Introduction
I'm not a die hard sports fan, but if I chose favorite teams, I would probably choose the Georgia Tech and Washington, and I'll tell you why. My brother went to Georgia Tech. He was eight years older than me and sometimes would invite me to come up and stay with him at college. It was really cool. And though we were never hard core college football fans, I guess if I had to choose a college team, I would choose Georgia Tech. But really, our family's team was the Washington (formerly Redskins). Why? Well, even though I've lived most of my life in Georgia, I was born in Maryland (along with my brother and two sisters). We all moved to Georgia when I was only about 7. So we left everything we knew behind and came to a strange new place--Macon, Georgia. People thought we talked funny and we felt the same way about them. And my family still rooted for Washington; it was sort of our thing we were proud of because of where we came from.
In church service this past Sunday, I asked three people why they chose to be fans of their favorite team. One was a Green Bay Packers fan. One was a Georgia Southern fan. Another was a Ole Miss fan. I didn't warn them ahead of time that I was going to ask them why they liked that particular team. I just asked them write in the middle of the sermon. Not surprisingly, each one of them could easily share why they loved their team and each had a great story. The Packer fan had a family connection to Wisconsin, near the Green Bay area. The Georgia Southern fan and his wife both attended the college and actually met while working together at the original Zakby's in Statesboro. The Ole Miss fan grew up near Oxford, Mississippi and saw a friend with an Ole Miss notebook when she was a young kid and eventually went there.
We usually don't have a hard time talking about our favorite teams. If we're not into sports, there are probably lots of other things we love to talk about that seem natural--our kids, our favorite movies or TV shows, etc.
We like to support our favorite teams. They’re important us for many reasons.Today, I want to talk about being a witness for Jesus,
because Jesus commanded His followers to be His witnesses. I want to talk about 3 ways to be wintess for
Jesus. If you are ready to learn, say Amen! Amen!
Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon
you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in
Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Explanation
The Book of Acts tells the story of how the early Church, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, told people everywhere about Jesus. Every Christian told their family, their friends, their neighbors, their co-workers about Jesus. It started in Jerusalem, where followers shared the amazing Good News that Jesus died and rose from the grave. The Holy Spirit enabled them to do miracles, like the supernatural ability talk to people in other languages they didn't know so that those people could hear and understand the Good News about Jesus in their own native tongue. No one was in need in the early Christian community because everyone loved each other and they looked after one another as family. It was a beautiful movement--the original "Jesus Revolution".
Then persecution
broke out. The temple authorities got
jealous and started killing Christians and driving them from their homes and canceling their businesses. Christians stared leaving
Jerusalem and going out into the countryside.
They went out into Judea and told people there about Jesus and more people believed and followed Jesus. Christians even went to
Samaria—a country that was traditionally rivals and enemies of the Jews. The Jewish Christians didn’t care. They went to Samaria and told them about
Jesus and the Samaritans believed and
got saved and became Christians too!
Then the
Christians went up into Syria and Turkey and told people there the Good News
about Jesus. Then they went to Greece
and Macedonia and even to Rome. Everywhere
they went, Christians told people about Jesus.
They told about his death and ressurection. They told how Jesus changed their lives. Even when talking about Jesus could get you
in trouble or even killed, Christians were faithful witnesses. In fact, the Greek word for being a faithful witness--martyr--became synonymous with giving your life for your Christ. Christians are faithful witness who tell people about Jesus.
Today, I want to talk about three ways to be a witness for Jesus. 1)
Sharing Your Love for Jesus. 2) Inviting People to Church. 3) Recruiting people for Jesus.
Sharing Your Love For Jesus
It wasn’t hard for me to decide who to ask about their favorite team. I knew, because some people are such devoted fans of their team, everyone knows who they support. You can probably think of several people you know and which team they support. You could ask them why and they would be glad to tell you.
Being a witness for Jesus can be as natural as sharing about
your favorite team. I hope your love for
Jesus is something that everyone knows. Hopefully,
Jesus is the most important thing in your life and that comes through to
everyone everywhere, all the time.
It doesn’t have to be hard to be a witness for Jesus. If you have a real relationship with Him, people will know. Sometimes, they will just see it. Maybe they saw you wearing a cross or overheard you talking about your faith or they knew you went to church last weekend or saw you doing Christian service.
If you live for Jesus, people should be able to see your faith at work. Are you doing the kinds of things that show people Jesus is your Lord? If someone was looking to find out more about what it means to be a Christian,
would they know to come talk to you because they know you’re a Christian?
