Witness – Ineffective
Posted by preachgospelblog.com | Filed under Illustrations of Bible Truths
1. I Work for You
Once a clergyman knelt down by a young woman bowed in prayer who was seeking Christ at a time of revival. Something seemed to worry her. “What is it?” asked the minister kindly. “Have you surrendered your all?” “I have tried,” the woman sobbed. “What is the matter, then?” “It’s the way Christian people have treated me. I am afraid I shall have to give up my place in the family where I work as a servant. The man is so cross and impatient with me.” “Give it up then. God will supply something better,” said the minister. “For whom do you work?” The woman raised her bowed head. “For you, sir.” “It’s our June!” gasped the minister, not having realized who she was until that moment.
2. Not Preserved but Pickled
There was a disagreeable man who always liked to be the first to get up in prayer meeting and repeat his stereotyped testimony, “I praise the Lord for saving me and preserving me.” Finally, a brother who knew him a little better than the others indignantly got up and said, “Brother, He didn’t preserve you, He pickled you.”
3. Two Dogs in Us
As someone has said, “There are two dogs within us; one is white and one is black, and they both try to bark through the same mouth, and the result is confusion.” Our blessing of God is consequently not clear-cut and it offends those who hear it rather than attracting them to the God whom we seem to bless.
4. A Poor Representative
When Dr. Will H. Houghton was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in New York City, a glib-tongued salesman came into his study and offered him some oil stocks that he said would make him a fortune. Dr. Houghton looked at the man and said in substance, “If this stock is as good as you say, why aren’t you rich? You come in here in a shabby suit, with shoes run down at the heels, and expect me to believe you represent a going concern? I suggest you get into some line of work that produces representatives who inspire more confidence in their product.”
5. Setting an Example
A mother said to her child, “Johnny, you take those marbles back to Willie Jones. You know I have told you about playing marbles for keeps; you think you won them, but that is wrong; you go right back and give them to the boy from whom you took them.” “Yes, Mama,” said Johnny dutifully, “and shall I take back the painted vase you won at Mrs. Jones’ bridge party?”
6. Poor Testimony
A group of teenage girls was discussing a new leader for their Bible class. Their frank comments on the woman in question were enlightening and amusing. One girl said, “If you kids pick Mrs. L- to be our teacher, I’m quitting.” “Why, what’s wrong with her?” asked several of the group. “Plenty,” was the reply. “Remember how I used to go to help her with her housework on Saturdays? Well, she still owes me money and she won’t pay. Also, she talks a lot about being a good Christian, and boy, you should hear her say nasty things about some of her neighbors. Honest, kids, I know I shouldn’t talk about her, but, please, let’s wait until we find a teacher who lives what she teaches us on Sunday.”
7. The Unworthy Daughter
There is a tradition that Jonathan Edwards, third president of Princeton and one of America’s greatest thinkers, had a daughter with an uncontrollable temper. But, as is often the case, this weakness was not known to the outside world. A worthy young man fell in love with her and sought her hand in marriage. “You can’t have her,” was the abrupt answer of Jonathan Edwards. “But I love her,” the young man replied. “You can’t have her,” said Edwards. “But she loves me,” continued the young man. Again Edwards said, “You can’t have her.” “Why?” asked the young man. “Because she is not worthy of you.” “But,” he asked, “she is a Christian, is she not?” “Yes, she is a Christian, but the grace of God can live with some people with whom no one else could ever live.”
8. Words Are Cheap
A non-Christian lawyer attended a church service and listened incredulously to the testimonies of some who were known to him for their shady deals and failure to meet their honest obligations. “How did you like the testimonies?” a man asked him at the close of the service. He replied, “To a lawyer there is a vast difference between testimony and evidence.” Words are cheap, and it is perilously easy to give a fine-sounding testimony for Christ, but quite another matter to demonstrate evidences of God’s purifying power in our lives through Christ. “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6).
9. Citizen or Archbishop?
Let us not be like that archbishop who one day was overhead swearing. A peasant who stood by seemed to wonder greatly at his conduct. “I swear,” said the archbishop, “not as an archbishop, but as a citizen.” “But sir,” said the peasant, “when the citizen goes to perdition, what will become of the archbishop?” How will God judge us when we appear before His throne? Will it be for what we said in church while praying or preaching, or what we said to our fellow human beings?
10. Ain’t Up to Sample
A Salvation Army captain was preaching in Hyde Park in London when a man in the crowd interrupted him. “We haven’t anything against Jesus of Nazareth,” he said, “but we have something against you Christians because you ain’t up to sample.” Living examples of Christ is what the world wants to see in Christians.
11. Christian Soldier on Furlough
Once a professing Christian sold a bale of poor hay to a certain colonel who rebuked him, and the church member whined, “I am a soldier too.” “You!” exclaimed the colonel in disgust. “What kind of soldier are you?” “I am a soldier of the cross,” said the skinflint with a detestable flourish of the hand. “That may be,” said the colonel, “but you’ve been on a furlough ever since I knew you.”
12. Religion of Words
One thing God detests is the religion of words. It was Robert E. Speer who said: “After thirty years of leadership in Christian work, it is my conclusion and conviction that the greatest missionary problem is just the failure of Christian people to live up to their profession.”
13. Fewer but Better
Once a soldier was reported to Alexander the Great as having shown great cowardice on a particular occasion. When the soldier appeared before Alexander the Great, he asked him his name. On hearing that it was Alexander, he upbraided him with the dishonor that he had brought on such a name and entreated him either to change his name or act differently. It would be better for the cause of Christ to have fewer Christians, but better ones.
14. God’s Honor Needs No Defense
King Olaf of Norway was the bloody foe of heathenism. He reigned twenty five years, the scourge and terror of his own people, and never made a friend. Their maimed bodies, burned homes, and plundered property were a perpetual memorial to his merciless zeal. He called to his aid robbers and vagabonds and enrolled them in his army, requiring only one condition, that they should be baptized in the name of Christ. He had white crosses painted on the shields and helmets of all his soldiers. He gave a battle cry, “Forward, Christian men! Crossmen!” With all this, his last battle was a sad defeat in which he was slain in A.D. 1030. He justified himself and his horrible barbarities by saying, “I had God’s honor to defend.” The question is, does God’s honor really need our defense, a defense that harms others? We can be sure any zeal that harms others is evil, no matter how we try to justify it.
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