In
the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Grace
and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord
and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen
The Second Sunday of Easter (2011)
We are Christ’s Witnesses to the Word
Acts 5:29-32
(ESV)
But Peter and the apostles answered,
"We must obey God rather than men.
[30] The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him
on a tree. [31] God exalted him at his
right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to
Have
you ever thought how it might have been to be one of the apostles as they stood
before that august tribunal of the Sanhedrin being chastened for witnessing
about Jesus? What a fearful experience. These men had the power of life or
death over the apostles. If they were convinced that the apostles were teaching
blasphemy, they would have had them stoned to death. However, faced with this
angry and hostile court, the apostles never flinched; they never wavered, not
for a moment, from the faith that their Lord, Jesus Christ was the Messiah who
came and gave His life so that all men could be saved. They remained steadfast
as Christ’s Witnesses to the World.
To
stand firm for the Lord must have been a rewarding experience for these
apostles. Knowing how faithful the apostles were to their calling, have you
asked yourself lately, just how faithful you are? When was the last time you
reviewed the activities of your day and said to yourself, “I feel really good,
today because I witnessed the love of Christ to a stranger. I told them about Jesus;
what He has done for me through His life, death, and resurrection. I told them
what He means to me as my Savior. I told them of the love of Christ for all
mankind.” If you didn’t do it last night, perhaps it was the night before, or
the week before, or the month before? Maybe you’ve never done it. If you
haven’t spoken to anyone regarding the love of Christ for all mankind, then you
have missed the sole purpose of your Christian life; you have neglected the
work to which you have been called and you are in danger of becoming a barren
fig tree in God’s kingdom of grace.
If
having failed your Christian calling, you will stand before our Lord Jesus on
Judgment Day and hear Him say to you, “I do not know you. I have never heard
you mention My name to another. I have never seen you witness my love to
another. What makes you think you’re a member of my flock? Depart from me into
everlasting darkness.” How sad it will be to learn, too late, that you were not
one of Christ’s Witnesses to the World.
The
true measure of our love for the Savior is the extent to which we give
ourselves to the task which He has set before us; that of bearing witness of
Him before all men.
In
their time, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles preached and
witnessed the love of Christ to others. Today, after twenty centuries, many who
are called to be witnesses of the love of Christ to others, who have this same
Holy Spirit given to them in the waters of Baptism, simply sit idly on the
sidelines, comfortably warming the bench, hoping not to be called on to put
their faith in action by actively being Christ’s
Witnesses to the World. Because of
our propensity to procrastinate, or our outright fear of actively participating
in the work of the church, every one of us needs to go back again and again to
the record of the apostles who were Witnesses
to the World of their day and thereby learn from them why, what, and how we
are to be Witnesses to the World of
our day.
If
anyone should ask, “Why should I witness?” they need only to look at the answer
which the apostles gave as recorded in our text for today. If you’ll recall,
these apostles had been imprisoned by the High Priest and the Sadducees for
publicly preaching Christ crucified. However, sometime during the night an
angel came and freed them from prison. Once free, the angel said to them, “Go
and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life”
(Acts 5:20 ESV). Without a moment’s hesitation, the apostles obeyed
what the angel had ordered; they went to the temple and began to preach and
teach the love of God through Christ Jesus.
Needless
to say, when morning comes, the High Priest and the Sadducees are surprised to
find that the apostles had escaped from the prison. Moreover, the guards who went
in search of them were even more surprised when they found them in the temple,
doing exactly what they had been arrested for on the previous day; preaching
Christ and Him crucified. Wanting to put the apostles on trial, the High Priest
sends the captain of the guard to the temple to arrest them again.
Once
the apostles are before the temple court, the High Priest begins to question them,
saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have
filled
God
commands and we obey. Think it over. If we truly believe that we are creatures
made by God and subject to His will, then nothing in the world, absolutely
nothing, is as important as doing what He commands. No matter what our own
desires, no matter what others may advise, no matter what our reason may tell
us, no matter what any man may order or threaten, if almighty God gives an
order, we have no choice but to obey. Who cares what anyone else says or
thinks? “We must obey God rather than men.” Moreover, God has left no
doubt; He wants us to be Christ’s
Witnesses in the World of our day. This is His charge to us and to refuse
obedience on any grounds whatsoever constitutes rebellion against God. God
commands, we obey.
Truth
is we obey God because our love for Him permits us to do nothing less. When
Christ implants His love into our hearts, our hearts becomes inflamed with a
desire to be near Him and to do that which pleases Him.
