Unbelieving Witness

We have been talking about how witnessing is an important part of the gospel, as important as who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for the world. It is the engine that propels the message around the world. We, as the church, are important to the gospel, because we are Christ's representatives on earth, and we are witnesses to his glory.

But it is possible to be a false witness, even as a Christian. Our readings this morning are full of examples of this false witness. This type of witness is fueled by unbelief. In Mark 9, a father comes to Jesus to ask for healing for his son. Jesus tells him that all things can be done for he who believes. The father responds, “I believe! Help my unbelief!” We are each a combination of belief and unbelief, and when we are swimming in the world's tides, the unbelief rises and becomes more dominant. When we immerse ourselves in scripture and prayer, the belief rises.

So, in or gospel passage, we have disciples setting eyes on the risen Christ and thinking he is a GHOST. Unbelief. In our Acts passage, Peter heals the paralytic, and the witnesses all are astonished and confused. Peter must a magician, or he himself is a god. Peter has to give a mini sermon to them on the spot to explain that it is not he who has the power but their own God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that did it. All you have to do is call on the name of Jesus Christ, his son, you know, the author of life, the one you killed. Unbelief.

Last year we had a woman here suffering from bone cancer who has chronic headaches. We all laid hands on her. The bone cancer didn't go away, but the headaches left entirely. Praise God! Right? No, we tried to figure out who laid hands on her neck that day, so we could give that person the glory. Unbelief, and yet we are a congregation of believers!

Whenever Cathi has a migraine, I'll pray over her. An hour later, I'll ask her if she took Advil. She'll shake her head at me and say, “your prayer did it.” God did it, and here I am, full of unbelief, thinking man-made drugs are the only solution.

Christ gives us solutions to this problem we have—the combination of belief and unbelief. Christ himself teaches us how to shrink that seed of unbelief and water and nurture the belief. Looking at the gospel passage again, we see that the disciples are freaked out, because they think Jesus is a ghost. This is their unbelief. Here is what Jesus instructs:

1. Follow the evidence. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” They examine the physical evidence. Then Jesus eats a fish in their presence. Ghosts don't eat. We follow the evidence and accept where it leads. The best evidence is eyewitness testimony, which is, as we have said, an integral part of the gospel. Reading church history, reading biographies of the saints, reading current world events from a Christian perspective is a way to get large doses of miraculous events throughout history to the present.

One of the most inspiring books is “A Life of Prayer” by George Muller, where he documents all of the prayers the Lord answered of his, sometimes to the exact request. His life was a test of God's strength. He never asked men for money or food for his large orphanage. He only asked God, and it paid off. There is another book called “The Wonders of Prayer” which also documents all of the amazing things God has done for mankind over the centuries, outside the Bible.

Then there's the Bible. The second instruction of Jesus from our gospel passage is “search the scriptures.” He said to the disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He shares the gospel and then tells them that they are witnesses to these things.” Witnesses just by studying scripture? Yes. As Christians we have the Holy Spirit with us, opening our minds to understand the scriptures.

Now, someone who does not have the Holy Spirit who tries to read this book will find that it is all white noise. We have the Holy Spirit, and so we have understanding of this, but if we don't read it, we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to unlock it for us. Meditating on these words allows the Holy Spirit to reveal things that were previously hidden about Jesus.

The door is open. We just have to walk through. Follow the evidence and search the scriptures and you will find that Jesus is God and Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. We are witnesses to these facts. That is the gospel. Follow the evidence. Search the scriptures. Believe.

Food Pantry Basket to Be Filled

Inside the entryway for His Dream Center we will be putting a large basket to be filled for the Food Pantry. Here is a list of the things that the pantry needs more of. Feel free to bring a few things each week and place them in the basket for the needy on the Outer Banks:

Coffee, Tea, Crackers, Muffin Mix, Sugar (2#), Gravy, Flour (2#), Mayo (16oz), Oil (1qt), Hamburger Helper, Cake Mix, Jello/Pudding, Frosting

Food Lion is an affordable place to pick these items up. When you are out shopping, pick up an extra item or two for the Food Pantry. We will have the basket waiting.

goodshepherdobx.org

Many of you may not know that we have a Web site, and everything that you read in these newsletters is archived there for future reference. The address is goodshepherdobx.org. You can also type in goodshepherdanglicanobx.org and reach the same location! Enjoy, and if you have any suggestions for the Web site, please feel free to contact me.

Discipleship Series on Stott Book Continues

This past Sunday we gathered at 10am for discipleship with the first in our series of chapter studies. We are going through John Stott's Basic Christianity, and the discussion was very invigorating. We discussed the preface and Chapter 1: "The Right Approach."

This coming Sunday we will discuss chapter 2: "The Claims of Christ." By taking small bits of the book at a time, we can be more thorough, have livelier discussion, and allow people to come and go through the sessions. All are invited, even if you can only make one of the sessions. Please contact me to get a free book to use.

