THERE’S HOPE FOR THE CHURCH THAT EVANGELIZES THE SINNER: The Manner of Our Witness

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” (Colossians 4:6 NKJV)

The fact that God has mandated Christians to witness to the lost, does not mean that the manner of our witness doesn’t matter.  It does!

We can’t be like a bull in the china shop.  Nor are we to be obnoxious.  Some come across as hired gun-slingers looking to put another notch in their belt.  Some like this sanctimoniously boast, “I shared the Gospel and five people were saved!”  The reality is that you can’t know that.  You might say, “They were hopefully converted,” or “they professed faith,” but as to whether they were saved has yet to be determined.  We can’t see in a heart.  The attitude conveyed by such statements is the problem.

The significance of the manner of witness is conveyed in this phrase: “how you ought to answer each one.”  Paul has already said that we ought to do it—that’s our mandate.  He next says to understand how we ought to share—that’s our manner.

Our manner is to “always be with grace.”  We don’t take a “holier-than-thou” attitude.  We realize that only grace has made us acceptable to God, and that same grace is available to others.  We are called to be witnesses, not prosecuting attorneys and certainly not judges! 

Our manner of speech is to be, “seasoned with salt.”  Salt enhances the flavor of food.  We need to convince people to taste what we are offering. 

Our manner of speech lets us, “know how you ought to answer.”  Peter said, “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.”  People ought to see the hope in our disposition and hear the hope in our discussion.  This ought to cause them to wonder and then seek an answer for how we can have such hope in a hopeless age.  Then we are ready to tell them the difference Jesus makes!

The manner of our speech takes into account, “each one.”  A cookie-cutter approach won’t work.  People are different.  Having a memorized outline, an array of verses committed to memory—some learned methodology may be helpful.  But, a “canned” speech that we are intent on reciting, rather than a compassionate heart willing to listen, will often be counterproductive.

But, there is one way in which everybody is identical.  People need the Lord.  God’s solution is likewise the same for everyone—Jesus!

The Lord’s method for reaching the lost is unchanging: God expects us to tell them!  Give them hope!  Give them Jesus!  When a church does this—any church, anywhere—there is no distinction—there is hope for that church.