Are You a True Believer?

Last Friday, I heard a True Believer speak. But before I tell you what she said that revealed the depth of her sincerity, I need to tell you about an occasion when I was asked the question, “Are you a true believer?”

It was the summer of 1990. I was in Moscow (Russia, not Moscow, Kansas), participating in an international exchange between leaders in various fields from the USA and the USSR. At the end of the two-week program, we were gathered at a Moscow restaurant (or pectopah, in Russian) for a farewell reception before returning home. After snagging a few appetizers, I drifted over to a group of Russians who were serving as translators for our group. They were very skillful and proficient in their knowledge of English, though their Russian accents were still noticeable.

I was surprised at their discussion, which was mostly in English, because two of the young women were talking about their plans once the Soviet Union fell (which everyone there knew was inevitable). Earlier we had met some Russian educators who tried to broker business deals with our own educators to set up student exchange programs. But the plan of these two translators was to become international prostitutes, using their language skills to emigrate to the West where their chance for material success was greater. When the group saw that I had a bottle of soda for my beverage, someone asked why I wasn’t drinking any of their wonderful vodka. When I told them it was for religious reasons, one of the women asked me, “Are you a true believer?” I said yes. Which probably discouraged the aforementioned women from offering to practice their “translation” skills on me.

She asked me, “Are you a true believer?” I said yes.

Now, to the other true believer from last week. I was listening to a radio talk show (doing serious, political and cultural research to keep me in touch with the pulse of society), when the host took a caller who wanted to rave to him about one of the products he shills for – I mean, advertises. The product: bed sheets. She talked excitedly about how, after years of sleeping on what felt like burlap sacks, she and her husband “bit the bullet” and bought the $200 sheets he had been advertising. The sheets had changed her life – and she wanted him and everyone to know how wonderful the sheets were. The host could hardly contain his happiness to hear her, and gave her some gifts from his online store, plus – another set of sheets.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm, and shook my head at how this show was able to get a product endorsement into the “call-in” portion of the program. Then I thought about it some more . . .

When it came to that particular brand of sheets, the woman was a True Believer. But what if this woman had called to rave about something more important that had changed her life? What if she had been cured of cancer? Or had discovered the cure? What if she had invented cold fusion, and with it unlimited, clean, inexpensive power to benefit the world? What if she had called to say, “I have found my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and in him forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation with God, and eternal life!” Would she have sounded just as excited and eager to tell the world that news? Would the call-screener even have let her call through? (I doubt it!)

As this idea about witnessing to something wonderful rolled around the empty spaces in my brain, it began to generate some related thoughts:

How do I respond to questions about being a true believer in Christ? Do I excitedly share how he has changed my life? Would I call a talk show and rave excitedly about my Savior? Would I give my testimony, or let the occasion pass without saying what he means to me?

I am sure that if I found a cure for some dread disease, like cancer, I would excitedly proclaim it wherever and whenever I could. I would want people to know, so they could avoid horrible suffering, death, and family-crushing expenses. And, if that cure were actually freely available, and I knew about it, could I ever be justified in not telling people about it? If that’s true, then how can I not tell people about the Greater Cure, the cure for sin and death, who has saved them from hell, and has opened the way to an eternal life free of all diseases and suffering? Especially when that Greater Cure is freely available to all? And no health insurance needed! As Jesus told his disciples, “Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8).

If that’s true, then how can I not tell people about the Greater Cure?

Or, to the contrary, might I be reluctant to admit my faith, for fear of disapproval or other social rejection? And what if there were serious consequences to admitting my faith? What if I, like so many others before me, faced severe punishment, imprisonment, or even death to identify with Jesus Christ? Could I be like Polycarp, who when facing being burned alive at the stake in AD 156, refused to deny Christ, saying instead, “Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Or like the Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS in 2015, who all proclaimed, “Jesus is Lord!” before their deaths. Am I enough of a true believer to endure such horrors? Could I say, with Polycarp, that while the executioner’s fire lasts but a little while, the fires of judgment reserved for the ungodly cannot be quenched, and submit peacefully to my fate, knowing that Christ had saved me from the unquenchable fire?

