The testimony of a changed life

                                              The testimony of a changed life

I suppose if we were to ask around, if we were to take a survey of the leaders in many of our churches today, the need they expressed would find common ground. Oh, there may be some divergence from the mainstream but for the most part the need would be the same. Most would agree we need stronger preachers. We need men of God who are not afraid to stand up and proclaim the Word of God without reservation, without watering it down to make it more palatable to the general population. We need pulpits filled with the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

I do not disagree with the need for Spirit filled men in the pulpit. I simply disagree with the notion that it would somehow heal what is wrong in our churches. Before one can answer the question of what is needed one must assess the need. And to me the need is simple, getting the gospel to the lost.

We seem to have come to the place in the local church where we believe that the pulpit is the evangelistic arm of the church. We host programs and seminars designed to bring people into the building so that we can preach to them and see them saved. But is that the purpose of the pulpit?

Forty (some) years ago I was unsaved. I had recently graduated from high school and was living a rather pointless life. I was lost but I didn’t understand my condition. I went to church…as often as my mother forced me to. And so, as a lost individual I would attend church, daydream in the pew, sing the hymns (off key) and go home. Our church, I learned much later, had a very good preacher and a loving pastor. So, why didn’t I hear the message of salvation? Why wasn’t I moved to repent and be born again? If the problem is in the pulpit, then I should have been saved in that church. Because the pulpit in that church had a godly pastor.

I dated a young lady during this same period of time who was also unsaved. We only dated for a brief time but I admired her very much. She was a good person, unsaved, but a good person. We broke up and she went on with life and I continued with my life as well.

About a year or so later, as God would have it, her sister and my brother were to be married. It was this event that brought us together again. When I saw her again, I had hope that we might get back together. I looked for an opportunity to be alone with her. At the close of one evening of wedding planning I discovered she needed a ride home. “Finally,” I thought to myself, my opportunity was there. She accepted my offer to drive her home. Plans began to form in my mind, ways to win her back.

What I did not see was that none of this was by accident. This was God’s plan. Instead of a pulpit with a mighty preacher He gave me a gentle young lady with a new heart. Chris had been born again since my last contact with her and I didn’t know it…yet. As we drove toward her home, she began to tell me how God had changed her life. She said that Jesus died to forgive her sins and mine. She explained that God loved me and wanted to adopt me into His family. Quietly, and only under my breath, I mocked every word she said. I tried to act unaffected by her changed life. But you see, that was the testimony. It was her changed life. Yes, her words had power. But I had known Chris and now I was seeing Chris born again. When I dropped her off at home I had to drive away alone, just me and the Holy Spirit of God.

The next day was Sunday and the ‘mighty preacher’ was silenced in my heart by the memory of the night before. All I could do was to wait for him to finish so that I could walk that aisle and ask “how” to be saved. I have no idea what he preached. But today I can still tell you what Chris said 40+ years ago with a changed life.

Is the need in our churches great preachers, with honed homiletical skills? I don’t think so. We need to get back into society and let them see our changed lives. We, with the evident work of Christ in our lives, must share our testimony. And then as they are convicted by the Holy Spirit of God, we can bring them into a Church family they will feel a part of and enjoy fellowshipping with.

If you ask me which is greater a sermon, or the testimony of a changed life, my answer will always be…The testimony of a changed life