If you’re going to tell people about Christ, you have to make it personal. What better way than to tell people what you’ve seen and how it’s impacted you personally. Relating what you’ve experienced is at the heart of being a witness. Why is this so important? Because you’ve just made it relatable instead of a story from the history books. It’s so important that we’re compelled to do this. For example, I found this in Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We use witnesses all the time for the same reason. They give the court relatability and credibility. The Justice.Gov website reiterates this. It says:
Serving as a witness in a court proceeding is a very important civic duty. The federal judicial system cannot function without the participation of witnesses. Complete cooperation and truthful testimony of witnesses is essential to the determination of the facts of the case.1
Getting to the facts. That’s the whole reason we testify. I don’t know how many of you were ever a witness in a court of law I only ever had to be a witness once. It was a very interesting experience. It wasn’t anything like on Law & Order. No Perry Mason moments. It was very slow, matter of fact, “yes” and “no” answers with no room for long dissertation.
My case wasn’t glamorous or anything. There was a sergeant accused of being drunk on duty. This was important because he had been in 18 years and when someone is close to their military retirement, they want to ensure they doesn’t get a railroaded discharge, eliminating their military pension.
I knew he was struggling with drinking problems and he had already been sent for help. He lived just up the street from me and on two occasions, I was called by the British police to come retrieve my sergeant from their custody. But the serious charge was being drunk on duty. I was actually called as a witness for the dense. It was very blunt, yes and no answers.:
• Did I ever SEE the sergeant drink at work?
o “No” I answered
• Did I ever SMELL alcohol on his breath his breath?
o “No I had not”
That was it. No “the glove does not fit so you must acquit“ or anything like that. Just a few questions.
I was reading the criteria for a good witness in court. I went to Justice.Gov again. It said things like: Refresh Your Memory, Tell the Truth, Speak In Your Own Words, Be Positive and Confident1
All these things make you credible. We were all mesmerized by the OJ trail a few years back, and the defense strategy was to simply destroy the credibility of the prosecution witnesses. To take Mark Forman, tainting his impartiality to make all the evidence, no matter how compelling or any astronomical probabilities crumble.
When I was a witness, my credibility was established by the fact that I was the man’s Flight Chief and interacted daily. And, although others in my flight said he smelled like a brewery, I couldn’t testify that I personally smelled it.
So, let’s look at those criteria for a witness as if you were a witness for Christ.
Refresh Your Memory. You have to know your testimony.
First, know the scriptures. We have written accounts of God’s interactions with man since man’s beginning. We need to know why Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden. We need to know of Lot, Abraham, Moses, and the 10 Commandments. It’s important to know of David and Elijah. We should know John the Baptist and most importantly of Christ and the early Christians.
Know the Gospels. If you know the what was written, when questioned and cross-examined, you have accounts and teachings of centuries to draw from. You can withstand the Sadducees of our day who will try to use our own words as a weapon against us.
Mostly, you will have the tools to testify to those who do not know the word. It is crucial that if someone is searching for the truth and is questioning and cross examining your beliefs, that you answer them confidently. Who would you rather see on the witness stand, a person who says “I think” or a person who says “I know”. Who would be more encouraging to you to go out and witness yourself, if you were with a group that flounders, or a group that is determined and purposeful.
Speak In Your Own Words. Be articulate when you are on the witness stand. It you’re only just repeating or talking like an encyclopedia, people will only think that’s what you’ve read. It was important that when you are presenting the truth, you put it in such a way that it is understood. You cannot witness or encourage if you have trouble developing your message. Lots of times when I am presenting facts, I don’t always know what else to say when someone says they don’t understand. Usually we end up repeating the same thing over and over, sounding like a broken record; unable to impart the message we are trying to pass along. The more you know a subject, the more avenues you have to relay that subject to others. You can choose different examples and point out different instances.
There are the four gospels in the Bible. Each one tells the story of Christ with a slightly different slant. This helps those who didn’t see the correct message in one, get a chance to get that message worded a different way.
