God put us here to do something with what He gave us.
God rested on the seventh day, not because He needed the rest,
but because He deliberately wanted to leave a part of His creation unfinished,
so we could help finish it. He endowed us with creativity, understanding,
knowledge and wisdom to use in managing and completing His creation.
Before Jesus left, He commanded His disciples to complete
His work as well. Matthew 28: 18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.9 Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.”
To accomplish this and guide us as we work, He promised us the
Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8 “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world.”
The Holy Spirit was sent to enable us to be witnesses. Bearing witness is the way we complete Jesus’
work on earth.
In its original context, a witness was a person who reported
what he or she had seen in a court of law or on legal documents. Being a witness
meant that we could verify with our own eyes something that happened. In the
New Testament, a witness is someone who can publicly verify the reality of Christ. Jesus bore witness to His experience with the
Father. The disciples bear witness to
their experiences with Jesus.
We can only be a witness to
something we have seen, heard or experienced. If we have not experienced
something, we cannot bear witness. All we can do is report hearsay evidence.
Being a witness isn’t the same as
being a preacher or an evangelist. Preachers and teachers communicate a body of
knowledge that they may or may not have experienced. A preacher can tell the story of the Exodus
in the Old Testament or of Jesus’ resurrection even though they were not there
as a witness. A good storyteller can tell them with creativity and imagery that
makes the listener feel they were actually there. A storyteller can do this
whether or not they believe the story to be true. But a witness tells what he
or she has seen and heard. They can only
relate what they know to be true.
A person of faith will witness to
the faith within them, not only by what they say, but by what they are. To be a witness is to live our faith in public.
We are the living proof of an encounter
with God. Bearing witness is not something we do with words alone but it is
living as people of faith, expressing the effects of our encounter with God in
every place we touch the world around us.
This distinction between witness
and teaching is crucial. If we think of
bearing witness merely as the communication of a body of doctrine, then we have
already disconnected our faith from our inner essence. Sharing our faith becomes winning an argument. It becomes expedient for us to exaggerate, mislead,
or even lie about our own spiritual journey if our story is not seem “dramatic”
enough to impress. We see ourselves as
God’s salesmen, more concerned about conversions than the truth. We pretend to be
happy when we are not, so others will be persuaded to believe like us. We exaggerate the changes God has made in our
lives, excusing it as a “better witness” than the truth. We manipulate others by seeking friendships
with those who can give us political advantage.
This is no witness at all. Those who we hope to impress usually see
through this and are turned off by it.
Our real witness comes more from
how we live in our daily lives, not what we preach. It is how we display in the public arena our
inner, faith-shaped nature, in Christ.
A flower bears witness of the
beauty of God; a thunderstorm bears
witness to His power--yet neither says a word to us. They glorify God by who
they are, not by what we do. When what
we are and what we have experienced is lived out before the world, then we are
witnesses to the transforming power of God.
The virtues of witness—Sincerity,
Love, and Service..
“Sincere” comes from the Latin
phrase “sine cere” meaning “without
salt.” Merchants who sold marble for carving would often cover up flaws in the
stone by rubbing salt over the cracks. The salt was indistinguishable from the
marble, so it hid their imperfections. But when xposed to water or a stonemason’s
hammer, the cracks would open and the stone was ruined. A “sincere” stone was a piece where the
cracks were revealed and there was no attempt to hide.
In I John, the apostles begins by saying that “God is
light and in Him there is no darkness at all. “
There is no deception in God; no attempt
to hide, cover or deceive. He tells us
that we should “walk in the light”---that is walk with no attempt to pretend or
deceive, just like God does with us.
When we walk in sincerity, we live
out our faith in the world around us. We do not pretend to agree with things we
do not agree with. We do not put a smiles on our faces when we are really hurting.
We completely reject the false doctrine of “Fake it till you make it.”
A sincere person is one who’s head,
heart, and actions are one. If they find that their feelings and understanding
are out of sync, the seek to change one or the other. If they are living at a standard that is
below what the believe, they change the
way they live.
In Howard Fast’s novel Spartacus, one of the characters seeks
to describe what made Spartacus a great leader. He says that unlike all other
men he had ever known, Spartacus was the
same, no matter where you saw him. His personality did not have sides to it,
but it was a transparent representation of his essence. This is what John means by “walking in the
light,” to have such a personality that nothing is hidden from other, or needs
to be.
When we do this, we are automatic
witnesses. People see God in us, and either
react by acceptance or rejection of Him.
Either way, we put the focus on Him.
We are witnesses to Christ only to
the degree we cultivate transparency in all our dealings with others.
Love is the second virtue of witness.
We must genuinely love God and love others.
Love of God, love of self, and
love of others are not necessarily separate.
If we love God, and we believe God loves us and others, then our love of
others is an extension of our love of God.
