Can I get a witness?
Commentary
I was in a most meaningful worship not long ago. The singing was wondrous. The sense of unity and fellowship was tremendous. The sermon was marvelous and inspired. And no, I wasn't preaching! The preacher's theme was "Walking the Walk, and Talking the Talk," but what stood out to me was how that minister used another phrase almost like a mantra. It was "Can I get a witness?" And whenever she said it, the hands and voices of witnesses were raised and filled the room.
"Can I get a witness?" That's the question I hear being asked in the readings today.
In Luke, the Risen Lord appears to the company of believers in the Upper Room, assuring them that he is alive and well. And he asks them, in effect, "Can I get a witness? You are indeed my witnesses. Go and preach forgiveness of sins in my name as my witnesses."
And in the Acts reading we see them doing just that. They preach, teach and heal in the name of Jesus. They give witness to the power of the Risen Lord among them. The whole book of Acts is really an answer to that question. With hands and voices and lives raised they replied, "Yes, Lord! You can get a witness! We are your witnesses!"
Perhaps we have been told all our lives that we, too, are called to be witnesses for Christ. But what does it mean? What does it involve? How do we do it?
Acts 3:12-19
This story actually begins in 3:1-11, with Peter's healing of a crippled beggar. You should read that and, for context, include at least verse 11 in the public reading of this text.
Verses 12-16 tell of Peter's response to the astonishment of those who witnessed the healing. It seems that the people were looking at Peter and John as some kind of supernatural beings or at least as persons with supernatural gifts. In other words, the crowd considered Peter and John themselves as the source of the healing. But Peter tells the crowd that he and John are only instruments, if that much. The Risen Lord, Jesus, is the one who was present, the one who did it. It was the power of the Risen Lord and faith in him that had brought this healing about. This Jesus, was the one they had rejected, turned over to Pilate and considered a criminal. They thought Jesus was dead and gone, but in fact, was now proven by the resurrection to be the gloried one, the one God had chosen to bring salvation into the world. And because of that healing and other wondrous things were happening (as on Pentecost) through the name and presence of Jesus, further proving that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
Peter says some very harsh things about the citizenry here. He lays blame for the death of Jesus on their shoulders (see 13bff). They had even asked for the release of a true murderer, Barabbas, in place of the "Author of Life." But even that act of rejection and death has now become the means of God's acceptance and life-giving power through the Risen Lord. This is not something the disciples think or merely believe, but something they have witnessed, have seen firsthand, and continue to see in the healing of the lame man.
It is not surprising that this and other passages were then later used to ferment anti-Jewish feelings and actions by some. Such things, unfortunately, still happen to this day. Peter and the early church faced the vexing problem of why most of the Jewish people rejected Jesus and still do as the Messiah. Paul, if you will read his letters, like Romans, really struggles with this. He yearns to see how his own people come to see Jesus, to experience him as he has. Peter sees the promises of God through the prophets and patriarchs as being fulfilled in Jesus, even the suffering of Christ. So it is necessary for even the Jews to repent, to turn to God again and have faith in the name of Jesus. Peter says that they rejected Jesus out of ignorance. But all of this can be made right again through repentance, says Peter.
1 John 3:1-7
The theme of this passage begins in 2:28, where John speaks of Christians as being the "children of God," one of his favorite metaphors for Christians. It is a phrase long associated with the people of God in the Old Testament. We are no longer aliens, orphans, or strangers; we are now children of God. We are part of God's family. The parent-child relationship, as God intended it, is used here to describe the relationship between God and believers. This certainly implies intimacy, love, dependence, trust, and all the best of the parent-child relationship.
How is it that we became the children of God? It is because of "the love the Father has given us ..." (v. 1). Just as ideally a child is born out of the love of parents, so, too, we are born anew as God's children because of the love of God. This love was "given." This sounds very much like John 3:16. God's love came to us in the form of a child, the Son of God, through whom we know have become adopted into God's own family. This is not because of anything that we have done. A child does nothing to be born or adopted. It is the love, the grace of the Parent that does it all.
