Testimony: Acknowledging Christ Through Speech

What is a Testimony?

A testimony is simply honoring the Lord by bearing witness to others about His work in your own life.

Psalm 22:22 ESV

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

Revelation 12:10–11 ESV

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Testimonies make Gospel truth take on flesh and blood.

It is one thing to hear a sermon on God’s grace; it is quite another to hear a brother or sister speak personally of his or her experience of God’s grace. Testimonies invigorate and excite us as we are reminded that God is alive and at work in our midst.The one giving testimony is obeying the Lord by “telling out his greatness in the midst of the congregation.” His soul also receives the benefit of reflecting slowly and intentionally on God’s hand of grace on his life from his earliest days until now.

The believers hearing the testimony are obeying the Lord by allowing their brother to testify to the Lord’s grace and goodness. They are serving their brother or sister by patiently and attentively listening and offering encouragement. These listeners are in turn stirred to praise the Lord for his work in the life of the speaker, and are moved to reflect on God’s work in their own lives.

The sharing of testimonies serves to bind the church together, as we open up our lives to one another rather than keeping one another at a distance.An unbeliever hearing a testimony is pointed to Jesus as the living Savior of sinners.

Two Types of Testimonies

Salvation

Sanctifying

Romans 1:8 ESV

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

Romans 16:19 ESV

For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

Ephesians 1:15–16 ESV

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

Colossians 1:4–9 ESV

since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Philemon 4–7 ESV

I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

We live in an age of narcissism. It is the era of self-actualization, the relentless race to perfect the self.

Time magazine reported in 2013 that “Narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their twenties as for the generation that’s now 65 or older. . . . 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982.”

As the West has become more narcissistic, so have the people in our churches. We see it on social media. We hear it over coffee. We see it when young people break away from living and breathing social groups to snap a selfie.

We also see it in our evangelism. A decade or two ago our evangelism still pointed outward. We spoke of the existence of God, objective truth, and the historical reliability of the resurrection. Now, swaths of churches have moved on to leading with personal testimonies.

This contextualization isn’t necessarily wrong. In a postmodern era, stories are often more powerful than objective truth claims. Testimonies can be a valuable way to share the good news about Jesus. But in a society where even Christians are steeped in rampant individualism and self-idolatry, our testimonies can easily sound like another story of self-congratulation.

Though some personal testimonies are on the mark, many boil down to this: “Look! God is great because me me me.” These are not road-to-Damascus stories, but spiritually tinted selfies.

A caricature might be helpful here. This example below is — sadly — only slightly exaggerated.

My life used to be in shambles. I was a wreck. I used to do X, Y, and Z. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I did. I found my meaning in the opposite sex. But Jesus died on the cross to change my life. Now, I thank God that I’m not like those old friends. I live a good life. I wake up with purpose every day. I volunteer. I sponsor a child in Africa.Oh, and did I mention? I have a smokin’ hot Christian spouse. The good news is you can have this life, too.

This isn’t the gospel. It’s the kind of Self-help Narcissism 101 you’ll find in any Barnes & Noble. Just add a twist of God.

So, how did this happen?

As the West began to respond more to story rather than reason, the church adapted, which was good.

But the stories we told began to center less and less around Jesus. In order to avoid debate, our witness focused less on the existence and glory of God — which can be argued with — and more on our changed lives — which cannot. The problem is the systematic shift in focus away from God and toward ourselves and our “changed lives.”

God is great because . . . me — so these stories go.

No. God is great because God.

This new gospel of changed lives is a small gospel. It’s decaf. It’s human-centered, like a planet without a sun.

We hear it encouraged like this: “Sharing your faith is easy! Just tell your story. You don’t need to know much about the Bible. God’s in the business of changing lives. Jesus came to change lives.”

This is dangerous because it’s only partially true, and it makes us the center of the gospel. None of the statements above is necessarily wrong, but repeated ad nauseam, cut off from the glory of God and the fuller gospel, it replaces God’s gospel with a man-centered, I’ve-arrived, changed-life kind of news.

The sad reality is that we’re not the only ones evangelizing based on our changed lives.

We were born to worship. If not God, then we worship someone or something else, like a cause. Or in a lot of cases, we worship ourselves pursuing a cause.

It gives us a sense of purpose till we tire and move on to the next thing. We testify to the world about how this or that lifestyle has changed us and engulfed our entire selves. This is everywhere today.It seems many people have a story to tell about their changed lives — even non-Christians. They select and edit their desired details, cut the rest, and paint the narrative they want you to hear — the Facebook wall version.

Do we want our witness to ape the world or reach the world? Then why do we play their game? Why do we diminish the true gospel down to the gospel of changed lives, and then try to sell it at the world’s market?

Changed lives are a dime a dozen. Many religions, philosophies, and even health crazes will change you. If you want evidence of this, just head to your nearest CrossFit gym, yoga studio, or health food store. Those lives have been transformed by whatever flavor of self-actualization they idolize most.

If changed lives is all we got, it ain’t much.

But that isn’t all we have. We have the glory of the living God. And that glory should create a great chasm between a secular testimony of a changed life and a Christian testifying about Jesus Christ.

The secular testimony is focused on the self — how it arrived despite the obstacles on the road. The Christian testimony is focused on the Person, that Great Obstacle in our wandering path — that Brilliant Light who kicks us off our horse and blinds us, and calls us to repent and be baptized, and commissions us on his great work, and even tells us we will suffer for his sake. This is a Christian testimony.