Pastor Mark Mikels
August 13, 2006
“MY WITNESS IN THE WORLD – part
one”
Church Under Construction – Behavioral Phase #3
Intro … Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church and the gates of
Hell shall not prevail against it”.
That’s an ambitious task! The Church of Jesus Christ generally and
Sonlife Community Church specifically is a “Church Under Construction”.
How appropriate during the very months we are engaged in building a
physical structure to house our congregation that we turn our attention
to the spiritual construction project going on in our midst!
There are four distinct phases to Christ’s construction project: the
doctrinal phase where the foundational truths of the faith are laid
down; the behavioral phase where the essential behaviors of the
Christian Life are laid out; the relational phase where a discussion of
true body life is taken up and the evangelistic phase the heart of God
for the Lost is fleshed out.
So far we have completed the doctrinal phase and we are three weeks
into the behavioral phase. The messages during the doctrinal phase were
based upon our Sonlife Statement of Belief (our doctrinal statement).
The messages during the current behavioral phase are based upon our
Sonlife Covenant of Behavior.
Today’s message “My Witness In The World” is the third in this
behavioral set. Here’s the statement from our Sonlife Covenant that
stimulates it …
Our Sonlife Covenant …
Believing in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and desiring to live in
a manner that will bring glory to Him, and having associated myself
with this local body of believers called “Sonlife Community Church”, I
do now covenant together with them that… I will endeavor to give
positive witness of my relationship to Jesus Christ by word and deed in
every circumstance in which I am placed. (Acts 1:8; Colossians 3:17;
1 Peter 2:15)
Today’s message is part one of a two part discussion … we might say
that today’s message establishes the context within which next Sunday’s
message will be given. Today’s message can certainly stand alone but
next Sunday’s message will definitely flesh it out.
So then … on with today’s message … our Covenant says in a
statement that could easily be committed to memory …
I will endeavor to give positive witness of my relationship to Jesus
Christ by word and deed in every circumstance
in which I am placed. (Acts 1:8; Colossians 3:17; 1 Peter 2:15)
Here are the key scriptures upon which that statement is based …
“you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
(Colossians 3:17)
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give
an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that
you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect … (1 Peter 2:15)
There can be no doubt that Jesus Christ intends the members of His
Church to have an impact upon the world around them – He expects them
to be demonstrators and explainers of the Life He provides. Committing
ourselves to live as His Witnesses puts us firmly on the Path of His
Choosing and Blessing. So then how do we go about it? How should we
understand this commitment that we have made?
Reflecting upon our Sonlife Statement and upon these key scriptures
that underlie it, I would share with you this morning Six Key Words
regarding our witness in the world … Six Key Words that hopefully
help unlock the procedure whereby we become effective witnesses for the
Lord in our everyday world.
The first word is … EFFORT – Our Sonlife Statement begins with
these words … “I will endeavor …”
Living as a witness for the Lord in this fallen world requires some
conscious actions on our part … actions that are not necessarily the
most easy or natural to take. In fact all of the actions that lead to
the right kind of “witness” are actions that are unnatural to our
fallen sin nature. It takes conscious “effort” to live “like a
Christian” in this fallen world, doesn’t it?
The Apostle Peter explains the “starting point for witness” in his
first letter to the Church … “But in your hearts set apart Christ as
Lord” … Best to do that first thing every morning … “Set apart
Christ as Lord” … that means “acknowledge that He is running the
show”. To set Christ apart as Lord means to simultaneously “set self
aside”.
Either Christ is Lord or Self is Lord. It takes conscious effort to
make that commitment and to maintain that commitment throughout the
day.
But once I establish Jesus as Lord of my life for the day, what am I
consciously trying to accomplish as I go through the day?
That question brings us to our second Key Word of the morning – The
Word RESULT… According to our Sonlife Covenant Statement: “I am
endeavoring to give “positive witness”
Sometimes adjectives can be irritating things … it would make our job
a lot easier if the statement simply said … “I will endeavor to give
witness of my relationship with Jesus Christ by word and deed in every
circumstance in which I am placed.” But the statement says that the
RESULT for which I endeavor is a “Positive Witness” …
That means that the words I use and the deeds I perform need to reflect
positively upon Jesus Christ … they need to be the kind of words or
deeds that someone could say “I could imagine Jesus saying that or
doing that”.
