One of the hardest lessons that I have had to learn as a pastor is that you can't preach or teach someone into heaven or into a real relationship with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What I mean is that I could have the most inspiring sermon in the world but if the ears aren't open and the heart is not ready to hear and accept the word of God, nothing is going to happen. As the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
I have learned this lesson the hard way with my 3- and 5-year-old children as well. I can make them look at me when I am telling them something, I can tell them something 15 different times, but in the end it is up to them to take what I say to them to heart and actually do what I say. Take Karin's and my attempts to potty train our three year old Gus for example. We tell him over and over again that big kids go potty on the potty. We give him rewards when he does go. We scold him when he doesn't. We beg him, prod him, and push him, but still in his rebellious nature, he refuses to do what we ask him to do.
You would think that the good news that Jesus died on the cross and rose again for you and for me would be an easy thing to hear and accept, and that once a person hears this good news that their lives would change and they would be ignited for the Lord. You would think that, but thinking something is going to happen and seeing it happen are often two different things.
Why should I expect anything else? Did Jesus himself always reach the hearts and minds of his hearers? He even instructed his disciples to shake the dust off their feet at the house or the community of those who didn't hear what they had to say. The people at one point were so angry at what Jesus had to say that they picked up stones to stone him to death. They even crucified him on the cross because of their hardened hearts. If this was the case with Jesus, should I expect that I have such amazing power and such a way with words that I am going to convert everyone I meet or turn everyone, to whom I preach and teach, into raving evangelists and people who are on fire for the Lord? I would have to humbly say, certainly not.
Maybe you have been witnessing to your next door neighbor for months. Sure he listens to you, and has even said that he would be in church a time or two. Yet, when Sunday rolls around, they are not in the pew with you. You finally figure out that he is just being polite so that he doesn't turn you away from being a good neighbor to him.
Yet, before you and I go and judge our hearers, maybe we should first judge ourselves. For as little as people have not listened to us, so have we not listened to God, our heavenly Father, even less. If we only condemn the people who fail to listen to our message, without condemning ourselves and our own failure to listen to and do God's will, we are only deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Oftentimes ministry is a frustrating job. That is one major reason why so many pastors suffer from burn out and also why it is so hard for all of us to continue to share the good news with those around us. It is frustrating because we know what our hearers need, but it isn't our job to make them take it. It's not like giving a dog medicine where you can wrap the pill in a piece of cheese or a hotdog. A person must accept the good news at face value for what it is. It should be an easy pill to swallow, but because of our totally lost and condemned state it isn't.
At the same time, in the midst of the many heartaches and frustrations in sharing the Gospel there is much joy, not only because there are those rare times when someone hears and believes, but also because every time you share the Gospel, your own ears are hearing it again too. The Holy Spirit, through your own witness, is working on your heart and life. In essence, there is grace, mercy, and peace simply in just getting the message of God's saving work through his Son Jesus Christ out to the world. It is as much for the messenger as it is for those to whom the message is given.
In the end, as hard as it may be to do, we must give up our control to the Holy Spirit, for it is he who brings life and immortality to life. It is he who works that saving faith in a person. It is he who breathes life into a lost and condemned sinner. It is the Holy Spirit who makes the Word work in a person's heart and mind. It is simply our job as Christians to get the message of salvation out to the world.
It is this knowledge and that gives us comfort and peace. To know that I am not responsible for whether a person goes to heaven or hell takes a lot of the pressure off of me. To know that the best I can do is get the message of salvation out to the people is comforting, because I know that I can lead a horse to water, but I can't make him drink. God bless your witness of Him and His salvation.
