Witnessing Without Fear

Tabernacle Baptist Church Stewardship Month Series:

Found Faithful

"Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching.”

Thesis: True believers in Christ (stewards) labor diligently and faithfully as they anxiously anticipate Christ’s coming.

Witnessing Without Fear

Luke 12:1-12

Introduction:    Our theme for Stewardship month emphasizes faithfulness in all that we do.  The term "stewardship" comes from 2 words meaning "hall keeper".  The term denotes not just faithfulness but also diligence, vigilance, and discernment.  In order for us to be faithful stewards of the Lord we must realize the qualities that our Lord is looking for in faithful stewards.  We must also seek to understand the context in which the Lord challenged believers to be found faithful stewards that He is looking to reward.  It is with that in mind that we study for the next few weeks Luke 12:1-48 and understand that "True believers in Christ (stewards) labor diligently and faithfully as they anxiously anticipate Christ’s coming."

Thesis: True believers in Christ testify about Him in obedience, confidence, and desire to be confessed before the Angels of God.

True believers in Christ testify about Him publicly because all things will eventually become known. (V.1-3)

I remember watching a television show where one of the characters in her naivety desired to know a secret. To her there was something exciting and mysterious about knowing a secret that encouraged her endeavor to find out someone’s secret. Upon finding a secret, she was tempted at various times to tell the secret to others, which would’ve meant embarrassment to the one about whom the secret was about. She finally told her secret to a seashell and threw it into the depths of a local lake, where her secret would be kept hidden for the rest of time. From this girl’s attitude towards secrets we would think that secrets are interesting and always meant to be kept, though there is much temptation to tell others something that they didn’t know. Such attitudes are common in regards to secrets, but the Truth of the Gospel is to be no secret. Having excitement about the Gospel is to be encouraged but to hold its Truth all to oneself is a crime against the Lord of the Gospel.

Christ begins His instruction with a charge to His disciples: “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Christ’s charge comes after Christ has openly rebuked the Pharisees and Scribes for their misconduct in accordance with the Truths of the Old Testament Scripture. First let’s understand the term “leaven”. It is “a substance, typically yeast, that is added to dough to make it ferment and rise.” (Oxford English Dictionary) Leaven, typically yeast, changes the nature of the dough, rather than being flat it expands. The Bible associates sin with leaven in that when it is present in one’s life it transforms them into a being that God did not intend for them to be. Christ was telling His disciples to beware of the evil transforming effect of the Pharisees influence. Their influence was one of hypocrisy, “wearing a mask of sanctity to hide an evil heart.” (Nicoll) The Pharisees would put on a show before all the people trying to persuade them that they were more righteous because of their acts and standards. We must beware of our motivations to do what we do for Christ. If we endeavor to live for Christ that we might receive praise from others than we are living hypocritically and not to the Glory of the Lord.

The basis for Christ’s instruction stems from the knowledge that there is One Who knows the true intentions of all men and will make all known one day. One could legitimately apply this to the sin of the Pharisees in that they live one way before men but secretly are desperately wicked. However, the context provides us with Christ’s true intention: do not keep the Gospel a secret, “concealment of faith is vain, the Truth will be out sooner or later.” Therefore Christ admonishes His disciples to publicly proclaim the Gospel because it will come out in the open sooner or later. We must live in light of this Truth. We cannot let our Gospel remain hid any longer for if we are truly believers in Christ our lifestyles, choices, words, and actions will proclaim the Truth of the Gospel of Christ. Does this mean that we can rely on 1 of the above mentioned alone? No, because all must come into conformity with the image of Christ. The lost world regards our testimony as the testimony of the Pharisees and it is time that true believers take a stand for the Gospel of Christ.

