“Most of us believe as long as a person attends service regularly, tithes, reads the Bible and prays, is involved in ministry and conducts Bible study, he is considered a good Christian.
“But is this what Jesus wants?” Pastor Yang Shi-Ru from Taiwan’s Blessed and Blessing Church in Taiwan asked the 800-strong crowd.
Speaking at the LoveSingapore Pastors’ Prayer Summit 2019 where local church and ministry leaders were gathered, Pastor Yang’s point was that it did not matter if a person received outstanding testimonials from the people around him, but was not testifying for God.
He urged the room full of leaders to empower even the youngest of believers to evangelise.
“You don’t have to know a lot to evangelise,” said Pastor Yang. “Even a new believer can testify for God by being a living testimony!”
Sharing the story of a 3-month-old believer in his church, he said: “Week in week out, she would visit her Mum, and clean her toilet and kitchen. For months, she did that unceasingly.”
She might not have known how to explain the Gospel clearly with words, but she knew how to demonstrate the love that she received from Christ.
Although her mother was a temple medium, she was so touched by her daughter’s actions and came to know Christ after 3 months. They were baptised together on the same day.
We might consider a person a disciple only when he is qualified to disciple others, but this is not the case in the Bible.
Referring to the book of Acts, Pastor Yang pointed out that the Apostle Peter baptised 3,000 people and on the same day, the Bible noted that there was an increase of 3,000 disciples.
“于是接受他话的人都受了洗，那一天门徒增加了约三千人。”
使徒行传 2:41 CNVS
Chinese translators of the Bible used the word “门徒” (disciple) because they understood that the moment you believe, you become a disciple immediately.
Taking Jesus’ 12 disciples as another example, he said: “These are people whom Jesus personally chose… yet they had a lot of fights. They left when Jesus was crucified.”
In other words, if you applied modern-day definitions of a disciple on the 12 that Jesus chose, they would be considered lousy disciples.
“We cannot see people at where they are at. We must see them with eyes of faith. We must see them through the eyes of Jesus. No matter how bad a person is, if Jesus has called him, he can be used,” added Pastor Yang.
How, then, should we define a disciple?
According to Pastor Yang, the answer is simple. “Disciples are followers. Those who answer and follow the call of Jesus are disciples.”
That is why he is convinced that a person is immediately a disciple the moment he calls upon Jesus.
But of course, a disciple’s journey cannot just stop there.
He explained: “If someone calls you, it’s because he has something he needs you to do. He wouldn’t call you for nothing. So if God has called you, it’s also because He has something he wants you to do!”
What then is the call? To follow Jesus in His being and in His doing.
1. BE LIKE JESUS
Drawing an analogy between our relationship with Jesus Christ and the relationship between a tutor and a master, Pastor Yang said that a tutor teaches you skills whereas a master teaches you how to be a person.
“A tutor is one whom you invite to your house to teach your kid. For the latter, you send your child to the master to learn from him.”
If Jesus is our master, then we need to be like Him. “We must learn self-sacrificial love and humility from Jesus,” added Pastor Yang.
2. DO WHAT JESUS DID
What did Jesus do while He was on earth? He preached the Gospel. Social status didn’t matter. Jesus saw the needs of the least in the society as well as those of the upper class.
Pastor Yang boomed: “You cannot love Jesus but not love the Gospel. If you care about Jesus, you cannot not care about what Jesus cares about!”
So if the entire Bible centres on salvation, everything we do must reflect the Gospel as well.
Are you evangelising today?
