Pondering Proverbs - Witness (11)

 

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls.” Proverbs 11:30.

 

He who is wise wins souls, but he who reads the second part of Proverbs 11:30 without reading the first part is not wise; nor is he who reads Proverbs 11:30 without also reading what leads up to it, and what leads up to it is:

 

“There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet results only in want. The generous man [lit. soul of blessing] will be prosperous [lit. made fat], and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” Proverbs 11:24 – 26, NASB.

 

Winning souls is inextricably linked to the fruit of the righteous being a tree of life, and this tree of life and its fruit are a Way of Life. Therefore, winning souls is a manifestation of our Way of Life, it flows out of who we are in Jesus Christ and who He is within us…as individuals, as marriages, and as congregations. Yes, winning a soul is an event, but it is more than an event, it is the ongoing Incarnation – it is Christ in us and through us.

 

Parenting has many events within it, but those events exist because we are parents. Some parents, of course, fulfill their calling and some do not – some professing Christians fulfill their calling as witnesses and some do not. We can accept who we are and grow within our identity; or we can reject who we are and find myriad reasons not to parent, not to witness, not to be a good neighbor.

 

To return to Proverbs 11:24 – 26, living as a tree of life in Christ means that we live lives of giving, of scattering, of paying the price to distribute grain to those around us – it means that we are givers and not grabbers – and living with this attitude, this outlook, this nature – means that we cannot but witness, we must witness, we must win souls by our deeds and words, by what we say being coupled with what we do.

 

How tragic were our actions to be godly and our words not endorse and explain our actions, just as it is tragic when our walk does not align with our talk. We simply must not allow ourselves to think that we can have words without deeds, nor deeds without words. Christ has given His words that we might pass them on to others – and the words that He has given us are those of the Father (John 17:6 – 8); having given us His Word, Christ sends us as the Father sent Him (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

O dear friend, wherever you are, you are there as the son or daughter of the Living God, you are there – first and foremost – as the brother or sister of Jesus Christ. Let it not be conceivable that a son or daughter of the Living God not speak of his or her Father, let us not entertain the thought that a sister or brother of Jesus Christ would conceal the life of Christ that lives within her or him.

 

We live in a world of hatred and chaos, of dying and death – and yet those in Christ live in the oasis of Jesus Christ, we abide in the Rock of safety and salvation with a glorious eternal future beckoning us. We have the Water of Life within us, the Peace that exceeds all comprehension – shall we not share what we have with others?

 

Picture a husband or wife who, when he or she leaves the house for work every morning gets in the car, turns on the ignition, opens the glove box, removes his or her wedding ring, puts it in the glove box, closes the glove box, and proceeds to live the day as if not married…only returning the ring to the ring finger upon returning home.

 

Is this not what we do when we live at work, at school, while shopping, while engaged in civic life, without living as holistic witnesses (in word and deed) of Jesus Christ? Are we ashamed of our marriage to Jesus?

 

If we learn to live as blessings to others, we will learn to live as witnesses to Jesus.

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be [or “show yourselves to be”] sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the peoples of the world do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43 – 48).

 

In other words, we are to live as our Father, and we do this in Jesus Christ. As Peter writes (1 Peter 1:14 – 16):

 

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

 

As Paul writes, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:1 – 2).

 

Are we giving ourselves up for others? Are we living as offerings and sacrifices to God as fragrant aromas? Are we living as the Tree of Life, bearing fruit that others may eat it and live?

 

As we continually surrender our wills to Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves serving others and witnessing to them and God will draw others to Himself through us.

 

In a previous reflection I shared about an employee in a jewelry store whose tears led her employer to Jesus Christ. This woman was not embarrassed of Jesus, and better that she be terminated for loving others than to harden her heart and keep quiet.

 

I think of a time when I was working in a gas station at Christmas time. I was young and loved Jesus and I wanted to witness to my coworkers, my boss, and to the owner of the business. At the time there was a vinyl record of a drama about life after death – I don’t recall much about it now, other than it took place on an airplane and it was focused on knowing Jesus Christ. I gave each person one of these recorded albums. Now I don’t recall what their responses were, and I can’t even recall whether I had follow-up conversations after Christmas about the albums – this was a long time ago. But I do know that I did the best I could according to the understanding I had and the desire of my heart for others to know Jesus.

 

I recall another time at a Christmas party many years later. It was at the home of a man of significant wealth, the chairman of the board of the firm I worked for. During the evening I observed one of our frontline managers talking to the chairman about Jesus Christ. I knew this manager well, and I knew the chairman, and they were, in many respects, the farthest apart in temperament and background than any two people were among the group that gathered that night. Yet, there the manager was being faithful to Jesus Christ and to another person who needed to truly know Him – the social and economic and employer – employee chasm between the two men did not deter the manager from sharing Christ with the chairman of the board. I have never forgotten what I saw, and it has been an encouragement to me in my own witnessing.

 

Sometimes the people who are the most unlike us can teach us things we wouldn’t otherwise see, and sometimes the people who are the most receptive to our witness are those who are the most unlike us. Sometimes we want to be all things to all men so that we might win some to Christ (1 Cor. 9:19 – 23), but other times a dynamic of being different comes into play – and our differences become our bridge of communication. I don’t understand this, but I do want to point it out.

 

Dear friends, the Gospel is really foolish (1 Cor. 1:18) to the world, and we are foolish not to understand this…and even more foolish to try to make the Gospel acceptable to the world’s way of thinking – this is not likely to lead to repentance…is it?

 

What is not foolish is loving people. What is not foolish is being sacrificially vulnerable. This is anything but foolish, for this is the Way of Jesus and the Way of Jesus is eternal glory (Romans 8:12 – 39).

 

In Christ, are we the Tree of Life to those around us? Are our congregations the Tree of Life?

 

Are we winning souls by our fruit?

 

If we are, then we are wise. If we are not…then what are we?