Education Witness Style 5

Overview

Witnessing the Apostle Paul's Way

God has given us tremendous freedom in witnessing because He is the one who gets the credit, He is the one who brings His elect to faith, and our imperfections only highlight that the work is His. That frees us from the anxiety of thinking results depend on our skill, our personality, or our charm. We are simply messengers.

Paul models this beautifully in 1 Corinthians 2:1-3: "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling." Paul could have leaned on eloquence, philosophy, or persuasive technique. He didn't. To do so would have implied that human reasoning has the power to convert a heart. Instead, he trusted only Word and Sacrament—the means of grace God has actually promised to use. His "weakness, fear, and much trembling" reflected not stage fright but the holy seriousness of the mission entrusted to him. He likewise charged Timothy to keep the focus on faithful proclamation (see Acts 20:20 and 2 Timothy 4:1-2).

This cuts against a great deal of contemporary thinking that treats style as the secret to church growth—the right atmosphere, the right wardrobe, the right marketing feel. Whenever style is treated as the thing that changes hearts, style itself becomes a counterfeit means of grace. If people walk into the church and it feels just like the world, we've quietly swerved away from the only thing that actually converts: the proclamation of Christ crucified. Reverence, faithfulness, and the clear preaching of the Word matter; gimmicks and theatrics do not.

The pastoral takeaway is liberating, especially as we close out a series on personality and witness. You do not have to be more extroverted, more articulate, or more polished to be useful to God. If He has wired you as an introvert, embrace it—people see through anyone trying to be someone they're not. Love people genuinely, not as a setup or a technique, because manipulation can be smelled a mile away. Love them regardless of their response, and as the Holy Spirit opens doors, share Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the whole calling. Word and Sacrament. Period.

Transcript

Well, we have come to the last of our witnessing within your personality style classes. 0s

It's just a little bit of review where we were last time we got together. 6s

We talked about how God gives us confidence to witness. 11s

And the reason why we have confidence to witness is because he gets all the credit for the witness. 15s

And so if the results were based upon us, that would be an anxiety-producing situation. 22s

But when he gets all the credit and he's the responsible one for how he uses the witness to his glory, 28s

that frees us to a whole new freedom in terms of our witnessing. 34s

We talked about how God brings his elect to faith that we're simply the messengers. 42s

We talked about how our lack of perfection as we go about doing this ministry of being his witnesses, 46s

makes it quite clear, doesn't it, that indeed God is the one that gets the glory and God is the one who does the work? 54s

And so today I want to focus with you on what we can learn from the apostles' approach. 63s

Whether we're introverted or extroverted, or someplace in between, what is it that we can learn from the apostles' approach? 70s

So let's start in 1 Corinthians, the 2nd chapter, 1 Corinthians in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans, 76s

then 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, 2 verses 1 to 3. 87s

1 Corinthians, of course, written by the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Spirit. 95s

And Paul writes this beginning in chapter 2 verse 1. 102s

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 108s

For I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 120s

And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 129s

Notice the little phrase here where he says in verse 1, 137s

I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 140s

The apostle Paul could very easily have used eloquence and persuasion. 149s

eloquence as a persuasive type of tool. 157s

But notice what he did, verse 2, for I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 162s

So Paul did not resort to a worldly method of saying, 172s

I'm going to impress you with how eloquent I am. 177s

And when you're so impressed with how eloquent I am, Paul says, 182s

then I know that through my eloquence you will be converted. 188s

To do that would simply imply that human reason or logic would have some type of power or influence 194s

for a person to come to faith. 205s

Remember just a simple message. 209s

We are the messengers and it's really not about our style or our approach. 212s

It's not about how eloquent we are or how searching for the right word. 221s

We are, it has nothing to do with our style. 228s

It has everything to do with God's work. 236s

It's so interesting to read so much of the literature that is out there these days, 241s

that focus on style. 246s

That if we could just as a church, the main thesis is, 250s

if we could just as a church get our style right, 254s

then the church will just blossom and the doors will be blown off 257s

because of so many people trying to get in to the church. 263s

And so they talk about things like creating an atmosphere in which people come in 268s

and you touch them through the senses. 275s

And so you want to have the smell that is like fresh-break baked bread as they come in. 279s

Because that's appealing to people. 286s

It's kind of like when you're selling a home, you know, they say baked cookies beforehand. 289s

