WITNESS in this context means, testifying to what one has seen, experienced or known, with the view to making the hearer benefit or take advantage of the testifier’s testimony (e.g. Luke 1:1-4; John 5:32,33,35; Acts 1:7-8; 4:19-20; 1 John 4:1-40).
Insufficient lively/aggressive witness to the truth therefore means that the many Christians are yet to massively and lively testify of what they have known or experienced about Jesus, the Bible, repentance and forgiveness, the times in which we live, etc. They are also yet to massively testify to what they have seen or experienced which the Lord is doing today. And this is indeed dross.
But we find that massive and aggressive witness is part of the instruments the Lord uses to make His will known and bring about whatever programme He has drawn, hence this verse in one of the famous songs of David; “the Lord gave the word: great was the company that published it” (Psalm 68:11).
When of old He concluded to destroy the world of Noah’s time and informed Noah, the man went ahead to inform all and sundry (Genesis 6:5-17 and 2 Peter 2:5). When He decided to visit Sodom and Gomorrah of old, He informed Lot and Lot informed his relatives (as He bade him) (Genesis 19:12-14).
When Israel was to be liberated from Egyptian bondage, the Lord informed Moses and made him tell his fellow Jews and the king of Egypt (Exodus 3:9-10; Exodus 4:21-23, 29-30; Exodus. 5:1-3). When His people were to be taken captives by the Babylonians for their sins, He made the prophets to know and announce it to the people, peradventure they repented to avoid the catastrophe and the prophets did as they were bidden.
When the whole of Nineveh was either to be spoilt or spared (whichever they would choose), the Lord informed prophet Jonah and forced him to tell it to the Ninevites (Jonah 1:1-3:4 ). After Jesus had died vicariously on the cross and risen from the dead for the remission of the sins and justification of all who will repent and believe, He commanded his disciples to go and witness to this truth all over the world, and they did (Acts 1:7-8; 4:33; 8:4).
How on earth is it that many Christians, especially, those in the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, sit with their hands crossed and their months shut, yet they know of the time now in heaven; that judgment is determined; that God has placed His name, word, Spirit and power in their midst, as well as His 3-fold end-time objective/project of (i) raising a great army of believers for an imminent great harvest of souls; (ii) bringing about a great revival in the entire Church and (iii) preparing the body of Christ for the rapture? What a hindering cankerworm this is, which must be repented of and cast away !