We gather in the chapel area, behind the glass doors on the left as you enter His Dream Center, and we will meet for 40 minutes, so that we can have 20 minutes to prepare our hearts for worship in the main sanctuary. At the same time, Sunday school for the older children (over 5) will resume, and childcare is available for children under 5, so feel free to join in the discussion, even if you have kids.

The format of the sessions will be as follows: we will each read part of the book on our own, and then come to the session on Sunday morning with questions. I will have questions, too, so that we can get the discussion started. This way we can all take the conversation to the places where we each most need Christ's discipleship. Hope you can participate in this first discipleship series in our new location!

Witness

What is the gospel? According to Paul, the gospel contains three parts, as he describes in 1 Corinthians 15: Jesus Christ died and was buried for our sins AND he was raised on the third day, both according to the scriptures. These are the first two parts of the three-fold gospel. The third is something that is neglected but is just as important as the first two parts: witness.

As Paul writes, Jesus appeared to Peter and then to the disciples, and then to more than five hundred people at once, and then to the apostles, and to James, and then last of all to me. The reason this part of the gospel is so important is that it is through eyewitness testimony that this gospel gets passed on. Christianity would have died out without it. We, too, are witnesses, because Jesus has appeared to us as well, in our hearts, in our minds, through the testimony that has been passed on to us. We believe because we have seen him working in the world. Jesus is like the wind. We cannot physically see him, but we see the effect has has on the world, and so we can “see” him. We can see his work in progress. We know he is there.

Today's scripture readings are all about witness and the power of witness. This is such an important part of the gospel that you can see it all throughout the Bible. In our Acts passage (4:32-35) it looks like we are reading about how the early Christians were communists, but what we are actually seeing is the power of witness: “With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” The communal sharing of property is a voluntary reaction to the witness of the apostles. How many communist countries do you know became that way because the leaders bore testimony about Jesus' resurrection? Zero.

Our first letter of John is all about testimony: “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and we declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us.” This is the witness part of the gospel, and is such an important part of the gospel. Without it, there would be no gospel.

In my private devotionals, I read all of second Peter this week. Here is a passage of witness that I came across: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Peter then describes Christ's baptism with the dove and booming voice, and then he describes the transfiguration on the mountain, also with the booming voice. Peter was there. He was an eyewitness to Christ's glory, and he passes that eyewitness testimony on to us.

Notice what Pete says about cleverly devised myths. Eyewitness testimony dispels myths. The apostles speak the truth, because they witnessed the risen Christ. What about us? A couple thousand years have passed since these things happened. We have been listening to the testimony, but isn't it just hearsay? Aren't people today telling us again that we believe cleverly devised myths with no truth in them. How can we respond? We weren't eyewitnesses.

The answer to this is the Holy Spirit. He is the eyewitness. He lives in our hearts, interpreting scripture for us, revealing God in creation for us, revealing Christ in the world for us. He is the perfect eyewitness, and when we see something with God's fingerprints all over it, the Holy Spirit points out that this is the risen Christ. We become eyewitnesses through the Holy Spirit. When you know something is true, you have that feeling that you are a witnesses to the truth. You may try to explain why that thing is true, and you may fail at describing why it is true, but you know in your blood and bones that it is true. “I can't tell you why,” you may say, “but I KNOW that it is true.” That is the Holy Spirit acting as eyewitness in you.

We have this knack in our modern times, due to the modern mindset, to say that we will not believe without concrete evidence. And yet, so much in this world is held on faith, that we take so much for granted. When it comes to science, there is so much unseen faith. For example, scientists may use the scientific method, but how do they know that the scientific method is reliable? Faith based on the eyewitness testimony of others.

When Thomas says that he will not believe that Christ has risen from the grave until he actually puts his fingers into his wounds, we point to “Doubting Thomas” as being a scientist, a modern doubter, who must have concrete evidence or he will not believe. Well, when we read today's gospel passage (John 20:19-21), we see that Thomas rejects eyewitness testimony, and this testimony by people who have freshly received the Holy Spirit, so it does sound like Thomas is a modern doubter. But in the next scene when Thomas is there, and Jesus appears among them, and he tells Thomas to start performing his scientific study and observation and hands-on evaluation. Does it get that far? Is Thomas a modern doubter? Is he a skeptic after all? No, all he has to do is lay eyes upon the Risen Christ and he responds, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas is an eyewitness. All he needs to do is “see” Jesus to believe.

Jesus tells Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” That is us, but we HAVE seen. The eyes of our heart have been opened by the Holy Spirit, who has seen and bears testimony to the truth. We know with all our heart it is the truth, because the eyes of our heart have seen. Blessed are we who have not seen but know the truth, because Jesus Christ has given us a vision of his majesty.