What is Your Christian Testimony Worth?

A credible testimony of true and saving faith in Jesus Christ is a treasure to be earnestly desired, carefully secured, and tenaciously guarded. There are so many frauds and false brethren, that a well-established, credible gospel witness is worth something. Just how much is yours worth?

What are the components of a credible Christian witness? First, there is a public profession of faith formalized in one’s baptism. By our baptism we profess something. We declare to the church and to the world that we are Christ’s and that He is ours by grace alone through faith alone. We profess that grace has made a change in us and that we have begun to follow the Lamb as our Lord and Master. Second, there is discipleship. This is what builds the credibility of one’s profession of faith, that it is real and genuine and, truly, of the Lord’s doing; as the Lord’s brother said, “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).

Discipleship has been called “a long obedience in the same direction” (Eugene Peterson). Pastor A. N. Martin wrote a small booklet, “A Life of Principled Obedience,” addressing discipleship and the ongoing grace of sanctification in a believer’s life. Disciples discipline themselves for success. Disciples are scholars who hear and heed their mentor. If we know Jesus Christ in saving faith and repentance, then we have responded obediently to His gospel and have become His disciples. Without evident discipleship, there is also no evident saving grace.

So, the primary components of a credible testimony are, (1) our outward, public profession declared in our baptism and, (2) our discipleship lived-out day by day as we follow Christ and obey His Word. Every day that we conduct ourselves in the disciplines of God’s grace, the credibility of our Christian witness is more firmly established.

None of us are perfectly consistent in our following Christ; consistently inconsistent is more often the case. We all make missteps and mistakes and we all sin in ways every day, so all too often our discipleship does not shine. Some days are better than others and some days are just plain terrible when it comes to our faithful obedience to Christ, and those days end with shame and tears and in deep repentance. Still, the promise of our Lord makes us certain that He will hear and forgive and give us more grace heaped upon grace, helping us to find our way back to the path of obedient, determined discipleship.

How Are You Running?
Paul writes, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NKJV).

Very likely alluding to the ancient Olympic Games, the Apostle urged the Corinthian believers to live their lives in such a way that they might obtain the prize. But what was “the prize?” It was an imperishable garland, a conqueror’s crown. But what is it, after all? Nothing other than the smile of God; His approval of the way we conducted ourselves during the course of our lives.

Do you not long to hear your Savior say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23)? That, beloved ones, is “the prize” awaiting a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. But who among us is nearly as faithful as we should be? So, shall we despair of ever pleasing our perfect Lord because we are imperfect in this life? No, we are to believe the promises of the gospel. Our offerings of true, albeit imperfect, obedience presented to Christ in faith will be accepted because of His once-for-all, perfect obedience sanctifying our earnest, yet feeble and imperfect, attempts.

He is Watching & It Really Matters
Is it possible that the Lord Jesus who calls us to be His disciples would not take notice of our discipline, or the absence thereof? Paul knew that his Lord was watching every moment! He was sure that in order to win “the prize” he must run the race “according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5), according to the truth of the gospel.

Paul did not want to be “disqualified” after running so far for so long. Disqualified from what? He wanted to live with the sort of discipline that, on its merits, would prove that he was indeed a true child of God, a true disciple, a true Apostle. Many imposters had made their empty claims, but ultimately proved themselves false by the way they ran the race, not according to the truth of the gospel, but according to their own bogus set of rules. But Paul was the real deal. He was the genuine article. The grace that saved him was not impotent, cheap grace. It was sovereign grace, indeed.

Paul’s purpose was to succeed, to win, to receive that imperishable victor’s wreath that would proclaim throughout eternity that he had purposely lived for the glory of Christ Jesus. How do you think of your Christian life? Do you see it as a race that you must run with integrity and a race to be won? How much value do you place on running your life’s marathon “according to the rules” of the gospel, in “principled obedience” to Christ? Too many think of Christian life as a sprint when it is more like a marathon.

Shipwreck, Train-Wreck, a Tangled Mess
Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy about numerous people who had “made shipwreck” concerning “the faith” (1 Timothy 1:18-20), mentioning two of them by name. A shipwreck was a terrible tragedy, especially in those days; with the loss of cargo, with great damage to the ship or the loss of it altogether, not to mention the loss of life that was often involved. To “make shipwreck” concerning the faith of the gospel was nothing short of tragic; it was to suffer great loss.

“Hymenaeus and Alexander” (v. 20) had apparently persistently spoken blasphemies against the Lord and the truth of the gospel. There was some hope that they might “learn not to blaspheme” and be recovered to the church, but because of their blasphemies they had been excommunicated from the church. The church made it clear that those two men were no longer in the communion of the saints; they were under the church’s discipline in hopes that they might repent and be restored. Their sinful blasphemy had resulted in their making shipwreck concerning the faith, and they stood to lose everything by being proved nothing more than false, lying professors of gospel faith; unsaved men.

If the Apostle lived in this day and time he might have used a different analogy to describe the mess some professing believers make of their lives because of cherished sin. I recall once seeing a train-wreck as a child. There were overturned train cars and loose coal strewn everywhere. Years later my brother bought a mint-green Chevrolet in near-mint condition (what a car!); within a couple months one night the car stalled at a railway crossing and along came the train. About a mile or so down the tracks someone with some sort of machinery peeled the crumpled wreckage off the front of the train; so much for mint condition. What a picture! What a mess we can make of our lives in a matter of minutes!

Whether a shipwreck, train-wreck, car-crash, or some other tragic picture of loss and ruin—let us, every one, beware the devastating power of cherished sin. O, the wretched tendency to blaspheme, to prefer our sin over our Savior! Let us all beware and redouble our resolve; a credible witness of faith in Christ can be spoiled in such a short time!

Don’t Care What Anyone Thinks
When someone is in the process of ruining his life and spoiling his Christian testimony, he is likely to think or even to say, “I don’t care what anyone thinks! It’s nobody’s business but my own.” Such an attitude only reveals the mighty power of sin’s grip.

To the suffering believers of the Christian Diaspora, Simon Peter wrote strange words; strange, in that he wanted them to care how their lives were perceived by people around them, even those unbelievers who persecuted them and called them evildoers. “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12 NKJV).

The Tragedy of a Credible Testimony Forfeited
The forfeiture of a credible Christian witness by behavior that undermines that credibility—what a tragedy! What loss! What is our credible testimony of faith in Christ worth? Is cherished sin worth what it is going to cost? When our “good name” is destroyed because of persistent love of sin and refusal to obey God, will we care then? Indeed, the pleasures of sin are only “for a season.” And then what?

Are we, at this moment, determined to obey the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our hearts? If there is even one sliver of doubt, then let us beware. Truly, “sin crouches at the door,” patiently waiting for an opportunity to seize us and drag us off to some out of the way place, away from the gospel, away from the church, away from everything familiar, to rip and tear us limb from limb—bringing our whole life to utter ruin and leaving us to wallow in our own blood and to suffer unspeakable misery under guilt and shame. How Satan would delight to see any one of us forfeit our credible testimony; in exchange he would happily let us bear the infamy of a hypocrite to our grave.

Let us hear the Word of God and love it and live it, all by grace. Value your credible Christian witness. Desire it, secure it, guard it. If you have lost it, seek by God’s forgiveness and grace to recover it for His glory. May our Lord give us grace to run well and to finish strong! –TSA

Help from the Inspired Word
“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:17-32 NKJV)