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| To Part 1 |
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
After reading Part 1, you might be asking yourselves, “Why would an evangelical write such an article that tends to discourage rather than encourage believers to share their faith with others?” Because there are undeniable negativities surrounding being a witness for Christ; we are, after all, living in a world hostile to the Gospel message. But to the LORD, any negatives are inconsequential to obeying His commands.
Why? Because He is the Almighty. Nothing enters our lives unless He allows it. He promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). So, issues are only issues if we make an issue of it, but with God, however, there are no issues. He does whatever He wants. God knows that we cannot do this in our own strength and be effective witnesses for Him. Hence, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
We need to avoid romanticizing what is taking place in this passage of Acts prior to the Ascension and keep things in historical perspective which is what I presented in Part 1. Jesus was on the verge of leaving again but in a different direction, and then comes the waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. All of this is awesome and quite inspiring! It was vital to the promise of His Spirit for it’s doubtful the apostles could handle another departure!
When you imagine yourself listening to Jesus saying those words in Acts 1:8, it had to be sort of intimidating and challenging for Jesus’ disciples given the historical realities surrounding what He wanted them to do. Acts 1:8 is the marching orders to advance even further than before into a very dark and sinful world, not fond of the Gospel; Israel wanted nothing to do with the Gospel. These apostles were well aware that there will be pushback because the flesh has no stomach for spiritual things, the world system is locked into resistance and opposition, and the devil, our arch-enemy, is not going to remain idle about any movement of God afoot.
Are we on the winning side? Absolutely! Because He lives; we live, right (Jn 14:19)! But, the spiritual battles are far from over, and there will be victories and casualties amidst the conflicts. We often lose sight that we are in a great spiritual warfare that has no end on this side of eternity. It’s ugly. It was Plato who said that only the dead have seen the end of the war. As long as we are living, we are in the thick of it.
The reasons cited in Part 1 to refrain from being a witness were not inclusive, but it presented an abridged portrait of first-century challenges toward witnessing for Christ, and what the apostles would have to confront in executing that command from Jesus. The brutality inflicted upon Jesus alone simply foreshadowed the world’s attitude toward God and anyone related to Him. Those were fresh horrific images that would never leave the mind.
Remember, We will not have this man to reign over us (Lk 19:14)? The nation of Israel went down that slippery slope of rejecting the true Messiah which inevitably led to the destruction of Jerusalem 40 years later in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Israel as a nation was no more, that is, until May of 1948! There has to be a nation of Israel in existence for prophecies to be fulfilled in the end times! The rapture of the Church could take place at any moment! We live in some very exciting times! In a twinkling of an eye, our lives could drastically and irreversibly change and be suitable for eternity!
With the fall of Jerusalem, the Jewish people scattered across the earth. This is also referred to as the Diaspora of 70 A.D. There were smaller dispersions going on, up and to that point, as things got progressively worst between the Jews and the Romans. The final dispersion came when Titus came to town for a final solution to the Jewish problem.
Among those dispersed were the Christian Jews who remained in Israel rather than following through on Acts 1:8. The nation rejected their Messiah, and Yahweh rejected them until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (cf. Lk 21:24). What we gather from Acts 1:8 is that God did not want the Gospel message stuck within the boundaries of a Messiah-rejecting nation. The Gentiles were given a great opportunity to hear the Gospel message of Christ, and the Apostle Paul would spearhead the operation (Acts 26:16, 17, 18; Eph 3:7, 8).
Pentecost gave impetus to that movement, but it finally took wholesale destruction to get people serious about their relationship with God and being obedient! When that happens, it’s brutal, but history bears this out. The mindset of the Messiah-rejecting Israel was to overthrow the Romans and become a nation ruled by its own people. That was not God’s plan. Claiming DNA to Abraham doesn’t save you (Jn 8:37, 39; cf. Eph 2:8-9; Gal 3:27, 29). The One that could have saved them was crucified on a cross by them; they just let the Romans do their dirty work for them. That is a classic picture of self-righteousness if there ever was one.
So, why should you witness in spite of the challenges and negatives? Well, for one, Jesus commands all of us, who believe, to do so. Two, if you love (agapao) Jesus, you will do it out of your love for Him (Jn 14:15). Three, if you disregard His command, you are sinning in knowledge, and the fellowship with God is broken. (4) God is sovereign.
