A sermon based upon Acts 1: 1-14
By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin
Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 26th, 2018
(1-14) Sermon Series: Church: Then and Now
Courtrooms are serious places, but sometimes they can also be funny, especially when lawyers are trying to prove the obvious. Now, I’m not going tell a lawyer joke, but I do want to refer to some “bloopers” taken from real life courtroom cross examinations.
One unnamed lawyer, during a cross examination pointed to a picture. “Were you present,” he asked, “when this picture of you was taken?”
Another lawyer asked: “She had three children, right?”
The witness answered, “Yes.” The lawyer then asked, “How many were boys?”
“None,” answered the witness.
The lawyer asked, “Were there any girls?”
Another attorney asked a witness, “The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?”
My favorite blooper happened when an attorney was cross examining a doctor and asked: “Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?”
The doctor said, “No.”
The attorney continued, “Did you check for blood pressure?”
And again the doctor said, “No.”
The attorney took a step closer to the witness stand and said, “Did you check for breathing?” The doctor said, “No.”
Then the attorney seemed to get to his point by asking, “So then, is it possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?”
And the doctor said, “No.”
Then the attorney said, “How can you be so sure, doctor?”
And the doctor said, “Because his brain was in a jar sitting on my desk.”
At this point the attorney pursued his line of questioning a little too far, asking: “But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?” And the doctor wisely responded, “I suppose it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing LAW somewhere.”
I don’t know if any of you have been involved in a courtroom proceeding, but from my own experience it’s not easy to be a good witness? When, right after we were married, my wife was involved in an accident right outside our home. It was a ‘no fault’ accident, but the insurance companies were trying to place blame on someone. They put me on the witness stand and I made a very bad witness. I didn’t like the semantic games being played with the truth. But what I did learn from the experience is just how heavily our American legal system relies on the testimony of witnesses.
It’s also amazing how much Jesus Christ entrusted the completion of God’s reconciling into the hands of witnesses, whether we are good or bad witness. There is a great old story about Jesus entering heaven right after his ascension, as Jesus entered heaven, the angels were praising him for finishing God’s reconciling work.
Jesus responded, “Well, I actually didn’t finish every bit of of it.”
“What do you mean, didn’t you say “It is Finished,” the angels asked in puzzlement.
Jesus continued, “Of course, the price of human was paid for, but I left the task of getting the message out in the hands of those who will follow and come after me.”
“The angels retorted in shock, “Are you saying that you left the greatest message in the world in the hands of those flawed and fallible disciples?”
“Exactly, now they have this ‘treasure in earthen vessels’, that’s the plan!”.
That’s just a story, what really happened is in our text today. When preparing to ascend into heaven, Jesus commanded his disciples “not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.” (Acts 1:4 NRS). Then, Jesus gave another promise: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8 NRS).
Jesus entrusted everything he lived and died for to his followers. Their assignment, which is also our assignment, is that we are to be Christ’s ‘witnesses’. This is the mission and God’s plan to get the word out. Our primary mission is not going to church, nor is it preaching or hearing sermons, and it is not hiring professionals to all the work for us, but Jesus said: “YOU will be my Witnesses!” What Jesus means is that people who have experienced the life-changing and life-commanding power of God’s grace through the gift of the Spirit have been ‘empowered’ to share God’s goodness and grace with the world. So, now that we know the main outline of God’s plan, let’s take a closer look. It all starts with a word:
‘YOU…’
Do you hear your name is this command? Jesus didn’t say ‘some people’, a few people, for a select few people, but Jesus used the plural form, referring to all who follow him. Underline the word “YOU” shall be my witnesses…” Did you hear Jesus speak your name? “YOU!”
A popular preacher in Europe used to say, “Every Christian is a Missionary”. What Jesus really said is that “Every Christian is a Witness.” You may be a bad witness or you may be a good witness, you may be a mediocre, or poor witness, or you may be an astoundingly great witness, but in some way, everyone who names Jesus as Savior and Lord is some kind of ‘witness.’
The continuation of the Christian Faith and the work of the Church of Jesus Christ depends upon having ‘witnesses’. The work of God depends on you being a witness. The question is, “What kind witness are YOU? YOU cannot, not be a witness. That’s a double negative to make a point. If you call Jesus your Savior and your Lord, YOU are some kind of ‘witness’! Are you a witness for, or a witness against? Which kind of ‘witness’ are you? That’s the question.