The world does not recognize us as God's children (v. 1b). When I go to my hometown, there are those who knew me when I was small and know I am a child of my father and mother. But many others do not know this, for they know neither me nor my parents. Likewise, John is saying that the world is blind to God. It does not know God as Father, so how can it know us as God's children?
What's implied here is opposition and even persecution. This sounds very much like John 15:18-19. This hostility to the children of God is seen in the Psalm 4 reading today and is evidenced in how the disciples in the gospel reading are behind locked doors for fear of the authorities. It is also seen in Acts, for the actions and words of Peter and John will bring them into opposition very soon with those who do not know God or the disciples.
In verse 2 we see that John has been looking at the present. "You are, right now," he assures them, in spite of the persecution they may be facing or may face, "God's children. You enjoy all the benefits of that relationship. But you ain't seen anything yet! There's so much more for you ahead. What it all will be has not yet been revealed, but it will be surely more wonderful than we can conceive of."
I came across a picture of my son recently right after he was born. Born prematurely, he was only about three and half pounds. I remember wondering just what was ahead for him, what he would look like when he was grown, who he would become. And slowly each day, I see it happening. I think John is telling us that we, the children of God, are like that. We do not yet know just how we will come out, how we will grow and mature, what we will even look like in that new life to come when Christ comes. But, he notes, we will be like him, that is, like the Risen Lord.
Verses 4-7. Being children in a family does carry some obligations on our part. Certain things were expected in my family's household. Likewise, as children of God, we are to reflect the will and desire of God in who we are and how we live. A child carries the likeness of the parent. God is righteous, pure and holy. We, as God's children, are to reflect those same qualities. This does not earn us God's love. That's already been given and received. Such living is a response to God's love, a desire to love God back in living the kind of life we know pleases him.
Luke 24:36b-48
This is the third appearance in Luke of the Risen Lord and is very much like the story we had last Sunday from John. This version has three main themes: 1) Jesus is truly alive; 2) His death and resurrection were in fact in accordance with God's plans as revealed in the scriptures; 3) The disciples are commissioned as witnesses to preach forgiveness in his name to all nations (Luke's version of the Great Commission). The Acts reading for today shows the disciples, at least Peter and John, doing just this.
The Eleven and others are apparently in the Upper Room again, perhaps to try to take in all the recent events. Who exactly was there beyond the Eleven we do not know, although those who had encountered the Risen Jesus on the Emmaus road may well have been in the number, as well as the Marys who had been the first witnesses of the Resurrection.
While they are discussing things among themselves, Jesus suddenly appears or is made visible (John's account has them behind locked doors for fear of those who had crucified Jesus). It was as if Jesus had been with them anyway but chose now to let them see him. And that's the point. Jesus is alive. He is real. It's Jesus! Not some spirit or ghost. This is not some mass hallucination, but the Real Thing! They were afraid they were encountering the dead, a ghost, not the real and alive Jesus. Jesus acts quickly to show that he is no ghost. He has the scars on his hands and feet (thus Good Friday and Easter are forever joined). He invites them to touch him, for he has a real body, something that a ghost could not have. He even asks them for something to eat, probably to further assure them he is alive and well. This brings to mind Eucharistic themes, that is, that the Christ is alive and present with us when we gather at his table and partake of the bread and the cup.
None of this, the Cross and the Resurrection, were just happenstance. What had happened was in accord with the saving purpose of God all along as demonstrated in the scriptures. Indeed, the scriptures are understood as teaching about these things, about Christ, how he was to suffer, die, and even arise. Throughout the gospels, the writers make frequent reference to Old Testament teachings that they connect to Jesus. Even at the beginning of Jesus' life, Joseph and Mary follow the teachings of the Law (Luke 2:21-40). Later, Jesus sees himself as fulfilling the Law, completing it, bringing redemption and salvation, which is why the Law was given (but was unable to accomplish on it's own). Early Christian preachers drew heavily upon the teachings of scripture in their preaching (as we see in the sermons in Acts). In other words, what God had done now in Christ was in accord with all that God had been doing and planning. It is new and wondrous in many ways, but it is also a fulfillment of ancient promises. Those in the Upper Room did not understand this at this point, so Jesus "opened" their minds to the scriptures to help them understand and to see how all that had happened was the culmination of God's saving work as seen throughout the Old Testament.
