Today i want to share a word about the church as a witnessing creation.
In our last episode about the qualities of the church, we observed that the church is a missionary creation. From Genesis 12, we saw that God expects His people to be on mission for Him. From Matthew 28:18-20, we learned that God has given us the authority to be missionary, and in addition to that, in His authority He requires us to be missionary. We also learned that our goal is to make disciples of all peoples by teaching them all that we learned ourselves from walking with Christ. Finally, we learned that while this task is immense, we are not alone in pursuing it. We have each other, and even more importantly, we have the presence of God Himself as we work together with Him in pursuit of His mission.
Today we will look at a very important element of how we are to be on mission with God. God not only expects His people to be a missionary creation, but inherent to that quality, He also expects us to be a witnessing creation. We will see that clearly as we read Acts 1:4-11
While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. While He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”
As I began thinking about this message, I was reminded of a joke sent to me by a friend. One morning, a mom was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin age 5, and Ryan age 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw this as a chance to teach a moral lesson, and so she said, "If Jesus was sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.'" Kevin then turned to his baby brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus."
So often, that is our attitude about witnessing, evangelism, missions, and outreach. Like our trash, we're glad that those things are taken care of by somebody else. But that's not the Biblical attitude though. So, let's consider Acts 1:4-11 and see what our attitude ought to be.
Who is Jesus Speaking To?
When asked to proclaim the Gospel, people often ask, “Who, me?” This reminds me of a bad old joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto were surrounded by an Indian war party. They were lying beside one another behind the body of Silver, sheltered temporarily from the bullets and arrows of the hostile Indians. Realizing they were out of ammunition, the Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and said, “It looks as if this is it, Tonto. I think we’ve had it this time.” Tonto turned to the Lone Ranger with a tight smile and said, “What do you mean ‘we,’ white man?”
Another way to describe how some people respond to Acts 1:8 is the same way that General Tecumseh Sherman responded when he was approached to become a candidate for President in 1884. He said, “I will not accept if nominated and I will not serve if elected.”
Who was Jesus talking to here? Not pastors, they didn’t exist yet. Not deacons, they hadn’t been selected yet. Not missionaries, they hadn’t been called out yet. Not to the world, they didn’t believe in Jesus. He was speaking to those He had called to follow Him, the church.
You are aware that I am from the south, and there, like in every localized culture we have our own vocabulary. For example, when I moved to Covington County, AL, I learned that there they call wheeled trash cans, “hobos.” I don’t know why, they just do.
In the South the plural of you is “y'all,” and the plural of y'all is “all y'all.” The plural form of us is “us'ns,” and the plural form of we is “we'uns.” So, who was Jesus speaking to? Us’ns and we’uns. He is speaking to His church and saying that all y’all are to be my witnesses.
What is Jesus Asking us to Do?
So, what was Jesus asking us to do? Simply this: to be witnesses for Him.
When asked to give a verbal witness, people often quote a saying that has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. He is reported to have said, “Preach the Gospel always; if necessary, use words.” St. Francis probably didn’t say this, and it isn’t a Biblical statement.
God wants to communicate His love to people. He invested all that He has in saving mankind, and this effort would be wasted if people did not hear about it. As the old riddle goes, “If a tree falls in the forest, but no one sees it, does it make a sound?”
As the second half of 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” He wants everyone to come to Him, but to do that they must hear about His love. Romans 10:9-15 puts it this way,
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Now the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame,” for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?
We simply have been asked to tell what we know. To witness is just to tell what we've experienced first-hand. Even physical evidence, forensic examinations, and documentary evidence must come into court by the way of a verbal witness. Thus, a verbal witness is extremely important, and our personal testimony is powerful because no one can deny what we have personally experienced.
Many years ago, I deployed with my unit from Hawaii to an exercise in Korea that took place in the month of March. I and my fellow soldiers flew out of balmy Oahu into wintery Osan Airbase. We all suffered from the cold, but one of my colleagues had a particularly difficult time.
On the day the exercise started it was 10 degrees Fahrenheit with a strong north wind. I was wearing every item of clothing I could fit onto my body, and so was my friend. The difference was that I was out in the field, and he was in the rear in a well-heated operations center in a building.
When my friend was seen wearing multiple layers of clothes in a steam-heated building, he was accosted by someone asking, “Why do you have on all those layers. You can’t be cold in here.” My colleague replied, “You can’t know how cold I feel. I am freezing, and that is why I am bundled up.” In the same way, no one can tell us that we have not experienced the love of God through Christ.
It's also portable because we can take it anywhere that we ourselves can go. Many countries of the world prohibit the importation of Bibles and Christian literature, and not just Muslim countries. Other countries censor television and radio broadcasts as well as the internet. The forces of darkness erect every type of barrier imaginable, but wherever we can go, our witness can go as well.
Finally, our witness is persuasive, because the best way of promoting something is by word of mouth. As missionaries to South Vietnam used to say, "What was whispered in Hue in the morning would be shouted in Saigon by the afternoon."
