Dave spoke from Proverbs 11:30 this morning: ‘The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and those who win souls is wise.’ Those who are saved are made righteous through the sacrifice of Christ; we are not righteous in ourselves, but are given His perfect, spotless righteousness in an exchange that is amazing for us to receive! The potential in each one of us is then great, though, to participate in sharing this news with others.
Gardening involves vision: not only seeing the garden as it currently is but as it can become through care and nurture. Similarly, God sees us not simply as we are but sees also what we can become. The righteous are expected to bear fruit, but this is only possible as we abide in Christ. (John 15:4) Righteousness is the working of God’s nature in us; it is not something we put on or take off like clothes. True righteousness is outworked in us by God’s Spirit and will be seen in every situation: in the home, at work, in the supermarket and so on. God’s righteousness shines through us so that we are aglow with God’s fire, like the burning bush Moses encountered.
This fruit is described as a tree of life, because we can become the means to life for others. We can impart life to those who are dying spiritually around us. The world stinks of death and destruction, the legacy of the devil’s works, but we can bring the clean, fresh air of God to people. We don’t have to have any special qualifications or personality type to win souls; we simply offer to the thirsty the water of life we ourselves have received.
The enemy tells us we cannot do this job, listing a whole host of reasons which disqualify us from sharing our faith. These are all lies. Whilst some may have the special gift for evangelism, all can testify to what God has done. We obtain wisdom to do this by asking God, and by His Spirit He guides us and leads us to those in whom He is already working. We were all doomed to destruction at one point, but people prayed for us and witnessed to us. Our responsibility now is to go and do likewise!
That doesn’t mean being insensitive and ‘blasting’ people with the gospel. It does mean committing ourselves to prayer and to being willing to be used by God. Dave challenged us to pray every day for a year for one particular person to be saved, asking God to lead us and direct us in this. We are wise, after all, when we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us and understand that He is the One who will call, convict and bring people to salvation. We are simply messengers.