Ray Pritchard tells of a Presbyterian evangelist, Ben Wilkerson, who came to his church in Russellville Alabama for a week of evangelistic meetings. This was about thirty years ago. During the mornings Rev Wilkerson trained a team of young people to go out and share the gospel door to door. It’s hard to get young people ‘in the door’ today, but that’s how it was done in many churches, as young people were being prepared and trained to become adult witnesses. Pritchard goes on to tell how sometime during that week, Rev Wilkerson posed a simple, interesting question that is still worth repeating: Have you ever wondered why, when God saved you, he left YOU here on the earth?
The evangelist went on to make his point: If God had wanted to, he could have saved you and taken you directly to heaven at the moment you trusted Christ as Savior. But God didn’t, which means that God left you here on the earth for a particular purpose. Quoting a distinguished Scottish pastor, he put it another way: “To every true Christian these two things may be said: You have need of Christ and Christ has need of you.” He added: “The simple fact that a Christian is on earth and not in heaven, is proof that there is something for YOU to do; and if YOU aren’t not doing it, YOU grieve the God who made you, the Jesus who commands you, and the Holy Spirit who has the power to enable you.”
What is it that God left you on earth to do? What is it that we can do on earth that we can’t do in heaven? We can sing on earth and we can sing in heaven. We can praise God on earth and we will praise God in heaven. We can fellowship with other believers on earth and we will certainly fellowship with them in heaven. The list could go on, but when you think about it, the most important thing YOU can do on earth that YOU can’t wait to do when YOU get to heaven is that YOU can’t tell a person who is lost how to find Jesus Christ. There will be no ‘lost’ people in heaven, so if you’re going to bear witness to the love of Jesus Christ with someone who is lost and needs to be found and loved, then you’ve got to do it now, while you’re here on earth. If the job gets done, Jesus is saying, “IT’S UP TO YOU!”
“YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES”
What Jesus said his disciples, just before leaving, Jesus is also saying to us, through the Spirit, to us, you and me, as the church, the body of Jesus on earth. After saving us, Jesus leaves us here to be his witnesses. In Heaven, ‘seeing is believing’, but here on earth, believing is seeing. In heaven, the Lamb will be the light and there will be no need of reflecting God’s light, but in this dark world, we are commanded to reflect the light of Jesus Christ. On earth, we are his only witnesses. Did you hear Jesus’ commanding words: “YOU WILL BE… YOU SHALL BE… and YOU MUST BE are the implications of this imperative of Jesus. The first part of the book of Acts is filled with imperative and indicative statements, like this, not options and opinions: “Repent and Be Baptized every one of you and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (2: 38).
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name for mortals to be saved” (4:12).
“We must obey God rather than human authority…” (5:29).
“What God has made clean, you must not make profane” (10:15)
“God shows no partiality, but every nation who does right is acceptable to him (10:34-35).
All these imperatives and indicatives mean that Jesus needs people to be his witnesses. Jesus does not send angels to proclaim his name and he does not write the gospel in lightning across the skies. Jesus uses people like us, that is ‘people to people,’ to convince, persuade, and influence others to believe on him. We are Christ’s witnesses—we are the evidence of the truth about Jesus to an unbelieving world. If we do not do our part, God has no other plan.
Listen to the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 again, as Jesus imparts this truth to his followers: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Here, Jesus emphasizes two things that insures how we can be, should be, must be, and will be His witnesses: One, we will be ‘empowered’ by the Holy Spirit, and second, as Spirit-filled disciples, we will witness for Jesus all over the world.
Our greatest need all over the world today is not for political power, but for the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit. I hear a couple of politicians from South Carolina, one a US Senator, and the other a Congressman say on national TV that politics is by nature, divisive: one side must lose and one side wants to win and defeat the other. Then they said, that’s why people don’t work together well in Washington. We all get along very well as friends, but we accomplish nothing as politicians. As leaders, political power can make our attitudes toward each other change but it can’t change hearts and it doesn’t change the situation. Political power can win elections but it can’t save lives. Political power can pass righteous laws—or repeal unrighteous ones—but it can’t make people righteous. Politics cannot change the way people think because it touches only the outside. Only the living, inward, spirit of holiness and righteousness, the Holy Spirit can change hearts, restore families and save nations from destruction.
For example, way back in 1919, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment to the Constitution that prohibited the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Prohibition, it was called. The people who supported the Amendment—including the great evangelist Billy Sunday—meant well. They truly believed that by outlawing liquor, they could improve society. Many people called it “the Grand Experiment.” It didn’t work, largely because Americans by the millions chose to flout the law by patronizing bootleggers and speakeasies. In 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment and the Grand Experiment was over. It failed because no outward law, even God’s law, can change human nature—a point Paul makes forcefully in Romans 7:15-25. If people want to drink and get drunk, all the laws in the world aren’t going to stop them.