The truth is we will be witnesses whether we like it or not. But what kind of witnesses will we be? As a hospital marketing director told the board of directors, "Everything our employees do is marketing. Some of it good and some of it bad.”
As God’s people, we must give a good witness to Christ.
Where is Jesus Asking us to be Witnesses?
In short: all over.
We can view Christ's commandments symbolically. Jerusalem can become our neighborhood. Judea is our state. Samaria is our country. The ends of the earth can be the mission field. This is a very common way that evangelicals interpret Acts 1:8.
On the other hand, we can view Christ's commandments sociologically. In this case, Jerusalem represents people who are like us, and Judea represents folks who are a little like us. Samaria would be those people that really despise us, and those whom we despise, humanly, while the ends of the earth would represent folks who aren't like us at all.
I prefer simply to take Jesus literally. We are to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, which is where most of us live and work today. Regardless of how we view Christ's words, obedient followers of Christ obey His command to take the gospel to the entire world.
As we witness to people from all over, we will face cultural differences, and we must do our best to be culturally appropriate whenever possible. At the same time our witness for Christ must be clear. I once served with a missionary couple who admitted that their ministry had gotten out of balance, saying, “Sometimes we try so hard to be culturally appropriate that we forget to share the Gospel.” In the 21st Century this can happen in our ministry as well. Therefore, we must realize that the Gospel can be offensive to some people. In 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul said,
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.
Paul also wrote in Romans 9:33 that,
As it is written: Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, yet the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.
We must not let our fear keep us from witnessing for Jesus, because the best gift we can give anyone is not our friendship, but to be saved by grace through the work of Christ.
How can Jesus Ask us to be Witnesses?
Because we do this work by God's power, not ours.
Doing a job without the right tools is both frustrating and dangerous. For example, many people have cut themselves badly while trying to use a knife as a can opener. I remember how eye-opening it was for me the first time I cut a loaf of bread with a real bread knife. It was so much better than using a butcher knife or a steak knife.
God knows that witnessing for Him is difficult. Jesus witnessed and He was reviled by His enemies. Not only that, but Jesus also witnessed, and He was misunderstood by His friends. In the end, Jesus witnessed, and He was killed by a distant, unfeeling government. God has made provisions to help us, though.
First, He sent the Holy Spirit to us, and through the Spirit, He gives us both power and also spiritual gifts. He has also given us pastors and teachers to train us and to lead us. Finally, He promised He would give us the words to say in our time of need.
One of my favorite heroes in the Bible is found in Judges 3:31, which says,
After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath became judge. He delivered Israel by striking down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad.
You may have heard it said, “Never bring a knife to a gunfight,” but all that Shamgar had was a sharp stick, yet he was used of God to protect His people. So, if we say that “We can't,” we are right. If we say that “God can't use us,” then we are wrong.
Why does Jesus Ask us to be Witnesses?
Because the need is great. First, we live in a world of hurt.
- COVID-19 killed untold numbers of people who died without Christ.
- We have a continuing problem with substance abuse and the resulting addictions that come from that destructive practice.
- Suicide is becoming a serious problem in Western society.
- Political and social unrest are common.
Our society desperately needs the grace and peace of God through Jesus.
Next, we live in a world filled with lost people.
- There is no county in the United States which has more Christians today than it did 10 years ago.
- Our birth rate is outstripping the rate of baptisms., so we are getting farther and farther behind.
- Overseas baptisms now top baptisms at home in the United States, but over a billion people in closed countries have never heard the gospel.
- People are dying and going to hell.
Our world desperately needs to be redeemed by the love of Jesus.
In addition, we live in a world that will come to a terrifying end. In recent weeks we have been studying Revelation, and what we have learned is that after Jesus comes to rapture His church, all hell will break loose on this earth. The people without Christ who remain will suffer plagues and all types of disasters. All the world’s water will turn to blood, and huge hailstones will fall from the sky. People will cry out and wish that they were dead. The world which God made specifically for us will not be fit for man nor beast. We would not wish that fate on our worst enemies!
While all the facts above are true, it also remains true that we live in a world where God’s church is present and in a world in which God has chosen to work through His people. So, what do we need to do?
- As members of the Bride of Christ, we need to be good witnesses for God in our words and our deeds.
- As followers of Jesus, we need to take every opportunity we are presented to be witnesses for the Lord.
- As members of God’s church, we need to invite people to our fellowship.
- As workers in God’s field, we need to realize that God is calling us to visit prospects and to pray that the harvest will increase.
Everything in nature that is healthy reproduces. That’s why God has made His church a witnessing creation, to grow His kingdom and His reign over the hearts of people.
Conclusion:
So, based on our Scripture for today, what should our commitment to Christ be? To be good witnesses for God in our words and deed and take every opportunity we are presented to witness for the Lord.
As I have said before, Acts 1:8 is both prophetic and prescriptive. We will be witnesses for Christ. The only question is what kind of witnesses we will be.
Every blessing,
Dr. Otis Corbitt
