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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor March
24, 2002 On
one occasion, while he was
eating with them, he gave them
this command: "Do not leave
Jerusalem, but wait for the
gift my Father promised, which
you have heard me speak about.
For John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be
baptized with the Holy
Spirit." So
when they met together, they
asked him, "Lord, are you at
this time going to restore the
kingdom to Israel?" He said to
them: "It is not for you to
know the times or dates the
Father has set by his own
authority. But you will
receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you; and you
will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth."
(Acts
1:3-8) We've
been talking for several weeks
now about "knowing God." We've
examined the various attributes
of his character looked at the
nature of His activity in the
world. All those things are very
important. But don't lose sight
of the purpose God has for
knowing Him: it is to make Him
known to others. 9-The
God
Who
Fills
Heaven
and
Earth The
greatest power any living
organism possesses is the power
to reproduce itself. This is the
"power" Jesus is referring to in
Acts 1. It is the power of
Pentecost. This
kind of power isn't for our inner
strength or comfort, nor is it
solely for working miracles and
speaking in tongues. It is power
for a specific purpose: "...and
you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth." By
the time we get to Acts 1, Jesus
had already told the disciples to
go and make disciples of all
nations. Now He says they are
about to receive the power to do
it. This power is the power to
break the demonic bondage that
holds people captive to sin. It
is the power to bring people to
the saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ, which will change their
lives and transform sinners into
saints. It is the power to call
people out the darkness of this
world into the light of God's
Kingdom. It
is the most important all powers
vested in the church: the power
to reproduce. A
lot of Christians would say:
"Preacher, that's what we hire
you for! It's your job to do the
work of the church." Let me give
you two reasons why that's an
erroneous statement. First,
it's not biblical. Look at
Ephesians 4:11-13: You
don't hire me to do the work of
the church; you hire me to equip
you to do it. The
second reason reason the
"let-the-preacher-do-it" school
of thought is in error is that it
just won't work. You are the
people I see most of the time, I
don't see very many unchurched
people, not nearly as many as
you. Every
pastor I know is in the same
boat. If we're the only ones
trying to reconcile the world to
God in Jesus Christ, we're losing
ground. There are more people in
the world than pastors are able
to be in contact with -- even if
we were doing that full-time and
not pastoring
churches! It
was always God's intent that
all
his people would be witnesses,
that
all
would work at winning people to
faith in Jesus Christ. It is the
only way God's plan of redemption
-- of making disciples of all
nations -- will work. Now,
if you are a Christian and you
aren't actively witnessing to
others that you meet in normal
process of living, seeking to win
them to faith in Jesus Christ,
there are only four reasons I can
think of for that state of
affairs: (1)
you didn't know you were supposed
to (a reason which is invalid
after this sermon); (2) you've
never submitted yourself to God
and received the power to be a
witness -- that too will be
invalid after this sermon because
I'm going to give you an
opportunity to receive God's
power during the altar call; (3)
you are choosing to live in
disobedience to the clear
instruction of Jesus -- I don't
recommend that, by the way; or
(4) you don't understand what it
means to be a witness nor how to
go about it. I'm trust I'm about
to invalidate that reason, as
well. What
is a witness? Well, here's what
the dictionary says: "One who can
give a firsthand account of
something seen, heard, or
experienced." A
witness gives account of only
what he or she knows from
personal experience. Being a
witness for Jesus doesn't require
any theological training or
expertise, not even a working
knowledge of the Bible. The only
thing essential is the experience
of God's grace to which you give
witness. Right
after the events of Pentecost,
Peter gave his first witness. He
gives five simple truths that
proclaim Jesus is the Christ.
Let's look at them. Acts
2:22
-- "Men of Israel, listen to
this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man
accredited by God to you by
miracles, wonders and signs,
which God did among you through
him, as you yourselves know." In
other words, Jesus was like no
one else who ever
lived. Acts
2:23b
-- "…and you, with the help
of wicked men, put him to death
by nailing him to the cross." He
is saying here that Jesus died on
the cross. Acts
2:24a
-- "But God raised him from the
dead, freeing him from the agony
of death." This Jesus who died,
says Peter, did not stay in the
grave. Acts
2:32
-- "God has raised this Jesus to
life, and we are all witnesses of
the fact." I know He is
alive. Acts
2:33b
-- "…he has received from
the Father the promised Holy
Spirit and has poured out what
you now see and hear." The Spirit
has come to give power to witness
to Christ. Pretty
simple theology isn't it. Every
born-again child of God can give
that same witness. No,
we didn't personally witness the
miracles of Jesus when he walked
the earth because we weren't
alive back then, but many of us
have personal knowledge of at
least one miracle that Jesus has
performed in our lives or in the
life of someone we know. I
know I have the personal
experience of the presence of
Jesus with me. He changed my
life. I used to live one way, but
since I met Jesus I'm different.
He is alive! You
don't need a theology degree to
be a witness. Lets look at a
couple of biblical
examples. First,
in John 4. Jesus has been talking
to the woman at the well. She has
a personal encounter with Christ.