If our news is so wonderful, why don’t we act like the true believers we are and tell everyone the Good News? Why don’t we rave even louder than the woman who found her new bed sheets to be so comfortable? If we hold back our excitement, maybe it’s for one or more of the following reasons:

1. We fear we will risk serious consequences: rejection, persecution, or even martyrdom. Some churches’ missionaries to certain other countries have had to be careful about their public ministries there, such as listing themselves as tourists for their visa applications. They have done so to protect their local Christian hosts and to preserve their ability to enter those countries to do their mission work. So far in our country, we don’t risk martyrdom for our faith, but there still can be serious social prices to pay for a forceful public declaration of our faith. We may suffer on the job, in school, or in other social groupings for being outspoken in proclaiming Christ. But when I think of what public proclamations may cost us, I remember the words of the 20th century martyr, Jim Eliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” What penalty could I possibly suffer on earth that would outweigh eternal rewards?
2. We underestimate the importance of our endorsement.  What difference does it make if we tell people excitedly about Jesus Christ? It may seem that people don’t react the way we want them to when we praise Christ publicly, but we can’t see what’s happening in their hearts and minds. We might be the one that plants the seed of faith, or we may be watering the seed someone else planted before (1 Corinthians 3:6-8). But whether we see immediate results or not, we still are the means God uses to reach people with the Good News. As Paul wrote in Romans 10, “And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” The bed-sheet woman wasn’t afraid to make her trivial endorsement; why should we be for a more important testimony? If someone buys sheets because we promote them, it’s no big big deal; but if someone hears our Christian testimony and believes, that leads to eternal joy! 
3. We fear we don’t know enough about the Bible to proclaim Christ. First off, let me say that no one knows enough about the Bible. We can study it every day of our lives and still be surprised with new information and insights every time we read, even when we reread familiar passages. On the other hand, we do know enough about what the Bible teaches to know who Christ is and what he did for us. We have been told all we need to know. That doesn’t mean we stop reading or learning – being in God’s Word can only benefit us and grow our faith and understanding. As 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” But we don’t have to wait until we’ve been to Bible college or seminary to be able to share the faith effectively and powerfully. And consider this: the bed sheet lady didn’t know how the sheets were made, the names of the workers who made them, or how much the sheets cost to make. She just praised what she knew about them, and did so enough to make me consider (for a moment) that they might be nice to get.
4. We think that sharing the Gospel is best left up to the professionals. While we hope that our paid preachers, teachers, and missionaries are solidly grounded and skillful in their work, the testimony of a lay believer is often more impactful on people. For one thing, the public expects a paid preacher to promote the faith. Such professionals are viewed like paid celebrities or salespeople who tout their products: you expect that the stars who rave about a product were paid to say what they did. But a friend who tells you they found a good detergent or restaurant or babysitter will probably carry more weight when you need the product or service. In the case of the bed sheets, the host touts them almost every day – and his endorsements go in one ear and out the other, because I know he’s making money on it and would tout that company’s competitors if they had paid him more. But along comes a caller to praise the same product, and people will listen. That’s why the host got so excited at what she said! The other reason a lay person may be more effective in witnessing about Christ is that they have a wider range of people and places to do their sharing. When I was pastoring, almost everyone I came into contact with was a believer and even a member of the church. My impact was limited to those who already knew Christ, or who visited the church on a Sunday. However, those members had many more opportunities to reach out to non-believers in their schools, workplaces, teams, and neighborhoods. Sharing the Gospel is not limited to the professionals, nor should it be!
5. We have been turned off by other people’s evangelizing. Maybe we’ve seen people on TV, in movies (which always stereotype believers as fanatics or charlatans), or in person, who have proclaimed Christ in hateful ways or acted hypocritically against what they preached. Even if what they say is theologically correct (it usually isn’t), the vessel containing the message is so flawed we reject what they say or at least don’t want others to identify us as one of those people. I understand and feel that at times myself. But it’s helpful to realize:
   • We don’t have to act like them to get God’s Word out to people. We’ll be far more effective if we don’t. Our message is one of reconciliation and love (2 Corinthians 5:18), and hatred has no place in it.
   • We don’t have to be loud and boisterous to get the message across to others. Often a quiet ministry of listening, serving, and compassion can open doors to a soft-spoken testimony about our faith.
   • We don’t carry the burden ourselves: the power of conversion is the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word. We are the imperfect means of bringing that Word to others, but God gives the faith and does the saving. Will we make mistakes in our witnessing? Sure, but Paul addresses this perfectly in 2 Corinthian 4:7, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” When our witness impacts others and brings results, God gets the glory and praise for it.

Are you a True Believer? If so, thank God for that blessing, and realize that you believe because others before you for 2000 years have witnessed to the faith, scorning all the risks involved to pass the Good News on to you. As the great hymn proclaims, “Faith of our fathers, living still, in spite of dungeon, fire and sword. . .” Our fathers (and mothers) in the faith endured those hardships and much more to cling to the faith and proclaim Christ to all around them. Hebrews 11 recounts some of the ordeals faced by the faithful through the ages: “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:36-38)

Are you a True Believer?

As a True Believer, are you ready and willing to proclaim what you believe to the part of the world in which God has placed you? Are you willing to risk temporary discomfort to know the peace and joy that comes from sharing the faith with those who are lost and are in desperate need of Jesus Christ? If so, praise God that he has moved you to speak for him, and keep your eyes open for the people and opportunities he will bring your way!

And now, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Hebrews 11, Romans 10