Witnessing for Jesus

Stewardship Temple Talk

October 3 and October 5, 2013

Continuing with our stewardship theme “Fulfilling God’s Purpose!” this second week our focus is “Witnessing for Jesus.” The master plan is for us to be witnesses to God’s love: to God’s way of forgiveness, justice, and righteousness as revealed and made manifest in the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In Acts 1:8 we read, “ . . . you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that we are “Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” Jesus tells his disciples at Matthew 4:19 “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (or “fishers of all of human kind.”) Matthew 28:19-20, known as the Great Commission, records Jesus’ command to go into the whole world, spreading the Good News, making disciples, baptizing and teaching.

God not only gives us our marching orders, but also empowers us to carry them out. In essence, what God expects God enables. Through the working of the Holy Spirit we are transformed into people up to the task of witnessing. As we spend time in God’s Word and in prayer (together and alone), we find ourselves emboldened to share our Good News so that others may know the joy and peace that life with God brings. We witness by the way we live, by the way we minister to others, and through what we share with others.

God’s Word provides many examples of people who lived their lives witnessing. Certainly, the Apostle Paul lived his life witnessing to the love of God in Christ. Paul was called to be a servant and steward for the Lord. Recognizing that our strength is not our own, Colossians 1:29 declares: “To this end I labor, struggling with all God’s energy, which so powerfully works in me.” And again at Ephesians 3:7: “I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power”. Paul and those around him knew life and motivation as gifts of grace.

Through the power of the Gospel, our lives, like Paul’s, are transformed; and, through our changed lives, others experience the love of God through Christ at work in and through us. May God help us all be the instruments for sharing this “Good News.” Please join us downstairs after worship as we continue the discussion on “Witnessing for Jesus.”