That’s why we need the Holy Spirit. “Be drunk, not with wine, which is in excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 5:18), Paul wrote. Only God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, can take the ‘preached’ Gospel and use it to bring people to change, which means to repent of sin and to have faith in Jesus Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can replace old hearts of stone with new hearts of flesh and give them pure hearts which hunger to live in righteousness. Jesus told his inquisitive disciples that instead of worrying about the coming of a political kingdom, they should focus on the spiritual work. First, they should wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit and then, when the Spirit comes in promise and power, they must be witnesses for Christ. This was and is God’s plan for his people. The world has its political jobs to do, but the Church has a different kind of ‘spiritual’ work to accomplish. This is our ‘job description: Jesus said, “You WILL BE my witnesses.”
…MY WITNESSES.
Jesus also said, “You will be MY WITNESSES.” What did Jesus mean by calling us to be HIS WITNESS? What is asking us to actually do? Are we to be like Jehovah’s Witnesses, going door to door, making people uncomfortable, putting people on the spot, leaving unwanted pamphlets at the door, or walking up to people and forcing our ‘truth’ on them, which amounts to ‘casting our pearls before swine’ which is simply telling other people what they don’t want to and are not ready to hear? Is this what it means to be a witness? Who wants to be a ‘witness’ like this?
If that’s not what it means, then what does it mean to be HIS WITNESS? What is a witness TO Jesus Christ who is also a witness OF Jesus Christ? What we learn from the whole story of the birth and beginning of the church in Acts, that there are many different ways to bear ‘witness’ to Jesus. The Church spoke the ‘languages’ of the world. The disciples came together as a devoted community. The apostles were sent out to touch the lives of people and share Christ’s compassion for the whole world. All this is in the book of Acts, but what I like best is the simple definition Peter gave after the events in Acts were all done. Peter wrote to the church saying that this is how you become Christ’s witness: “Always be ready to give an answer to every person that asks a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15 KJV).
To ‘witness’ is to ‘be ready to give and answer’ for the ‘hope’ you have in him. What this means is that you don’t have to be a theologian to be a witness for Christ. You don’t have to go to Bible school or seminary and you don’t have to be a missionary. It doesn’t require a college degree or a high IQ. Just tell the truth about why you have hope in Jesus to anyone who asks you. Did you notice that Jesus does not tell everyone to go ‘out witnessing.’ Statistics say that only about 10% of Christians are even able to learn how to do this. This is not what Jesus or Peter meant. Of course, as the book of Ephesians says, ‘some’ do need to be trained to be the ‘face’ of the church and it’s ministry and witness in the world, as ‘some’ are gifted as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and some as teachers. The apostles, prophets, and evangelists, and sometimes the pastor’s and teachers should be able to ‘go’, but still their main work is ‘to equip the saints for the work of the ministry’ which is in the church and in the world. As witnesses, we do God’s work in the world so that, people will ask us ‘why’ and then we should be able to give an answer to the reason for our hope in Him. By ‘answering’ and giving reasons for our hope we begin to be a faithful witness.
But now, this question follows: “What kind of ‘answer’ do you have to share?” Many people feel that they have ‘nothing’ to share, and they don’t know what to say, even if they are asked. What do you say, as a witness to Jesus Christ?
The comedian Red Skelton once a story about himself that happened many years ago. It is a funny story, but it makes an important point about our reluctance to share our own stories of hope, faith, and love.
“Red Skelton was a young man at the time and he had a secretary on his staff who had done a lot of extra work for him. So he decided that he would like to get a nice gift for her to show his appreciation. He asked his wife what she thought would be an appropriate gift. She thought a moment and then said, “Why don’t you get her some perfume.” “But I wouldn’t know what kind of perfume to get,” said Skelton, to which his wife replied, “Well why don’t you just tell her what you’re going to do and let her tell you what’s her favorite kind,” So that’s what he did.
“Well, when he asked her, his secretary said, “Oh, Mr. Skelton, I just love working for you. You don’t have to buy me a gift.” But of course, he persisted. So finally she said, “Well, if you insist, my favorite perfume is called ‘Romantic Thoughts at Midnight.’” So the next day, Red Skelton went to the department store to get the perfume. And when he walked up to the perfume counter, the elderly saleswoman asked if she could help him. And Red Skelton said, “Yes, you can. Do you have ‘Romantic Thoughts at Midnight?’” And the saleswoman just looked at him and said, “Listen sonny, I have to drink coffee just to stay up for the 10 o’clock news!”
