Being a witness of Jesus Christ (sermon for the youth group, 2/27/11)

Let's all bow down and pray together: "Heavenly Father, we come to you humbly seeking Your presence among us. We pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon us this morning and teach us what You want us to know about You. Give us the discernment and obedience to follow Your guidance and direction. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen."

Last week, you had a sermon by Teacher Charlie on the Great Commission. That marked the end of our sermon series on the Gospel of Matthew. What is the Great Commission? It is Jesus' commission to us that we are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded us.

Today marks the beginning of a new sermon series based on the book of Acts. Acts documents not just the acts of the apostles like Peter and Paul, but the Acts of the Holy Spirit in the early Christian church. The key verse in the whole book of Acts is Acts 1:8. This verse is a declaration of a promise by the Lord, Jesus Christ: "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Notice that Jesus does not say "if the Holy Spirit comes on you." Rather, He says, "when the Holy Spirit comes on you." This verse is like a zip file, which, when unzipped, tells the whole story recorded in Acts.

A key word in this key verse is the word "witnesses."

This morning, I would like us to consider two questions regarding "witnesses": First, what does it mean to be a witness, as opposed to being a mere reporter? Second, since we are witnesses, what are we supposed to be witnessing?

First, what does it mean to be a witness?

In the late 1970's, there was a news anchorman named Walter Cronkite, who anchored the CBS Evening News. In 1960's and 1970's, he was voted as "the most trusted man in America" for his unbiased reporting of important news such as the Vietnam War, the assassination of JF Kennedy, and the Watergate scandal. As he neared his retirement in the last 70's, people wondered who could possibly replace the trustworthy Mr. Cronkite. The person chosen to replace him in 1981 was Dan Rather. Mr. Rather's claim to fame in his journalistic career was the fact that he reported like an eyewitness, rather than like conventional reporters who were mere story tellers. When Hurricane Carla hit the Texas coastline in 1961, Rather reported from Galveston Seawall, in the heart of the hurricane. When President Kennedy was assassinated, Rather was the first to be there to report on the news. Rather's reporting style has since been copied many times over. Being able to report like a witness is what elevated Rather to succeed Cronkite.

In a similar way, for us to be a witness, it takes for us to have a personal story to tell from a first-hand experience. Being raised in a Christian home or in the church, we often come to know about Jesus from someone else's story. This someone else might have been your parent, grandparent, or a friend. There is nothing wrong with this. As it says in Romans 10:17, "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." The beginning of our faith comes from hearing someone else telling us about Jesus Christ. But then, we should not stop there. We need to have our own personal experience of Jesus in order to confirm our faith and tell others about how Jesus has made a difference for us.

There are several Biblical examples of this principle: In 1 Kings 10, we read about the visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon. Before she came, she had heard so much about the unparalleled wisdom of Solomon. After making the visit, she said to him, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard." Her own first-hand experience of Solomon's wisdom not only confirmed the story she heard in her own country, but far exceeded and enhanced it, because his wisdom was even greater than what was told. What we heard about Jesus when we first believed in Him might have been only a glimpse of all that there is to know about Jesus. We should get to know Him more and more with our experience of how He is working in our lives.

Likewise, in John 4, we read about the woman at the well in Sychar of Samaria and her village people. They had come out to meet Jesus initially because of the woman's story. But when they met Him personally, they had much more to say. They said to the woman: "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

You might have to come to know Jesus through someone else's story about Him. But since then, do you have a personal story to tell about Jesus? If you were to ask yourself, "do I have a personal story to tell about Jesus?", what may be the answer? Peter admonishes us in I Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Do you have a personal answer to the question 'why do you believe in Jesus?' ?

As you ponder that first question, I would like to go back to the second question I posed to you earlier. That is, since we are witnesses of Jesus Christ, what are we supposed to be witnessing?

In Acts 1:3, it says that after Jesus was raised from the dead, He gave "many convincing proofs that He was alive" over a period of 40 days. In the second half of Acts 1, we read about selection of Mathias as the 12th disciple in place of Judas Iscariot. In verse 22, it says that the reason for selection of Mathias was that he "must become a witness of (Jesus') resurrection." What do these verses tell us about what we are supposed to be witnessing?

