Should We Witness for Christ? (Part 5)

by | Jun 18, 2012 | Ecclesiology, Missions, Practical Theology

Matthew 12:30a says:  “He who is not with Me is against Me…”  This is the uncompromising assertion of the text.  What we may call the unmistakable amplification of these words comes next:  “and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”  The implication that every Christian must and does have a heart and concern for evangelism finds indisputable confirmation in the rest of the New Testament.  1 Cor. 10:33-11:1 says:  “Just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.  Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”

All of this then requires that we think about the unavoidable application.  It is this:  Every Christians must and does have a heart for biblical evangelism.   This heart must be at the center of the lifestyle of every Christian.  Let me mention several specific applications of this.

1.       Biblical evangelism is an important responsibility of every Christian.

No Christian can exempt himself from the requirement of our text.  Each of us—the text clearly implies—have the responsibility to be gathering with Christ.

2.       Biblical evangelism is an identifying mark of every Christian.

The main point of our text is not, however, that Christians should gather with Christ.  It is that Christians do gather with Christ.  Every Christian gathers with Christ.  That is to say, biblical evangelism is his lifestyle.  He has a heart to see men gathered to Christ.  His heart is manifested in some efforts in his life to gather men to Christ.

Now I do not say what I have just said lightly.  I say it carefully.  I say it trembling for myself and for those I love.  Having a heart for biblical evangelism is a necessary mark of being a Christian.  If you rarely or never think about the salvation of the lost, if you have no concern for them or for the glory of Christ in their salvation, if you have no heart to gather with Christ, then I may tell you, I must tell you, straightforwardly that you are no Christian.

3.       Biblical evangelism is a means of grace for every Christian.

Some struggle a great deal with assurance of your salvation.  One reason may be that you are not giving yourself to this responsibility and grace as you ought.  Start doing something to gather with Christ.  John Piper once articulated at “Together for the Gospel” the common experience of Christians when they have an opportunity to speak for Christ:  He said after such an opportunity which God had given him that he went home thinking: I really am a Christian!

4.       Biblical evangelism may not be what you think.

The text defines evangelism as gathering with Christ.  Passing out tracts or going door to door may be good for some people.  “From scratch” evangelistic conversations may be possible for some gifted Christians.  They may not work out well for the rest of us.  They may not be societally or culturally effective ways of promoting the gospel of Christ.  So let me give you some advice about how to do biblical evangelism.

  • Biblical evangelism is consistent with and promoted by the diligent pursuit of your callings.  Some think of their jobs as a hindrance to evangelism or even as an alternative to evangelism. For some the best way to do biblical evangelism is to do as well as you can at your vocations and professions.  This will open doors to gather with Christ to you.
  • Biblical evangelism means cultivating relationships with unconverted people.  One good way to do that is by showing mercy to people and ministering to their felt needs.
  • Biblical evangelism means plugging your gifts into an evangelistically minded local church and supporting others with better evangelistic gifts than our own.  This thought has often encouraged and motivated me to use whatever gifts I have for my local church.  I end on the point which I made in my first blog.  We must not think of thee work of evangelism individualistically, but as the work of the church, the body of Christ.  We can gather with Christ by using the gifts God has given us in the church which is His body.

Should We Witness for Christ? (Part 4)

by | Jun 11, 2012 | Ecclesiology, Missions, Practical Theology

Matthew 12:30a says:  “He who is not with Me is against Me…”  This is the uncompromising assertion of the text.  What we may call the unmistakable amplification of these words comes next:  “and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”  The implication that every Christian must and does have a heart and concern for evangelism finds indisputable confirmation in the rest of the New Testament.

Notice 1 Corinthians 10:33 – 11:1:  “Just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.  Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 9:1-11:1 among other things is speaking of how Paul gave up the exercise of His Christian liberty in order to work for the salvation of men.  He as an Apostle of Christ had joined Christ in the great mission of gathering men.  In the text to which I have turned you we learn that it is not just Apostles or Pastors or even some group of elite Christians who must join Christ in this work of gathering.  Immediately upon saying that he tried to please all men in all things in order that they may be saved, he proceeds to call the Corinthian church as a whole to imitate his lifestyle.  In living a lifestyle of trying to gather men to Christ, he says, I am following Christ.  He says to them, Now I call you to imitate my lifestyle, just as I am trying to imitate His. What is the lesson?  He who is not with me is against me.  He who does not gather with me scatters.

Should We Witness for Christ? (Part 3)

by | Jun 4, 2012 | Ecclesiology, Missions, Practical Theology

Matthew 12:30a says:  “He who is not with Me is against Me…”  This is the uncompromising assertion of the text.  What we may call the unmistakable amplification of these words comes next:  “and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”  In these words Jesus amplifies and explains what he means by being with him and not against him.  Being with Christ means gathering with Him.  Being against Christ means scattering.  Both the word, gather, and the word, scatter, need careful explanation.

Gather

The verb translated, gather, here is used 59 times in the New Testament.  24 of these, or about 40% of the entire total uses in the New Testament, are in Matthew.  Parallel uses in Matthew to the one in our text are these:

  • Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
  • Matthew 13:30 “Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.'”
  • Matthew 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind.”
  • Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
  • Matthew 22:10 “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.”

Listen to other relevant uses of “gather” in the New Testament.

  • John 4:36 “Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”
  • John 11:52 and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Evangelism biblically defined is to gather men into Christ and His people.  Every Christian needs to have in a part in that work and gather with Christ!

Scatter

The verb translated, scatter, is also an important New Testament word with a meaning you may not immediately understand.

