You Shall Be My Witnesses
Pt 4 ¡V Witnessing, A Way of Life
Acts 1:8; John 15:1-17
In Acts chapter 1:8 Jesus says to His disciples ¡§you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.¡¨ Those words mark the beginning of the Christian Church. They mark the heart of the church. They represent the calling, purpose, and potential of the church. Before I left two weeks ago we had been discussing how in a day where only 1/3rd of all believers say they have a responsibility to share their faith, how do we become what God has called us to be ¡V His Witnesses?
I¡¦ve been gone for a couple of weeks and we are just picking up this series again so let me get you caught up.
ħ Week one we talked about developing a desire to be witnesses. That desire is Implanted in us by God and Inspired in us by His goodness.
ƒß Week two we talked about getting started ¡V that getting started as a witness is simple. It really only requires two things; knowing who we are and knowing who God is.
ƒß Week three we talked about the next step ¡V getting intentional ¡V deliberately looking for opportunities to connect a world in desperate need with a God of infinite resources.
Today I want us to look together at the idea of witnessing as a way of life. Often witnessing is a foreign idea to us. When we do testify for the Lord it is strained and uncomfortable because we are not only out of practice but we see witnessing as an uncomfortable process of life. I don¡¦t think it should be that way. Witnessing for Christ should become for us as natural as breathing.
Now understand that preaching, teaching and the like don¡¦t come quite that easy but those are not the things I¡¦m talking about. Let me share with you a few principles that might help.
ƒß Talking about the best things in life comes naturally ¡V we don¡¦t strain to talk about our kids, grandkids, or blessings ¡V good things come naturally to the forefront of conversation. When we have been healed, delivered, saved, touched by God ¡V those things are good things ¡V we can¡¦t help but talk about them. Don¡¦t make this so complicated ¡V witnessing is not always sharing bible verses, do¡¦s and don¡¦ts, or even the 4 spiritual laws. Witnessing is simply telling other people what God has done in your life ¡V from the simple to the complex. It is simply expressing the joy over who God is and what He has done. You are not out to convince or convict that¡¦s God¡¦s job ¡V you are simply to share the joy.
ƒß God has given you gifts, talents, and abilities to share ¡V God has given each of you spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities to be used in His service. We often get over complicated in this thing and think that witnessing is sitting in a quiet corner with a Bible sharing scripture texts. Witnessing is really about connecting need and service. In other words it¡¦s about using who God made you to help the people around you and in the process telling them that the reason you are doing that is Jesus Christ. This develops the hunger that God will fill.
ƒß Be yourself ¡V God made you, saved you, and filled you with His spirit. He doesn¡¦t want you to be Billy Graham, or Chuck Swindall. He hasn¡¦t called you to be D.L. Moody. God has called you to be you ¡V not your copy of someone else. This is not rocket science folks it¡¦s simply allowing the love of Christ to be shared through our lives.
So how does all this happen? How do we turn witnessing into a lifestyle for us?
I have two suggestions for you from this scripture this morning. The call of God to His disciples then and now.
1) The first is to cultivate an Intimate walk with God. Look at verse 5. Jesus describes a natural process of an intimate relationship with God. An intimate relationship with God bears fruit. The intimate walk with God has two components listed here:
ƒß God¡¦s part ¡V God is the vinedresser ¡V he spends time with each branch pruning and dressing it so that it is best able to bear fruit. The scripture is talking about us. God takes and active role in your life developing, pruning, and shaping you so that you can bear fruit. God reaches out His hand in offer of intimate fellowship. Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. The offer of intimate fellowship with the father is ours. In Romans Paul says we are offered the opportunity to call Him ABBA.
ƒß Our Part ¡V Jesus says Abide in me. That is an action on our part. Often we sit in church and hope that God will drop intimacy into our laps. If we sit here long enough it¡¦s just going to happen. Well it won¡¦t. We have a part in this ¡V Jesus stretches out His hand to us but we must stretch out our hand to take his. He will not force a relationship on us ¡V but He invites us to take His hand.
From an intimate walk with God ¡V witnessing flows naturally. No one has to tell an apple tree to produce apples. It simply does. It bears fruit by the simple nature of being an apple tree. That is true for Christianity ¡V faith that is real ¡V a life that is in intimate fellowship with God will by it¡¦s very nature bear fruit. When we are in intimate fellowship with God the fruit of the spirit flows from our lives ¡V and as Jesus said our lights shine before men in such a way that they see our good works and bring glory to our Father in heaven.
2) Cultivate a love for the fields ¡V v12 & 17 ¡V God invites (in fact commands) us to love what He loves. You see if you develop a love for people ¡V God¡¦s people. If you allow God to implant in you His love for people ¡V witnessing becomes natural. It¡¦s not natural for us to love what God loves. We love ourselves ¡V not others by nature. But God has implanted in us His Spirit. Because of the Spirits work in us we can allow God to love His people through us. If Jesus is truly our Lord ¡V we need to learn to love what He loves and hate what He hates. God¡¦s love is for His people ¡V His hatred for the sin that destroys them. When we begin to love what He loves ¡V love people ¡V witnessing becomes a way of life.
Jesus was confronted by an expert in the Law ¡V Which of the commandments of Moses is the greatest he asked Jesus. Jesus says one of the most profound things in all of scripture. He says ¡§¡¥YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.¡¦ 38¡§This is the great and foremost commandment. 39¡§The second is like it, ¡¥YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.¡¦ 40¡§On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.¡¨ Jesus says that all of scripture ¡V all of the old testament Law ¡V all of the teaching of the prophets can be summed up in these two statements. You see if we love God we will keep His commandments and if we love our neighbor witnessing is natural. Developing witness as a way of life is as simple as loving God with all you heart and your neighbor as yourself. No seminary, no Bible school, no Sunday Service can give it to you ¡V or teach it to you ¡V it¡¦s something that happens in your heart.
