John 15:26-27
“When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”
We have come to the last lesson today. It has to do with our role as witnesses for Christ.
• We are called to testify what we have seen and heard and experienced in Christ.
• We are not alone in this. The Holy Spirit is doing the same thing. And He is doing it through us.
• We cannot succeed without Him. Jesus explains in the next few lines into Chapter 16 that the Spirit enlightens and convicts (cf. John 16:8).
The Gospel will be seen and heard in our world today through us, those who have seen and heard and experienced Christ.
• “You must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning,” Jesus said. That’s the basis for witnessing.
We are not witnesses today because we do witnessing. We witness Christ because we are His witnesses.
• We don’t testify because we are called be witnesses for Christ. We testify because we are witnesses of Christ.
• How did I become one? The moment I met Christ. That puts every believer of Jesus Christ on the platform - we are all witnesses of Christ.
WE ARE HIS WITNESSES BY SPIRITUAL BIRTH
You may not know all the doctrines of the Bible or the in and out of theology, but YOU KNOW CHRIST. That suffice.
• You got something to say. You can share your personal, first-hand experiences with Jesus (something that no one can copy or imitate).
• You are the best witness of your own encounters with Jesus Christ! I cannot even replicate that.
The Apostle John puts it very well in 1 John 1:1-4. He says, “Why am I writing this?”
• 1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
All of us come to know Christ differently. Peter had his own experience, so did Thomas, and Matthew, and Andrew, and Paul.
• They are all not the same but they points to the same born-again relationship that they had with Jesus Christ.
• You are a witness of Christ by spiritual birth. You have a story to tell.
We are introducing people to a PERSON whom we know. It flows from the RELATIONSHIP we are enjoying with Christ.
• A formula may help; some skills in sharing Christ can make it easier; knowledge of theology is surely beneficial.
• But ultimately, we are sharing with someone our FRIENDSHIP with Jesus.
• Who we are tells. Who we are itself is a testimony, because the Gospel is not just some cold, hard facts. It is a relationship that people are asked to see.
That makes all of us who knows Christ His witnesses, by default.
• We are His witnesses — His evidence if you will — to convince an unbelieving world.
Witnessing is more than something we do, it is WHO we are because of Christ.
• WHO we are testifies to the transforming power of Christ. We are witnesses of His resurrection and His life-changing power.
• Witnessing is more than doing evangelism. It is more than knowing a formula or learning the art of presenting the Gospel.
WITNESSING IS WHO WE ARE, MORE THAN WHAT WE DO
This phrase WITNESSING has been so commonly used to describe the WORK WE DO in sharing the Gospel that we failed to see that witnessing is taking place all the time, even without me talking about Christ.
• If people know I am a Christian, even if I don’t say anything, I am a witness. My life tells, whether I like it or not.
• I may not be a very good witness, but I am one, because people are reading me. They are reading the meaning of Christ in my life.
The moment they know you are Christian, they are reading the value of Christ in your life BY YOUR LIFE.
• If you are often sad, depressed, unhappy, ungrateful, going around with a long face, that’s what they are going to read of a life with Jesus.
• They will say in their heart, “No, thank you. This is not a life I want.” if that is what it means to have a life knowing Christ.
Do you know how important your action can be?
I learnt it one time when I was about to cross the road with my niece. It was a small road and no car was around. It was totally quiet but the red man was on. I almost step out, like most adults will do. It may no sense standing and waiting for the light to go green when the road is deserted.
But something prompted me to stop. I was holding my niece’s hand. We have been teaching her to wait for the green man to come on before she can cross. I almost gave her a different message that day, that she can cross the road based on her own judgement.
This insignificant event got stuck in my mind because the Lord spoke to me that day. “You know how significant your action is? It preaches every day. My actions speak volumes. It speaks louder than my words!” To a pastor, that’s very apt.
So let people see the value of Christ in your life.
• Don’t hide that light under a bowl. Put it on the stand. Let the world see.
• Witnessing is more than something you do, it is WHO you are in the eyes of the world. Let your light shines!
Many of us are concerned about DOING witnessing because we have this narrow view of sharing Christ.
• We tell ourselves we must be able to explain the Gospel message clearly. We must be daring enough to speak up, talk to strangers, be extroverted, not timid and shy.
• Frankly DOING WITNESSING does not come naturally to many of us and we are discouraged.
Witnessing is MORE THAN that. Remember this, even without saying anything, we are witnessing. Your life tells.
• Mother Theresa wasn’t known as a great evangelist, but a great lover of people. Her life preaches.
• From experience, to me, witnessing has to do MORE with actions than words. It is the display of the new life we have in Christ.
• John Maxwell: “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
So let the world see - the love, the joy, the hopes, the grace we have in Christ.
• Despite all the challenges and struggles and pain, we have a hope and a strength.
• Be bold in letting them see. God wants to use your life (as imperfect as you are) to show the world that they need Christ.
• Live your life in such a way that others can see God’s grace and love at work in you.
Are you confident of that?
• You must be, because the Holy Spirit dwells in you and me today.
• Acts 1:8 has already taken place. He is here working through us.
WE ARE NOT ALONE IN WITNESSING FOR CHRIST
Acts opens with Jesus saying, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but WAIT…” (Acts 1:4)
• Acts 1:8 “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.”
• He is now here. He dwells in us and works through us. We are testifying Christ, not apart from Him but with Him.
• We are vessels whom God is using to show the world His only Son Jesus.
The weight is not entirely on my shoulders, always remember that. We are just representatives, we are His ambassadors.
Jesus made a remark in John 12:32 “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
• Literally, He was referring to the kind of death he was going to die, lifted up on a cross.
• But I sense He was also speaking it figuratively, that when He is being lifted up in our lives, He will draw people to Himself.
When we exalt Jesus in our lives – through our words and deeds, people see and will be drawn to Christ, by the Holy Spirit.
• You have gotten it right when someone steps up to you and says, “Are you a Christian? You look like one.”
• It may well be the way you treat your colleagues, talk to your superior, or the way you raise your kids and love your family.
• Sometimes the act may be insignificant to you but the Spirit shines through it.
The Holy Spirit is working all the time. We just got to make sure our lamp is on its stand and not under a bowl.
• God is capable of shining His light, but are we willing to be His vessels.
I like a comment that John MacArthur made:
“The Gospel is so powerful that it can transcend the vessel’s lack of experience. God can use even Balaam’s donkey as a mouthpiece, if He needs to. So there is a sense in which the Gospel is so powerful that it transcends the vehicle.”
• With all our handicaps, weaknesses, inexperience, fears and all, God can still shine, if we are willing to offer ourselves.
WE ARE HIS WITNESSES – all of us who know Christ
WITNESSING IS MORE THAN SOMETHING WE DO, IT IS WHO WE ARE
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS WORKING WITH US AND THROUGH US CONSTANTLY