Jesus is alive! God's saving work has been offered for the whole world. But witnesses, messengers are needed now to take that message, let the whole world know. The disciples are called to be those messengers, to proclaim the Good News in the name of Jesus (which is what Peter and John do in the Acts reading today). In the name and authority of Jesus, they (and we) preach and teach forgiveness of sin. Through the proclamation of the Good News, a power is released that transforms persons into the children of God (1 John 3); persons are given a whole new relationship with God; and sins are wiped away (Acts 3:19) as if they had never been there in the first place.
Application
When some newsworthy event happens, reporters look for those persons who actually have firsthand knowledge of that event, who heard it or saw it. They want to talk to the witnesses.
In a court proceeding, witnesses are those persons who have some unique knowledge, experience to share that others do not. They are called to testify to what they have seen, heard or experienced.
It is the same with being a witness for Christ. A witness for Christ is someone who has had encounters with and still has encounters with the Risen Lord. It is sharing with others what we have seen, heard and experienced with Christ.
The testimony of a witness can be powerful. Notice how television commercials use the testimonials of people to sell all kinds of products. And who among us has not tried some new product or gone to some new store because someone we knew and respected said they had used it or been there and recommended it? A genuine, authentic testimony is powerful. How much more powerful then is the sharing with others of how we have seen, heard and experienced Christ in our lives?
Not just anyone is called by reporters before the camera, only those who witnessed or experienced the news event being covered. Not just anyone is called up to give testimony in court, only those who have the relevant firsthand knowledge and experience. We, too, can only be a witness for Christ if we have experienced him, been encountered by him, walked with him. We cannot give meaningful testimony to that which we have never experienced.
I cannot introduce someone else to you if I do not really know that person. The better I know that person, the more time I have had with that person, the more experiences and conversations, the better able I am to help you get to know that person as well. This is the key to being a witness for Christ -- staying in touch with Christ, seeking daily to walk and talk with Christ, to be daily walking and talking with him, growing in our closeness to him.
So, how do we bear witness then? To put it in the words of my preacher friend, I think we witness for Christ by walking the walk and talking the talk.
Walking the walk means bearing witness to Christ by the way we live, by being who we say we are -- Christians, followers of Christ. It means we actually live out our faith in our daily lives. Our relationship with Christ influences and determines our attitudes, our actions, our words -- every aspect of our lives.
1 John 3 talks about us being God's children, reflecting the qualities of God in our lives. That means refraining from sin, doing the right things, and with God's help, living a life of purity.
The people who had the most impact on me becoming a Christian were individuals who walked the walk, for whom being a Christian was 24/7. I saw and experienced Christ in them.
But talking the talk is also important. Words are important. It is not enough to just let our lives witness for Christ. The disciples like Peter and John went around and talked the talked as well as walking the walk. They shared with others what they had seen and experienced. They were open and alert to opportunities each day to do just that, as when they passed the lame man who begged something from them by the Temple gate. We witness for Christ when we take advantage of those opportunities given each day to share what we have seen, heard, and experienced Christ doing in our lives.
Alternative Applications1) 1 John 3:1-7. Children of God. During a children's sermon one Sunday morning, I was telling the kids the story of the lost sheep. I asked them, "Why did the shepherd count his sheep each night as they went into the fold?"
Caleb, about six years old, said, "So he could go to sleep."
Everyone was rolling in the aisles with laughter.
When some composure had been regained, to tease him and his parents a little I said, "Whose child are you, anyway?"
