March 30, 2008
Arlington Forest UMC
Dmitry Isakovsky
“Authentic Witnessing”
(Based on Acts 2:14, 22-32)
Introduction
In many Eastern European cultures it’s a long-standing tradition, practiced during Easter time, to greet one another, saying, “Christ is Risen!” The response is, “He is risen indeed!” Believe it or not, but that was true even in the Soviet Union. The seventy long years of the Soviet rule could not eliminate the popular practice passed down from one generation to another since time immemorial.
It’s hard to believe that during the times when the state religion of atheism bore its ruthless sway, people still continued proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. This fact gives one comfort in knowing that even though in many countries today secularism has become the only recognized state religion, God is more than able to keep on the advance of His gospel.
Today we have gathered together for just this very same reason. We have been appointed Christ’s witnesses and the bearers of the testimony that He is alive and well.
I. The Lectionary Passage.
One can safely say that on the one hand the passage from Scriptures from which we draw our today’s sermon belongs more in the Day of Pentecost than it does in the second Sunday of Easter. Simply because of its content and the events it describes.
With the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Christ’s closest disciples we can see how another chapter in God’s history has been brought to a successful closure. This particular event marks the beginning of the glorious era or dispensation of the third person of the Holy Trinity, namely the Holy Spirit.
From the very dawn of time we can see how the Word of God lays out God’s dealings with His creation and the humankind in particular. Apart from messianic prophecies contained in the Old Testament, its main focus is the work of the Father. The New Testament underscores the intrinsic continuity between the two Testaments, while highlighting the earthly ministry of Christ and its continuation in the coming of the Holy Spirit.
At the same time our today’s passage is highly appropriate for our purposes as well. Because it is only with the help and empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God that you and I can be effective witnesses to Christ’s resurrection. Just like the twelve apostles we are to be both indwelt by the Holy Spirit on the inside, and we are to be clothed with His power on the outside.
When the apostle Peter stands up to address a big festive crowd in Jerusalem, he delivers the first such sermon in the new dispensation. The central theme of Peter’s preaching is the person and the works of his Master and teacher, Jesus Christ. As a follower of Christ, Peter represents each and every one of us in the great privilege and huge responsibility of witnessing to the resurrected Savior.
II. The Two Keys.
We might remember how earlier in Peter’s walk with the Lord he was one of the first to confess Christ as “the Son of the living God,” – Matthew 16:16. Having commended Peter for this revelation, Jesus said, addressing, of course, all of His church in the person of Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
This time in the ancient city of Jerusalem Peter uses the first of these keys. His powerful sermon will open the heavenly doors of salvation in Jesus Christ to no less than three thousand Jews on that one day alone. Many agree that Peter used the second potent key to open the doors of salvation to the Gentiles, when he broke down traditional barriers between the Jews and the Gentiles by preaching in the house of Cornelius. The incident is recorded in Acts 10. Thus the gates of paradise were flung wide open to the fullness of humanity, both to the Jews and the Gentiles as well.
Quite often we underestimate the trust that God has placed in us as Christ’s followers and disciples. As His church we hold the keys to someone else’s salvation and eternal life. Have you ever thought that by withholding our testimony to Christ from other people we might be withholding their eternal destiny as well? By our testimony here I mean that we bear witness to Christ not only through our words, prayers and worship services, but that our very lives, attitudes, relationships and thoughts should testify that Christ is risen and dwells within us indeed.
When Christian missionaries to Africa explored the best and most indigenous ways to evangelize the Dark Continent, they turned for help to the local Christians. Local African saints responded that whenever they wanted to evangelize any given village they would send there a Christian family. The way this family lived among the villagers, treated each other and their neighbors, conducted their everyday affairs would never fail to make others want the same kind of life. As it was once said, “Preach the gospel. Use the words if necessary.”
III. Whatever Happened.
“Listen carefully to what I say,” begins Peter, addressing the motley crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. As we all know the Day of Pentecost was one of the three major festivals in the Jewish religious calendar when all the devout Jews were supposed to appear before God in the great city. We cannot exclude a possibility that perhaps some of those present there were the ones who cried earlier, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” as Pilate washed his hands of the blood of Jesus.
So the question is, “What happened to the frightened and scared disciples, who just recently fled from Jesus for fear of losing their lives? What was it that transformed them into people capable of boldly proclaiming this Jesus from Nazareth?” They were putting their very lives on the line for their Master. Could a mere conspiracy among them or maybe some delusion as to His resurrection have produced this kind of change? I, for one, doubt that.
