Witnessing and Apologetics
November 2nd, 2006 by Stephen
Some Christians have argued that if we just can convince non Christians of this argument for the existence of God, or that argument fro the creation of the world, that non Christians will be forced to accept the truth of Christianity. There are books on apologetics, which discuss issues of philosophy, history and archeology, and these books can be very interesting. I enjoy reading them.
But we are wrong to put apologetics on a pedestal, as though all we need is an intellectual conviction to accept a saving faith in Christ.
My point here is not to attack apologetics as ungodly – it is to assert over again the divine imperative to us to pray. Pray at all times. Pray without ceasing. Have no anxiety about anything but by prayer and supplication – with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Prayer is so important that nothing else comes up to its mark. Not apologetics, not street evangelism, not schools work, not youth work, not even preaching. You could have all these activities and without prayer every one will fail.
if only Christians would spend as long on their knees as they do reading books”
I am not saying Christians should not read books. I would never suggest that. On the contrary I wish that Christians would study more and more widely too; but more then anything I wish Christians would pray more.
We see from a reading of revivals of religion that God has in the past done mighty things amongst his people. We know that there have been times when hundreds of thousands of people have been saved within a few short months. In Korea a quarter of the population now claim to be evangelical Christians because of the revival that swept that nation through Paul Y Cho.
What did Paul Y Cho say was the key to revival? Well he wrote a book on the subject called “Prayer: the Key to Revival”
If we as Christians were praying as earnestly as we should be, would God stay his hand? Clearly it is not as simple as some have argued (and I’m not talking about any listmember here): There is an element of the sovereignty of God in revival, but we know that God will answer our prayers and where His people are praying, the Spirit will be working – convicting people of sin and bringing them to a knowledge of God.
And again, what of our personal testimony if we put our faith in human
methods? You said that Anselm’s proof was boring, and I have sympathy for that view – but you see that such logical reasoning is a human method. We do not despise such efforts, but they must pale in comparison to the hand of God.
In 1904, when revival spread across Wales, one man sought to escape into the mountains because he did not want to become a Christian, and yet even there, in his solitude, with no books, nor preaching nor any other method, the Holy Spirit brought upon him such a conviction of his sin and wretchedness that he was saved, and returned to his town praising God.
God does not need any help in saving people, but he has chosen to act through the means of human prayer and human effort. The responsibility is on us to answer the call – we are called to prayer first.
We know that the God who predestines us to salvation also predestines the means of that salvation, and the means will often be preaching or shared Bible study, scripture readings, Sunday school work or even apologetics. We do not neglect these lesser ministries, but the one ministry we are all called to above all else is prayer.
Consider Rev Y. Cho again. He takes prayer so seriously that when he is at prayer he is quite uninterruptable. The story is told of him that on one occasion the president of Korea telephoned him, and his secretary refused to put him through because he was praying. That is where our priority should lie. That is how important prayer is.
It is when we understand the importance of prayer that our witness is liberated, because when we show that we would rather spend time with God then anywhere else, then we show the world what is important to us. Then there is no hypocrisy when we say “Come to God, he will change your life”. As we allow him to change our lives, mould us and shape us into his servants through the closeness of our relationship with him, then we model Christianity more powerfully then any amount of writing or reasoned argument will ever allow.
