Profile of a Witness

April 26, 1992

Acts 1:8 "you shall be My witnesses"

Introduction

The days and weeks after the first Easter are, to my mind, fascinating and mysterious. There are a number of appearances of Jesus recorded. They all seem especially significant. They seem to climax with one or another version of The Great Commission. Here: YOU ARE TO BE MY WITNESSES . . . WITNESSES UNTO ME!

What does this text evoke in your thinking?

It says to me personally that I need to take Christ's words to heart
Early on in my Christian walk I got the message that Christians are not complete Christians unless and until they share their good news with others.
And just about all my Christian life I have had an annoying feeling that most of the time I could or should be doing just a little more than I am.
But this text also invites me to look again at the people to whom Jesus was speaking directly, at that time, at how they understood and carried out his orders:
Is there a "profile" of a witness which we can understand from the record of the scriptures? Perhaps it might help us be more realistic about our role in answering Christ's challenge:

I. A TIME OF PERSUASION

The challenge to witness was spoken at the end of 40 days of a mysterious period in Christ's earthly Presence. (verse 3)
1. There are many things we don't know about this period. Questions that bright young people might ask, like: Where did Jesus stay these days? Was He "commuting" back and forth from the Father's Presence?
2. But one thing we are sure of: this was a time when Jesus was proving, assuring, convincing, establishing the fact of His victory over death in the thinking of the disciples once and for all!
One reason the Emmaus Road story grips me so strongly is the deep and growing conviction that in order to know Jesus, really know Him, He has to come alongside each of us and reveal Himself in a personal way. So to my thinking, the "Emmaus Road" experience is a real "key."
A witness is someone who is PERSUADED of the truth. For a witness to Jesus Christ, this means we must have the abiding certitude that Jesus lives! There must be a one-on-one knowledge. We cannot witness what we only know second-hand.
But evidently being persuaded (convinced) was not enough to make an effective witness. There was more:

II. A TIME OF PREPARATION, OF EMPOWERING

The challenge to witness was also spoken at the beginning of a ten-day waiting period. A ten-day prayer meeting. A time of obedient self-preparation.
1. God's timing is evident here: God's timing is evident in the way that the Old Testament holy days were perfectly incorporated in the scheme of Jesus' work of salvation. It was no coincidence that Jesus died at Passover; and it was no coincidence that Pentecost was a feast of first-fruits and harvest; and also, later, was a celebration of the giving of the Law on Sinai.
2. God's timing is necessary in OUR lives as well: we need to listen, to be persuaded-- we need to STAY when Jesus says "Stay!" and we need to GO when He says "Go!" Like the disciples, there will be definite preparation in US before we can be effective witnesses:
B. The preparation for witness included
1. OBEDIENCE on the part of those that loved Jesus. They tarried, even as Jesus told them to.
2. They also evidently AGREED TOGETHER to wait; they were "in one accord, in one place" when their empowerment came.
  Their preparation included doing what THEY could do.
The preparation for effective witness also included God's touch on their lives, doing what they could NOT do by themselves. This included:
1. PURIFYING of their hearts, as Peter later testified (Acts 15:9) of Cornelius-- that God had put no difference between the Gentiles in Caesarea and the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem, for "He purified their hearts by faith!"
  This is essential, because we are to lift up Jesus, which is difficult to do with mixed or impure motives. [We are so incurably self-oriented-- and unless God helps us, that becomes self-centered self-sovereignty!]
2. The preparation was also the promised POWER Jesus promised. Not just a human boldness now, but a consciousness that the Holy Spirit had come, that Jesus was very resident in their very hearts, and that their words were inspired.
  Out of that PERSUASION and PREPARATION there flowed

