You Have Something to Offer!

A lot of us don’t share our faith if we’re honest. We sit on the sidelines thinking we need to learn just a little more. Maybe we think it’s the pastor’s job. Maybe we just think that others will do it. However, we see in Colossians 1:27 that God wants to make Christ known among not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. Is God’s plan for only a select few to make this happen? That doesn’t seem likely.

How does God accomplish his desire to spread the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles? Through us! We must tell people about Jesus! We must teach them to follow him! Paul says in Colossians 1:28, “We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”  (CSB)

From sharing Jesus with someone to presenting them mature in Christ is called discipleship. Paul’s goal was to make disciples. Our goal as Christians should be to make disciples. We want people to be mature. We don’t want to baptize them and leave them to fend for themselves and say, “Good luck!” We want to invite them to walk alongside us.

Let me say something that I think we all need to hear. Making disciples is not a spiritual gift, it is a command for every Christian. I don’t say that to chastise, but to encourage. I think a lot of Christians feel like they don’t have anything to offer others, but that’s simply not true! If you’ve been following Jesus then there are things you have learned that someone who is not as far along as you needs to know. 

Young men need to hang out with your family and see how a godly husband and dad leads his family. Young women need to hang out with older women to see how a godly wife and mom takes care of her household. Seniors need to be mentoring younger adults. A huge part of making disciples is not just teaching, but observation!

I’ll never forget a man named Rusty Osborne. He worked at my college during the period I attended there and I asked him if he would disciple me. He said he thought that one of the best things he could do for me was to invite me into his home and let me observe his family. He and his wife made dinner for me, which was huge for a college student, and I got to watch as he prayed for the meal. I got to see the meal be cleaned up afterward. I got to be a part of the story he read his kids before he tucked them in bed. Afterward, he’d talk with me about whatever was on my mind. 

As a single college student, this was huge for me! I didn’t have a family yet and it was valuable to see someone who was a couple of steps ahead of me leading and loving his family in Christ. He invited me into something I didn’t even know I needed. I can’t remember much of what we talked about, but I certainly remember getting to watch a man a few steps ahead of me lead his family.

Could I encourage you to consider approaching a student at your church and inviting them over for a meal? Let them observe your family. Ask them good questions about their lives and encourage them. This is intergenerational discipleship and it is part of fulfilling Christ’s command to teach others everything he’s commanded. Whether you’re a senior adult, middle or high school student, or somewhere in between—if you are a follower of Jesus, I promise that you have something to offer someone else. Can I challenge you to bless them? Like Paul, our aim should be to present everyone mature in Christ.

Paul’s next statement in this passage is so encouraging. Maybe you’re still unsure about what I just said. Maybe you still think you don’t have anything to offer or you can’t do it. Listen to Paul here in verse 29, “I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.” Christian, the Holy Spirit lives inside you. You are not in this alone.

I love Paul’s example in his life and work. When we observe Paul’s actions in the New Testament, we see him giving it everything! He works like it all depends on him. Yet, when we hear him speak, he reveals that he knows it all depends on God. Paul can’t save people. Paul can’t mature people in Christ. But Paul knows that he has the Holy Spirit and that as he works, God works. He strives with God’s strength that works powerfully in him. Brothers and sisters, let this truth encourage us! You are not enough and I am not enough. We don’t “got” this! But the Holy Spirit living in us does have this and he works powerfully in us when we step out and follow and obey Christ’s commands. You have a lot to offer other believers precisely because you have the Holy Spirit working in and through you!

Let’s join God in spreading the gospel. Let’s make mature Christians. Let’s work as the Spirit works and trust that we have something to offer precisely because we have him living inside us. He’s got this!