You’re the lifeguard, and the world is drowning …

by 0 Comments

Spring has brought beautiful weather to Beachtown, USA ,which means hoards of people are itching to start their summertime at the beach.

As chief lifeguard in Beachtown, your job every summer is to manage a competent team of lifeguards whose job it is to keep swimmers safe along a mile-long stretch of sandy beach just off the boardwalk near the town center.

As your team is gathered around with their gear, you give your final set of instructions and encouragements, then send them off to their assigned watch towers.

In less than an hour, the first emergency call comes over the two-way radio.

A lifeguard in tower one spotted a teenage male frantically trying to swim, and heard his plea for help. The lifeguard ran to the edge of the ocean water then stopped — because he didn’t know how to swim.

He signaled to the lifeguard in the nearest tower, who ran down the beach to him — and stopped at the water’s edge because he, too, didn’t know how to swim.

Each of the lifeguards signaled to the next tower until the entire team of lifeguards had gathered at the water’s edge — none of them knowing how to swim.

With siren blaring, you drive your patrol truck onto the sand and stop just short of your team.

“Why are you all just standing here?” you yell as you run into the water, then begin the swim out to the teen boy.

But when you reach him he’s unresponsive.

You grab the body and swim to shore; in the shallow water, your team members run out to help you bring the boy up to the beach.

You administer CPR, but to no avail.

You’re too late.

The young man died of drowning … because none of your lifeguards knew how to swim.

*****
Making disciples is the mission of the church, and the responsibility of every Christian. Why is it, then, that the average Christian will never share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with another person in their lifetime?
One reason is because they don’t know how to swim.
Stated differently, your team of “lifeguards” (disciple makers) haven’t been equipped for how to share the Gospel in order to make a disciple. There’s no guarantee that if your flock was equipped to share the Good News that they actually would when the had (or could make) the opportunity — but many would.
Not only has the church fallen short of discipling the believers who are members of the church, but many (if not most) churches do nothing to literally equip followers of Christ to effectively share the Gospel and make a disciple. Such equipping is a basic responsibility of church leaders …
“11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ,” Ephesians 4:11-12.
While equipping the saints is the responsibility of servant leaders, every Christian can and should take the initiative to make sure they are equipped to be ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-20) if their spiritual leaders aren’t doing their duty of equipping them. 
As Christians, you’re all “spiritual lifeguards” assigned a tower on this world’s beach. Will you be ready to save those drowning in sin, or will they perish on your watch?
Scotty