This is the text of a sermon due to be preached on 9th February. But I forgot my notes and had to preach off the cuff! (I've no idea whether the sermon was better for that or not.) But anyway I thought I'd share my thoughts.
In a play about the
crucifixion of Jesus, playwright John Masefield creates a conversation between
Pilate's wife and one of the soldiers present at Golgotha. The soldier tells
Pilate's wife that he does not think Jesus has remained dead and buried. When she
asks where he might be, the soldier replies, "He is let loose in the
world where no one can stop him."
Paul verifies this
observation, as he recounts how many times Jesus appeared after the
resurrection. No one was able to stop Jesus, not even the guards at the tomb.
Nothing was able to stop him, not even locked doors.
Jesus is let loose in the
world. Witnesses, testify!
What does it mean to be a
witness? It’s a long time now since I studied law at university. In fact, as I
was preparing this, I realised I left university in June 1985. 40 years ago.
I’ve forgotten much of what I learned. But I do remember bits and pieces about
the law of evidence. And one crucial thing is that for evidence to accepted in
a court case, whether a criminal case or a civil case, it generally has to be
first hand. In other words, I couldn’t stand in court and say that Fred had
stolen John’s car because Becky told me that’s what happened. I’d need to have
seen it for myself or established the evidence that that is what happened.
In our passage from 1
Corinthians today, St Paul is writing to the church in Corinth and reminding
them of the basics of faith that he’s previously taught them:
“I passed on to you as
of first importance[a]:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to
the Scriptures” 1 Cor 15: 3 – 4
Paul is able to do this for
he is a witness himself. He was not there on the day of the resurrection. But
he reminds the people in Corinth that Jesus appeared to him – on the road to
Damascus. Therefore, Paul can bear witness first hand to the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Paul can hand on to the
Corinthians what he received directly. But Paul reminds the Corinthians of all
the other “evidence” all the other witnesses.
“He appeared to
Cephas,[b] (Which
is another name for Peter) and then to the Twelve. 6 After
that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the
same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then
he appeared to James, then to all the apostles”.
And let's not forget Mary
Magdalene, who gospel writers Mark and John report was the first to see the
risen Jesus.
Through the testimony of
Paul, and all the other witnesses, perhaps some of whom also spoke to the
Corinthians, the Corinthians have come to believe the Gospel of Christ.
To go back to my question What
does it mean to be a witness? Or more specifically, What does it mean to
be a witness for Christ?
Firstly, to be a credible
witness to Christ, a person has had to receive for themselves “the good news”.
A person has to have received the Gospel and taken it into their life. A person
has to live the Gospel. It isn’t enough just to have heard the story and think
“Oh that’s nice”. When we receive the Good News and become a follower of Jesus
it’s about discovering in Jesus Christ a new way of being, a new centre of existence,
a new power for living, a new perspective from which to view all things.
And this should mean that
our very lives bear witness to Jesus Christ. It’s not about preaching, and
dropping Bible verses into conversation. It is about showing, through our lives,
that we follow Jesus.
The message I have for you
today is that, just like the disciples Jesus sent out, you will have
opportunities to witness to others about your faith. But
before you do that, here are a couple of things to consider:
Don't be preachy, or you
might come across as self-righteous.
Don't plan a lecture that
you're going to deliver when you have some unsuspecting soul captive.
But do be honest about your
life; about your flaws and your regrets and even your continued imperfections.
And be honest about this God
who loves you just the way you are, warts and all; a God who knows your past,
in fact, a God who knows your story better than anyone else. And he loves you
anyway!
You see, that's the beauty
of the Gospel: we don't have to be specially qualified to receive it, and we
don't have to be specially qualified to share it. We only have to be honest
about who we are, and how much God loves us.
As I’ve said you may only be
able to bear witness to the power of the risen Jesus, by the way you live your
life.
In his letter to the
Corinthians, Paul reminds them how the gospel is passed on from one generation
to another. As evidence of the resurrection Paul writes of all those to whom
the risen Lord appeared. The list starts with Cephas / Pete, then the twelve,
then to five hundred more, and on to James and other apostles, and finally to
Paul himself. This was probably over a 5 to 10 year period. One person sharing
with another or several sharing with several more.
All of these witnesses
proclaimed the Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus for the
forgiveness of sins and the salvation that comes through Jesus.
They were doing this before
the stories of Jesus began to be written down. They passed on their witness by
word of mouth first of all. Telling people of their experience.
It has been said that
Church, the body of believers and followers in Jesus Christ, is always
(potentially) one generation from extinction. In other words, unless we who
believe share our belief, give our testimonies, bear witness to Jesus to the
next generation, the Church might cease to exist.
It is down to us to show
others how Jesus Christ has made a difference in our lives.
In verses 8 & 9 of the passage Paul says:
8 and
last of all Christ appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For
I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
That expression “abnormally
born” or as other translations put it “untimely born” needs
explaining. It is an ancient way of saying “premature birth”. What Paul
probably meant was that his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was
like a difficult, unexpected birth. I suppose we could think of Paul saying he
was born again but in a very difficult circumstance.
Paul’s former life as a persecutor
of the early Church led him to think of himself as “the least of the
apostles”.
9 For
I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
This wasn’t a display of false
modesty. There seems a recognition in Pual that because of his history, he had
so much to overcome in order to be accepted as one sharing the gospel. As he
says in verse 10
10 But
by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not
without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace
of God that was with me.
He’s had to work harder than
the others in order to combat the suspicion of him given his history. But he
has been able to do so through God’s grace.
What is Grace? And what are
we offered because of it?
One well known definition of
grace is “…the unmerited or undeserving favour of God to those who are under
condemnation."
Of course, we hear of how St
Paul fearlessly preached the gospel following his conversion on the road to Damascus
and we can feel inadequate. We can think “We can never measure up to Paul.”
And in a sense that is true. But we need to think in a different way. We are
not called to be like St Paul. We are not called to be a witness like Paul.
Rather we are called to witness in our own way. Each of has our own unique
story of faith and when we came to faith.
10 By
the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without
effect.
We have been shaped by our past
lives, but we are who we are through the grace of God.
In his book “Testimony:
Talking Ourselves into being Christian”, writer Tom Long says this:
Christians are on the
witness stand to tell the story, not because it is a likely story or an
advantageous piece of testimony, but because it is true. We know it is true
because we ourselves have experienced it and witnessed its truth. That is why
we are on the witness stand and have taken the oath to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth “so help us God”.
Whenever Christ turns a life
around, heals a broken marriage, forgives a sinner, transforms a bitter heart,
teaches a fearful person to love, or shows a greedy person how to give, there
is a witness ready to take the stand and tell the story of the good news of
God’s grace.
Go and be a witness.
Testify!