Sometime people will see your faith and know you are a Christian. Other times, you will tell them. If you’re a serious Georgia Bulldog fan (or Alabama or whatever), no one has to twist your arm to get you to talk about your team. Right? You probably look for opportunities to get in a conversation about them. You love to talk about the game that's coming up this weekend or you want to celebrate the win last weekend (or cry about the loss). It just comes natural. Are you that quick to talk about Jesus? Do you look for reasons to tell people why you love Him? Do you relish the chance to share the difference Jesus makes in your life (or even be honest about how He's helping you overcome your shortcomings)?
Inviting People to Church
Following Jesus isn’t just a private thing. We live out our faith in a community. One of the ways you can be a witness is to invite people to experience Jesus at Church—the body of Christ. Here again are some striking similarities with sports fans.
Being a fan of a certain team means being part of a
community. Right? I mean, you get together with other fans and
watch the game. There’s a whole
community. It can be electric to be in
the stands with thousands of other cheering fans, all rooting for the same
team. Or how many of you have gotten
together with friends to watch the game on TV?
Even if you watch the game all by yourself, there’s this sense that you
are part of something bigger. You are
part of a community and that matters. And if you really want your friends to experience what it’s like to be a fan of your
team, you would probably invite them to go to a game with you (or watch it on TV with you).
The same is even more true for Christians. If you want people to experience the risen
Jesus you know, you might want to invite them to church (or a Christian retreat or Bible study, etc.).
Christians experience the fullness of our faith in a community of
believers. Yes, your relationship with
Jesus is personal, but it’s not only personal. It’s something that takes place with other
people. Stories about Jesus always took
place in a group setting. Jesus called
twelve Disciples and they worked together asa group. Jesus was transfigured in
front of Peter, James, and John. The Last
Supper was a meal shared with all the Disciples—even Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. When Jesus rose, he appeared
to hundreds of people—often in groups.
Christians experience the love of Jesus most fully through other Christians. We learn in groups. We worship as a body. Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “Where two or three gather in my name, I am there with them.” That doesn't mean Jesus isn't present when we are all alone. He's with us when we are alone too, but there's something something sacred and essential about Christians gathering together. And if you want your friends to experience what it means to really be a Christian, you probably should invite them to Church—the Body of Christ.
Recruiting For Jesus
There’s one more way to be a witness that I want to talk about: Recruiting. Sometimes, you just need to be direct. Sometimes the situation calls for it. Sometimes all it takes is, “Hey, come to church with me.” But recruiting could also mean: “Hey, my church is packing sack lunches on Wednesday nights for the school next door. Why don’t you come help us out?”
Again, let’s go back to the sports analogy. In order to build a winning college team, coaches have to get out and find the best high school athletes and convince them to come to their college. Right? But it’s not just the coaches that do the recruiting. How many of you who went a certain college and had a good experience and you try to encourage others to go to that school too? And it's not that you're trying to sell something people don't need, right? If you know your school had a great nursing program and you have a friend that's looking for a nursing school, you'd be like, "Hey, the college I went to has a great nursing program. You should check it out." We would be doing them a favor by hooking them up with our great alma mater. Right?
If we believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, I
hope we will recruit people to be part that. Don’t you?
We’d be doing people a favor to recruit them to be on Jesus’ team. So why not?
A lot of people out there are looking for a team—they’re looking for meaning
and hope and peace and love and healing… Jesus is
all of that. Why not be the ones to tell
people where they kind find what they’re looking for?
So there's three easy to understand ways to be a witness:
- Sharing your love for Jesus,
- Inviting people to Church, and
- Recruiting for Jesus
I Challenge You to Be A Witness for Jesus.
I’ve been giving you challenges throughout this series. Here’s one for today. Make a list of specific people you know to whom you could be a witness. Pray about how you could witness to them.
Could you share with them a spiritual struggle you need Jesus to help you with?
Could you share with them a way you are growing spiritually because of Jesus?
Could you invite them to come to church with you (or Sunday school or Bible study…)?
Could you ask someone if you could start praying together. (Maybe you and a co-worker go out to each lunch every Tuesday. Could you ask to start saying a blessing before you eat?)
Is there someone you know who needs to pray to accept Jesus as Lord? Could you pray with them about it?
Start with a list of people. Write down their names. Look at it every day and oray that God would show you how you could be a witness to them. Let the Holy Spirit guide you and empower you to be a witness for Jesus.