One of our teleconference participants has lived for some time with a worry that she might get to heaven and find out that nobody is there because of her. This may seem odd to some of you, but I sympathize with it as a recipient of numerous sermons that seek to motivate the hearer to witness to others by applying guilt and fear over what we will have to show for ourselves on Judgment Day. Here’s what is wrong with these messages:
1. Guilt and fear can never be proper motivation for a believer, mostly because neither is supposed to be in our lives. Romans 8:1 tells us there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, and 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Anyone using either guilt or fear to motivate someone in the kingdom of God is turning back the clock on the cross of Jesus Christ.
2. No one is going to be in heaven as the result of any one of us anyway. People will be in heaven because God invited them. If He used any one of us to deliver the invitation, that will not be to our glory. If we fail He has plenty of other people He can use. Or, as He has in the past, He can use rocks, mountains, trees, the stars, pagan kings, even donkeys, to deliver His messages. Nor will anyone NOT be in heaven because we failed to tell them.
The ministry belongs to the Lord, not to us. This is why Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 4:1, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” This ministry he’s referring to is God’s ministry. We do not lose heart because God’s work depends on God, not on us. God does His thing with or without us. Our motivation for serving Him is gratitude and a desire to get with His program, and not because He is standing by helplessly waiting for us to “get it” because He has no other alternatives.
If we fail to do what God wants us to do, we miss out, not God. Perhaps you can see this in the lyrics of a song I wrote, “A Witness.”
I will not be without a witness
I will not be without a witness
I will not be without a witness
Will you be a part of this?
Many will see without perceiving
Many will hear without believing
Many have longed to see what you see
Before your eyes
I will not be without a witness
I will not be without a witness
I will not be without a witness
Will you be a part of this?
How will they see unless you show them?
How will they know unless you know them?
If it’s not you it will be someone,
So why not you?
Can I get a witness?
I don’t need you,
But I want you.
It will be said without you speaking
It will be known without you seeking
But you will be lost in the finding,
And I will cry.
I will not be without a witness
I will not be without a witness
I will not be without a witness
Will you be a part of this?
John Fischer The Catch 
As the saying goes, “thanks – I needed that”. Your post comes around the first anniversary of my dad’s passing, and I had been worried for years that he had been influenced by what is, by definition, a cult. A few months before he passed on, I asked him who Jesus Christ is, and his response was anything but “Son of the Living God”. Another time, I showed him a video of one of my sermons — about inclusivity and Grace — and when it was over, he said, “that was pretty long”. Had I failed — as a son, a Believer, an Evangelist? Could I have done more to push? The Lord told me no – I had done all I could, and at the end of the day, Grace was His department, not mine. And so, looking at dad laid out on the gurney at the extended-care hospital, I got the distinct sense he was already on a new path of praising God with every breath, and had gone through the experience CS Lewis writes about, when “is that really You?” turns into “so it was You all along!” Thank you for that confirmation.
Beautiful. I resonate with your confirmation.
What a powerful way to look at this! I have sometimes felt that I have not done enough “witnessing” (I’m going through that right now with my mother-in-law). But you are absolutely right: God has all the means at his disposal to invite us to join Him. Thanks!