What we are witnessing is the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead and is still alive. Jesus is real. Jesus is risen. Jesus is alive.

You might ask back that unlike the disciples, we have never really seen the resurrected Jesus. We have heard and read that Jesus was risen from the dead, but have not really seen the risen Lord. It is true that we were not there when Jesus was risen from the dead. But it is also true that we can still have a personal experience with the risen Jesus Christ, who is still alive today.

The main question is "Have you had such a personal experience of the risen Lord, so that you can be a first-hand witness of Him?"

As you ponder that question, I would like to share a personal story of mine. I was born to a very devout family. My father was a pastor; my mother is now working in the missions. I was taught about Jesus Christ as my Savior and fully embraced Him from my youth. But adding to this is the fact that repeatedly in my life, the Lord has been there whenever I had a threat or a difficulty. As a little child, I had a head trauma, being hit in the head with a rock, but escaped it without any remaining complications. I then got involved in an automobile accident with a truck, as I was crossing a street; the truck was damaged while trying to avoid me, but I was unscathed. In the junior HS, I was taken into an enclosed room and was in danger of a possible gang assault, but got out without getting hit once. I immigrated to the U.S. when I was almost 15, barely speaking English. If I look back at my 36 years of immigrant history, the Lord has been with me every step of the way, to guide me, lead me, and carry me through the thick and thin. Because the Lord has done that in the past, I also know that He will continue to do so in the future and that I will have an inheritance in the Heavenly Kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is as alive today in my life as ever.

I will pose the question to you again: "Have you had a personal experience of the risen Lord, so that you can be a first-hand witness of Him?"

If your answer is Yes, praise the Lord. If your answer is No or Not Sure, then this sermon is for you. Let's open to Isaiah 55:6-7 and read the verses together: "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon." I believe these verses are a promise from the Lord that He will meet us, if we seek Him, turning away from our wicked ways and turning to Him.

I would like to ask all of you to close your eyes and focus for the moment on your own heart. Ask yourself, have I met the risen Lord personally in my life? Is He as real and alive to me as my friend sitting next to me, or actually more real and alive than my friend sitting next to me? If your answer to these questions is No or Not Sure, please place your hands on your heart silently.

Next I ask you, if you have not met the risen Jesus personally, do you want to seek Him? Do you believe the verses of Isaiah 55:6-7, that when we turn away from our ungodly ways and seek the Lord, He will be found and will meet us? If your answer to these questions is YES, then please raise your hand. Let us all pray and cry out to the Lord in an audible way.

Walking with God

Enoch was a 6th generation grandson from Adam (Genesis 5). When he became 65 years old, he begat Methuselah, known as the man who lived the longest and lived 969 years. After Enoch begat Methuselah, he "walked faithfully with God 300 years" (Genesis 5:22). Three hundred years is a long time and to be faithful for that long is exceptional. Enoch was commended as one who pleased God and was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death (Hebrews 11:5).

What does walking with God mean? For two to walk together, they need to be in agreement (Amos 3:3). For Enoch to walk with God, he had to know what God's will is and be in agreement with Him. Oftentimes in the past, I would pray (somewhat incorrectly) that God would walk with me, meaning that wherever I go, He would come along and protect me. As I think about how Enoch walked with God, I realize that it is I who should be walking in steps with the Lord, not God who should follow me around. He is the leader and I am the follower. I must discern His will and follow Him.

When the Israelites were journeying in the wilderness after coming out of Egypt, they were led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). If the pillar of cloud or fire moved, then the Israelites moved. If the pillar stayed in a place, then the Israelites stayed encamped there until the pillar began to move again. The Israelites were able to walk together with the Lord that way. It was not that the pillar followed the Israelites wherever they went.

Lord, I want to walk with You. Help me discern Your will and Your way and follow You, wherever You may go or stay. "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Your will be done in my life, as I follow and obey You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.