Without blinking an eye, he said, "God's child."
I didn't mess with him anymore.
Caleb was right. He is God's child. So am I. So are you. That's what our epistle reading says: "See what love the father has given us, that we should be called the children of God...."
To be the children of God means
* God loves us (v. 1).
* We are children of God and not just a child of God, singular; we are also to love another. We are a family. We have brothers and sisters.
* We are ever to be growing to be like Christ, as siblings often do look like one another (v. 2).
* We are to try to live lives that please God, that is, not to sin (v. 6).
So, whose children are you?
2) 1 John 3:1-7 and Luke 24:36b-48. Have you seen the movie, Defending Your Life? It's an interesting view of life after death. Get it on video and watch it so that you can summarize it or even show excerpts from it.
Drawing upon the comments above for these passages, share in the sermon your understanding of the life to come. What can we know and not know? Perhaps one way to do this is to ask and seek some answer to the questions that people often ask about the life to come. One, for example, is, "Will we know each other?" Another one, "What will we look like?"
Eduard Schweizer, the New Testament scholar, came and spoke at Duke when I attended there. His topic was the general resurrection. One thing he said really stood out. He said that he thought in the life to come we would still be us, that we would retain our personhood. He also said he thought that life would be one in which we continued to realize more fully the potential God had placed within us. We would continue to grow, to learn, to mature, to become truly more and more like Christ.
We have to be careful not to engage in too much speculation, but the passages today do lend themselves to this subject. You may wish to end where the epistle of John does -- we do not know it all, but we do know we are God's children and that we will be like Christ, and perhaps that's all we need to know.
The Political Pulpit
Luke 24:36b-48
Given the Christian mandate for peace expressed in the gospel lesson, we must consider what to make of the war on terrorism, war with Iraq and tensions with North Korea over its development of nuclear arms. Would our nation's participation in such military actions represent a denial of Christ's Commission and gift?
The usual justification for American involvement in these prospective and in past wars has been the invocation of the Just War Theory. This text provides a good opportunity to expound on this theory and its applicability to our present context.
Christian theology turns to Augustine as its source for the Just War Theory. Essentially his view, indebted to the Roman philosopher Cicero, was that war was justifiable only "when a people neglected either to punish wrongs done by its members or to restore what it had wrongly seized" (Questions on the Heptateuch, 6.10). There is a vagueness here about which Western society has debated ever since. Some contend that this definition allowed only for a war to redress grievances by the injured party so that the status before the war could be restored. In other words, America cannot start a war if it is to be a just war. Others contend that this definition allows for a war to defend the moral order. This interpretation would seem to allow for a war initiated by America to enhance the moral order worldwide, as long as such a war were not found to serve selfish American interests (sinful libido) (Ibid.). Elsewhere, in The City of God (19.7), Augustine contended that just wars were necessitated by the wrongdoing of the enemy. Does this open the way to American intervention against the wrongdoings of the development of the North Korean nuclear arsenal and the actions of Saddam Hussein?
This is an opportunity to clarify what a Just War is, to help parishioners make some judgments about the conflict in which America is engaged or is about to be. If we understand the War on Terrorism as merely a response to the attacks of 9/11, then the most cautious interpretation of Augustine's theory allows for American military engagement against al Qaeda terrorists. Of course it is another matter with regard to Iran. Attacking it is only a defensive war if there is hard evidence (which, as of this writing, is yet to be produced) that Iraq and Saddam Hussein did indeed abet Osama bin Laden's attacks. And there seems to be no basis for military action against North Korea on these grounds.
Of course, it is another matter if the Just War Theory is understood in the more open way. Then we might be able to justify military action against both Iraq and North Korea on grounds that only in this way can threats to terrorism be ended, and so the moral order be restored. Of course the key consideration in this mode of thought is that such considerations be conducted apart from the issues of American interests.
