Witnessing Worshipping Workers
Isaiah 43:10-12 '"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant
whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that
I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I,
even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed
and saved and proclaimed-I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my
witnesses," declares the Lord, "that I am God."'
Isaiah was prophesying to both the northern kingdom of Israel and the
southern kingdom of Judah that they would be taken into captivity. They
would be living among people with other gods. They were to live in their
world but not be part of it as we are also taught to live. God through
Isaiah was trying to get the truth into the minds of these people that He is
the only true god. He is their Redeemer. He has always been and always shall
be. He was trying to get this into their thick heads before they went into
exile where they would be tempted to follow the other gods.
There are some people that think that God has left them when they go through
trials and hardships. They start grumbling and complaining to God and anyone
else who will listen. God was telling these people that He would not forget
them so they need to remember this and continue to have faith in God when
their hard times come. We need to remember that God is in control whether
it looks like it or not.
God told them that they were going to be witnesses. They were to tell the
foreigners who the true God is. Today we Christians need to be witnesses to
each other. Instead of grumbling and griping we need to testify to each
other as to whom the Lord truly is and what He is doing in our lives. We
need to give testimonies as to the goodness of the Lord. We need to do this
in our churches and other Christian groups. This helps build each other's
faith up. We also need to do this when talking with friends. How easy it is
to talk about anything else but God and his Son Jesus Christ.
We also are commanded to be witnesses to others of what Jesus Christ has
done for them. Again, it is too easy to talk about sports or the weather but
leave the most important subject behind. That subject is that Jesus Christ
died for them and wants to have a relationship with them.
God through Isaiah told the people that they would be His servants. The
Hebrew word for servant also means "worshipper" so when you are working, you
are worshipping. We Christians need to be servants of each other. We need to
help our fellow Christians whenever they have needs that we can help with.
These needs can be physical but they can also be mental and spiritual. We
also need to let others serve us. We don't need to be too proud to let
someone help us. One way that may help others to be willing to listen to us
when we witness to them is to serve them in some way. It is hard to think
about spiritual things when you are hungry. We need to feed the hungry
physically but then feed them spiritually. We need to clothe the naked
physically but also need to help them to find Jesus so that they can be
clothed spiritually in garments of righteousness. We need to give the
thirsty water to drink but we also need to give them the Living Water.
May we all be witnessing, worshipping workers wherever we walk.
By Dean W. Masters
Unedited redistribution approved