You’ve been accused of a serious crime. You didn’t do it, but while you know that, your situation doesn’t look good right now. The opposing counsel has put together a pretty compelling case against you that, as it stands, could easily be enough to compel the jury to find you guilty. Yet as dire as your situation may appear to look at the moment, you are not worried because you know there is still another witness to be called on to testify. The weighty testimony of this witness alone will be more than enough to prove your innocence. You are understandably shocked and terrified then, when this witness is called on to provide testimony and while on the stand, under oath… remains completely silent. The witness refuses to provide the information necessary to prove your innocence. Without the testimony of that key witness, the jury unsurprisingly reaches its verdict: you are found guilty.
The slight difference between that hypothetical scenario for you and the very real reality of a guilty verdict for many unbelievers right at this moment is that the unbelievers don’t know that you are the witness able to provide the key testimony that could set them free. Your testimony is enough to secure the “not guilty” verdict in their trial before God the Father. Their sin is piled up against them, ready to condemn them to hell. All that needs to happen is for them to hear and believe your testimony that they’ve already been freed because Jesus has paid for their sin. But when the witness – you, me, all of us – remains silent, then the only testimony, the good news of the gospel that can so easily acquit them, is not heard or believed, and a soul is lost for eternity.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not naively presume that it makes little difference whether or not we tell others what Jesus has done for them. It makes all the difference. In fact, it is the only difference that matters eternally. The stakes are much too high for us to carry on our busy lives going this way and that, occupied with this rather trivial concern and that unimportant matter that takes up far too much of our time and energy. Souls die while we concern ourselves with worthless debates online, never-ending streaming of one show after another, and hour upon hour of gaming. We entertain ourselves to death while remaining blissfully ignorant of the eternal death facing so many of the very people in our lives – people we see every single day.
We heard last week how important it is for us to listen to them. Today we add another word that is essential to their eternity: witness. We stressed the importance of listening for a purpose: it allows us to be able to determine the kind of response our neighbor needs. Listening provides the context we need to know how to witness. But finally, if we say nothing, if there is no testimony about the good news of life and forgiveness through Jesus, then all the listening in the world won’t have mattered. So we witness.
Let’s take a moment to simplify what it means to witness. After hearing from several dozen witnesses in a recent courtroom trial, I got a refresher on what a witness is: someone who speaks about what they know from personal experience, someone who simply speaks about what they’ve seen or heard. And, while it’s true that a couple of the witnesses were experts in their respective fields, the majority were not. The majority were average, ordinary people like you and me who were in a certain location at a certain time. All they did was testify about their experience. The attorneys did not ask the witnesses to report on every detail of their lives, nor did they ask about other unrelated events, but only what was pertinent to the trial. That’s what you are called to do as a witness.
Dear friends, Jesus doesn’t just call you a witness by name; it is also what he calls you to do. What he said to the disciples before his ascension applies every bit as much to you: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts. 1:8). Jesus did not single out “some of you” to be witnesses or leave it as a possibility by saying you “might” be a witness. Five unmistakable words: you. will. be. my. witnesses.
Unless you won’t. If Jesus calls you his witness and commissions you to be his witness, but witnessing has never been a part of your Christian life, are you still at a point in your life of faith where you’re comfortable disregarding Jesus? I don’t imagine any parents would be too thrilled to have children defy them and fail to do the chores they’ve been told to do. There aren’t many employers who would continue to employ workers who refused to do what their job required. Yet, when Jesus says to us, “you will be my witnesses,” are we OK with saying, “Nah, I won’t be doing that” with our actions? If you are OK with continuing on that path, I would just point out that you’re long past due for a serious spiritual health check-up.
But if you’re ready to ditch the defiant attitude when it comes to witnessing, if you’re ready to work toward change – which for some of us might actually be the first time in our entire Christian lives that we’re getting serious about this – and that’s OK, then let’s address what the underlying problem is. Let’s rule out right away the excuses that we’ve sold ourselves on for years and years, because excuses don’t expose the real problem; like a bandaid, they merely cover it up. Let’s peel away the bandaid and see what’s really going in our hearts or minds that is preventing our witness.
What’s really going on? Do not care that Jesus has purchased you for a purpose? If heaven was his only purpose, you’d already be there. But you’re not. You’re still here… to take others there with you. Or maybe you don’t believe there’s an actual hell where people really go. Or maybe the gospel you’re supposed to be sharing is still only information for you and not real transformation yet. It’s something you know, but little more to you than that. Or maybe you’re just more important to you than Jesus is, which is what we’re really saying when we entertain excuses that are more worried about what others will think of us than whether or not they even get a chance to think about Jesus. Here is a truth about evangelism: when it’s about me, it won’t be about Jesus. Stop making it about you so that it can be about Jesus. Of all these, which one(s) do you need to break down for you to become the witness Jesus calls you to be?