III. A LIFETIME OF PROCLAMATION

From the time that the disciples were both PERSUADED and PREPARED, from that time on, they were not all apostles, nor church leaders, nor even preachers, BUT THEY WERE ALL WITNESSES.
1. They witnessed UNCONSCIOUSLY.
  Their absurd JOY betrayed them at times. "These people are drunk!"
  Their LOVE was attractive! Their consideration and kindness showed even when they weren't trying to witness <<note Peter and John on the way to the Temple taking pity on a beggar... and the people "took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus." >> and John wrote in his First Epistle that the most effective witness to "outsiders" is Christ's love manifested within the community of believers: He said they will say, "Behold, how they LOVE one another!"
  Their HOPE engaged to unseen others! They had a certainty about their lives!
2. But they also witnessed DELIBERATELY! When the occasion arose they spoke bravely and boldly. "We ought to obey God rather than you religious leaders and magistrates!"
AND THEIR WITNESSING WAS EFFECTIVE!
When the goal was simply to lift up Jesus and proclaim Him as Lord, the results were left up to Him. But their efforts were never wasted!
1. Sometimes there was wide-spread growth and revival, as when Philip went down to Samaria and the whole town, it seemed, got converted.
2. Other times there was opposition and rejection, as when Paul was dragged out of Lystra and stoned, or when he and Silas were put in jail in Philippi. But in it all Jesus was proclaimed. And the church was edified.

Conclusion

WHAT, THEN, IS THE PROFILE OF A WITNESS?
1. SOMEONE WHO KNOWS that Jesus is alive because it has been personally revealed.
2. SOMEONE WHO IS WILLING TO PREPARE, not just by studying, and memorizing a set answer for every question-- although there may be a place for that later on-- but willing to prepare
  - BY OBEYING Christ's command to be filled with the Spirit, to tarry, to wait, to consecrate until their heart has been
  - PURIFIED by faith, and the
  - POWER of the Holy Spirit has come to motivate and support the desire to lift up the Savior.
3. SOMEONE WHO HAS TAKEN IT AS HIS/HER LIFE'S MAIN MESSAGE TO LIFT UP JESUS, to let Jesus live through every day's living.
SO, WHAT CAN YOU AND I DO? [How can I come to a "practical conclusion" to this morning's message? Is there something you and I can do to assure ourselves that we are being obedient?]
PERHAPS SOME OF US will feel God's special call, his tug, to prepare ourselves in a special way to be personal evangelists.
AND ALL OF US can be alert and willing to share our faith when the clear opportunity arises, or when the Holy Spirit says, "NOW!"
AND ALL OF US can support those who are presenting the gospel, and who bring people into the church to hear the gospel from time to time.
1. ARE YOU OPEN TO GOD'S CALL TO EVANGELISM? There is nothing wrong with organized effort in witnessing: Personal evangelism has a bad name in our time: The pluralistic culture in which we live, with its highly personalized view of religion, makes it difficult to witness to the saving grace of Jesus without appearing to violate the unwritten code of respect for other's beliefs.
  [The tension we feel within when we approach an opportunity to say a word for Jesus Christ is that of standing between a genuine respect for the personality and quality of another human being and the conviction that unless that human being comes to know Jesus he or she will be forever lost. I have the deep conviction that Jesus meant what He said when He said, "No one comes to the Father except by Me!"]
2. DO YOU CARE ENOUGH ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS TO PRAY THAT THEY WILL BE SAVED? If we LOVE people, really CARE about them, get to KNOW them-- then we can talk about serious things to them!
  We must earn the right to speak to people about important matters. There must be some common ground; or, the Holy Spirit must help us to understand that this is a moment when we can and must speak.
3. WILL YOU BE A PART OF A FRIENDLY CHURCH IN THE NAME OF JESUS? This is important! Our support for evangelism begins in an attitude! We must WANT people to find Jesus! We must CARE about people!

In a book about the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, author Vance Trimble wrote: [Sam Walton had a pledge for new employees, which he called the "Sam Pledge;"]

From this day forward, every customer that comes within ten feet of me, regardless of what I'm doing, in this house, I'm going to look him in the eye, I'm going to smile, I'm going to greet him with a 'Good Morning' or - a "Good Afternoon,' or a "What can I do for you?" - so help me Sam!

It might not be the least important part of obeying Christ's commandment to be His witnesses if we old-time church people might take a similar pledge-- that every person that comes within ten feet of us will get a smile, a loving greeting, and a prayer that God will bless!

Prayer: 354 - I'll GO ... I'll SAY ... I'll BE what You want me to be!