Our new pastor quoted from Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) last Sunday, and it caught my attention, “If you are not a missionary, you are an imposter.” I turned to Beverly and whispered, “Man, that’s tough,” but it provoked me to revisit my thinking on the matter! Jesus was mission-minded when He came to earth. He remained mission-minded until His death. He was mission-minded before His ascension.
We must conclude that part of being like Christ is to be; you guessed it, mission-minded. If we are not mission-minded, we are not like Him no matter how knowledgeable or holy we claim to be! Being a witness or mission-minded at all times helps us spiritually. It helps to remind us of how important it is to safeguard our testimony; something that takes a lifetime to build and one indiscretion to destroy. What person is going to buy into what a hypocrite has to say anyway? But also, being mission-minded will help us to be mindful of the charge in Acts 1:8 to reach out to others in sharing the good news.
I have this point of view that being a witness for Christ is akin to the second command to love your neighbor as yourself which is inexplicably connected to the first or great command, to love God with the totality of our being (Mk 12:30-31). If we ain’t witnessing as believers, folks, we got a love problem, no doubt about it! The vast majority of the world is on a one-way ticket to the abode of the greatest horror known to man if they don’t repent of their sins.
Love (agape) for God doesn’t cherry-pick the Scriptures on what to obey and what to disobey or ignore in His Word. We simply show our love to God by our obedience to His Word (Jn 14:15). There is no other way to say I love you to God and know within our hearts that we mean it unless we obey His every command given to us, provided it is from the heart. When we disobey, love is an issue. God knows our heart better than we do (Jer 17:9-10; cf. Mk 7:6). We certainly cannot use reverse psychology on Yahweh who is all-knowing and all-wise!
I know being a witness is not always easy; if it was, everybody would be witnessing, right? I am being very accommodating here. But something easy or difficult is never a factor in obeying Yahweh’s will, and that is vital to remember. When we are obedient to His imperatives, we have the backing or approval of the Almighty. To be clear, His presence is guaranteed whether we are obedient or disobedient (Heb 13:5).
Those who do not receive the Word are not rejecting the messenger but God Himself. We should never take it personally. We are in the witnessing business, not in the saving business; the latter is God’s responsibility; the former is ours.
If the love of God does not constrain us to trust and obey His Word in all aspects, we will never be a witness unto Him for there is too much negativity orbiting around it. Keep in mind that the number one person against believers sharing their faith is our adversary, the devil! If there is anyone who does not want us to be a witness for Christ, it is Satan. Refusing to be a witness regardless of whether you consider the reason to be legitimate or not is an unloving act toward God because it involves personal, willful disobedience.
Those who jabber that witnessing is the job of the leaders of a local church, or that being a witness only pertained to the apostles (cf. Acts 1:2) simply have not scrutinized the Scriptures, or they are taking the other road at that grammatical fork we talked about in Part 1, You shall be witnesses to Me…. Such interpreters forget that context is the sovereign of hermeneutics or the art and science of the interpretation of Scripture.
Will you be a witness for Him? One of the greatest joys in the life of a Christian is being a witness for Christ and being a part of the excitement of someone coming to the living Lord and heaven rejoicing! I bet the devil doesn’t want you to know that; he would rather that you focus on the negatives and refrain from being a witness for the Lord. Obedience out of love (agape) negates all reasons not to witness.
Now, we need to step forward in obedience to the Holy Spirit and share the good news of how Jesus transformed our life! By doing so, we will be a part of something eternal and exciting to see, a life that turned from darkness to light just like it was for us when we were once dead in trespasses and sins, which we once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience (Eph 2:1-2).
The evil one has never loved the sons of Adam and never will; he would rather see us all dead than alive. He has no concern for lost souls. It matters not to him that people are dying and going to hell. Don’t you think that it’s high time to start walking according to the One who loved us enough to have died for us?
Why would you not tell others what He has done for you? There is no reason to refrain from being a witness for Christ, none whatsoever, not even the threat of persecution or personal harm, or those localities mentioned in Acts 1:8, or the triad of evil. If we allow the circumstances of life to have a negative impact on our obedience to God, we are experiencing what I refer to as having one of those “God is not on the throne moments.” <><
(Rom 10:13, NLT) For Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.
(Rom 10:14, NLT) But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?
(Rom 10:15, NLT) And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!"
Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.
John Henry Sammis (1846-1919)
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| End of Series |
