Witnesses, Not Experts

1 John 1:1–4 NLT

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

Introduction

Raise your hand if you have ever been called to jury duty. Recently, I received a jury duty summons letter in the mail, and I know from past experiences that I must be selected for a case. In any case, it is great to have experts testify to what they know. But it is even more essential to have eyewitnesses.

Experts can share their thoughts on a particular subject, but eyewitnesses can give facts about the event. When we leave this building to go into the world, we leave as eyewitnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is not something we come to church to hear; we go from church to tell.

1 John reminds us that our ultimate calling is not to be experts but witnesses because we proclaim the truth about Jesus.

We Proclaim as Authentic Witnesses

Look at verses one and two: “What we have heard, what we have seen, what we have touched.” John repeats those statements several times because he knows people listen to authentic witnesses over detached ideas. We proclaim the truth about Jesus because people listen to authentic witnesses over detached ideas.

John is writing to a community that is struggling to believe. They are working to believe that Jesus was a real human being with flesh and bones like you and me. John knows that no amount of philosophy or fancy words will convince these churches. So, he tells them about his personal experiences with the Word of Life because he knows that people listen to authentic witnesses rather than detached ideas.

John’s audience doubted that Jesus was a real man. Our contemporaries doubt that Jesus was real and not just Jesus or Christianity, but pretty much everything. People of our time are conditioned to question anything that tries to explain everything: people are suspicious of religion, of course, but also of science; people reject pastors and theologians, but also doctors and researchers. We live in an age of doubt.

But humans must believe in something. We are made to latch onto something, and we have seen lately that people believe in people. We ignore experts but flock toward influencers. We buy things on Amazon because they’re cheaper or more convenient and because we can read the reviews. We get to learn from real users and authentic witnesses.

And that’s the exact model that Jesus left for us! He didn’t say, “You will be my experts.” He said, “You will be my witnesses!” You will proclaim the one you know! You will proclaim the one you experience. Now, at this point, you may be asking: “If that’s the case, why are we here? If it’s all about my experience with Jesus, why do I have to spend 3, 5, 7 years of my life in this building?” Well, because it is not about my experience alone. It’s about the experience of the community of saints. Notice the first-person plural. It’s about the witness of the entire community of faith: the witness of the prophets, apostles, and all the saints of the church that point to Jesus Christ together!

We attend church on Sundays not to become experts on God but to learn to join our voice with that great cloud of witnesses proclaiming the one we know, the one whose life has changed everything.

We Proclaim as We Stand Amazed in His Presence

We proclaim the truth about the one we know as we stand amazed in his presence. Before John got to hear, to see, and to touch the word of life, Jesus already was. In the beginning, God created … in the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

“That which was from the beginning.” That through whom all things were made. That is who John is talking about! He is proclaiming the truth about the creator of the universe! He is proclaiming the One who is much greater and completely independent from us but who chooses to reveal himself so that John could see him, hear him, and touch him—so that you and I could see him, hear him, and touch him.

Friend, you are here today because somehow you have been touched by God or someone I pray has invited you here. But, in some mysterious way, you felt called to come and follow him. You are following Christ today because He, the risen Savior, chose to reveal himself to you and me. At this moment in time, we should stand in amazement at His presence.

We Proclaim so that People May Have Fellowship with Us

We proclaim the one we know because people listen to authentic witnesses over detached ideas. We proclaim the one we know as we stand amazed in his presence. Finally, we proclaim the one we know so that people may have fellowship with us.

Look with me at verse 3: “What we have seen and heard we also declare to you so that you also may have fellowship with us.” The natural consequence of having seen and heard that which was from the beginning is that we desire others to have fellowship with us. When I realize that this love extended as far as to touch a sinner like me, I can reach no other conclusion than to believe that there is room for everyone. And that room is right by my side.

We have been getting a lot of visitors lately, some have come back, some have not. We must figure out who is not here and how we can get them to find fellowship with us, because if they don’t find it here, then where will they find it?

In my experience as a pastor, I have seen churches become too judgmental toward outsiders. We must not judge them but proclaim Jesus Christ to them so they will desire to be in fellowship with us.

Can I let you in on a little secret? Jesus hasn’t called us to be experts on how he loved the sinner. There are enough books and theology about the love of Christ, but Jesus doesn’t need to know every detail. He just wants us to witness it to someone who needs it.

If we were called to be experts, we could just tell people about the one we know and hope that they find the way. But we are not called to be experts, we are called to be witnesses. Witnesses don’t give instructions, witnesses walk alongside. Witnesses don't point away, witnesses call people to come closer, to have fellowship with us.

Because we proclaim the One we know: the one who is not a distant thought, but an embodied reality; the one which was from the beginning and chose to reveal himself to us, the one in whose presence we stand amazed; and amazed we are humbled, in such a way that we cannot help but invite others into our fellowship.

Conclusion

Our fellowship, friends, is with the Father and the Son. That is what John says, our fellowship is with the Father and the Son, and we invite others into it so that our joy may be complete!

It is our joy, it’s your joy, it’s all of y’all’s joy! So as we get into this sermon series in the First Letter of John and what it means to be a genuine Christian, let us remember that we were called to proclaim the one we know.

As we enter into Holy Communion let us stand amazed in His presence and invite others to this wonderful fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.