And here's what it says is the
result of that encounter,
starting in verse 28: Down
to verse 39: Next,
the story in John 9 of the blind
man that Jesus healed. The
healing takes place on the
Sabbath, which upsets the
Pharisees, and they call the
formerly blind man in for
questioning -- once, and then
again. Verse 24: They're
talking about Jesus, because he
had healed on the Sabbath, which
they said was against the Law.
Verse 25: Now,
the woman at the well and the
blind man who was healed had no
theological training, they didn't
have a New Testament. What they
had was an experience of God's
grace through Jesus
Christ. This
is why valid Christian experience
is so vital. This is not a "head"
religion -- knowing things -- but
a "heart religion," the
experience of the reality of God
that changes one's
life. This,
by the way, was the
distinguishing mark of early
Methodism. John Wesley, the
founder of the Methodist
movement, once received a letter
from someone who remarked that
mutual acquaintance of theirs had
now had received "the knowledge
of religion." Writing back, Mr.
Wesley said, "The theory of
religion he certainly has. May
God give him the living
experience of
it."1 Through
the ages, the witness of the
church to the resurrection has
never been based upon
sophisticated theology, but
rather a simple witness, "We know
he is alive because he lives and
reigns among us." One
reason that being a witness of
your experience with Christ is so
effective because there can be no
counter-argument. If I give
someone my theology, they can
argue with me about its validity.
Or it may just confuse people
about who God is and what God is
after. Alex Tsou's testimony this
morning is a glaring example of
how our theological positions and
jargon often confuse people who
are genuinely seeking
God. But
my experience is neither
confusing nor arguable. It is
simply what happened to me. You
either accept it as real and deal
with it, or dismiss me as a
liar. Being
a witness isn't a complicated
thing; but, yes, it can be
difficult -- because we are
sharing out of the deepest part
of our being. I know this can be
particularly hard for some who
are shy by nature. But, friends,
shyness isn't something to be
accepted. It is something to be
overcome, God will help you
overcome it. That will be good
for you and for the Kingdom of
God. I
feel I must address one more
issue. Some people say, "I
witness by how I live my life."
Certainly our walk must match our
talk -- but there must be talk as
well as walk. Otherwise how will
others know that our lives are
what they are because of Jesus?
We
must witness by word and deed.
Which one do you think is the
most important? It's like
breathing in and breathing out.
You must do both. The
bottom line is that Jesus
indicates that the true mark of
being baptized in the Holy Spirit
is not that we speak in tongues
or do miracles -- even though
those are valid expressions of
Christian life. Rather, the true
mark of the empowerment of the
Spirit is that we become
witnesses unto Jesus. Understand
that this isn't yet another thing
put on your "to do" list. It
isn't something "to do." Rather,
this is something we become -- a
witness. In
my wallet are pictures of my
children and grandchild. Give me
half a chance and I'll show them
to you and tell you about them. I
love them and I'm proud of them.
It is not labor to tell you about
them but rather a joy. It
should be the same with Jesus. We
should look for and welcome the
opportunity to be His witnesses.
We are called to it -- and given
the power for it. That's
my sermon! Did you hear it? Will
you do it?
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
Being
a witness
(Last
in the series, Knowing
God)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
After
[Jesus'] suffering, he
showed himself to [the
Apostles he had chosen]
and gave many convincing
proofs that he was alive. He
appeared to them over a period
of forty days and spoke about
the kingdom of God.
This is why God created the
church as a living organism, not
a non-living institution. The
Apostle Paul compared the church
to a human body, calling it the
"body of Christ." Every Christian
is part of this body.
In
this
series
Whose
job is it anyway?It
was he who gave some to be
apostles, some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists, and
some to be pastors and
teachers,
to
prepare God's people for works
of
service,
so that the body of Christ may
be built up until we all reach
unity in the faith and in the
knowledge of the Son of God
and become mature, attaining
to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ.
Called
to testify
No,
we didn't personally witness the
death and resurrection, but we
can still give personal testimony
to the resurrection of Jesus.
Remember the words of hymn, "He
Lives"? "You ask me how I know he
lives; he lives within my
heart!"
Examples
from the WordThen,
leaving her water jar, the
woman went back to the town
and said to the people, "Come,
see a man who told me
everything I ever did. Could
this be the Christ?" They came
out of the town and made their
way toward him.
Many
of the Samaritans from that
town believed in him because
of the woman's testimony, "He
told me everything I ever
did."
A
second time they summoned the
man who had been blind. "Give
glory to God," they said. "We
know this man is a
sinner."
[The
blind man who had been
healed] replied, "Whether
he is a sinner or not, I don't
know. One thing I do know. I
was blind but now I
see!"
Experiential
religion
In
word and deed
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020324: Being a
Witness.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado
1The Letters of the
Reverend John Wesley, London:
Epworth Press, 1931. VII, p.
47.