As usual, Augustinianism lends a touch of realism to the Christian view of life. We are reminded here that Jesus' Easter promise of peace is not necessarily a command to practice pacifism. God uses many means to realize the divine will. Sometimes in history, perhaps even today, peace can be achieved through just wars. But Christians always need to raise critical questions about whether particular wars, like the ones on the horizon, are really just.
"Can I get a witness?" That's the question I hear being asked in the readings today.
In Luke, the Risen Lord appears to the company of believers in the Upper Room, assuring them that he is alive and well. And he asks them, in effect, "Can I get a witness? You are indeed my witnesses. Go and preach forgiveness of sins in my name as my witnesses."
And in the Acts reading we see them doing just that. They preach, teach and heal in the name of Jesus. They give witness to the power of the Risen Lord among them. The whole book of Acts is really an answer to that question. With hands and voices and lives raised they replied, "Yes, Lord! You can get a witness! We are your witnesses!"
Perhaps we have been told all our lives that we, too, are called to be witnesses for Christ. But what does it mean? What does it involve? How do we do it?
Acts 3:12-19
This story actually begins in 3:1-11, with Peter's healing of a crippled beggar. You should read that and, for context, include at least verse 11 in the public reading of this text.
Verses 12-16 tell of Peter's response to the astonishment of those who witnessed the healing. It seems that the people were looking at Peter and John as some kind of supernatural beings or at least as persons with supernatural gifts. In other words, the crowd considered Peter and John themselves as the source of the healing. But Peter tells the crowd that he and John are only instruments, if that much. The Risen Lord, Jesus, is the one who was present, the one who did it. It was the power of the Risen Lord and faith in him that had brought this healing about. This Jesus, was the one they had rejected, turned over to Pilate and considered a criminal. They thought Jesus was dead and gone, but in fact, was now proven by the resurrection to be the gloried one, the one God had chosen to bring salvation into the world. And because of that healing and other wondrous things were happening (as on Pentecost) through the name and presence of Jesus, further proving that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
Peter says some very harsh things about the citizenry here. He lays blame for the death of Jesus on their shoulders (see 13bff). They had even asked for the release of a true murderer, Barabbas, in place of the "Author of Life." But even that act of rejection and death has now become the means of God's acceptance and life-giving power through the Risen Lord. This is not something the disciples think or merely believe, but something they have witnessed, have seen firsthand, and continue to see in the healing of the lame man.
It is not surprising that this and other passages were then later used to ferment anti-Jewish feelings and actions by some. Such things, unfortunately, still happen to this day. Peter and the early church faced the vexing problem of why most of the Jewish people rejected Jesus and still do as the Messiah. Paul, if you will read his letters, like Romans, really struggles with this. He yearns to see how his own people come to see Jesus, to experience him as he has. Peter sees the promises of God through the prophets and patriarchs as being fulfilled in Jesus, even the suffering of Christ. So it is necessary for even the Jews to repent, to turn to God again and have faith in the name of Jesus. Peter says that they rejected Jesus out of ignorance. But all of this can be made right again through repentance, says Peter.
1 John 3:1-7
The theme of this passage begins in 2:28, where John speaks of Christians as being the "children of God," one of his favorite metaphors for Christians. It is a phrase long associated with the people of God in the Old Testament. We are no longer aliens, orphans, or strangers; we are now children of God. We are part of God's family. The parent-child relationship, as God intended it, is used here to describe the relationship between God and believers. This certainly implies intimacy, love, dependence, trust, and all the best of the parent-child relationship.
How is it that we became the children of God? It is because of "the love the Father has given us ..." (v. 1). Just as ideally a child is born out of the love of parents, so, too, we are born anew as God's children because of the love of God. This love was "given." This sounds very much like John 3:16. God's love came to us in the form of a child, the Son of God, through whom we know have become adopted into God's own family. This is not because of anything that we have done. A child does nothing to be born or adopted. It is the love, the grace of the Parent that does it all.