Let’s revisit Acts. It’s too easy for us to skim past the first several verses from chapter 1 – to treat the details of what Luke records about the Savior as merely being the substance of the content we are called on to testify as witnesses. But don’t rush past those words as mere details to be shared with others; those words are the reality of your standing before God right at this very moment. His “suffering” and the “many convincing proofs that he was alive” are the stuff not just of your neighbor’s salvation, but of yours! Those words are for you, and they are life! They are and they must always be not just information that we pass along to others, but also salvation that we process for ourselves. Jesus suffered and rose again to forgive weak-kneed witnesses like us. He is not only interested in us insofar as we are effective witnesses or not; he is interested in our own forgiveness and salvation first and foremost. He came to bear the guilt of our sin of indifference toward evangelism. He longs to empower us as his witnesses not with threat or fear or coercion, but with the peace of forgiveness that wells up into passion for the lost. He knows that grace makes the best witnesses, and so he suffered, died, and rose again so that we could see what grace looks like. And then he sends us to go to others with that same grace.
So we take the time to listen to others to inform our witness. What types of things are we listening for? What might we expect to hear that can guide us in our witness? Listen for pain points, which are struggles or hardships that are bringing about some level of hardship or suffering in a person’s life. Listen for times of transition, which are seasons of change in life. And even if everything is going well in a person’s life, they may feel a sense of gratitude, but aren’t really sure who to thank or where to direct it. These are open doors to witness how Jesus is a part of the solution to whatever they are dealing with. There are two great ways to carry out this witness.
First: the “Feel, Felt, Found” approach. As you listen and then restate (remember the “R” from listening with your EAR last Sunday), chances are, you have had some similar experiences. Affirm that you understand how they feel, then share a time or an experience in which you felt the same way. Then, as you relate to them they are reassured that they aren’t the only ones to go through what they’re dealing with, then bring in Jesus as you point to what you found in him when you went through a similar experience. “I know how you feel. I’ve felt that way, too. What I’ve found is…”
The second approach to witnessing is to relate the situation to a Bible narrative. Simply put, tell a story. Admittedly, this approach does require more familiarity with the Bible, as it keys off of Biblical narratives that relate to a person’s situation or skepticism. As you listen to your neighbor’s story, consider a relatable Bible account that could be shared that would bring Jesus into the picture. When a person is expressing discouragement over being disappointed or let down by friends, can you think of any times in which Jesus was disappointed or let down by his disciples? His story relates! A loved one or dear friend passes away and you’re listening to how saddened this person is by it – Jesus’ story relates! He broke down and cried at the grave of his friend Lazarus, making him all the more determined to carry out his work so that death wouldn’t have the last word. When you’re listening to someone lament over uncertainty about the future, the disciples in the upper room after Jesus’ crucifixion could relate – Jesus addressed their uncertainty with peace and promises for their futures! Listen to their story and tie it to His story and let the Holy Spirit make the connections through similar stories.
Note the word choices Luke uses in the verses from Acts – they have to do with Jesus making himself visibly known – giving people something to witness! (v.3 – “presented himself” “appeared” v.4 – “eating with them”). If the necessary qualification for someone to serve as a witness is simply that they have seen or heard something, then Jesus made sure to provide ample opportunity for others to witness by appearing to all kinds of people after his death. So when we look at the biblical witnesses, we’re not getting a second-hand story or an “I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend,” but we’re getting first-hand accounts – eyewitnesses. Jesus didn’t just appear to them to fortify their faith, but also to qualify them to serve as witnesses. They saw him, heard him, touched him, ate with him, which then qualified them to tell others about their experience.
Also, note that Luke is modeling exactly how witnessing works as he writes Acts – he was on the receiving end of what witnesses told him about Jesus, and in his Gospel and here in Acts, Luke is then passing along exactly what the witnesses told him they saw and heard. So Luke shows us what happens when God’s people witness: the good news continues to get passed on. Why is Luke passing it on? So that his audience would do the same.
“You will be my witnesses” to the ends of the earth. That’s us. That’s now. You are the next link in the chain. Since the time of Jesus, witness after witness has testified about the news of forgiveness and salvation and their experience with it. When you witness, you continue to extend that chain that connects others to Jesus. You extend the reach of the gospel and give life and freedom. Witness.