What Kind of Witnesses Have We Become?

And you will be my witnesses…

George Galloway former leader of the Respect party, was once called upon to be a witness in his own defence at the U. S. Senate. Whether one agreed with him or not, you had to at least admire his boldness, his outspokenness, and his lack of fear of very influential people. He was determined to clear his name, which he said had been blackened; he had an audience, a world stage to stand upon, and he gave it to them straight. It was his hope to open the eyes of every American person to what he believed was right and true. Those at home who opposed him didn’t have a lot to say afterwards in the face of such passion.

It reminded me of Peter’s passionate speech on the day of Pentecost.

He was the first in the early church to bear witness to the prophecy of Joel come true; the first to bear witness to the authority and saving power of the RISEN, Lord Jesus; the first to confront the powers of the day of their HUGE mistake in crucifying God’s chosen one; the first to put Jewish history into perspective in the light of who Jesus really was and still is; the first, apart from Jesus, to proclaim the message of salvation, (how to be saved)

He was a true witness, he told the good news

And the people came to God in their thousands.

The church was born…and from that moment Christians became witnesses.

 They told their story, they spoke of their relationship with Jesus, and what he had done for them; they told others what he had commanded them to do, they told others how they too could discover him.

And so the message spread, as Jesus said it would, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the world.

There was an urgency, a passion, a spirit of love and tenderness and care.

A huge carousel hurtled into motion, from that point... an exciting and inviting ride, but now there are those who feel it has lost its momentum!

Has it begun to slow down?  Is the ride no longer exciting and appealing? Are we merely going around in circles, worn out, weary, familiar?  Are we spending too much time painting ponies?

Where is the newness and the excitement of bearing witness to our faith? Where is the real concern for the lost? Where is the boldness and outspokenness against the evils of our day.

‘And you shall be my witnesses!’ Jesus said.

Not my evangelists! That is a special gift given to those God chooses to be evangelists, but we have all been chosen to be witnesses!

Yet still the Holy Spirit urges us tell our story. We have a treasure worth sharing, we have good news to tell, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for every single one of us, to restore us and reconcile us to a God who loves us, a God who forgives our sins, and who wants to be with us to the end…a God who has a purpose for each of our lives.

We can witness best by being our true selves and not wearing masks.

We can witness best when we stop imitating the style of someone else we’ve admired in our lifetimes, and focus on Jesus himself.

We can witness best through honesty and openness.

How often do we hear Christians admitting, ‘Yes I find it hard to pray’ ‘No it isn’t all plain sailing being a Christian’

‘We get it wrong at times’ How transparent and believable are we?

I was at a conference, the other day, on Domestic violence, hearing survivors tell their stories, and time after time, I heard ordinary people testify that the church had been no help whatsoever. The Church just wanted them and their problems to just go away, they thought that by advising them to forgive the perpetrators plain and simple, they ought to be able to move on. It’s not as easy as that! All they wanted was to be heard and understood, believed and advised what to do, and we as a church failed. I so much wanted to stand up and say sorry right at the end of the conference, on behalf of the church,  and for some reason, I didn’t.

I heard someone recently in London, who told me of a visit they once made to Romania, visiting the street children who lived in the sewers, along with the Christians who lived there who were taking them food.

She told me of a little child who came out from the stench of the sewer, and all she had on were a dirty pair of vest and knickers, full of holes, and the wind was freezing. The little girl held out her hand, took the food and smiled, before disappearing down the hole.

My friend said, she got back to her hotel room and thought, O God why did I not give her my coat?

When we come before God at the end of time, I believe part of our judgement before him, will be to own up to lost opportunities.

WHAT KIND OF WITNESSES ARE WE?

Do we accept people as they are when they come searching for God, or do we seek to change them first?

Do we ask them the right questions to establish their real needs, do we care enough to spend real time to help alleviate their pain?

Do we see others as people to be merely won for God, or

as people God wants us to love?

DO WE REFLECT THE LIGHT OF CHRIST WITHIN OR SEEK TO DRAW ATTENTION TO OURSELVES?

A toy maker once made a replica of a church, which was perfect inside and out, and he placed it in his shop window, and people just  passed it by. Then he decided to put a light inside, and everyone stopped to wonder at its beauty.

WHAT ABOUT OUR OWN FELLOWSHIPS

Do we compliment and encourage each other, do we affirm each other’s gifts given by the spirit to build up our church. Do we even know what our own gifts and strengths are and if we do why don’t we use them more?

WHAT ABOUT OUR OWN RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Are we too busy to read our bibles and get into conversation with God, and be fed by him?

Do we pray to God to be equipped and at the ready for what each day will bring, for those whom HE will send our way or are we taken by surprise? Do we fall short, I know I do at times!

Let us seek to BE witnesses, PEOPLE WHO HAVE FOUND HOPE IN A HOPELESS WORLD; PEOPLE WHOSE SPEECH, CONDUCT AND DAILY LIFE TESTIFY TO THE TRUTH OF CHRIST’S GOSPEL and if God does want us to go one step further and be evangelists, then He will develop our basic gifts and equip us for the task.

We don’t have to be speaking a spiritual jargon or churn out evangelistic spiel in our witnessing!

You never know some may even be convinced, by merely observing our lives. Wouldn’t that be something?

BUT THE GLORIOUS THING ABOUT ADMITTING OUR SHORTCOMINGS IS THAT IT PLEASES GOD WHEN WE ARE WILLING TO MOVE ON AND BE CHANGED INTO HIS LIKENESS.

Then we are vessels that can actually be filled.