine.

Yeah, but Pastor Don, that was then…this is now.  Take a look at the next paragraph.

The lapse of time has wrought no change in Christ's parting promise to send the Holy Spirit as His representative. It is not because of any restriction on the part of God that the riches of His grace do not flow earthward to men. If the fulfillment of the promise is not seen as it might be, it is because the promise is not appreciated as it should be. If all were willing, all would be filled with the Spirit. Wherever the need of the Holy Spirit is a matter little thought of, there is seen spiritual drought, spiritual darkness, spiritual declension and death. Whenever minor matters occupy the attention, the divine power which is necessary for the growth and prosperity of the church, and which would bring all other blessings in its train, is lacking, though offered in infinite plenitude.

So there it is.  If you want to go forth to be a witness with power, you must ask for the Holy Spirit.  If you find your spiritual walk dry or dying…you need to go back to waiting.  Once you’ve been renewed by the Spirit, then move from that position of power out into a dying world.  Then they will listen.  Then they will drawn to Jesus.  Then they will accept.  Then they will be saved.  Go…but go in the power of the Spirit.  If you try to go out any other way…you are not moving forward.  You are simply asking for defeat.  It's like a car revving its engine while in neutral.  A whole lot of noise, but no forward momentum.

Are you putting God’s power to work…or just sitting in neutral? Go.  Not from a guilty conscience, but from an overflowing heart.  Go.  Not because you have to, but because you want to. Go. But only after you Wait.  Go…but make sure you are going in the power of the Lord. Go, Jesus said, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”