The boldness of disciples’ behavior, the power of their preaching, and the authenticity of their message, all stemmed from their personal experience of the risen Lord. We cannot become authentic witnesses for Christ unless we have met the Teacher personally. All that is required on our part is to come to Him, yielding our whole lives to His guidance. If we are willing to learn from Him we are to invite Jesus into our everyday business.
He will walk with us and talk to us not only during solemn moments of prayer, worship or meditation. Christ is willing to be with us each and every second of our existence. So, whether we are in the workplace or a marketplace, we can learn from Jesus, thus being better equipped to become His authentic witnesses. The Bible aptly captures the lofty ideals of Christian life by stating that not only our outward behavior, but every single thought that crosses our minds should be measured up against God’s standards and then made “obedient to Christ.” (II Cor. 10:5)
IV. The Evidence.
The apostle Peter proceeds in his address by recounting that this “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.” (Acts 2:22, NIV) In short, the evidence in favor of this man is plentiful. It is not the evidence that’s lacking, it is the attitude that’s wrong.
God is not the one to force our free will into accepting or rejecting Him. He provides evidence and offers His choice. The rest is up to us. We are to witness first and foremost to what God has done in our lives. No one can refute your personal experience, especially if it is backed by the love, joy, peace, patience and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit present and evident in your life.
That’s why the Holy Scriptures call upon us to present our very bodies as “living sacrifices, which is our spiritual service to God.” Our witness to the Risen Savior is weakened, if not nullified altogether, if our lives are filled with bitter envy, strife, hatred, gossip, and the like.
But the godly evidence is never lacking for those willing to see it. For none is so blind as he who would not see. As a case in point, you may recall such stories as the one about the pharaoh, who would not let Israel out of the slavery in Egypt. On the one hand in this story we see a stiff-necked Pharaoh, on the other - no less stubborn people of Israel. Both sides lacked any desire to trust God and truly see His presence and His mighty hand despite all the wonders, signs, miracles and the revelation of God’s power in their midst. As a result Pharaoh died in Egypt, Israel - in the wilderness.
Despite the fact of being hopelessly outnumbered by the crowd with potentially hostile reaction to their preaching, Peter fearlessly throws his evidence and accusations in their faces, “This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.” (Acts 2:23, NIV) He goes on to recount what was known as a Messianic Psalm, Psalm 16 in our Bibles, pointing out that Christ’s life, death and resurrection were all predicted in the prophecies of the Old Testament.
Let’s never forget that no events in the lives of God’s people, however haphazard, chaotic or even tragic, are outside God’s sovereign control and His good will for us. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) From the moment when we surrender our lives, beings and destinies to God through Jesus Christ, He is in the ultimate control. God has promised, “Never to leave us or forsake us.” And His promise is still true.
V. The Basis.
Note also that while witnessing to Jesus Christ’s Lordship and His life of toil and miracles, Peter backs his argument from the Holy Scriptures. You see, the coming of the Holy Spirit did not, by any means, annihilate the authority or influence of the written Word of God. We need both the Spirit of God and His changeless Word if we are to be effective and authentic witnesses to Christ.
Some of the church-going people nowadays might go so far as to claim that the Word of God is mostly irrelevant in view of their possessing of the Holy Spirit. But that is a big mistake. Without the Bible we would not even know about the very existence of the Holy Spirit of God. Just like the apostle Peter 2000 years ago we are to be armed with the everlasting and always relevant Word of God. For “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16-17, NIV)
VI. Summary.
Therefore, armed with the Holy Scriptures, filled with God’s Holy Spirit, and speaking from the personal experience with the Lord we are on the way toward becoming God’s authentic witnesses. There is a legend, which says that when Jesus returned back into heavenly glory of the Father, the Archangel Gabriel came up to Jesus and asked Him as to what the next phase of the glorious plan of salvation was. Jesus replied that the rest of the plan was in the hands of His disciples and followers. Knowing how weak and often unreliable humans could be, the Archangel expressed his doubts, saying, “Is there no any back up plan, in case this one fails?” Jesus replied, “ No, there isn’t any other plan. I am counting on them!”
The God of the universe counts on us as His witnesses. Let’s make sure that we won’t disappoint this great trust and frustrate the great plan of spreading the gospel. His mighty Holy Spirit is always present to encourage and uplift. The changeless Word of God still contains all the answers to the most important questions in life. Jesus is still more than willing to come into our hearts and change our lives forever. The great challenge is still there. The challenge is to live our faith out in such a way that our thoughts, our words, our actions and lives themselves might testify to the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In glorious unison with the apostle Peter we can proclaim that, “God has raised this Jesus back to life; and we are witnesses of the fact.”