Pondering Proverbs – Witness (1)

 

 

For the past few weeks, we’ve been pondering what Proverbs has to teach us concerning God’s loving discipline in our lives, as well as his righteous judgment on those who reject Him and embrace evil and wickedness. Taking a hiatus from pondering discipline (which we will return to since Proverbs has much more to teach us about this way of life), we are going to ponder what the father of Proverbs has to say to his son regarding living a life of witness to God.

 

As with all of my life, sometimes I’ve gotten witnessing right and sometimes I’ve gotten it wrong. Sometimes I’ve been more intelligent than at other times. Sometimes I’ve been stupid and other times I’ve gotten out of the way and been amazed at how Jesus has worked. One of the many things I love about baseball is that the best batters still make more outs than they get on base – and yet they not only still keep playing but the very best are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

 

One thing I am convinced of is that if I don’t get up to the plate and swing the bat nothing will happen. I cannot say to Jesus, “Please let me stay on the bench. Please don’t send me out of the dugout and up to the plate.”

 

I am also convinced that being a witness for Jesus is a way of life, it is who we are before it is what we do. Jesus says that if we see Him we see the Father (John 14:9), well then, since Jesus sends us as the Father sends Him (John 17:18; 20:21) when people see us they ought to see the Father and Jesus. After all, Jesus says that we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14), and since He is the Light of world (John 8:12) then we know that our light is His Light – not our own, not of ourselves – therefore the light in us is Light with an uppercase “L” (see also John 15:1 – 11, we can produce no light of ourselves).

 

Are we faithful stewards of Christ’s Light in us?

 

Yet there is also the dynamic in life that not only do we learn to witness as we realize who we are in Christ but we also learn who we are in Christ as we learn to witness, to share the Gospel and point people to Jesus Christ. We become as we “do”, and we also “do” as we become.

 

Also, I am convinced that living a life of witness, and that giving specific words of witness, is totally dependent on the Holy Spirit from first to last. This means that God uses my shortcomings, my fears, my insecurities, and my weaknesses to His glory; God redeems my imperfect words and actions – God calls me to obedience and faithfulness – the results of the seed I sow are in His hands, not mine. I am not (nor are you) called to manipulate situations or force results – I am called to love God and others.

 

Then there is the element of sacrifice in the life of witness, we are called to follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Revelation 14:4; Mark 8:34 – 38). Jesus Christ gave His life for us and we are to give our lives to Him and for others (1 John 3:16). Living a life of witness means going against the grain of the world around us, it means that we tell the truth, that we do not slander, that we love in the midst of rejection and hate, that we speak words of peace, that we touch the untouchable, loving the people of the world as Jesus loves the people of the world – it means that we bear the reproach of Jesus both inside and outside the professing church.

 

The first verse in Proverbs that I’d like us to ponder regarding witness is 10:5, “He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.”

 

What do you see in this verse?

 

What does your local church look like with respect to this verse?

 

I wonder what my own life looks like.

 

What about your life?

 

We’ll return to Proverbs 10:5 in the next post in this series.