What is Witnessing Anyway?
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Intro:
8 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.”
The title of my message is, [What is Witnessing Anyway?].
Witness is defined:
verb: to see something take place, to have first hand knowledge.
As a verb, it requires an action. We witness an accident, we witness a crime taking place, or we witness someone doing or saying something.
noun: an observe, spectator, or onlooker.
As a noun, a witness is something we are, instead of something we do.
Witnessing is discussed in church. I have heard messages on being a witness. I have been encouraged to witness. I have even done what we call witnessing.
In church, as a verb, witnessing means to go and tell others about Jesus.
I have known people who have gone door-to-door witnessing. They knock on someone’s door and tell them about Jesus and what He has done and what He can do.
We might say, I witnessed to someone about Jesus today. I spoke to someone and shared with them the plan of salvation. We hear that and think, that person is a witness.
I have also heard people preach, and if the crowd is too quiet, they might say, CAN I GET A WITNESS, to which people will say amen, raise their hands, or honk their horn!
The word witness, witnessing, or witnessed is found 236 times in scripture.
God the Father gives witness to the work of Jesus on earth.
36 But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
The Holy Spirit is a witness of the miracle of salvation.
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
God tells us that WE are His witnesses.
10 “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.
Scripture bears witness to the fact that Jesus is the one who saves
43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
God will always have witnesses
17 Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
The bible is filled with witnesses
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
So what is witnessing anyway? How do we witness? When do we witness? Why must we witness?
Today, I want us to see something important about witnessing.
Witnessing is not so much about what WE do, but what OTHERS do to us.
Let me explain, witnessing is less about going door-to-door and telling them about Jesus.
Instead, it is more about what people do to us. People WITNESS:
the way we act
what we say
where we go
who we spend time with
and the way we live
Witnessing is less about TELLING people about Jesus and more about people being able to TELL if we live for Jesus or not.
Let me put it this way— Witnessing is not something we do, it is something we are.
We do not GO witness, we ARE witnesses everyday.
Witnessing is simply about us being a Christian and living for Jesus. It is about our actions aligning with our words.
Furthermore, God calls ALL of us to be His witness. Our personal experience with God should translate into a daily relationship with Him, one that people will notice.
Prior to His ascension, Jesus informed His followers, I will give you power so that you can be my witnesses.
What is witnessing anyway?
I want to answer that question by looking at three examples of how people witnessed for Jesus.
Jesus did not go around saying, “Let me tell you about Jesus.” Instead, He simply was Jesus. He did what Jesus was called to do. He followed the Father’s plan for His life.
And as He did what He was supposed to do, PEOPLE around Him witnessed what He did and told others their personal experience.
I want us to see HOW Jesus witnessed, it was less about what He did and more about who He was.
I have three points, [John the Baptist Witnessed His Light], [The Woman at the Well Witnessed His Love], and [The Blind Man Witnessed His Liberty].
Let’s begin
1. John the Baptist was a Witness to His Light
1. John the Baptist was a Witness to His Light
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
All of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, introduce us to a man named John the Baptist/Baptizer. He was an important figure in scripture and he had one responsibility, to introduce people to Jesus.
From his conception God had His life planned. He was to prepare the way for the coming Savior, Jesus.
He lived in a dark time in history:
there was political corruption
people were morally bankrupt
and God’s people were spiritually distanced
It had been 400 years since God spoke to His people through a prophet. Then one day, God prompted John to tell them: I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT emanating from the man named Jesus.
I can verify it for I have seen it with my eyes, Jesus will come and lighten the darkness and show us a new way. So now is the time to repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
Even two of John’s disciples wanted to leave John and follow Jesus. This did not bother him, for he was a witness to Jesus’s authentic role of redeeming humanity.
John’s encounter with Jesus was not something he read, but something he experienced.
But notice this, John took the initiative to tell others what he saw. Not one time did Jesus go to John and say, “John, watch this, you see that, that is my spiritual light.”
No, John had an encounter with the Light of the World. Jesus did not go around telling people, I will show you my light. No, He simply IS the Light of the World.
As the light of the world, He can’t help but shining in the dakrness.
Remember, witnessing is less about what we do and more about WHO we are. Our focus is not to GO witnessing, but to BE a witness.
Jesus shined His light, and John verified who Jesus was because he served as a witness.
2. The Woman at the Well was a Witness to His Love
2. The Woman at the Well was a Witness to His Love
6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Not long after John the Baptist witnessed the Light of God, Jesus and His disciples went through the region of Samaria. He sent the disciples to get some food and Jesus went to a well.
It was noon, which would have been the hottest part of the day. Normally, the well would have been empty, as women got water early in the day and later in the evening.
However, there was a women there, and Jesus began to talk to her, which was incredible considering who the woman was.
The fact that she was there in the middle of the day lets us know she was an outcast for her notorious lifestyle.
She was even shocked that Jesus spoke to her, the couldn’t have been more different.
