Witnessing 101

A discussion of the basic principles involved the effective sharing of the Christian Faith.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello. Welcome to Scripture Simplified. This is Tim Wolf. I want to be speaking today as we continue our study in the Gospel of John on the subject Witnessing one o one. And I'd like to read from my text John chapter one, beginning with verse thirty five. Again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiahs, which is being interpreted the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Besseda, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathaniel and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree I saw thee. Nathaniel answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. One of the greatest of Christian duties is that of sharing one's faith. There have been times in church history when the commitment to that imperative has lagged. Robert Coleman, in his classic The Master Plan of Evangelism, writes It is time that the church realistically face the situation. Our days of trifling are running out. The evangelistic program of the church has bogged down on nearly every front, especially across the affluent Western world. In many lands the enfeebled church is not even keeping up with the exploding population. Now this classic was last updated in 1993. Can we see that the situation with the church has improved? I think we would all agree it has not. In many instances, the apostolic imperative has been replaced with pragmatic solutions to simply put people in the pews. Unfortunately, the lost are not truly confronted with the true claims of the gospel message. They are not being led to repentance from sin and the forgiveness found in the sacrifice of Christ. I believe there's much we can learn about effective witnessing from the passage before us today. And as I mentioned earlier, I'm calling it witnessing 101, because a 101 course in a subject deals with fundamental principles. It is these fundamental principles I'd like to share today. I give them to you in three easy to remember words. First of all, seek. Now the first thing we see in this passage is the herald, as we called in last episode, John the Baptist, the one who said, There is coming one after me whose shoes I am unworthy to unlatch. We see him pointing once again to the one that God the Father demonstrated to be the promised Messiah. Here once again he calls him the Lamb of God. Two of John's closest followers, Andrew and one who may be John, who penned this gospel, his name's not given, but they leave their mentor, John the Baptist, and loosely follow behind Jesus of Nazareth. He was the one that Peter later writes, the Apostle Peter later writes, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. Now Jesus is called Messiah. That's a Hebrew word, Messiah. And he's also called Christ, which is a Greek word. But both of them mean the same thing. It means anointed. Samuel the prophet took oil and poured it upon the head of young David. And oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. If you remember in our last episode, the Herald, the sign that God had given John the Baptist to identify the Messiah was the one to whom the Holy Spirit would descend upon and remain. And the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove. And this was considered the anointing of Jesus. Now John the Baptist must do the difficult thing and direct his followers toward Jesus, which he willingly does. He must fulfill his calling. He was to point people to Jesus, the one that is preferred before him. And he does this. So these two disciples of John follow Jesus, but they follow at a distance. Maybe you and I would have been hesitant to approach Jesus as well. We have to remember that John had proclaimed Jesus to be the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He would be the one who would ultimately bring judgment to the wicked. John, their previous teacher, whom they held in the highest regard, had said about Jesus, He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose. No wonder they were reluctant to run to his side and enter conversation. Now we see something interesting. Jesus turns to them and says, What seek ye? If you notice, he didn't wait for them to begin the conversation. He is the one seeking them. So it's a beautiful truth, isn't it? And we see it repeatedly in John's Gospel. We find the one thought unapproachable approachable. More than that, we discover the one thought unapproachable as one who is seeking the seeker. We see this picture of Jesus as well in Luke's Gospel. Think of the verse in Luke chapter 19, verse 10, where Jesus is quoted as saying, For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. How can a lost man seek anybody or seek a holy God? He had to seek us first. Now the context of this verse from Luke is the salvation of a wicked tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus. Listen to the narrative. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was, and could not because of the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. There's the picture. Paul puts it theologically this way. