Sermons

Witness of Worshippers

Acts 1:8-8

By Dr. Mark E. Hardgrove

 

Years ago, when Kirk Douglas was much younger, he used to make it a practice to pick up hitchhikers whenever it was feasible to do so.  One day he saw a young sailor along the road with his duffle bag so Mr. Douglas stopped to give him a ride.  The young man tossed his bag into the back seat and jumped in the front seat.  When he turned to talk to Kirk Douglas the man did a double take and then asked, “Do you know who you are?”

      I think that is the question we need to ask one another today.  Do you know who you are?  We live in world of people with an identity crisis.  They don’t know who they are, and this problem is especially apparent in churches.  Jesus told us who we are.  He told those who had walked with Him, worshipped Him, and served Him that they were going be baptized with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit would transform them into something else.  “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses.”

      Those early believers didn’t just stay in the Upper Room worshipping.  We all want an Upper Room experience, but that experience is powerless unless we can translate it into a rubber meets the road witness.  They shouted and talked in tongues, but they were willing to come out from behind the doors and take the power of Pentecost to the people on the streets.

      Witness is what we are, and not simply something we do.  The problem with most evangelism thrusts in the church is that it places a heavy emphasis on what we do, instead of who we are, and the result is frustration.

      Scriptures show us that there are many ways to be a witness.  For some it is running through the streets, going door to door announcing, “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.  He must be the Messiah!”

      For others it is standing before the religious, but unrighteous crowd, and declaring, “I once was blind, but now I see!”

      For still others, it is taking the hand of the crippled man and saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”

      For 96 year-old Hazel Walton, in Caribou, Maine it was looking through practically blind eyes across the nursing home room and telling a roommate about being Born Again.

      For a young preacher in Junction City, Kansas it was waking up at 6 AM every morning and going out into the town with a pocketful of tracts.  It was stopping people on the streets, talking to store owners, and knocking on the doors of homes.

      There are as many ways to be a witness, as there are personality types.  But in some form or fashion every worshipper has been called to be a witness of Jesus.  And while the personalities are different, and the methods change, there are three things that remain the same.  These are: The Unchanging Message, The Unchanging Mission, and The Unchanging Motivation.

I)  THE UNCHANGING MESSAGE 

(Jesus said we would be His witnesses, He is the message.)

 

We are different as witnesses, our personal histories are different, our personalities are different, and our preferences are different, but the message we declare is unchanging.  Styles of worship may change, pastors may change, buildings may change, we all change, but the message of Jesus remains the same.  This is the gospel, and it is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe.

      When I go fishing I use whatever bait works best.  If it’s a lure, I’ll use a lure.  If it’s a worm, I’ll use a worm.  I can stand on the banks of the river with my stringer empty and tell everyone I’m a fisherman, and tell them how to catch fish and insist that they use the same method I use.  But the first time a fisherman with a full stringer walks by they will want to know where he fished and what he fished with.  If the objective is to catch fish, then whatever legal method works is the method I’ll use.

      Some methods aren’t legal.  A game warden wanted to know how a man was catching the limit everyday.  The man finally agreed to let the game warden go with him on a fishing trip.  After rowing to the middle of the lake, the man took out a stick of dynamite lit it and threw it in the water.  It exploded and the man gathered the fish that came floating to the surface.  The horrified game warden said, “Hey!  You can’t fish like that!  It’s against the law!”  The man calmly reached down, got another stick of dynamite, lit it, tossed it over to the game warden and asked, “Are you gonna talk, or are you gonna fish?”

      Jesus said,, “I will make you fishers of men.”  Then He lit the fuse of the this powerful Gospel with the fire of the Holy Ghost and said, “Now, are you gonna talk, or are you gonna fish.”  That is the question God is asking the church today.  And churches that refuse to take this powerful message to a powerless world will ultimately implode, that is, they collapse from the inside and not from the attack of the world around us.  An army that refused to get out of the foxholes, and onto the battlefield will never win the victory.  We’ve been given an arsenal of spiritual weaponry, but we have to go to war.