This is the same kind of train of thought. 293s

There's a whole school of thought of what the pastor should wear. 297s

And there's a whole school of thought that what I should have put on this morning, 302s

when I came here, what I should have put on is what I had on last night, 307s

which was a t-shirt and jeans. 314s

See, and that if I put on a t-shirt and jeans, then all of a sudden, 317s

people are going to come to Christ more, especially if there's a hole in the jean 324s

because then it really shows a casualness about approach. 332s

And that's what will be appealing to the- and on and on and on it goes with regard to the style. 337s

That if the church just changed her style, that would affect witness. 347s

The problem with that is when you start talking about style in that way, 354s

style becomes a means of grace, doesn't it? 358s

Style becomes the means whereby people are converted in the heart. 362s

And so you start doing things in worship services or simple presentation of yourself 369s

that appeals to a marketing approach to where people will come in and say, 375s

I'm comfortable here because this feels like the world to me. 383s

If people come into the church and feel like this is the world to them, 389s

that's a problem, isn't it? That's a problem. 394s

Because they'll know very quickly pick up if they start to focus on the study of the word, 398s

they'll very quickly put up that or come to the realization that it shouldn't be about style. 404s

It should be about the proclamation and teaching of the word. 412s

It should be about what communicates reverence. 416s

You see, if I stood up in what I wore last night in t-shirts and jeans, 420s

didn't have holes in the jeans, but if I stood up in a t-shirt and jeans, 425s

that communicates something to you about the importance that I place upon being the shepherd of this congregation. 430s

Right? Let's put it this way. 441s

If I were to go and meet the president of the United States, 443s

I wouldn't put on a t-shirt and jeans. 449s

I wouldn't because it would be a sign of a lack of respect for the office. 454s

Whoever holds the office, this isn't getting into political opinions or anything like that. 460s

It's solely focused on the office. 465s

It would be disrespectful to the office, who never holds the office. 467s

If I stand up in a t-shirt and jeans, because I think that somehow by how I dress will change somebody's heart, 472s

I've swerved away from the only thing that will change the heart, which is the means of grace. 484s

Paul never resorted to that. He never resorted to manipulation. 492s

He never resorted to techniques. 496s

He never resorted to any of that. 498s

He knew that the only tools that he had in his quiver, the only tools that he had, 501s

was word and second. 509s

And that's liberating for all of us, isn't it? 512s

It's liberating because we don't have to worry about then whether we're introverted or extrovert. 514s

We don't have to think if I was just a little bit more extroverted, 520s

then maybe I'd have a greater impact for Jesus Christ in the world. 524s

That's bondage. It's not how you're wired. 531s

If you're an introvert and God has wired you that way, embrace you're being an introvert. 534s

Because people are going to quickly see through you if you're trying to be somebody you're not. 540s

You're just going to see through it. 545s

So be who it is that God created you to be because God wants you to create, 548s

or God wants you to witness how He has created you to be. 553s

So it's not about what you wear. 559s

It's not about if I can just string the words together correctly. 561s

It's not about being a certain personality type. 567s

It's simply about word and sacrament. 571s

Period. Period. 578s

As Paul comes to witness, he says in chapter 2, 581s

I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words of wisdom. 587s

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him. 591s

Crucified. 602s

That's it. 603s

What a liberating word. 606s

Verse 3, and I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 607s

Indeed, he had been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi. 611s

He had been run out of Thessalonica and Berea. 614s

He had been scoffed at in Athens. 617s

And so was he probably weak? 620s

Probably was. 623s

And when he comes in, and he says, I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 624s

It's the fear and shaking because he understands the seriousness of the mission to which he has been given. 630s

Seriousness of it. 638s

There are no theatrics. 640s

There's no techniques to manipulate responses. 641s

He knew that philosophy and human wisdom, he knew that his style, 645s

he knew that any of that is all irrelevant. 651s

It's all irrelevant. 655s

That the only thing that's important is word and second. 657s

The focus of his preaching was on Jesus. 665s

Just a couple of the sides here. 669s

We won't turn to it for a second time. 671s

But Acts 20, verse 20, and 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 to 2. 673s

It talks about the message that he was given to proclaim. 677s

That's our call. 682s

That's our call. 684s

All that we do is we love people. 686s

That's all in that sense setting up for the proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ. 689s

And we are called to be people that genuinely love in our actions. 698s

So we are set up to genuinely love people. 704s

And these people can also smell through it. 709s

They can smell through it. 712s

If you're just loving them in order to set up a time to share the gospel, 713s

they'll see it as a technique. 719s

They'll see it as manipulative instead of, no, I'm going to love you regardless of whatever your response is. 720s

And as the Holy Spirit gives me opportunity when that door opens, 727s

I'm going to share the gospel. 733s

See, then that's a natural part of that relationship and your loving of people. 735s

Let's go to set up. 741s