“Wandering into the night
Wanting a place to hide
This weary soul, this bag of bones
And I tried with all my mind
And I just can’t win the fight
I’m slowly drifting, oh vagabond
And just when I ran out of road
I met a man I didn’t know
And he told me
That I was not alone”
I Thank God, Maverick City Worship
““I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.”
Luke 12:8, NIV
Jesus came to show us The Way. He came to show us the model life, to give us an example according to which we can pattern our lives.
In Luke 12, in a passage where Jesus shares warnings and encouragements with those who would hear, He makes it clear that it is required of us to share the good news of His Gospel with others.
Jesus placed great emphasis on sharing the Gospel. Even in Luke 12 He admonished us not to fear those who can kill the body and after that do no more, but to rather fear God – for He has the authority over life, death and everything in between and beyond.
Jesus tells us to acknowledge Him publicly.
The Greek word here is ‘homologeó’ which most properly means to ‘speak the same, to agree.’
Jesus tells us to be like Him.
The confession here then is not one made merely by the lips – our public acknowledgement is not done through mere and mortal words – but is a practical manifestation of the belief in our hearts.
We share the good news of His Gospel primarily through presence.
I overcame drug addiction – not through preaching, teaching or even prayer – but through the presence of dear friends who had gone through the same.
We often overlook the power of being present in the life of another. We always want to talk, but very few of us want to walk with the downcast and downtrodden.
We all want to share our insights, but very few of us know how to just sit with the sad and defeated.
Many people sit in our churches week after week – they listen to the sermons, they participate in the worship, they read the word, the attend the prayer meetings – they do their disciplines at home – yet they see no change in their lives. This does not make them ungodly or lacking in spiritual wisdom – but it does show us where we are lacking in discernment when we look past them and neglect to reach out. How many invisible brothers and sisters are in our church?
By the same token I have seen, many times, the real world difference it makes when we as people connect – when we go and sit next to that person and community starts to form.
When, instead of competing for status or esteem we start complimenting and completing one another.
Man was not meant to be alone. Christianity wasn’t meant to be a club, it was supposed to be a community.
One of the main reasons Jesus healed so many people in His ministry here on Earth was to restore community. Disease, illness and infirmity were seen as a sign of present or inherited sin and affected your standing in the community. If you were sick, cripple or disabled you were an outcast – ostracised and pushed aside.
Jesus’ main objective in healing these people wasn’t simply to restore them to health, but to restore them to community.
So that they would no longer walk alone.
But it is not enough for us to only reach out to the loner sitting in the back of the church.
The main point of Jesus’ ministry was that the sinner is just as much our brother as the pharisee. The fact that they are far away does not diminish the love the Father has for His errant and lost children. God is married to the backslider. He loves all His children – but a lot of the time we don’t.
Are we the love of Christ to the loner, the loser, the lost and the blind? Do we care for the unseen, the unheard and even the unknown as Christ cared for them?
Or do we push them aside because of their sin sickness? Ostracize and cast out those who are unchurched and unwashed?
The song ‘I Thank God’ by Maverick City starts with a testimony – the story of a lost and lonely vagabond who encounters a man of flesh and bone, one who says: “You’re not alone!”
Maybe if we start thinking more like Jesus, living the testimony of His love by showing His love to the world we will see more testimonies being written in our midst. We will see our churches growing instead of shrinking. We will see people healed of their sin and shame as they realize that they don’t have to live that way anymore.
But how will they know if we don’t live out the truth of God’s Word among them?
What will we show them today?
How will we acknowledge Christ – not just through preaching – but through our presence in the world today?
Prayer: Lord, help me be a beacon of light in a dark and dying world. Help me show and not just tell them of Your love, mercy and grace. Help me Lord to see past the sin and shame of others and to love them like You loved me. Give me a heart that longs to journey with the backslider, patience that surpasses understanding – a heart and mind like Yours, oh Lord. Help me be present in the lives of others, and may my presence be Your presence in the midst of an unbelieving generation – so that we may see a great awakening in our community, our country and even the world. In Jesus Name. Amen.