Once we have made Christ our ultimate concern we have made
the choice to be compassionate. We simply have no choice after that. It is what Christians do. Jesus makes this abundantly clear in Matthew
25:21-46. The gist of His statement is
found in this passage 'I tell you the
truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did
for me.'
Christ identifies with the
suffering. For that reason, He claims that serving them is serving Him.
If God loves us and we love God,
how can we then hate ourselves? If we love Christ and Christ loved the world,
how can we hate it? For a Christian—or anyone
who believes that God is loving—then acts of loves are actually acts of witness
and worship.
In order to develop a greater love
of God and others, we must then do it in the context of the larger world. In helping the poor, sharing the good new of
Christ, and speaking out against injustices, we are witnessing to something we
ourselves have experienced. Loving
becomes the supreme act of witnessing to God’s love.
We do not get involved in social concerns and welfare
because we want to persuade or because we are trying to prove something,
neither are we substituting worldly relief for eternal salvation. We do it
because we care—really, genuinely care about the suffering of God. Christ, whose whole life on earth was one
great display of empathy, expects His followers to
share His empathy to the world. That is
why He sent us out to heal the sick, feed the poor, cast out demons, and to
give help where we can. It is part of
His nature that we do so.
Service. Donald
Whitney observed “When God calls His elect to Himself,
He calls no one to idleness. When we are
born again and our sins forgiven, the blood of Christ cleanses our conscience,
according to Hebrews 9: 14, in order for us to ‘serve the living God!’ ‘Serve
the LORD with gladness’ (Psalm 100: 2, NASB) is every Christian’s commission.”[1]
Service is an expression of who we are in Christ. Idleness and laziness is a retreat into self
from the world. It assumes that we have
no reason to leave anything behind, or obligation to care. We may empathize but we do not act, because
we fear the hassle it will bring.
In order to be of service, we must realize that we cannot
serve everyone all the time. But we should start by serving those nearest to us
first—our family, coworkers, and neighbors.
Jesus defines neighbors as those whom God leads across our path.
Witness is depends on our submission to Christ, which is why
witness and submission must always be kept balance. We cannot just hide in our
cloisters all the time, and stay still before the Lord. We must also be willing
to get up and represent Him in this world.
God put us here to do something with what He gave us.
God rested on the seventh day, not because He needed the rest,
but because He deliberately wanted to leave a part of His creation unfinished,
so we could help finish it. He endowed us with creativity, understanding,
knowledge and wisdom to use in managing and completing His creation.
Before Jesus left, He commanded His disciples to complete
His work as well. Matthew 28: 18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.9 Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them i] the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.”
To accomplish this and guide us as we work, He promised us the
Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8 “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world.”
The Holy Spirit was sent to enable us to be witnesses. Bearing witness is the way we complete Jesus’
work on earth.
In its original context, a witness was a person who reported
what he or she had seen in a court of law or on legal documents. Being a witness
meant that we could verify with our own eyes something that happened. In the
New Testament, a witness is someone who can publicly verify the reality of Christ. Jesus bore witness to His experience with the
Father. The disciples bear witness to
their experiences with Jesus.
We can only be a witness to
something we have seen, heard or experienced. If we have not experienced
something, we cannot bear witness. All we can do is report hearsay evidence.
Being a witness isn’t the same as
being a preacher or an evangelist. Preachers and teachers communicate a body of
knowledge that they may or may not have experienced. A preacher can tell the story of the Exodus
in the Old Testament or of Jesus’ resurrection even though they were not there
as a witness. A good storyteller can tell them with creativity and imagery that
makes the listener feel they were actually there. A storyteller can do this
whether or not they believe the story to be true. But a witness tells what he
or she has seen and heard. They can only
relate what they know to be true.
A person of faith will witness to
the faith within them, not only by what they say, but by what they are. To be a witness is to live our faith in public.
We are the living proof of an encounter
with God. Bearing witness is not something we do with words alone but it is
living as people of faith, expressing the effects of our encounter with God in
every place we touch the world around us.
This distinction between witness
and teaching is crucial. If we think of
bearing witness merely as the communication of a body of doctrine, then we have
already disconnected our faith from our inner essence. Sharing our faith becomes winning an argument. It becomes expedient for us to exaggerate, mislead,
or even lie about our own spiritual journey if our story is not seem “dramatic”
enough to impress. We see ourselves as
God’s salesmen, more concerned about conversions than the truth. We pretend to be
happy when we are not, so others will be persuaded to believe like us. We exaggerate the changes God has made in our
lives, excusing it as a “better witness” than the truth. We manipulate others by seeking friendships
with those who can give us political advantage.
This is no witness at all. Those who we hope to impress usually see
through this and are turned off by it.
Our real witness comes more from
how we live in our daily lives, not what we preach. It is how we display in the public arena our
inner, faith-shaped nature, in Christ.
