You Have Been Summoned As A Witness

Scripture

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Observation

Before the disciples received The Holy Spirit they were summoned by Jesus to wait at a specific location at a specific time with specific instructions on what to do. Well, to be honest, it was wasn’t specific at all. In fact, it lacked quite a few details. Like, why this room, how long are are they waiting, what are they waiting for, and what happens after they receive the promise. That’s where Acts 1:8 comes in. Jesus promises that they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Why? To be witnesses. That sounds pretty great right? Until you realize that to be a witness for Jesus, to tell people everywhere about Him, means they will be martyrs for Him. Yes, the Greek word for witness is martyr. Something we lose in our English translations that the disciples would no doubt have understood. This is a word used in the judicial process where a person becomes the proof of an incident or accusation in a court of law. They were being summoned by the courts of Heaven to be the proof that Jesus IS alive. It turns out The Power of The Holy Spirit isn’t dynamite to destroy or subdue for the promotion of self but to demonstrate and serve at the cost of our own lives. Acts 1:3 describes what Jesus was doing prior to His ascension: “During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.” How does He go about proving He’s “actually alive” after His ascension into Heaven? Through His Spirit-empowered witnesses willing to lay down their lives the world would know Jesus IS alive and that He IS alive in them! In fact, we see this play out in a literal court of law in Acts 4 because a man who had been blind for 40 years was now healed but the power of The Holy Spirit. They were summoned before the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law in Jerusalem. “13The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.” Even after threatening their lives if they dared say any more about Jesus Peter boldly responds, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? 20We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20). How could Peter be so brazen to those who had the power to destroy him? He was already a dead man walking with the living God working through him. Every legal confrontation, every personal interaction, every disease incurable, every demon that dominated the lives of people, every drowning in sin that we see in The Book of Acts is a summons from Heaven for spirit-empowered disciples to be the proof that Jesus IS alive!

Application

A few weeks ago my 15 year old son Ben witnessed a man on private property trying to steal an E-Bike that belonged to one of his friends. When confronted the man took off. It turns out this wasn’t the first time this guy had done this. In fact, it was the 19th time, but all of the prior points of theft were written off as misdemeanors. Due to the cost of the E-Bike and his violation of private property this bumped up the offense to a felony charge. The only way to make it stick though, to make sure this man actually receives punishment for his crimes, is a witness testimony of the event. Thus, yesterday in the mail, Ben received a subpoena in the mail, a witness summons, to appear before the local DA and recount what he saw. If Ben chose not to show up on Monday morning the whole case would fall apart and this man would go on to commit more crimes against innocent people. The subpoena is rather inconvenient, it’s an interruption of Ben’s plans for that day, and it’s out of his way. He has any number of reasons to not be a witness. So do we. How often do we ignore the Spirit’s subpoena to be a witness because it’s something we consider optional, because we don’t want to cause waves, or we don’t want to look odd to those around us? We are called to be martyrs. Unlike Ben, we don’t have to show up as a witness of a crime, but rather as a witness of an innocent Savior who died as a criminal so we could be free! When we don’t show up the world has no proof that Jesus IS alive. Jesus becomes a myth, a fable, a good teacher from days gone by, instead of our ever present help in time of need. We are so often worried about our reputation we aren’t thinking about those who are condemned to a life of damnation outside of new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit is proof of the indwelling Christ and there’s a world that needs us to answer the summons, to stand up as witness, to walk in the power, and to lay our lives down. I’m so proud of Ben and his willingness to share what he saw so that this man will answer for his crimes. How much more so is our Father proud of us when we share what we have seen and heard so that those who are condemned to die in their sin can find eternal life in Christ?

Prayer

Lord, forgive me for considering Your Great Commission a great suggestion. Forgive me for considering my own comfort over the eternal futures of those around me. You haven’t filled me with Your Spirit to squander the gifts on myself, but rather to serve those around me. Let me be an accurate witness, let me be living proof that You are alive and well and moving in our world!