Once again we take our cue from the Apostle Peter …
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to
give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope
that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect …”
No haughty or “know it all” condescending attitude – don’t express your
witness with a condemning, putdown attitude. The result that we seek is
a positive, winsome, attractive witness – the very kind of word and
deed witness that Jesus himself gave.
So I make the daily effort to establish Jesus as the Lord of my life
and having done that, I allow Him to bring out of me a wholesome,
attractive, positive witness …
Now to what and of what am I giving this positive witness?
And here we come to our Third Key Word … FOCUS – the focus of my
witness is “my relationship with Jesus”. Note that I am not primarily
witnessing to the trustworthiness of the Bible nor am I primarily
witnessing to the correctness of my doctrine or any other such thing. I
am witnessing to the fact that I have a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ and to the corollary fact that my relationship with Jesus
determines and explains and gives meaning to everything that I do and
say in my life.
And since that is the focus of my witness then it logically follows
that I concern myself with our fourth Key Word of the morning – METHOD.
For how do I get an opportunity to tell people about my relationship to
Jesus Christ … Do I button hole them or do I wait until they ask? But
why would they ever ask?
Basically our METHOD is to live in such a way that they can’t help but
ask. Again here’s what our Covenant Statement says …
“I will endeavor to give positive witness of my relationship with Jesus
Christ by word and deed in every circumstance in which I am placed.”
Those words come right out of the Apostle Paul’s directions to the
Colossian believers … (Colossians 3:17)
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”
As we mentioned just a few moments ago, it’s our words and deeds that
enable the “witness” – they are the things that draw the attention of
those around us. When our words and deeds are consistently positive –
especially in times when circumstances are negative – people will
notice and they will inquire. They might say things like …
“Don’t you ever get down?” – “Don’t you ever blow up?” – “Are you
always so together?” – “What’s the deal with you anyway?”
Here’s where Peter’s words come into play once more …
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give
an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that
you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect … (1 Peter 2:15)
Our answer in a nutshell is … “I have a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ and He keeps me going”.
That answer, of course, can lead to much more conversation but that
answer all by itself is the “WITNESS” … anything that would follow
falls under the category of explanation and is only given if the person
who asked wants to hear more. So my commitment is to make the effort to
live in such a way that my words and deeds bear positive witness of my
relationship with Jesus!
Now there’s two more things to share this morning and those two things
are communicated by our final key words …
Our Fifth Key Word is the word EXTENT – Where am I to maintain this
positive witness and what, in fact, is the EXTENT of this commitment I
have made?
“I will endeavor to give positive witness of my relationship with Jesus
Christ by word and deed in every circumstance in which I am placed.”
There’s never a break from witness … never a circumstance where I can
forsake my commitment to live in such a way as to give positive witness
to my relationship with Jesus Christ … never a circumstance where I
can say, “I don’t care whether they know I have a personal
relationship to Jesus Christ or not.” Never a circumstance where I can
consciously say, “I don’t even want them to know that I have a personal
relationship to Jesus Christ”.
Every circumstance of life is “witness territory” … In every
circumstance of life I am to live in such a way that my words and deeds
bear positive witness to the fact that “I have a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ that keeps me going strong”.
Now knowing how twisted and even bizarre some circumstances of life can
become and knowing that the Devil himself would whisper in our ear …
“This situation doesn’t count … in this situation you need to just
act like everybody else … use the language they use and do the things
they do” … knowing that that’s how life frequently is … we need to
truly experience the power of this final Key Word … CONFIDENCE .
“I will endeavor to give witness of my relationship with Jesus Christ
by word and deed in every circumstance in which I am placed.”
God is the One who oversees the circumstances of my life. In every
circumstance I can confidently say, “I am here either by the direction
or the permission of God”. He will grace me to function for Him if I
set Him apart as Lord in my life. So in every circumstance of life I
will endeavor by word and deed to give positive witness to my personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. What a challenge and what a privilege!
Our final thot simply once again underscores the fact though the living
of a positive life must come first, the witness to the source of that
life is essential if people would understand what our life really is
all about.
Final Thot … Before people can know that your RELATIONSHIP with
Jesus WORKS they must know that you HAVE a relationship with Jesus.
Otherwise they won’t know WHAT’S working! They can see that SOMETHING
is working but they can’t know what it is until we TELL them …
“I have a personal RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ and HE keeps me going
strong!