A flower bears witness of the
beauty of God; a thunderstorm bears
witness to His power--yet neither says a word to us. They glorify God by who
they are, not by what we do. When what
we are and what we have experienced is lived out before the world, then we are
witnesses to the transforming power of God.
The virtues of witness—Sincerity,
Love, and Service..
“Sincere” comes from the Latin
phrase “sine cere” meaning “without
salt.” Merchants who sold marble for carving would often cover up flaws in the
stone by rubbing salt over the cracks. The salt was indistinguishable from the
marble, so it hid their imperfections. But when xposed to water or a stonemason’s
hammer, the cracks would open and the stone was ruined. A “sincere” stone was a piece where the
cracks were revealed and there was no attempt to hide.
In I John, the apostles begins by saying that “God is
light and in Him there is no darkness at all. “
There is no deception in God; no attempt
to hide, cover or deceive. He tells us
that we should “walk in the light”---that is walk with no attempt to pretend or
deceive, just like God does with us.
When we walk in sincerity, we live
out our faith in the world around us. We do not pretend to agree with things we
do not agree with. We do not put a smiles on our faces when we are really hurting.
We completely reject the false doctrine of “Fake it till you make it.”
A sincere person is one who’s head,
heart, and actions are one. If they find that their feelings and understanding
are out of sync, the seek to change one or the other. If they are living at a standard that is
below what the believe, they change the
way they live.
In Howard Fast’s novel Spartacus, one of the characters seeks
to describe what made Spartacus a great leader. He says that unlike all other
men he had ever known, Spartacus was the
same, no matter where you saw him. His personality did not have sides to it,
but it was a transparent representation of his essence. This is what John means by “walking in the
light,” to have such a personality that nothing is hidden from other, or needs
to be.
When we do this, we are automatic
witnesses. People see God in us, and either
react by acceptance or rejection of Him.
Either way, we put the focus on Him.
We are witnesses to Christ only to
the degree we cultivate transparency in all our dealings with others.
Love is the second virtue of witness.
We must genuinely love God and love others.
Love of God, love of self, and
love of others are not necessarily separate.
If we love God, and we believe God loves us and others, then our love of
others is an extension of our love of God.
Once we have made Christ our ultimate concern we have made
the choice to be compassionate. We simply have no choice after that. It is what Christians do. Jesus makes this abundantly clear in Matthew
25:21-46. The gist of His statement is
found in this passage 'I tell you the
truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did
for me.'
Christ identifies with the
suffering. For that reason, He claims that serving them is serving Him.
If God loves us and we love God,
how can we then hate ourselves? If we love Christ and Christ loved the world,
how can we hate it? For a Christian—or anyone
who believes that God is loving—then acts of loves are actually acts of witness
and worship.
In order to develop a greater love
of God and others, we must then do it in the context of the larger world. In helping the poor, sharing the good new of
Christ, and speaking out against injustices, we are witnessing to something we
ourselves have experienced. Loving
becomes the supreme act of witnessing to God’s love.
We do not get involved in social concerns and welfare
because we want to persuade or because we are trying to prove something,
neither are we substituting worldly relief for eternal salvation. We do it
because we care—really, genuinely care about the suffering of God. Christ, whose whole life on earth was one
great display of empathy, expects His followers to
share His empathy to the world. That is
why He sent us out to heal the sick, feed the poor, cast out demons, and to
give help where we can. It is part of
His nature that we do so.
Service. Donald
Whitney observed “When God calls His elect to Himself,
He calls no one to idleness. When we are
born again and our sins forgiven, the blood of Christ cleanses our conscience,
according to Hebrews 9: 14, in order for us to ‘serve the living God!’ ‘Serve
the LORD with gladness’ (Psalm 100: 2, NASB) is every Christian’s commission.”[1]
Service is an expression of who we are in Christ. Idleness and laziness is a retreat into self
from the world. It assumes that we have
no reason to leave anything behind, or obligation to care. We may empathize but we do not act, because
we fear the hassle it will bring.
In order to be of service, we must realize that we cannot
serve everyone all the time. But we should start by serving those nearest to us
first—our family, coworkers, and neighbors.
Jesus defines neighbors as those whom God leads across our path.
Witness is depends on our submission to Christ, which is why
witness and submission must always be kept balance. We cannot just hide in our
cloisters all the time, and stay still before the Lord. We must also be willing
to get up and represent Him in this world.
Let me know what you think.
How do you show your faith in the world around you?
Why do you think it is sometimes hard to be a witness for Christ?
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. Or (even better) share it and subscribe for more of the faith matrix blog.
[1] Whitney, Donald S.
(2012-01-05). Spiritual
Disciplines for the Christian Life with Bonus Content (Pilgrimage Growth Guide)
(Kindle Locations 2259-2263). Navpress. Kindle Edition.
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