      We can use any method of evangelism at our disposal, as long as it doesn’t violate a command or principle of Scripture.  But at the same time, we cannot become so consumed with growth, with large crowds, big facilities and finances that we are willing to compromise truth for growth.  There is no one method that is sacred, but there are some methods that are sacrilegious.  We must know the difference and our lives must reflect that difference.

      Jesus modeled many methods, many ways to be a witness, but He gave us only one message.  It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe.

      We can look at the ministry of Peter in the book of Acts and see that even while circumstances and methods may change, the message stays the same.  In Acts chapter 2 we see that after the Holy Spirit outpouring on the Day of Pentecost, and the people speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, Jews from various points in the Roman Empire ask, “what must we do to be saved.”  Peter answered:

    “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 

      The message on the Day of Pentecost was Jesus, crucified and risen.  It was the message of a Savior who lived and died.  Who was raised from the dead and is the only door, the only hope, the only Lord, the only Savior, the only way, the only truth, the only bread, the only source for a river of life.  It was mass evangelism, but the message was for each man or woman in the crowd.

      Some time later, in Acts chapter 3 Peter and John were going into the Temple at the time of prayer and they encountered a lame man begging alms at the gate called Beautiful.  Peter reached down and took the man by the hand and lifted him up.  As he did so, the lame man was healed and he went leaping and dancing with Peter into the Temple.  When the people saw it they wanted to know what happened.

      Peter didn’t take the credit, but he used the opportunity to preach Jesus.  This is known as “Power Evangelism.”  The method had changed, but the message was still:

    “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which was preached unto you.” 

      The message is still Jesus.  It was Jesus in Acts 2 and it is still Jesus in Acts 3.  Then in Acts 4 Peter and John are taken into custody to appear before the Sanhedrin court.  The circumstances are drastically different now.  The Sanhedrin wanted to know by what authority or power they had healed the crippled man.  But the message stays the same.  The healing of the man did not cause Peter and John to change their message to divine health and wealth.  The message was still Jesus.  Peter said:

    “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” 

      One might have thought that if Peter was going to change the message, this is where it would change.  They were on trial.  They were standing before the Sanhedrin.  They were being challenged to tell them by what power they had healed the crippled man.

      At one time Peter would have cowered.  He would have backtracked and made excuses or denials.  He would have said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  But that was before the baptism of the Holy Ghost, before Peter received the power to be a witness unto Jesus.  Now when Peter speaks the message is Jesus.  All through the book of Acts, all through the Epistles of Paul, Peter, and John the circumstances change.  The personalities change.  But the message stays the same.  It’s Jesus in the morning, Jesus in the noontime, Jesus when the sun goes down.

      It is the unchanging message of hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless, love to the unlovable, forgiveness to the guilty, sight to the blind, life to the dead.  It is Jesus come as a man, died as a sacrifice, rose as a victor, and living as a mediator.  It’s the truth that will set the captives free and he who the Son sets free is free indeed.  You can’t improve on perfection and the Good News is perfect for what ails the world.  They are sin sick and Jesus is the cure.

II)  THE UNCHANGING MISSION

(Jesus said, “Ye shall be my witnesses,” and this is our mission.) 

Not only have we been called to share an unchanging message, we have been commissioned to engage in an unchanging mission.  There ought to be a sign at the exit of every church that says, “You are now entering your mission field.”

      In Matthew 28 Jesus commissioned the Church.  He said:

    “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen. 

      As far as I can tell, this commission to missions has not been repealed.  What is this unchanging mission?  Briefly stated it is to tell the Good News, introduce a Good Savior, and teach them to live in the light of a Good God.

      The mission has never been changed to, “Go ye therefore and build the biggest sanctuary in the town.”  It has never been changed to, “Go ye therefore and deliver self-help sermons and seven step therapies to a fulfilled life.”  The mission has not been changed to, “Go ye therefore and entertain, amuse and astound the masses with your great theatrical productions.”

