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The Holy Spirit: The Proclamation (7) Acts 1: 1- 8; Luke 24: 44 - 53
This last week we have had lots of references to proclaiming the good news on our national news. Even our Prime Minister has got on board witnessing to the role of the Church in our society. Yes, proclamation and witness has taken place. Words by the PM witness to the value of God’s earthly body on earth to society, and young people proclaiming in song and joyfulness the goodness of God. Why should we Witness? I sense a number of you are asking the question. Have you not gone shopping and seen something of great value at a bargain price that you know your friends would appreciate? And have you not phoned as soon as possible and told them what you have found? Have you not come across some really helpful information and you know that it could benefit a friend, and you can’t wait to tell? Has not something wonderful happened to you and you can’t wait to tell someone? They know, as you walk through the door, and before you open your mouth that you have good news. It is natural to tell good news. That is the first reason for witnessing to God’s love in Christ – it is good news. It is good news to know you are loved, forgiven, worthwhile, given hope and meaning. Secondly, our Lord commanded us to witness [Mt 28:19; Acts 1: 8]. Now think what would happen, if we didn’t tell your best friend about the shopping bargain; or failed to pass on that helpful information; or, kept to ourselves news that would have given hope, and help to others. What then? We would have
denied them the opportunity, the help and the
hope that may have made all the difference to their lives. We would have
denied them good news. We witness to Jesus and the love of God because
we have found it helpful, hope-giving, healing, releasing and
transforming. Ah! Here lies a real dilemma for us. We celebrate and sing of God’s blessing each week but we keep it to ourselves. In so doing we disobey Christ’s command to witness and we deny others a blessing, and we deny ourselves a blessing. Why? Here are some reasons why we don’t witness. 1) We are silenced by secularism. Secularism tells us that religion and real life don’t belong together. Secularism is an atheistic philosophy that says there is no God. Secularism underpins our western culture. Therefore if you want to follow some religious belief then you must keep it private. Our society is secular and religion is a private affair, by and large. 2) We are silenced by facts. Our western secular society says science is about factual things, and religion is about beliefs and stories that aren’t factual, that means, not true. So the gospel of love is made foolish by the knowledgeable with their many facts. Though knowledge and facts cannot make sense of love, or give meaning to living, or sustain life, friendship and love are nurtured by trust and hope, not facts. 3) We are silenced by the myth that deeds speak for themselves. That may have been true in Christendom. When the Church was central to the community and the majority connected to the Church, and the Biblical story was commonly understood, our deeds may have been understood. But today we may do something that is helpful and people wouldn’t have a clue about God who motivates you. The fact of the matter is we have children today who believe Jesus is a swear word. 4) We are silenced by familiarity. We are so familiar with being a Christian having been raised in the family of the church that we have taken it for granted. 5) We are silenced by the ordinariness. We may think that our testimony of God’s goodness is of no value because we don’t accept that we are of value. We put ourselves down and discount God’s love for us. We say what God has done for us is just ordinary because we are so ordinary. Have you thought that there are countless ordinary people out there who are ordinary like you? Have you thought that there are countless ordinary lives who want to hear an ordinary request like; I’m coming to have lunch with you today. Jesus said that to Zacchaeus, a very ordinary person. Don’t you think that there are many ordinary people with debilitating illness like the woman who just touched the hem of Jesus’ garment? Don’t you think there are many ordinary people who want to hear that their pathetic sins that bind them are forgiven, like that ordinary female prostitute? 6) We are silenced by religion. Our lives are full of religion and not full of God in Christ. We have adopted religious habits rather than accepted God. We have not gone to the heart of the matter, instead we have stopped with a religious practice that is comfortable. We have exchanged friendship for fellowship, and never experienced the depth of deep companionship in Christ. 7) We are silenced by all of the above. Friends I know that it is hard to share the good news about Jesus. But if we continue to be silent we deny others the possibility of knowing God; and our silence becomes a denial of God? How should we Witness? Our witnessing for God is misunderstood and therefore abused. We confuse witness with persuasion. It is not persuasion. Even our revered theologians of the church make silly statements about persuading people. If we did read the Bible thoughtfully Jesus makes clear that it is the Holy Spirit who will convince and convict us of our sin, righteousness, and judgement [Jn 16:8ff]. It is not our task to convince, convict, persuade or convert. The work of conversion is the work of God the Holy Spirit, Jesus told Nicodemus [Jn 3: 5 & 8] Our task is to witness. Witnessing involves describing an experience; it involves explaining your understanding; it involves pointing to something; and, confirming that something did happen. Unfortunately we have people who tell us about their experience of God or their understanding in such a way that we feel pressured to agree. They witness and then apply the hard sell of sales. This is not witnessing. Let me provide some personal examples of what witnessing is. I was at a Year 12 school camp. I was the new chaplain at the school and been there for three weeks. They had read some books that referred to the Adam and Eve story. A teacher, I hardly knew came up to me and dismissed the story of Adam and Eve. I looked at her and said. “ You are talking nonsense. If you want to understand the story I am quite happy to explain the story, but it’s OK if you don’t.” I half turned away and she said she would like to hear my version. We grabbed a cuppa and I explained how the story of Adam and Eve uncovers the human rebellion and alienation. I said, regardless of whether you believe in God or not, this story describes the human situation as we experience. She could see this. We left it at that. Note the first thing I did was to stand up for my faith. The second was to give the person freedom to respond or go their own way. The third was to give quality time to the person. The outcome. At that point I think she saw the reasoning. Three months later that same teacher, who by now I had got to know a little better, asked to come and see me. We made a time. I assumed it was about a student. That was the only reason teachers engaged in conversation with me. She sat down and what she said surprised me. I don’t often get surprised. But by now I knew she didn’t like men or ministers, and she was against the church and religion. She said to me, “Peter, how do you pray?” Our relationship from then took a different turn as we journeyed down another path. But what had happened is that my simple one sentence witness in a form of challenge opened the way for the Spirit to work in her life. Secondly, I recall counselling the mother of student who was in trouble. This was the third session. I was young, new to the task of counselling and trying to play by the book. Well in mid-stream out of the blue came this question. “Peter, why are you doing this?” She obviously felt helped by my paltry efforts and a little surprised by the time I was giving her. I caught my breath and said; “I do this because I love God.” Now my evangelical heart wanted to say more. I love talking about God. But my professional senses said get back to the task. So I did. We went on with the session. The following week she came and said, “Do you know what I did last Sunday?” No I didn’t, but she told me anyway. She had gone to worship with the local church for the first time in 18 years and renewed her commitment to God. She told me about that. All I had said was; “I love God.” I named God and I owned the statement, and I spoke of my love for God, nothing more. I didn’t preach. I didn’t tell her the story of faith, and how much God loves her. I just witnessed to why I do what I was doing and still do. Witnessing has these essential elements. 1. We name God – we glorify God. 2. We make an “I” statement – it is our commitment. There are no ‘you” or ‘ought’ statements in witnessing. 3. We state what this means to us. In both of the above instances I was declaring that God was important to me. You see, we only love things that are worthwhile; we only stand up for things that are valuable to us. What is the effect of Witnessing? When we tell someone good news we bring a blessing to them. Witnessing about Christ gives others the opportunity of knowing God in a deeper way. That is a source of great joy. Jesus said there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns to God than over 99 who do not need to turn to God [Lk 15:7,10]. Many years ago I read in a William Barclay commentary this story. I remember it well. I found it a blessing so I will share it with you. It is what we call an apocryphal story – it has no base in history as you will see, but it contains a profound truth – good news. After Jesus’ ascension into heaven the angels came to greet the Lord. They ask about his work. They ask Jesus what he has done to secure that his work will continue. And Jesus said, “I have asked Peter, John, Mary and the rest to tell others about me.” And the angels are disturbed. They say, “But Lord, what have you done to insure that the message will not be lost?” And Jesus replied again; “I have asked Mark, Luke, Priscilla to tell others about me.” Again the angels are disturbed and they remind Jesus that humans are fickle and weak and will fail to tell the story to others. So again they ask what else Jesus has done. And Jesus replies, “I have asked Peter, John, Mary, Priscilla, Timothy and the others to tell others about me, that is all. I have entrusted them with the task.” The angels are quiet and then the heavens sing praises for those who come to faith and for those who have faithfully witnessed. In all this we are God’s partners. Not just worshipers, or followers, partners in the Gospel, ministers of reconciliation, and heirs of God the Father. ******* Peter Whitaker: BUC 20.07.2008 |
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CLICK TO EMAIL ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO : pgwhitaker@netspace.net.au |