The world does not recognize us as God's children (v. 1b). When I go to my hometown, there are those who knew me when I was small and know I am a child of my father and mother. But many others do not know this, for they know neither me nor my parents. Likewise, John is saying that the world is blind to God. It does not know God as Father, so how can it know us as God's children?
What's implied here is opposition and even persecution. This sounds very much like John 15:18-19. This hostility to the children of God is seen in the Psalm 4 reading today and is evidenced in how the disciples in the gospel reading are behind locked doors for fear of the authorities. It is also seen in Acts, for the actions and words of Peter and John will bring them into opposition very soon with those who do not know God or the disciples.
In verse 2 we see that John has been looking at the present. "You are, right now," he assures them, in spite of the persecution they may be facing or may face, "God's children. You enjoy all the benefits of that relationship. But you ain't seen anything yet! There's so much more for you ahead. What it all will be has not yet been revealed, but it will be surely more wonderful than we can conceive of."
I came across a picture of my son recently right after he was born. Born prematurely, he was only about three and half pounds. I remember wondering just what was ahead for him, what he would look like when he was grown, who he would become. And slowly each day, I see it happening. I think John is telling us that we, the children of God, are like that. We do not yet know just how we will come out, how we will grow and mature, what we will even look like in that new life to come when Christ comes. But, he notes, we will be like him, that is, like the Risen Lord.
Verses 4-7. Being children in a family does carry some obligations on our part. Certain things were expected in my family's household. Likewise, as children of God, we are to reflect the will and desire of God in who we are and how we live. A child carries the likeness of the parent. God is righteous, pure and holy. We, as God's children, are to reflect those same qualities. This does not earn us God's love. That's already been given and received. Such living is a response to God's love, a desire to love God back in living the kind of life we know pleases him.
Luke 24:36b-48
This is the third appearance in Luke of the Risen Lord and is very much like the story we had last Sunday from John. This version has three main themes: 1) Jesus is truly alive; 2) His death and resurrection were in fact in accordance with God's plans as revealed in the scriptures; 3) The disciples are commissioned as witnesses to preach forgiveness in his name to all nations (Luke's version of the Great Commission). The Acts reading for today shows the disciples, at least Peter and John, doing just this.
The Eleven and others are apparently in the Upper Room again, perhaps to try to take in all the recent events. Who exactly was there beyond the Eleven we do not know, although those who had encountered the Risen Jesus on the Emmaus road may well have been in the number, as well as the Marys who had been the first witnesses of the Resurrection.
While they are discussing things among themselves, Jesus suddenly appears or is made visible (John's account has them behind locked doors for fear of those who had crucified Jesus). It was as if Jesus had been with them anyway but chose now to let them see him. And that's the point. Jesus is alive. He is real. It's Jesus! Not some spirit or ghost. This is not some mass hallucination, but the Real Thing! They were afraid they were encountering the dead, a ghost, not the real and alive Jesus. Jesus acts quickly to show that he is no ghost. He has the scars on his hands and feet (thus Good Friday and Easter are forever joined). He invites them to touch him, for he has a real body, something that a ghost could not have. He even asks them for something to eat, probably to further assure them he is alive and well. This brings to mind Eucharistic themes, that is, that the Christ is alive and present with us when we gather at his table and partake of the bread and the cup.
None of this, the Cross and the Resurrection, were just happenstance. What had happened was in accord with the saving purpose of God all along as demonstrated in the scriptures. Indeed, the scriptures are understood as teaching about these things, about Christ, how he was to suffer, die, and even arise. Throughout the gospels, the writers make frequent reference to Old Testament teachings that they connect to Jesus. Even at the beginning of Jesus' life, Joseph and Mary follow the teachings of the Law (Luke 2:21-40). Later, Jesus sees himself as fulfilling the Law, completing it, bringing redemption and salvation, which is why the Law was given (but was unable to accomplish on it's own). Early Christian preachers drew heavily upon the teachings of scripture in their preaching (as we see in the sermons in Acts). In other words, what God had done now in Christ was in accord with all that God had been doing and planning. It is new and wondrous in many ways, but it is also a fulfillment of ancient promises. Those in the Upper Room did not understand this at this point, so Jesus "opened" their minds to the scriptures to help them understand and to see how all that had happened was the culmination of God's saving work as seen throughout the Old Testament.
