The Call to Witness is a Call to Worship

Our world is deeply fallen. 

In the midst of our pain and fallenness, voices are crying out for social reform, for economic redistribution, and for major institutional changes to the educational system and law enforcement. 

After thousands of years of human history, our world is still blinded to the reality that the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. 

What is most disturbing is that many professing Christians have forgotten this as well.

Where is the widespread proclamation of the gospel? Why is it that hundreds of thousands of protestors have gathered in the name of those who have died, but many Christians cannot be bothered to gather in the name of the One who has risen?

We have a serious problem on our hands. And the root of this problem is not a failure to evangelize. It’s a failure to worship.

If there’s one thing that Christians need to understand today, it’s this: The call to witness is the call to worship. 

Get Beyond the Sunday Sermon

For many of us, Sunday is our day to proclaim the majesty of God. We sing of His wondrous deeds, both in creating us and recreating us in Jesus Christ. We listen to our pastor esteem the glory of God, plead with us regarding our desperate need for Christ, and exhort us to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

All of this stirs up passionate worship in our hearts. 

But the worship must not only fill up our own minds. It must spill out into the ears of our families, our friends, our neighbors, and our co-workers, and it must include the uttermost parts of the world. The whole purpose of evangelism is worship. As John Piper famously said, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”

Evangelism is the ongoing worship of God, proclaiming what He has done through His precious Son, Jesus Christ. 

We are living inconsistently when we praise God for His salvation on Sundays and then fail to praise His salvation throughout the week through intentional conversations. The call to witness is the call to worship. 

Set Ablaze Your Gospel Witness

Christians must regain a fiery devotion to Christ in such a way that it sets their own life on fire and ignites the world around them. 

As an outpouring of worship, we must proclaim that God is the one who made us; that He is all-holy and detests that which is evil. We must stress that all have sinned against God, and He will execute judgement on the wicked. We must announce that in God’s great love, He gave us a great Savior to save us from our great problem. We must stress that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life on our behalf, obeying every single one of His Father’s commandments; that He died on the cross, facing the punishment that we deserve for our sins. Moreover, we must herald that Jesus rose again, a historical fact that forever proclaims that Jesus conquered death and that the price of sin has been paid. Salvation is a free gift to all who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone. 

When our hearts truly worship God, our mouths will truly speak of God. 

But we must remember, a life of worship through witness will be no easy task. We live in a world obsessed with idols. This world rebels against God, murders babies in the name of “women’s rights,” distorts God-designed sexuality in the name of “love” and “acceptance,” and marches in the streets demanding justice against evil while denying the evil in their own hearts. 

To our shame, Christians are being out-worshipped in the public sphere because the world’s affection for sin is greater than our affection for Christ. 

We need to regain a resilient and worshipful attitude toward God. We need to regain the joy and boldness that fills the heart of the Christian who worships God beyond Sunday morning through the ongoing proclamation of the gospel. 

To regain the worship of God, we must do two things. 

First, we must unleash God’s Word. Christians need to regularly feast in the bountiful treasures of God’s Word. If you are to be effective as a witness, you must be filled with the Word. God’s Word is the choice offensive weapon in spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:17). We must be able to wield it. 

Second, we must make being the Church central. This is a strange time. Millions of people within the church are hurting more than they ever have. But we must not let these circumstances distract us from our purpose: to proclaim the greatness of our God to them. There are far too many Christians who have separated themselves from the people of God because they have allowed fear to grip their hearts. They have looked far too long at sensational headlines and far too little at the glories of Jesus Christ. Most tragically, there are professing Christians who have just gotten too comfortable at home. To these audiences, I implore you: wherever you live and whatever your circumstances, get on mission and stay on mission. Nothing can stop you from being the Church!

We are a people of purpose. That purpose is to worship and our worship must include our witness.

Evangelism is something that many Christians struggle with. The flesh hates the uncomfortable feeling of witnessing; therefore, we need to flood ourselves with the primary means by which we die to ourselves and live unto Christ. We need God’s Spirit working through God’s Word. We need God’s Spirit working through God’s people.

If we’ll commit to a life of worship through witness, we’ll see God move in powerful ways. May we rediscover the worship of our great God according to His wondrous deeds and the salvation that is found in Him alone. 

Companion Resource Video by Greg Sukert: