Our Responsibility, Luke 9:5

"And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them."

     These seem like harsh words coming from our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. But He is teaching us a lesson here about what our responsiblity as Christians is to the non-believing world around us. Indeed it is our responsibility to go into all the world and preach the gospel, as Jesus Himself commanded. But to what extent are we responsible for the salvation of the people around us?

     Firstly, it is never the Lord's will that we should assume that someone will reject the gospel message. There should never be a time, a place, a people about which we think that His grace does not reach or His mercy touch hearts. We should always be more than willing to let our lights shine-- that is, His light in us, shinging through us. Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 28,

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you..."

     But to be obedient to the words of Christ, how far must we go? To what extent does He hold us accountable for the salvation of those to whom we preach? I believe that it is the Holy Spirit who will let us know just how far we must go in each scenario to bring the gospel to the unsaved. There is no predetermined limit to preaching, no set standard or regulation that says you must tell someone so many times before it is on their own head and not yours. As long as you have done just what the Lord has placed upon your heart, no matter how little or how much, you have done your part and now the responsibility for that person to be saved is upon them and God, not you.
     In the book of Acts, we see this command of Jesus put into play. In Acts 13 we read that Paul and Barnabas were preaching to the Jews. They gave the gospel message in its entirety, but the Jews rejected it. The Gentiles, however, believed and rejoiced. The Jews became jealous and angry and so stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas. Thus they (Paul and Barnabas) shook off the dust from their feet against them (the Jews), and left the city of Antioch and went to Iconium.
     To shake the dust off one's feet against a city or a people is an action that symbolized a complete break of fellowship and a renunciation of all further responsibility toward that people. It is an act that indicates a rejection of a city, as a Jew would reject an unclean Gentile city. The Jews of Jesus' day would go out of their way to walk around Samaria rather than pass through it (though it was a more direct route) as the Samaritans were a "mixed breed", half Jewish and half Gentile. So would be the rejection of a city who did not accept the message of grace, of Jesus Christ.

     The Bible teaches that there can be no fellowship between light and darkness, between a believe and an unbeliever. This isn't to say that there is no contact between a believer and an unbeliever, but that contact is generally limited to reaching out to the unbelieving in such a way as to bring them to know Christ, versus a more intimate relationship where two lives are closely intertwined (such as a good friendship or a marriage).
     When we have made every attempt that God has put upon our hearts to make in trying to share the love of Christ with a person, it is no longer our responsiblity to bring that person to a place where they can come to know Christ. In Acts 18:6, Paul shook off his clothes and said to those who had opposed his delivering the gospel to them, "your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles".
     Paul had made several attempts to preach to the Jews, and they were, for the most part, unsuccessful. But he did not stay and keep preaching to them, he went off to preach to the Gentiles. God had put in his heart to do a certain thing in offering the message of salvation to the Jews, and when they did not accept it, He moved Paul onto another task: to preach to the Gentiles. If God has laid upon your heart to witness and show His love to a certain person or people, and they continually reject the message you bring in Christ's name, and the Lord puts it on your heart to move on... Move on. There is no need to continue in fellowship with such a person who has rejected God (though you are still to love them!). Your responsiblity to that person is through. God will move you on to another task, another place, another person or people. That person's or people's salvation is now between them and God (and whoever God may choose to bring along their path).

     This is a hard thing to explain, as you cannot do so without having a tendancy to sound cruel, unloving, or legalistic. The point I am trying to make though is not to continually reject those who reject Christ, as we are to love everyone and reach out to everyone. What I am trying to point out is that it is very important to follow the leading of God's Spirit in all of our actions, including reaching out to the unbelieving populous around us. Yes, we are to reach out, but we are to reach out in His strength, not our own, and if it is not His timing or His will that we reach out to certain people here or there, His strength will not necessarily be in it.
     Another point I am trying to make is that there should be no guilt on our part if we have done all the Lord has put upon our hearts and the people we have been praying for and preaching to (whether in word or in deed) don't come to know the Lord as a direct result of our efforts. Our responsibility is not to save people, but to do what God has called us to do. Success is not based upon how many people are saved as the result of our witness, but rather it is based upon how obedient we have been to what God has called us to do. We will not get to heaven and be chastened because none of the people we witnessed to accepted Christ as a direct result of our efforts, but rather we will be blessed and rewarded for being obedient to the calling that God has placed in our hearts.
     God has not called all of us to lead people to Christ. He has not called all of us to be the ones who usher people into salvation. But we are all lights, we are all stepping stones on the path leading to Christ. We may not be the last stone before the end, Jesus, but it is His will that our lives draw people toward Him. And if we are obedient to His calling and the moving of the Spirit in our hearts, our lives will do just that-- without our trying, without our effort, and without our toil. It's all about walking with Christ.