      The mission is still to preach Jesus.  The mission is still to teach the principles of Christian character.  The mission is still to reach the lost, save the lost, teach the lost, and make disciples.  This is the mission, and it has not changed, and it will not change.  We have not been called to political rhetoric, though our message has political implications.  We have not been called to scholastic diatribe, though the message is the most enlightening message a man can hear.

      We have been commissioned to the unchanging mission of sharing an unchanging message:  Jesus saves!  Jesus saves!

      It never gets old.  It never loses its power.  It never stops working.  It never gets old-fashioned.  It is the unchanging mission of delivering the unchanging message of an undying love for an unworthy world.

      It may sound stupid to the world.  They may mock the message and try to stop the mission, but we keep planting seed, planting seed, and the Word of God keeps finding fertile soil, and souls keep getting saved.  Thieves stop stealing. Liars stop lying.  Drunks stop drinking.  And this is the reason why we keep telling the old, old story of Jesus and His glory, because it still has power to reach to the highest mountain, and power to reach to the lowest valley.  It will never lose its power because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

III)  THE UNCHANGING MOTIVATION

(Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power . . .”  He will supply the fire for the zeal.) 

An unchanging message and an unchanging mission will not touch a dying world unless we can accept the challenge to maintain an unchanging motivation.

      In Romans 12:11 Paul provides this challenge, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (NIV).

      To the Galatian church Paul wrote, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (6:9).

      We must maintain an unchanging motivation.  We must press forward as if some soul depends on our willingness to march on in the face of opposition.

      Unfortunately the devil’s three D’s often stop us dead in our tracks.  The devilish D’s are, disappointment, discouragement, and disillusionment.  We cannot allow the enemy to silence the message or stop the mission, our zeal, the fire shut up in our bones, must move us out of the comfort zone and onto the firing line for the cause of Christ.

      How do we maintain that zeal?  Very simply, just as God loved us while we were yet sinners, and sent His Son to die for us while we were yet sinners, we must learn to love sinners.

      I visited the hospice last week and there was a woman in the common area who was crying.  I went over to her and told her I was a minister and asked if I could pray with her, her name is Beverly.  I prayed with Beverly and she took me to see her mother Iris, who is dying of cancer.  Beverly said that when her mother was staying in her house with her, she would sleep in the same bed with her mother.  Now in the hospice Iris keeps asking Beverly to sleep with her in that little hospital bed.  Beverly said she didn’t know if the hospice workers would allow her to get in the bed with her mother.  I said, “Don’t ask, just do it.”

      I can picture that daughter cradling her little mother in her arms, sharing her warmth and her love with her dying mother.  Friends, the world is dying.  The cancer of sin is eating away and we don’t love them enough to get close enough to share our warmth.  We are more afraid of catching their cancer, than we are of losing our witness.

CONCLUSION

We can’t be a witness, if we are afraid to love the lost because that is exactly what Jesus did.  He came to seek and to save them that are lost.  So where in the world is the church?  We get together in our nice building and isolate ourselves from the people who need us most.  We share our warmth and fellowship with one another because it’s safe.  We don’t have to worry about catching anything.  But to be a witness, we have to engage in the unchanging mission, which is to take the unchanging message to a dying world.

      Some of you are wondering, “But Pastor Mark, what do you want me to do?  I’m busy, I’m shy, I’m isolated, I’m insolated.  What can I do?”

      My answer is simply that I’m not asking you to do, but to be.  Be like Christ.  Be light in the darkness.  Be salt in the world.  Be a worshipper who takes what you gain here in this place of celebration and share the wealth with those living in spiritual poverty.  Don’t be afraid to love them.  Don’t be so afraid of rejection that you live in the dim twilight of nothing much ventured, nothing much gained, and nothing much lived.  Be bold, be a witness.

      Do you know who you are?