Jesus is alive! God's saving work has been offered for the whole world. But witnesses, messengers are needed now to take that message, let the whole world know. The disciples are called to be those messengers, to proclaim the Good News in the name of Jesus (which is what Peter and John do in the Acts reading today). In the name and authority of Jesus, they (and we) preach and teach forgiveness of sin. Through the proclamation of the Good News, a power is released that transforms persons into the children of God (1 John 3); persons are given a whole new relationship with God; and sins are wiped away (Acts 3:19) as if they had never been there in the first place.
Application
When some newsworthy event happens, reporters look for those persons who actually have firsthand knowledge of that event, who heard it or saw it. They want to talk to the witnesses.
In a court proceeding, witnesses are those persons who have some unique knowledge, experience to share that others do not. They are called to testify to what they have seen, heard or experienced.
It is the same with being a witness for Christ. A witness for Christ is someone who has had encounters with and still has encounters with the Risen Lord. It is sharing with others what we have seen, heard and experienced with Christ.
The testimony of a witness can be powerful. Notice how television commercials use the testimonials of people to sell all kinds of products. And who among us has not tried some new product or gone to some new store because someone we knew and respected said they had used it or been there and recommended it? A genuine, authentic testimony is powerful. How much more powerful then is the sharing with others of how we have seen, heard and experienced Christ in our lives?
Not just anyone is called by reporters before the camera, only those who witnessed or experienced the news event being covered. Not just anyone is called up to give testimony in court, only those who have the relevant firsthand knowledge and experience. We, too, can only be a witness for Christ if we have experienced him, been encountered by him, walked with him. We cannot give meaningful testimony to that which we have never experienced.
I cannot introduce someone else to you if I do not really know that person. The better I know that person, the more time I have had with that person, the more experiences and conversations, the better able I am to help you get to know that person as well. This is the key to being a witness for Christ -- staying in touch with Christ, seeking daily to walk and talk with Christ, to be daily walking and talking with him, growing in our closeness to him.
So, how do we bear witness then? To put it in the words of my preacher friend, I think we witness for Christ by walking the walk and talking the talk.
Walking the walk means bearing witness to Christ by the way we live, by being who we say we are -- Christians, followers of Christ. It means we actually live out our faith in our daily lives. Our relationship with Christ influences and determines our attitudes, our actions, our words -- every aspect of our lives.
1 John 3 talks about us being God's children, reflecting the qualities of God in our lives. That means refraining from sin, doing the right things, and with God's help, living a life of purity.
The people who had the most impact on me becoming a Christian were individuals who walked the walk, for whom being a Christian was 24/7. I saw and experienced Christ in them.
But talking the talk is also important. Words are important. It is not enough to just let our lives witness for Christ. The disciples like Peter and John went around and talked the talked as well as walking the walk. They shared with others what they had seen and experienced. They were open and alert to opportunities each day to do just that, as when they passed the lame man who begged something from them by the Temple gate. We witness for Christ when we take advantage of those opportunities given each day to share what we have seen, heard, and experienced Christ doing in our lives.
Alternative Applications1) 1 John 3:1-7. Children of God. During a children's sermon one Sunday morning, I was telling the kids the story of the lost sheep. I asked them, "Why did the shepherd count his sheep each night as they went into the fold?"
Caleb, about six years old, said, "So he could go to sleep."
Everyone was rolling in the aisles with laughter.
When some composure had been regained, to tease him and his parents a little I said, "Whose child are you, anyway?"
Without blinking an eye, he said, "God's child."
I didn't mess with him anymore.
Caleb was right. He is God's child. So am I. So are you. That's what our epistle reading says: "See what love the father has given us, that we should be called the children of God...."
To be the children of God means
* God loves us (v. 1).
* We are children of God and not just a child of God, singular; we are also to love another. We are a family. We have brothers and sisters.
* We are ever to be growing to be like Christ, as siblings often do look like one another (v. 2).
* We are to try to live lives that please God, that is, not to sin (v. 6).
So, whose children are you?
2) 1 John 3:1-7 and Luke 24:36b-48. Have you seen the movie, Defending Your Life? It's an interesting view of life after death. Get it on video and watch it so that you can summarize it or even show excerpts from it.
Drawing upon the comments above for these passages, share in the sermon your understanding of the life to come. What can we know and not know? Perhaps one way to do this is to ask and seek some answer to the questions that people often ask about the life to come. One, for example, is, "Will we know each other?" Another one, "What will we look like?"
Eduard Schweizer, the New Testament scholar, came and spoke at Duke when I attended there. His topic was the general resurrection. One thing he said really stood out. He said that he thought in the life to come we would still be us, that we would retain our personhood. He also said he thought that life would be one in which we continued to realize more fully the potential God had placed within us. We would continue to grow, to learn, to mature, to become truly more and more like Christ.
We have to be careful not to engage in too much speculation, but the passages today do lend themselves to this subject. You may wish to end where the epistle of John does -- we do not know it all, but we do know we are God's children and that we will be like Christ, and perhaps that's all we need to know.
The Political Pulpit
Luke 24:36b-48
Given the Christian mandate for peace expressed in the gospel lesson, we must consider what to make of the war on terrorism, war with Iraq and tensions with North Korea over its development of nuclear arms. Would our nation's participation in such military actions represent a denial of Christ's Commission and gift?
The usual justification for American involvement in these prospective and in past wars has been the invocation of the Just War Theory. This text provides a good opportunity to expound on this theory and its applicability to our present context.
Christian theology turns to Augustine as its source for the Just War Theory. Essentially his view, indebted to the Roman philosopher Cicero, was that war was justifiable only "when a people neglected either to punish wrongs done by its members or to restore what it had wrongly seized" (Questions on the Heptateuch, 6.10). There is a vagueness here about which Western society has debated ever since. Some contend that this definition allowed only for a war to redress grievances by the injured party so that the status before the war could be restored. In other words, America cannot start a war if it is to be a just war. Others contend that this definition allows for a war to defend the moral order. This interpretation would seem to allow for a war initiated by America to enhance the moral order worldwide, as long as such a war were not found to serve selfish American interests (sinful libido) (Ibid.). Elsewhere, in The City of God (19.7), Augustine contended that just wars were necessitated by the wrongdoing of the enemy. Does this open the way to American intervention against the wrongdoings of the development of the North Korean nuclear arsenal and the actions of Saddam Hussein?
This is an opportunity to clarify what a Just War is, to help parishioners make some judgments about the conflict in which America is engaged or is about to be. If we understand the War on Terrorism as merely a response to the attacks of 9/11, then the most cautious interpretation of Augustine's theory allows for American military engagement against al Qaeda terrorists. Of course it is another matter with regard to Iran. Attacking it is only a defensive war if there is hard evidence (which, as of this writing, is yet to be produced) that Iraq and Saddam Hussein did indeed abet Osama bin Laden's attacks. And there seems to be no basis for military action against North Korea on these grounds.
Of course, it is another matter if the Just War Theory is understood in the more open way. Then we might be able to justify military action against both Iraq and North Korea on grounds that only in this way can threats to terrorism be ended, and so the moral order be restored. Of course the key consideration in this mode of thought is that such considerations be conducted apart from the issues of American interests.
As usual, Augustinianism lends a touch of realism to the Christian view of life. We are reminded here that Jesus' Easter promise of peace is not necessarily a command to practice pacifism. God uses many means to realize the divine will. Sometimes in history, perhaps even today, peace can be achieved through just wars. But Christians always need to raise critical questions about whether particular wars, like the ones on the horizon, are really just.
