Sermon Brief
Date Written: December 1, 2008
Date Preached: December 3, 2008
Where Preached: OPBC (Wed PM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Study of John’s Letters
Sermon Title: What Is A Witness?
Sermon Text: 1 John 1:1-4
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
Introduction:
What is a witness? I once heard a story about a prosecuting attorney from a small Texas town who called his first witness to the stand in a trial. She was a grand-motherly, type and he asked her, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"
She said, "I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And to be honest, you have been a big disappointment. You lie; you cheat on your wife, and manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you are some big shot on the rise BUT you don’t have the brains to realize you are nothing more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes sir, I know you!"
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Williams, do you know the defense attorney?" She replied, "Yes I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, as well.
In fact, I used to baby-sit him for his parents. He, too, has been a real disappointment. He is lazy, bigoted, and has a drinking problem. The man can’t form or hold a decent relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the shoddiest in the entire state. Yes sir, I know him TOO." The crowd began to murmur and the noise level in the courtroom rose to an unacceptable level with all the people responding to what had just been said.
The sound of the judge gavel rang thru the courtroom and the judge motioned for both attorneys to approach the bench. When they were in front of the judge, he whispered to them in a very quiet voice, "If either of you asks her if she knows me, I’ll have you thrown in jail for contempt!"
I read another story about a Christian who prayed: "Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is."
That very day he found himself on a nearly empty bus when a big, burly man sat next to him.
The timid believer anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. However, before he could get off, the big burly guy next to him burst into tears and began to weep. This big but contrite man then cried out with a loud voice, "I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord.
Won’t somebody tell me how to be saved?" He turned to this Christian gentleman and pleaded, "Can you show me how to find the Lord?" The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, "Lord, is this a sign?"
Now when I say, what is a witness, this is not really what we think about is it? Encarta English Dictionary defines the word witness for us in the following manner.
As a noun, witness is defined as follows:
Someone who sees an occurance…someone who gives evidence after seeing or hearing something.
A signatory of a document… someone who signs a document to show that it or another signature is valid and genuine.
Someone who testifies to the Christian faith… somebody who publically states his or her strong Christian beliefs.
A public statement of Christian beliefs… a public statement of strong personal Christian beliefs.
As a verb, witness is defined as follows:
See something happen… [transitive verb] meaning to see something happen, especially a crime or accident.
To countersign a document…[transitive verb] to affirm the authenticity of a document or a signature on a document by signing it.
To experience important events…[transitive verb] to experience important events or changes or be the time in which they occur.
To be a sign of something… [transitive verb] to be a sign or proof of something that is happening.
To speak publically about religious beliefs…[intransitive verb] to talk in public about strong Christian beliefs.
In other words, a witness is someone who is willing to speak out in public about something that has happened around them or to them or something that means a great deal to them, such as a religious experience.
Why do I ask the question, “What is a witness?” well when we read the 1st 4 verses of the book of 1 John we can see that this is just what John is claiming to be and claiming to do… He is proclaiming to these people who are reading this letter that he is a witness of what he is writing about, it has affected his life personally and he wants to speak out about it!
The term used in this passage ‘to bear witness’ has its roots in the Greek legal lexicon of words. This implies that the one ‘bearing witness’ is responsible for the accuracy and integrity of their ‘witness’ or testimony. So the witness not only is vouching for the personal experience of a matter but also for the authenticity of what is being testified.
In fact, Jesus Himself was viewed as one who bore witness to what He had seen and heard from the Father. When we look at Jn 1:18, 5:19, 15:15 we can see this…
John 1:18 - No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,[a] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 5:19 - Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
John 15:15 - No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
In turn the Disciples are called Jesus in Acts 1:8 to become witnesses of Him to this world and in this letter we can see a continuation of this role being pass along to the next generation of believers! Become a servant and bear witness to Christ as we have!
Witness to the Word:
Have you ever had an experience when you were ‘jacked up on adrenaline’ and tried to be a witness to a thing… usually what happens is that our words flow forth like water, but our minds are working faster than our tongue could follow and most times it takes some other person to gently encourage us to ‘slow down’ take a breath and speak.
In the 1st 4 verses of this letter we find the Elder reflecting the urgency he believes is apparent in this situation. We see how he repeats himself, four times to things he has seen, two times to what he has heard and two times to what he has proclaimed or has been proclaiming.
I believe that what he is doing here is to clearly lay out a standard by which other believers could be measured. That this is not his ideas or imagination but that which he has experienced by sight, touch and speech. His idea here is to reveal to the world around them and his readers that life that Jesus desires for His children to have.