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is kind of interesting, isn't it? God seeking us, even though we're unworthy. One other beautiful portrait from Luke's gospel is the parable of the lost sheep, where the shepherd leaves ninety-nine in the fold to seek the one lost sheep. And when he's found him, he comes back rejoicing, exclaiming to his friends, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. In my first year of college, I became the typical partying coed. The Bible tells us that sin provides pleasure for a season, and I was in that season. I did not want to be bothered. However, as I would walk from class to class, there was a voice in my mind saying, You're going the wrong way. You need to turn from these things. What was that voice that I didn't want to hear? What was that voice pursuing me? That was the loving voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, seeking the lost. So the first thing is seek. Not just us seeking him, but him seeking us. The second thing is stay. We see that, and I'll look at these, we'll look at these verses together. But in the last part of uh let me just read verses 38 and 39. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted Master, where dwellest thou? And he, Jesus, said unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour, about four o'clock in the afternoon. They answered Christ's inquiry with a question of their own. They said, Rabbi, where dwellest thou? And then there's the gracious, and I say, gracious again, the gracious answer of Jesus, he said, Come and see. The Greek word translated dwellest is found 41 times in the book of John and is translated, abide, abode, remain, tarry, and dwell. You know, for so many, Christianity is either a ritualistic performance or an isolated experience that has little or no effect on a person's life going forward. But if we're going to be effective witnesses for Jesus, we must spend time with him in communion. And that's what salvation opens up to us. It opens up the opportunity for us to enter into the very presence of God, the very presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. And no, we're not worthy to enter in, but Jesus has opened the door. They say, Where do you dwell? Jesus said, You come and see. I want you to be with me, is what he's saying. And that's the same thing God is saying to all of us. I want you to be with me. And aren't you glad that Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice on the cross, has made the way whereby we can enter into intimate fellowship with him. I'm so thankful for that. These disciples wanted to know where he was residing because they wanted to know him better. And those with such hunger will find themselves filled with truth and love. And out of that fullness will be a desire to share with others. It reminds me of the story in Luke's gospel of the two disciples who were despondent on the first Easter. They had, they had no sense that Jesus was going to be raised on the third day. And so they were, they had lost their hope because of the crucifixion. And there's very despondent, and they're talking about that. And as they're walking on the road, the resurrected Christ. Of course, Christ, this is on the first Easter, and Christ has been raised, and Christ walks up to them and begins a conversation. And initially they do not recognize him, but as he opens the scripture to them, he is revealed. And they testified later to the other disciples Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way. Now Jesus gives the invitation to all of us to abide with him. And every child of God, every Christian needs to hear that call. He wants us to be with him. He wants us to spend time with him. He is the door through which we can enter communion with him and with the Heavenly Father. See, it's a two-way street. He invites, and we must decide whether we want to abide with him. He says in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me. Grace knocks, but it does not force the door open. And Jesus is still inviting people to open their hearts to him, but he will not invade. Thankfully, Andrew and possibly John answered the call and abode with him that day. And being with him was like cozing up to a warm cabin fireplace on a cold winter day. It warmed him up. You know, David understood something about the presence of the Lord when he said this or wrote this. He said, Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. And all of us, all of us have that privilege who know Christ. The last thing we see here is share. And that's what's happening with these two men. You know, Andrew finds his brother Simon Peter, brings him to Jesus. And then later on we see Philip after being called to follow Jesus, he goes and finds Nathaniel, who we think, by the way, is Bartholomew, that they're one and the same. But they share their faith with others, Andrew and Philip do. These two disciples had tasted and seen that the Lord is good and they want others to know. And that's the essential import of these verses. Andrew, it says, first found his brother Simon, and in a simple but direct way, says, We have found the Messiahs, which is being interpreted the Christ. And then this beautiful statement, and he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus, who can see the hearts of all men, made a prophetic statement to Simon. He said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone, which just goes back really to the other point. Dwelling with Jesus in loving communion will transform anyone. True Christian discipleship is relational. It's about a person, it's about Jesus Christ. It's about a walk with Him. John had an amazing way of expressing that. With the Apostle Paul, we have a tremendous doctrinal, we have tremendous doctrinal statements concerning getting right