It’s a funny story that illustrates the point—that we need to talk to each other. We get into a lot less trouble when we share what we feel, and when we ask and answer each other’s questions, than when we don’t. When we don’t talk to each other, this is when we can get into a lot trouble. It is so very important, especially in this age of cell phones and FACEBOOK, that we hear and answer God’s command to ‘share’ ourselves with each other in clear, concrete and compassionate ways.
When I lived in Greensboro, I lived in a city that had one of the largest Jewish communities in the South. At that time, which was the late 1990’s, there was a lot of discussion going on about the comments that a popular Southern Baptist preacher made, when he said that “God doesn’t hear the prayers of the Jews.” Such language made the Jewish community a bit nervous, because they remembered the terrible persecution of the Holocaust, and other persecutions done to them, sometimes even by Christians who were prejudiced against them for not believing in Jesus Christ. As part of the nation-wide discussion, I remember reading in the Greensboro New and Record a statement by a certain Jewish fellow in New York, I think it was. He was asked what he thought about the Baptist people in his neighborhood who were always coming to his house and trying to convert him. His response was very interesting, “I’m fine with my Baptist neighbor’s coming to try to convert me, in fact, I really appreciate them caring about me, as long as they love me and want to talk with me. The people who scare me are the people who want to kill me and say they love Jesus. That’s what keeps me up at night.”
What people really need to hear from us, is that we really care, really have compassion, and really have convictions of faith in Jesus Christ. We do not actually ‘convert’ anybody, nor do we have to say the ‘right words’. It’s is God’s Spirit that does the ‘converting’ and it is our compassion that makes conversion a real possibility. Again, let me underscore, that to ‘give and answer for the hope in us’, does not mean that we have to have all the answers. We still have questions too. Even after we come to ‘know’ Jesus we still wake up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning wonder about life, about God, have doubts and struggles in life. Being HIS WITNESS doesn’t mean that we become ‘answer men or women’ or that we’ve got it all together in life, or that we must always be bubbling over with joy because we’re “filled with the Holy Spirit.”
What being HIS WITNESS means is that we are honestly, seeking the truth just like everyone, but it also means that we SEEK the truth while TRUSTING CHRIST for our SALVATION, which means that in the end, everything depends upon the mercy, grace, and justice of the God who loves and who saves through Jesus Christ. This means that we not ‘closed minded’ but that we are always open and vulnerable, willing to confess that we are pilgrims on the road, not perfect, not yet whole, or finished learning, but trusting Him to ‘complete the work that he has begun within us.’
If we can have that kind of attitude, that kind of stance about the faith, that we are pilgrims, growing, struggling to incorporate the life of Christ in our life, then we’ll always have something to offer. All we have to do it be a faithful witness of what God in Christ, is doing in us, and allow God to do the rest.
Not long ago, the life of the great evangelist Billy Graham was celebrated, when he died at 99 years of age. Most all of us know who Billy Graham was, but who knows the name of J. Wilbur Chapman or Mr. Kimball? Well, if it wasn’t for the faithful witness of Wilbur Chapman and Mr. Kimball, there may have been no Billy Graham. Think about this true story of connection. It reminds me of that movie about ‘Six-Degrees of Separation’ which connects every person on the face of this earth. The story goes:
A Sunday school teacher, Mr. Kimball, whose name is remembered only in forgotten books, led a Boston shoe clerk named Dwight L. Moody to give his life to Christ in 1858. While preaching in 1879, Moody lit a fire of evangelistic zeal in the heart of a pastor of a small church. That pastor was Frederick B. Meyer.
F. B. Meyer became one of the greatest preachers of the world. He was preaching on an American college campus, and was instructed in bringing to Christ a student named J. Wilbur Chapman, the person whose name none of you recognized a moment ago.
Chapman engaged in YMCA work and was used to reach a professional baseball player named Billy Sunday.
One of Billy Sunday’s great revivals took him to Charlotte, North Carolina. Some business men of that city were so excited about it they planned a second campaign and invited an evangelist named Mordecai Hamm to lead it—now you wouldn’t know that name either, but during the Hamm revival meeting, a young man named Billy Graham heard the Gospel and yielded his life to Christ.
Only eternity will reveal the tremendous impact that one Sunday School teacher, Mr. Kimball, who led Dwight L. Moody to give his life to Christ in 1858.
I believe Jesus anticipated connections like this when he said to his first disciples, “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” To witness the faith, hope, and love found in Jesus Christ, is the calling of every Christian. The question is, can God get a ‘witness’ out of you! Amen.
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