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Sermon by Dr. Jeffrey
Jeremiah "Because He Lives:
Witness!" Last week I asked the question, what difference does Easter make? I tried to answer that question by saying that Jesus’ resurrection confirmed Who He claimed to be, the Son of God, and it confirmed what He came to do, to save us from our sins. By raising Him from the dead, God the Father put His stamp of approval on Jesus’ work; He accomplished through His death and resurrection the work He came to do. Then I said that Jesus’ resurrection can make a difference in our lives today, that is, across 2000 years in that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, you know you can be forgiven of sin and all the guilt and condemnation that come from it. You can know and experience the presence, purpose, and power of Jesus in your life, and you can have rock-solid certainty about your future into eternity. As Jesus is victorious over death and is living a life in glory, so too will you be victorious over death so too will you live forever in the glory that is eternal life. Now it’s the Sunday after Easter. Where do we go from here? I thought that in these two Sundays we’d look at two commitments Jesus asks of us because He is risen from the dead, because we call upon Him as Savior and Lord of our lives. Today I want to look at what the resurrected Christ said to His disciples and to us before He ascended into heaven. Acts 1:8 says, "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." Let me say that this is Jesus’ method of spreading the good news to the ends of the earth. When we think of a witness today, we tend to think of a court of law. A witness is a person who has seen or knows something. He is called to testify in the court what it is he has seen or known. So a witness is someone who knows something and tells others about it. To be a witness for Jesus Christ is to simply tell others what you know, what you’ve seen, what you’ve experienced in your relationship with your Savior and Lord. In response to Easter Sunday, Jesus is Who He claims to be, the Son of God, that He came into the world for a purpose: to save sinners. His death and resurrection are His work that accomplished that purpose. Receiving Him as Savior and Lord of your life has changed your life forever: you know the freedom that is forgiveness, you enjoy in this moment His presence and power in your life. Your life has meaning because you know that Jesus has a purpose for your life. You have hope in this life and in the life to come. The thought of death isn’t pleasant—its very natural to be afraid in the face of death—but just as Jesus was victorious over death, you will be, too, because you have eternal life in Jesus’ name. In his first letter Peter wrote, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (I Peter 3:15). An effective witness backs up those words with a life that clearly demonstrates that in Jesus Christ there are forgiveness and salvation from sin. It is self-defeating to proclaim the message of salvation from sin while living a sinful life. Paul encouraged believers in Titus 2:10 to do "what is good…show soundness of speech that cannot be condemned…So that in every way the teaching about God our Savior (will be) attractive." We are all witnesses. There are things you can choose to do or not do if you’re a Christian. If you say you’re a Christian, you are a witness to Him, because the way you live your life is showing others what it means to be a Christian. As the saying goes, "You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day, by the deeds that you do, by the words that you say. Men read what you write, whether faithless or true, Say! What is the gospel according to you?" I want to add this comment to the importance of witnessing by asking this question: Do you believe that hell is the final destination of those who are not followers of Christ? I’ve been told that Christians who do not witness their faith in Jesus Christ do not believe in hell, because if they did, they wouldn’t hesitate to share Christ with people, especially those they know and love. Do you believe in hell? Your Savior and Lord sure did! He spoke repeatedly of it as a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42; 25:30); it is the place of eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46); hell is the place where the fire "never goes out;" it is "not quenched" (Mark 9:43, 48). It strikes me that if you believe in hell you won’t hesitate to witness of the One who saves you from hell. Second is the power to witness. Jesus declares that you’re not on your own when you witness His truth, life, and salvation. In the Holy Spirit, He abundantly gives you all the resources you need to be His witness, an effective witness at that. Realize that it is true that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a counselor and comforter, as a sanctifier in our lives as we grow in Jesus Christ. The Spirit blesses us in the form of gifts, service, and fellowship. But Jesus says that when we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, the direct and immediate result will not be gifts and fellowship and service, but witnessing, powerful, life-changing witnessing for Jesus Christ. I enjoyed a good visit with Jessie Rosenquist on Thursday. According to her doctor, the brain tumor that was operated on on Tuesday is a dangerous one. He’s given her up to 18 months to live. We talked about that, and what lies before her, and I concluded our time by praying for Jessie and her family. When I finished, she said, "I have one more request. Pray that I will be a good witness all the way to the end." And I thought, how will God use that commitment, how will He bless and empower that witness for Jesus Christ in the months ahead? It was a blessing to pray for Jessie a second time. I’m not sure we appreciate today how effectively and thoroughly the first century Christians spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. The entire pagan world acknowledged as fact the early Christian apologists’ claim that Christianity had permeated everywhere. Tertullian, who wrote around A.D. 200, declared, "We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you – cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum – we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods." Historians have asked how these first generations of Christians, who for the most part were unlearned men and women, could have spread the gospel so rapidly. A German church historian by the name of Adolf Harnack provided this answer: "We cannot hesitate to believe that the great mission of Christianity was in reality accomplished by means of informal missionaries." That was the secret. Every Christian considered it his or her obligation to bear witness. And God blessed and empowered that witness in a life-changing way. I contrast this picture with the story of the group called the "Fisherman’s Fellowship." The fellowship was surrounded by streams and lakes full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss this call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of fishing. In short, they were excited about fishing. Someone suggested they needed a philosophy of fishing. So they carefully defined and redefined the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing strategies and tactics. Suddenly they realized, however, that they had been going at it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman and not from the point of view of the fish. How do the fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat and when? They began research studies and attended conferences on fishing. Some even traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish with different habits. Some got degrees in fishing. But no one had yet gone fishing! So a committee was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered the fishermen, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all fellowship halls. Still no one was fishing! A survey was launched to find out why. Most did not answer the questionnaire; but from those who did respond, it was discovered that some felt called to study fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around and encourage fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, others simply didn’t have time to fish. Jake was a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the fellowship, Jake went fishing. He tried a few things, got the hang of it, and caught some choice fish. At the next meeting he told his story, was honored for his catch, and then was scheduled to speak at all the fellowship chapters and tell how he did it. Now, because of all the speaking and his election to the Board of Directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. Soon, however, he began to feel restless. He longed to feel the tug of the line once again. He cut the speaking, resigned from the board, and said to a friend, "Let’s go fishing." They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few. Jesus said, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He also said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses." Do we talk and discuss the issue, or do we do it? Mind-boggling revivals have occurred throughout history not because of new methods of evangelizing, but because of radical obedience to the call to witness, the call to reach out. Evangelism is effective when people do whatever is necessary to reach the unreached rather than maintain traditions and accept outdated assumptions for the sake of continuity and comfort. Effective outreach is not about programs, methods, or techniques. It is about people who love Jesus Christ, it’s about loving other people in the name of Christ. As it turns out, Nike’s promotional slogan should be the church’s motto: "Just Do It." You will no longer be merely advocates who can prove like a good lawyer that Jesus rose from the dead. Under the influence of this power, this experience of the Spirit of the risen Christ – you will speak with unwavering assurance of one who has tasted and knows the reality so immediately that all doubt is gone. You move from being an advocate of Christianity to being a witness of the living Christ. You move from simply deducing Christian truths from valid premises to proclaiming boldly as experienced realities. This is the power and the witness that will take Christ to the ends of the earth. The power promised here, the extraordinary experience of being "clothed with power" means the power of the Holy Spirit is for us. And if we love the glory of God, and if we long for His kingdom to advance, and if we have compassion for the lost and hurting people of the world, we will increasingly want this power and we will seek this power. Which means simply that we will cry out for it like the woman in the parable who wanted the judge to vindicate her cause (Luke 18:1-8). |