with God by faith, called justification by faith, and spiritual transformation or sanctification. In John, we see these doctrines being lived out. A.W. Tozer, who's called the prophet of Chicago, spent a year preaching through the Gospel of John. James Snyder compiled and edited some of the messages that Tozer had delivered. The book is entitled, And He Dwelt Among Us. In his introduction, Snyder writes, Although Tozer greatly admired the theology of the Apostle Paul, he had a great affinity for the mystical bent of John the Apostle. He said, In the mind of John, God found a harp that wanted to sit in the window and catch the wind. He found that John had a bird-like sense about him that wanted to take flight all the time. God allowed John, starting from the same premise of theological theologian Paul, to mount and soar and sing. And I hope in our study together we don't lose the lytt of John's voice as he sings forth the praise of the one he loves. You know, we see the same thing with Philip, who's called by Christ to follow him. After his calling, Philip finds his friend Nathaniel and said, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now Nathanael's skeptical. He says, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip's retort is simple. He says, Come and see. Before the day is finished, he's convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. I'll have to say this, not too many skeptics are one through the intellectual joust, although I believe Christianity offers the greatest answers to man's most perplexing questions. I love Christian apologetics, and I have my master's degree in Christian apologetics. But I think the best it can do is remove certain obstacles from those who have inquiring and sincere hearts. But I don't think argumentation is going to get many people there. People are won by those who in humble sincerity demonstrate conviction and love for Jesus and their fellow man. Aldous Huxley was an agnostic philosopher and writer. William Barclay tells a story about his attendance at a house party at a country home. Sunday came round, he writes, and most of the members prepared to go to church. But very naturally, Huxley did not propose to go. Huxley approached the man, known to have a simple and radiant faith, and he said to him, Suppose you don't go to church today. Suppose you stay at home and you tell me quite simply what your Christian faith means to you and why you are a Christian. But said the man, you could demolish. My arguments in an instant. I'm not clever enough to argue with you. Then Huxley said very gently, I don't want to argue with you. I just want you to tell me simply what this Christ means to you. The man stayed home and told Huxley most simply of his faith. When he had finished, there were tears in the great agnostic's eyes, and he said, I would give my right hand if only I could believe that. Barclay goes on to say, it was not clever argument that touched Huxley's heart. He could have dealt efficiently and devastatingly with any argument that that simple Christian was likely to have produced, but the simple presentation of Christ caught him by the heart. The best argument is to say to people, come and see. Of course, we have to know Christ ourselves before we can invite others to come to him. The true evangelist must himself have met Christ first. In conclusion, to those who may not know Christ, may I say, it may be that you listening to this podcast is God's way of seeking and speaking to your heart. He is knocking at the door of your heart, but you have to open. When you do, he will come into you and you will be transformed by his love. To Christians, let me ask this simple question. Have you lost your zeal to share your faith with others? If so, maybe it's because you haven't spent much time with your master. In this episode, we talked about two brothers. In closing, I want to speak about two brothers that God used to bring revivals. Their names are very familiar still. John and Charles Wesley. They were both ordained ministers in the Anglican Church, but had never had a personal encounter with Christ. Those who were trying to bring them to biblical faith in Christ were Moravians. On May 21, 1738, while reading Scripture and hearing testimonies, Charles Wesley felt a sudden assurance of his salvation and a release from his sins. He wrote in his journal that he received the assurance of my pardon. Several days later, Charles' brother John gives this testimony. In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street where one was reading Luther's preface to the epistle to the Romans about a quarter before nine. While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. These two men with hearts warmed by the love of Christ went forth to give testimony to the grace of God and the goodness of Christ. Charles writes in one of his great hymns, O, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace. My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of thy name. May we make this song our prayer today. Let us pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we feel convicted in our hearts because we've not witnessed as we should. If we've been neglecting our time with you, I pray, God, we will repent of that today. And we will enter into the place where we can say we have burning hearts. Hearts that are so full that we want to go forth and share it with all who will give us an audience. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. Thank you.