You have to be credible. Have the ability to tell the Gospel so it will be believed. And remember also, how many people would believe your sincerity of the Christ-like life if you are not living one yourself. Would you have encouraged them or discouraged them by your actions.
Do you succumb to the sins of the world or are you believable when you say that knowing Christ will make you a happier person? Your living example gives you credibility and becomes a testimony that can be cross-examined on its own.
But the word witness like many English words has multiple meanings.
Another meaning of the word is to be a witness. Be the person who sees it happen. Like at a wedding, there needs to be a witness to attest that it has happened. To be a witness in this sense you have to recognize what is happening around you. You must be able to see the miracles and the changes that happen to someone when Christ is in their life.
There are so many miracles that happen and people try to push them off or rationalize them, or just work to prove that they never happened in the first place
I once say a documentary on a man who had lost his sight as a very small child. With modern technology, doctors were now able to restore his sight. Even though his eyes could see, his mind had never learned to recognize what his eyes were seeing. Because of this, he still walks with a white can. His mind doesn’t understand what is right in front of him.
People are like that with the miracles of the Lord. If they have never learned to see them, they may not believe what is right in front of them.
We may need to teach people how to witness the miracles around them all the time. For some the miracles are happening all the time but they fail to realize it. Conversely, if you were sitting on rail road tracks, failing to recognize the train doesn’t mean that it’s not coming.
Just in our schools, look at the debate concerning our creation. Those that want to believe everything about you and is nothing more than the random chance of chemistry. They fail to recognize that we made in the image of our creator.
We are a witness to the changes we see in people who have truly accepted Christ. Their persona and life direction changes from a focus on self to one for a higher purpose.
The Apostles were called to the first-hand witnesses to the ministry and miracles of Christ. They were called to validate that it had actually happened. They saw Christ both before and after his resurrection. Not only were they witnesses to the event, but they were changed by it. They carried their conviction right to the end of their lives. Torturer and persecution could not break them.
I read an article that contrasted the followers of Christ to Richard Nixon’s inside circle. Nixon’s circle stood everything to gain by keeping a secret and sticking to a story but they couldn’t last more than 2 weeks once the pressure was on. They fell of and broke from the pack.
Conversely, the 11 remaining disciples had everything to gain by recanting their testimony. They would have ended their persecution and torturous deaths but not a single one recanted the Resurrection of Christ.
Like all those in the Bible, we too are the witness to attest that Christ brings miraculous change. And our names are on the Lord’s affidavit as a witness.
Now that we know the testimony, we know the scriptures and the power of the Lord, we are the witnesses that encourage others.
We established our credibility; we are people who can be believed.
Now that leads us to another form of witness.
Like I said, witness is one of those many words in the English language that have multiple definitions. Witness is a noun, naming the person who saw the act happen. Witness is a verb that you had the act of seeing the act. But Witness is also an action word. It also means to go out and tell people of your religious experiences in a way that would convince them of the power of Christ.
I’d like to read from 1st Peter 5:1-2
{5:1} The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: {5:2} Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight [thereof,] not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind
And from John 21:15
{21:15} So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. {21:16} He saith to him again the second time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. {21:17} He saith unto him the third time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
These are two examples that tell us the Lord asks us to actively tell others of his message. This is that third definition of being a witness This is actively testifying that we know the Lord. That we know his message and we are actively telling others of his power and glory. That we are telling others of how wonderful life is when we have Christ in our lives.
Let me go back to the witness criteria of speaking in your own words. This makes things so much more relatable. These are things that happened to you! Be that credible witness that is positive and confident of what the Lord has done in your live. These are what really help to change the hearts and minds. You can be cross examined personally for them to find that God is here and actively working in our lives. He is an unchanging God that didn’t just stop 2000 years ago. I KNOW that each of you is telling others of the miracles that have happened in your life.
We must be a witness of Christ but remember we are commanded to feed Chris’s sheep. We must know the word, we must be articulate, we must be credible, and we must ACTIVELY be a witness to those in need.
We’ve witnessed the miracles of the Lord. Now actively witness to those in need. Glorify God by feeding his sheep.
1 https://www.justice.gov
