Are we A Witness and If so For Who

Are we A Witness and If so, for Who

EBC   John 1:6-8,15

  John Butler- “John’s foundational calling was to be a witness for Christ. No one ever witnessed better for Jesus than John, the Baptist. Acts 1:6-8.

  We read that John was a terrific witness for Christ and Christ himself said after we had been endured with power by the Holy Spirit we would be witness unto Him everywhere we would go.

  If we are to be witnesses lets look to see what a witness is and does.

I. The Meaning of Witness

  A. Today, the word witness is used quite flippantly.

    1. We are told to witness for Christ and we should, but what does witness involve?

  B. The word witness is found in John 47 times whereas in the rest of the Gospels it is found only 6 times.

  C. Is witnessing done by giving out a gospel tract, taking the person down the Romans Road, explaining the 4 spiritual laws. The kind of witnessing John did involved much more than this.

  D. The word witness has three elements

    1. A public testimony- Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon defines this word as to give (rather than holding back) testimony. This is really elementary, if we are going to witness for Christ we are going to have to go public.

      a. We can’t be silent, there has to be a public declaration.

      b. The basis work of witnessing is to make Jesus known to others.

        1. John 1:15, 29-

      2. A competent testimony- Henricksen defines witness as “a competent testimony of which someone has seen, heard or experienced”.  

        1. Arthur Pink describes witnessing as ““A witness is one who knows what he says and says what he knows. He deals not with speculations, he speaks not of his own opinions, but he testifies to what he knows to be the truth”.

          a. We need to speak from personal knowledge what Jesus Christ has dome in our lives. How has Jesus changed your life? Think about what your testimony is so you can tell others.

II. The Mission of Witnessing (John 1:7)

  A. John was sent to get folks ready to receive Jesus not reject him.

  B. Instead of getting people to believe in Christ, much of out witness has turned people away from Christ because of our lives that have been lived.

    1. We do much to discredit Christ.

  C. We need to make much of Christ and not try to make much of ourselves.

    1. Our duty as Preachers is to preach Christ and not to preach ourselves.

       a. 1 Cor. 1:23-

    2. John Butler- “the object of testifying for Christ is not to exalt the one doing the witnessing but to exalt Christ in order to lead men to Him”