He was a Jew she was a Samaritan
He was a man she was a woman
He was pure she was unclean.
As they spoke, He promised her living water, one that would quench her thirst. She was interested, and Jesus gave her a peculiar instruction: Go and get your husband.
She conceded she was unmarried, which was true. She had ben married four times and she was living with a man, unmarried. Through their conversation, she never sensed Jesus being judgmental or hateful.
Instead, she felt what she never experienced, the love of God. Jesus didn’t want anything from her. He had no ulterior motives. He simply displayed God’s love.
When the woman left, she couldn’t help but tell people what she witnessed.
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
You have to come see this man, he did not reject me, scorn me, or hate me. Instead, I felt God’s love in a way I never knew possible.
Of course Jesus showed God’s love. He couldn’t help but display the love of the Father. But notice, not once in this story did Jesus think or say, “I need to show her my love. I will make a conscience effort to say, Here is my light and here is my love.”
No, He simply was who He was. Because witnessing is less about what we do, and more about who we are.
He shined His light and showed His love. By observing Him, this woman told people, you will not believe what I witnessed today. Jesus of Nazareth came and showed me how much God loves me!
People were a witness to Jesus’s light and love. And now we see...
3. The Blind Man was a Witness to His Liberty
3. The Blind Man was a Witness to His Liberty
1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Sometime later Jesus and the disciples walked past a blind man. When they saw him, the disciples wondered, what sin was committed to make Him blind.
In those days, people believed if someone was born blind it was because of sin. Jesus being Jesus, shined His light and showed His love to the blind man.
He spit in the dirt, made some clay, and placed it on the man’s eyes. He then told the man to wash the mud from his face. When he did, he could see.
Everyone knew the blind man. Imagine their shock when he walked around unassisted, eyes opened, fully liberated from blindness.
People asked, how did this happen? He answered, a man called Jesus came to me and healed me. Word got back to the enemies of Jesus, the Pharisees, and they sought to cause problems.
They believed the man was in sin because he was blind, and Jesus must be a sinner because He associated with the blind man.
They wanted the blind man to be a witness for the prosecution. They hoped his testimony could give them cause to arrest Jesus for committing a crime.
Finally, the man answered what he witnessed Jesus do:
25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
He was bound in darkness for his entire life, then He had an experience with the Light of the World, who showed the love of the Father, and the man was liberated from blindness.
But Jesus was not finished with him.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” 38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.
After the Pharisees excommunicated him because he would not give a false witness against Jesus, the Lord found him. He helped his physical blindness, but He wanted to heal his spiritual blindness.
The man realized the light and love of Jesus, and he was liberated from his sins!
Jesus did not wake up that morning and say, I am going to witness to the blind, hopefully they will get healed. Remember, witnessing is less about what we do, and more about who we are.
Jesus being Jesus determined to shine God’s light and show God’s love, now God used Him to liberate people from physical and spiritual bondage.
Close:
In each story we read this morning, we see, Jesus went about shining the light, showing the love, and it liberated people from bondage.
Jesus did not say, I want to be a witness, instead, He wanted to do the will of the Father. People around Him witnessed how He lived and what He did, and told others, He is the real deal!
Now, Jesus wants us to do the same, we must remember, witnessing is less about what we do, and more about who we are.
While it is good to tell others about Jesus, problems come when we decide to make witnessing something we do. Because there are moments in life when we do not FEEL like witnessing.
And if we make witnessing a religious activity, there will be times we shine the light, but we might turn off the light if we are not witnessing at that moment.
Sure, we will show God’s love going door-to-door witnessing, but we might decide, I am not feeling loving right now, so I’ll just not go witnessing.
If we make witnessing an activity instead of a lifestyle, what happens when people witness us?
We have to ALWAYS shine the light of God.
We have to ALWAYS show the love of God.
For the way we live will liberate people from sin, OR push them farther from God.
God expect us to remember, when people witness me, will they see Jesus through my light and love, or will they see someone who talks a good talk, but does not live out their faith.
How do we fulfill our responsibility to be a witness?
We cannot do it on our own. That is why Jesus promised, You will receive POWER then you will BE MY WITNESSES.
Through the Holy Spirit, people can leave us saying, I just witnessed Jesus.
People are always watching:
On the job, do they witness work hard, or do they witness us giving minimum effort.
In our conversations, do they witness us using Godly language, or do they witness us saying things we would NEVER say in church?
On our Facebook, do they witness Godliness, or do they witness gossip and ungodly posts?
In our lives, do they witness people who have been transformed by God, or do they witness people who go to church but do not live fo Jesus every day.
This is not say that we will NEVER make another mistake once we are saved. But when we remember, I am a witness for Christ, we will allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and help us when we fail or falter.
We will be quick to repent, apologize, and refocus ourselves on this understanding, we are a witness.
What is witnessing anyway?
It is NOT an activity, it is a lifestyle.
Witnessing is less about what we do, and more about who we are.
Let’s ask the Holy Spirit for His help.