Go Tell the Story

On my summer reading list was the biography of Martin Luther. The book is about 500 pages and quite dense with facts, but enjoyable, and eventually I made it through after several renewals from the library. Reading this historic account dating back to the 1500s made me aware that some of today’s church rituals, rules, and social mores, are not always Biblically based. 
Reading about Luther’s life focused my eyes on what some of our current Christian churches are adding and/or subtracting to make the modern-day church more palatable to the world’s tastes. 
Martin Luther was angered by those unbiblical rules of his day and was determined to get the church back to the basic beliefs taught by Jesus. 
Step by step, year after year, the church of Luther’s time had gotten out of step with Biblical truth. Could that be happening to us today? 
Jesus, and the salvation He provides for us through His death on the cross and His resurrection, is the basis of our Christian faith. 
So, I asked myself: why might the church add or subtract from the simple message that the God of the universe wants His people to know Him and that this is possible through Jesus, His Son? I imagine it is probably because we as individuals want to take some part in our own salvation. But, that is impossible as Jesus did it all – we can add nothing. 
Reading this book also made it clear to me that we need our churches to teach sound Biblical truth. But, how will we know when we are receiving good teaching and truth? Well, we must know what the Bible says. If someone teaches us something about faith or if we are in a discussion with a friend, whether the information conveyed seems good or bad, it is nice to have a knowledge of the scriptures so that we can pick up our Bible and verify the truth. 
In preaching received from the pulpit we should hear the story of God’s beautiful plan of the provision of a Savior that would give His life to spare ours. Our churches should always teach us the true message of Jesus. From there, we should pass that message along to everyone we know. 
As Jesus said, “The fields are ripe for harvest” speaking of those that will listen and accept His offer of salvation. “One sows and another reaps” explains that we all should be doing our part for the harvest to the Kingdom of God. 
Jesus has given us each a job to do and a gift to do that job well. We should in some way be helping with the harvest of souls. I am not one to hand out flyers on the street but I can write and thereby share Jesus with others. 
My husband tells the story of how his uncle would set the farm truck into the ruts in the road around the perimeter of the wheat field and then allow Neil to sit in the driver’s seat. At a young age Neil would be allowed to slowly press the gas pedal to keep the truck moving in the ruts while bales, from the field being harvested, were tossed into the back of the truck. This is how he learned to drive, but he was also helping to bring in the harvest. Even when we are very new to Christianity God has a way to use us meaningfully in His great harvest. 
When we are young, we might be teaching children at home or in Sunday School. As we get a bit older it may be that we can assist or teach at youth group. When we become more mature in our faith we can disciple newer believers or teach grandchildren about God’s love. 
Our witness doesn’t need to be complex because Jesus prepares the hearts. We talk to people around us every day and there will be those that don’t know our Savior. We can speak and live into their lives our joy of knowing Jesus. 
What a great and awesome Lord we serve and if He truly is Lord of our lives then we cannot fail to magnify His glory. Everyone should be able to see clearly that we are God’s children in the way we act and live. 
Paul tells us, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” That price was Jesus’ death. Very simply we owe Jesus our lives. 
One of the things that impressed me about Martin Luther was that he was able to clearly communicate God’s word to the common people equally as well as to nobles and kings. I would like to have that skill and so I need to practice telling others about my Jesus. 
To be able to speak that truth I should know well the basic message of my faith which is that sin separates all of humanity from God and the only remedy for healing that broken relationship is to believe in Jesus as our Savior. He gave up His life and took the punishment for our sin so that we can be reconciled to God and have eternal life. 
Following Martin Luther’s plan, we should keep the faith simple, know the word, and tell others. 
Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City.  Email her at  writerGoodGod@gmail.com