EYE WITNESS NEWS
Profile of a Witness
Acts 1:8 " . . . and you shall be My witnesses"
Introduction:
What does this text: "Ye shall be witnesses to Me!" evoke in your
thinking? What is a proper response?
A. IT SAYS TO ME THAT I PERSONALLY, AND WE, AS PEOPLE CALLED
NAZARENES, NEED TO TAKE THESE WORDS TO HEART
1. Early on in my Christian walk I got the message that I was not
a complete Christian unless and until I was also a witnessing
Christian. Just about all my Christian life I have had an annoying
feeling that I should be a better personal witness of the grace of
God.
B. BUT IT ALSO INVITES ME TO SEE HOW THE PEOPLE TO WHOM JESUS WAS
SPEAKING DIRECTLY, AT THAT TIME, UNDERSTOOD AND CARRIED OUT HIS
ORDERS:
1. The context of this text is the end of that period between the
first Easter and the Ascension and Pentecost with the outpouring of
the Spirit. That was a very important time for the disciples.
Several questions come to mind: [After the death and resurrection
of Jesus things were decidedly different. It was not merely business
as usual.
"Where did Jesus go at night to sleep?" or, "Where did Jesus go
when He disappeared from their sight?" I know that speculation is all
too easy. But several things are apparent:
Why, do you suppose, was there a period of 40 days between the
Resurrection and the Ascension?
Why, again, were there 10 more days until the descent of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost?
What part do the Old Testament figures of Passover and Pentecost
have in the scheme of salvation? It certainly was more than
coincidence that these significant events fell on those significant
holy days.
I. A TIME OF PERSUASION
Of what were the disciples witness, relative to Jesus?
A. Old Testament fulfillment:
1. In the matter of the calendar itself:
JESUS THE PASSOVER
Lets take that last question first: From our vantage point we
see that the Old Testament holy days found fulfillment in the Person
and Ministry of the Savior.
Cynics would say that Jesus was the supreme opportunist. They
would say that He sought to fill out the prophecies of the Old
Testament.
Jesus filled out the meaning of the Old Testament: Do you
understand Passover? Divine intervention in behalf of helpless people
who cry for deliverance. Beginning an Exodus that was to climax in a
Promised Land.
The planting of a Seed... JESUS THE FIRST-FRUIT, OR HARVEST Do
you understand Pentecost? The "Seed" planted in the ground brought
forth 3,000 souls fifty days later; The first harvest celebrated; and
also the giving of the Law on Sinai;
B. Personal encounter/ spiritual revelation: The disciples met the
Risen Savior, and He revealed Himself to them.
II. A TIME OF PREPARATION
A. They were not to leave Jerusalem until they had received the
Holy Spirit.
B. This involved ten days of intensive prayer.
C. This also involved
III. A TIME OF PROCLAMATION - [Conclusion:]
A. The overwhelming sense of joy that accompanied the knowledge that
they were NOT left orphaned; they were indwelt by the Spirit of their
Savior-- THIS was the thing that powered their witness.
Their battle cry was, "The LORD is risen!"
We must have this in order to be witnesses, and not hear-say
gossips:
1. A personal encounter of revelation: (not enlightenment only;
that is not enough. but God-revealed reality. We must know, be
persuaded that God has raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection
is the dynamo that makes everything about the Christian faith genuine.
There is nothing wrong with becoming a seeker. If you are not
satisfied, ask God to help you look within. Come away with reality.
If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart and knows
all things.
2. An increasing joy and love for the Savior. This will be
"felt," for want of a better word. Deeply satisfying. It will
resonate with others who love Jesus, too. The greatest family on all
the earth is the family of God. This love will respond to the
Spirit’s prompting to go. (Philip)
3. This witness will be both conscious and unconscious. There
must be a congruence of the unconscious and the conscious witness.
When what we say and how we live are in disagreement people will
always finally believe the way we live. But when both coincide there
will be effective witness.
a) they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus
b) we ought to obey God rather than man!
4. There is nothing wrong with organized effort in witnessing:
I have attended special seminars on witnessing, and have undergone
intensive on-the-job training; and I have had concentrated weekend
efforts and have led small groups in witnessing. Perhaps if God so
leads we might move in that direction again. But however we witness,
my deepest concern is that we shall witness for the highest and best
of reasons.
5. Personal evangelism has a bad name in our time: The
pluralistic culture in which we live, with its highly personalized
view of religion, makes it difficult to witness to the saving grace of
Jesus without appearing to violate the unwritten code of respect for
other’s beliefs.
6. The tension we feel within when we approach an opportunity
to say a word for Jesus Christ is that of standing between a genuine
respect for the personality and quality of another human being and the
conviction that unless that human being comes to know Jesus he or she
will be forever lost. I have the deep conviction that Jesus meant what
He said when He said, "No one comes to the Father except by Me!"
Perhaps that tension can sometimes simply be translated as
cowardice. But sometimes our normal, natural human reticence to talk
about deeply personal, private matters is entirely appropriate.
7. We must earn the right to speak to people about important
matters. There must be some common ground; or, the Holy Spirit must
help us to understand that this is a moment when we can and must
speak.
"Common ground" means that there is a reason for speaking about
personal matters; there is an entry point. [Illustration: How would
you feel if someone came up to you on the street and said, "I’m
interested in how your kidneys are working!" But if that person were
your doctor, and you had been having painful sessions with kidney
stones, you would not only be glad to tell the doctor, but you would
be flattered to be remembered and asked in a non-official, non-office
setting. It would show that your doctor genuinely cared.]
The idea of "common ground" must also be balanced with the
concept Jesus gave us of the witness as a sower going forth to sow the
precious seeds of the Word of God. The sower sows extravagantly--
some falls on the roadway, some falls at the edges of the field, some
falls just about everywhere.
8. Common ground can come because we invite inquiry. If we are
an evangelistic church then our public services are a place where
people will expect to be confronted with the claims of Jesus, with a
witness to His grace. There is a common ground of expectation that the
Gospel will be proclaimed.
Bible study groups to which non-Christians or non-evangelicals
are welcome and respected are a wonderful idea whose time, it seems,
has come.
9. Common ground can come when we genuinely care about people
who may not be of the Christian persuasion. It is not a sin to be
friendly. We can genuinely care about people who disagree with
us. And the friendliest thing a Christian can do is to introduce His
friends to the greatest Friend.
We have been trained to avoid sin, and rightly so; but we are
not the world’s sin-police. The cross of Jesus was at the very heart
of the message the early church proclaimed; but so was the joy and
certainty of the resurrection. "This same Jesus, whom YE crucified,
God has raised Him up again!"