Moreover,
it is to our advantage to obey God in this matter of witnessing of Christ. By
witnessing to others the love of God in Christ Jesus, our own love for Christ
grows deeper and stronger and our faith is strengthened. When we tell others of
our love for Christ, we cannot help but remember all that our Lord Jesus has
done for us purely of out His grace. We cannot forget the hardships He endured
and the love He poured out on many as He traveled throughout the Judean
countryside healing the sick, both physically and spiritually. By His Word, He
enlivened hearts that had grown dull, He gave sight to the eyes of faith to
those whose faith was blind, and He opened the ears of faith those who were
deaf so they could perceive the things of God. We are strengthened when we recall
His willingness to obey His Father’s will, even to the point of death on the
Cross, so we might be forgiven our sins. We give thanks for the precious gift
of His body and blood given to us under bread and wine so we can remain in Him
and Him in us. Filled with His presence, we rejoice, assured of His forgiveness
as we are strengthened in our walk of faith. And we are emboldened as we
remember His resurrection which announces to us God’s absolution because His
Son, our Lord Jesus fulfilled His mission and reconciled us to His heavenly
Father. Then, what joy it is to our heart when we see those to whom we have witnessed
receive the message of salvation with joy and great anticipation. What great
joy fills our hearts when we see their faces light up after they have been
shown the way to eternal life; these are the reactions that bring inexpressible
joy to the heart of a Christian who is Christ’s
Witness in the World.
We
are graced with Christ’s overflowing love so that we might share it with
others. Therefore, we look for souls on which to lavish that love. Truth is
there is no other object on earth that needs that love more than the person who
does not know Christ. Take a good look at that person—not their home, not their
clothing, not their car, not their manners, not their station in life, rather look
only to their soul. Unless that person knows Jesus as the Savior of all men, as
their Savior, then there is a soul which is doomed to hell, starved for love, a
soul at enmity with God, headed for the same dread pit from which Christ has
rescued us. Don’t be deceived by outward indifference, shallow gaiety, or
superficial religiousness; until that soul has found Christ and surrendered to
Him, it is lost. You have been given the gift of faith, which has saved you, illuminating
the darkness of your lost soul while guiding you to eternal life and it needs
to be shared with others. This you can now do because through faith you have
become Christ’s Witness to the World.
A
witness is one who publicly testifies to that which he has seen or experienced.
That is exactly what our Lord indicated was His desire when He told the
disciples that they were to be His witnesses; that is exactly what the apostles
meant when they told the Sanhedrin: “We are witnesses to these things” (v. 32);
we saw these things happen, we felt the Lord stirring in our hearts when we
were with Him, and we are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the
Son of the living God who died so that we might live for eternity. This personal
affirmation of God’s truth is also what witnessing is today. The Lord does not
expect you to bear witness of Him as recorded in history books; that would be
merely an academic exercise. Nor does He expect you to provide some doctrinal dissertation
requiring theological degrees and doctorates. No, what our Lord expects is that
you would witness of Him from your personal knowledge of Him through the means
of grace; Word and Sacrament. He expects you to witness of Him as He lives in
your heart and in your life today. Leave the theological questions to the
pastor while you tell others of what our Lord Jesus means to you.
However,
I can hear the protest now, “Yes, I have Christ in my heart and I want very
much to witness of Him to others, but I do not know what to say!” If you have a
loss of words, look to the words of the apostles in our text and elsewhere in
the New Testament. See what the apostles said and repeat it. Their subject
matter was always the same, the story of sin and salvation, of man’s need and
God’s answer. Rarely do we have the opportunity to speak to an individual about
a particular sin; however, we must speak of sin because only when a person is convicted
of their sin and their inability to overcome it are they ready to receive the
message of salvation.
The
apostles always held up Jesus as the Son of God and pointed to Him as the
Prince and Savior of Israel, the only Hope of mankind. In fact, in another
appearance before this same tribunal, Peter had told them: “There is salvation in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved” (Acts 4:12 ESV). Over and over again we find the apostles
repeating this message before men of all races and stations, before kings and
slaves, in season and out, until death seals their lips. You might ask, “How
can I be as eloquent? How can I speak like Peter?” If you desire to speak like
Peter, and bear true witness of Christ, then all you really need is Martin Luther’s
beautiful explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe that
Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true
man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and
condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the
power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood
and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under
Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and
blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all
eternity. This is most certainly true.
That should be
the theme of your witnessing to the world today.
Therefore,
as you leave here this morning remember that the power within you to witness is
not your own, it is God’s. You have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit so
that you can be a channel through which God exercises His power to save mankind;
you are a tool through which our Lord does His work, He will supply the means. As
long as we regard it our work, trying to do it our way, with our cleverness,
our plans, our resources, our power, we are doomed to frustration and failure.
However, when we are able to sing from our hearts,
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord to Thee;
Take my moments and my days, Let
them flow in ceaseless praise. (783, LSB)
then we shall
see what wonderful things God can accomplish through us.
You
have been called to be Christ’s Witnesses
to the World today. The time is growing short; the night is rapidly
approaching when no man can work. Thus this is not the time for delay, or
questioning, or excuses, or procrastination; rather, it is a time for courage,
for resolution, for going forward in the name of Christ; it is time for action,
for prayer, for getting out of the way so God can do His work through you. In
short, it is time to be Christ’s
Witnesses in the World. Amen.
May the Peace of God which
passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.