It is used of the dispersion of the Jews under the judgment of God.

  • Ezekiel 5:12 ‘One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

It is used of what a wolf does to a flock of sheep.

  • John 10:12 “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
  • John 16:32 “Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

The bottom-line is that gathering is the work of a shepherd or friend, while scattering is the work of a wolf or enemy.

Jesus in Matthew 12:30 describes His ministry and work in the world as gathering men.  He gathers them first to Himself as the good shepherd of their souls.  But he also gathers them together into His church—the place or fold where He can protect His sheep from the wolf.

  • John 10:16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”

To gather with Christ, then, is to join Him in his effort to gather sheep into the safety of His protection.  This includes ultimately gathering them into the safety of the fold, a reference to His church.  To scatter is to act the part of a wolf and oppose Christ’s work and mission in the world.  Only certain destruction can befall such a wicked sinner and enemy of Christ.

Hendriksen argues:

To be “with” Jesus means to be instrumental in gathering people to be his followers (Prov. 11:30; Dan. 12:3; Matt. 9:37, 38; Luke 19:10; John 4:35, 36; 1 Cor. 9:22).  To be “against” him means to be unwilling to follow him in his mission to gather the lost.  It means to leave them in their shepherdless, scattered condition, an easy prey for Satan.

EGNT contains this comment:

But in all cases, when one man scatters what another gatheres their aims and interests are utterly diverse.  Satan is the arch-waster, Christ the collector, Saviour.

All this is confirmed by the context of Jesus’ assertion here in Matthew 12.  The Pharisees opposed Christ and attempted to scatter what He was gathering by claiming that He was doing what He did by the power of Satan.  In so rejecting the miraculous evidence of the Spirit to Jesus’ divine mission and identity, they were bringing upon themselves a sin that could never be forgiven.  But Christ states in our text a further thought.  Anyone who does not join Him in the work of bringing salvation to the world is actually on the side of His enemies.

Should We Witness for Christ? (Part 2)

by | May 28, 2012 | Ecclesiology, Missions, Practical Theology

My first blog post on “witnessing” for Christ might leave the impression that I am among those who suggest that evangelism is something only pastors and/or those with a special call to evangelism need to worry about.  I am not.  In fact, I think the Bible raises serious questions about the genuineness of a person’s Christianity if he has no heart or concern for evangelism.  A text I came across in my devotions a few years ago raises such questions.  It has triggered in me a deeper insight into my own failures and a determination to be a more biblical Christian in this area.  That text is Matthew 12:30.  In the NASB it reads this way:  “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

Notice the uncompromising assertion found in the text:  “He who is not with Me is against Me.”

On the surface the first half of Matthew 12:30 might seem to require little explanation.  It is straightforward:  “He who is not with Me is against Me.”  It teaches that with regard to commitment to Christ there is no neutrality.  You are with Him or you are against Him.

But some may be thinking of a passage which utters a sentiment which seems exactly opposite to the one contained in our text.  What about Mark 9:40: “For he who is not against us is for us”?  What about Luke 9:50: “But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”  You may want to look at one of these passages.

In these passages a man is casting out demons in the name of Jesus, and the disciples try to stop him.  In response Jesus tells them not to hinder him and gives the reason that he who is not against us is for us.  This is clearly a very different situation than the one in our text.  The Pharisees here claimed that Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.  Jesus is actually saying ion Mark 9:40 and Luke 9:50 that if a man is using my name to cast out demons, then you should not oppose him because he is actually for our cause and helping in my work.  Jesus does not mean in these texts, then, that if a man is simply neutral then he is not against us.  The man in question in these other texts is clearly not neutral.  He is actually proclaiming the name of Christ as a name of power by which to do miracles.  In this way he is actually gathering with Christ.

Lenski supports this view when he says:  “In the battle against Satan every man who does not side with Jesus is against Him and for Satan.  Luke 9:50 and Mark 9:40 agree with this view: for to do a miracle or a kind deed ‘in Jesus name’ is neither neutral nor hostile to Jesus.”

The real point of both in Matthew 12 and its parallel passage in Luke 11:23 is this reality that there is no neutrality with regard to Christ:  “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”  There is no neutrality with regard to Christ or his mission in the world.  You are either supportive of it and join with Christ in it.  Or you are his enemy.

Alford remarks:  “As usual, this saying of our Lord reached further than the mere occasion to which it referred, and spoke forcibly to those many half-persuaded hesitating persons who flattered themselves that they could strike out a line equally avoiding the persecution of men and the rejection of Christ.”

MacArthur concurs:  “It is not necessary to oppose Christ in order to be against Him; it is only necessary not to be with Him.  Nor is it necessary to actively interfere with His work in order to be one who scatters; it is only necessary to not gather with Him.”

Many think they are neutral with regard to Christ.  They say, “I’m not against Jesus!”  I think it would be hard to find a person in my Bible-belt county who would say I am against Jesus. But the question is whether they have entrusted their never-dying soul to him as Savior?  Are they gathering with Him?  Jesus says,  “If you are not with me, you, my dear lady, my dear girl, my dear child, my dear young man, my dear man, are against me.” There is no neutrality with regard to Christ.  If you do not follow Him, you fight Him.  If you have not committed your soul to Him, you have rejected Him, and you must unavoidably face the consequences!

Men must aspire to be with Christ in all the other He has appointed.  They must be with Him in baptism, in the church, and in his mission to the world.  If we are really with Christ, then we ought to be with Him in every way you can!

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