True believers in Christ testify about Him without regard to physical consequences for they understand the eternal consequences. (V.4-7)

Christ moves now to the heart of the issue when it comes to public evangelism: man fears men. When I was in college, I decided to become a speech minor and there was a trend at the beginning of each new speech class that would last for the first couple of weeks and then transition into another trend: nervousness and then calm. Public speaking is probably the most feared responsibility for many today. I’ve heard some equate public speaking to their fear of death. Let’s face it, people don’t like to be put on the spot especially when many others are watching and could potentially be critiquing everything that they do. Christ admonishes His disciples to not be afraid of those who can inflict temporary harm. If the bad that they can do to you pertains only to this life than do not fret over their power. Does this give us license to carelessly travel into known dangerous territory? Absolutely not, Christ admonished us to understand that endeavors that we undertake and to “count the cost.” (Luke 14:28, with regards to one following after Christ) Christ’s point is that we must not hold the negative things which man can do to us higher than we hold the negative consequences for not being obedient to God. Christ rather admonishes us to fear God, knowing the judgment that faces those who choose their sin over the Savior. We must take on Paul’s attitude recorded for us in 2 Corinthians 5:11 “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men.” (Context: knowledge that we must all appear before Christ to account for all that we have done in our body, whether good or bad.)

Though the initial point sounds rather harsh Christ also encourages the disciples with the significance of man in the sight of God. Christ points them to an insignificant creature in the eyes of man: a sparrow. Selling one hardly produces any significant revenue for the vendor, yet when each is sold God still takes thought about each of them. There is not one sparrow in all of time that God has forgotten about. Christ then points the disciples to the truth that God’s knowledge of man is more than just skin deep for God has numbered the hairs of man’s head. According to Nicoll the idea is that the hairs “remain numbered, once for all; number never to be forgotten, one would be missed.” The point Christ makes is that man is more significant in the sight of God than even a great quantity of sparrows. If such is true that God cares for man that much than how much more should we be able to trust Him as we testify to others about His kingdom?

True believers in Christ choose to testify about Him because they have the confidence of the Holy Spirit’s aid. (V.8-12)

Christ transitions into a very sobering though concerning a witness for Him. Those who bear testimony to Christ on earth, Christ will confess or acknowledge before the angels of God in heaven. What a glorious thought that before the host of God in the great assembly Christ will publicly acknowledge before them all those who have proclaimed Him on earth before men. On the opposite side, though, Christ will deny before the very same heavenly host those who denied Him before men. Let’s look at the 2 terms “confess” and “deny”. Both terms are at the opposite ends of the spectrum with one connoting positive ideas and the other negative. The term confess can also be translated “acknowledge”. The term acknowledge has as one of its meanings, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “accept the validity or legitimacy of [something]”. This indicates that in that great day before the mighty heavenly assembly that Christ will bear testimony to all of the legitimacy of the faith that one has in Him based upon their faithfulness to obey His Word (i.e. proclamation of the Gospel). The term “deny” means to reject something, in this case, on the basis of refusing to obey God’s Word (i.e. proclamation of the Gospel).

Christ moves from one sobering though to another with the instruction concerning the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. However, such a transition does not necessarily mean that it refers to believers, but Christ uses this instruction to encourage His disciples. The teaching was initially presented in Matthew 12:32 which context provides us with the meaning of such a heinous crime against the 3rd Person of the Trinity. The Pharisees were rejecting Christ’s claims based upon legitimate authority to be the Christ of God. There is indication from Christ that as the Pharisees were rejecting Christ, the Holy Spirit was at work bearing witness in their hearts of the validity of Christ’s claims. Their rejection of Christ would be forgiven if they would repent but their rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit and His bearing testimony to Christ would not. This background provides us with the understanding that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is none other than rejection of work in drawing one to salvation. Christ relates this to His disciples to strengthen His next point. The Holy Spirit’s presence would be a comfort to one on trial for their faith, or put on the spot for their faith. In making that statement that Christ does “synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers” He is referring to any sort of earthly authority which would put the faith of believers on trial. In such times that believer could take comfort for the Holy Spirit, even up to that time, would teach them what they should say. This presents us with the necessity of a consistent time in God’s Word where we expose ourselves to its instruction that the Holy Spirit would teach us what we should say when our faith is put on the spot.

Conclusion: We have undertaken the task of better understanding the requirement to witness as faithful stewards.  Believers must trust in the Holy Spirit's power and not fear men for the consequences of their actions result in ignorance amongst unbelievers and their judgment.  It is our desire at TBC that believers grow in their faith in Christ to witness more for Him and anticipate that in such faithfulness they shall be rewarded when Christ returns.