We can see this from 2 perspectives in the first 4 verses of this book:
The life revealed (v.1-2)
We can see that the statements being made here by John are really 2-pronged. First we can see that John is stressing that he himself has the credentials to be a witness of what he is speaking about!
He details that he has personally experienced this life to which he is attempting to reveal and bear witness. But on the other hand we find that John also understands that he has the role of the ‘witness’… the one who points beyond who HE is to what He is bearing witness to…
This is not unlike the role of John the Baptist in the Gospels where John the Baptist declared the coming of Jesus and emphasized that the one coming was far greater than he, that he was not worthy to untie his sandals, that he must DECREASE as Christ must INCREASE. John the Baptist, understood people saw him as the witness, but John pointed beyond himself to the Christ… to the message he bore witness to!
But here is where the role of a witness differs from the metaphors we try to enforce upon it… like someone who sees a car wreck or witnessed a particular event. The role of a witness in this vain is that NOT only does the witness reveal WHAT has happened, but the witness also proclaims the significance and meaning of that event or happening!
For John the significance of his witness was the proclamation of what brought Jesus to this earth and it is LIFE! In John 3:16 John writes that God loved His creation so much that He sent His Son so that his creation could know eternal life!
But we also see in John 10:10 where Jesus tells us that not only does He want us to experience eternal life in heaven but came to bring us life here on this world… a life more abundant than we could ever imagine!
But not only that, we find John revealing that Jesus was the Word of life and that he had witnessed that Life had appeared and was made flesh… Jesus proclaims in John 14:6 that He is the way the truth and the life!
John says that he has witnessed that life, he has seen it, testifies to it and is now proclaiming that life to those in this world… He is a witness of the life of Christ, first thru the revelation he lived, but also thru the life He actually experienced first hand!
The life experienced (v.3-4)
Because of John’s actions in becoming and living as a witness for the Life of God, for the Word of Life, for the Savior, for Jesus Christ, we can see that he is bringing subsequent generations into the fellowship of life… being a witness and winning people to the Lord through his life and through his testimony!
And that is what Jesus meant in Acts 1:8 when He said that these men… the 11 disciples would be His witnesses. Jesus was not limiting it to them alone, but that they were the 1st link in the chain. Jesus was the anchor link, the link all others must stem from.
The apostles would be that first link…taking the message of the Gospel out to those they came in contact with… their witness and testimony would lead others to come to know Christ as they knew Him… their witness and testimony would lead others to accept Christ as they had accepted Him… their witness and testimony would allow others to experience the LIFE they had experienced!
Thus the chain would then have another link, and each subsequent generation would form link after link after link. John shares that we cannot know life apart from God… that God is the giver of life… God is the author of life… physical and spiritual.
In other words, this message is true and cannot be changed and now that I have shared this message with you it is your duty to go out and share it with others and do not change it… “You now have the baton…DON’T drop it!”
John’s witness and message here is that he has witnessed TRUE LIFE in Christ and is a witness of what that TRUE LIFE has done for him and what it can do for others! The message of this true life must NOT be altered or changed in any form… we see this in John’s statement, “that which was from the beginning…”
The message had apparently been ‘changed’ by some others who claimed to be believers and part of the Christian society. John emphasizes that if one claims membership in Christianity they must reveal Christian truths in their lives. You cannot have true Christian fellowship when you are NOT a Christian OR when you are NOT living as a true Christian should be living!
The basic message here from John is that what believers have in common is God and the truth of the message of God… if they do not have this… they do not have true fellowship and are NOT a part of the fellowship!
The term fellowship as mentioned in Scripture is usually the Greek word koininia which refers to a close knit set of believers who have a ‘common belief’ or ‘share common beliefs and practices’. When one claims fellowship, there must be something in common for it to be true fellowship!
This is why John uses the metaphors of dark and light… they cannot be in fellowship with each other, where light is… the darkness is scattered… one cannot have fellowship in the other! It is the same with being in fellowship with God…either you are or you are NOT… there is no compromise, no middle ground… no grey area!
This fellowship John speaks about leads to a joyful life in fellowship with other believers. The shared experiences of each believers uplift and encourage each other. John writes that his joy will be complete when his readers heed his words and continue in fellowship with him and God.
This fellowship and joy are available from God through the person of Jesus Christ, whom John calls the Word of God… and the joy that comes thru fellowship in Christ is a result of the grace of God and the presence of God in our lives!
I call on us to revel in the fellowship of Christ…
I call on us to rejoice in the fellowship of Christ...
For it is that fellowship with Christ which gives us the joy we know and the eternity we long for!
Pray!
Next week we will be looking at 1 John 1:5 – 2:6
