(Part 2 of 2)
“Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
John 4:35
With the Earth’s population reaching nearly 7 billion and the number of those who confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior being just under 2 billion, the need to reach those who are lost is still very much there… but we have to open up!
Many believe that because of the tremendous strides we have made with technology that the need to proclaim the gospel and take the truth to others is unnecessary. We can communicate through television, radio, newspapers and magazines. We can tweet, instant message, send Facebook posts and email around the world. Some say that because of this, our world has become much smaller. Yet, there are still thousands upon thousands who have never heard the good news of the Gospel! We have closed our eyes to the eternal needs of those around us.
Opening our faith begins with opening our eyes and rediscovering there is a need. Then we must continue to open up! Romans 10:13-14 challenges us to open up our mouths:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of who they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"
We have been given the mandate to open our mouths and share the good news of Jesus Christ. This is not a passage of scripture directed towards men and women who have chosen ministry as their vocation. No! It was written to the church, the body of Christ, stirring us to open up our faith! The early church in Acts 2 devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, prayer and praising God. They were not silent about their faith! This was not only heard, but seen as they also opened up their hearts:
“All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.”
Acts 2:44
1 John 3 reminds us that if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? John then challenges us with these words: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and truth. This then is truth, and how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence.”
Sincere words are of no value if they are not coupled with authentic action! It is when these two are combined that those who are lost and hurting believe in the genuineness of our faith.
Yet, it is when we open up our lives to those who need Christ that we become fully engaged. The apostle Paul wrote the believers in Thessalonica this wonderful passage:
“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”
I fear that, as a whole, the body of Christ, here in the U.S. has become very closed off. Coming to Christ has become very impersonal with televised messages, radio worship, and internet chat rooms for fellowship. You can e-mail us your prayers and direct deposit your tithe! It is easy to close yourself off from the Body and still “be” a Christian.
That is why the Christian faith, as we often present it, is not well received, because the lost, rejected, hurting and needy are tired of feeling closed off! There is a hunger today, even within our world of plenty, for authentic fellowship. It is authentic devotion to God coupled with our authentic devotion to one another that appeals to those who feel unaccepted.
I want to challenge you today to bloom. A flower is beautiful to look at, but it cannot reproduce until it blooms. Its fullness cannot be realized until it opens up…so open your eyes, open your mouth, open your heart and open your life to those around you today!
Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/
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