Evangelism begins with a testimony

Daniel 2:28

Acts 3:8-16

 

          Two weeks ago we started a series of messages on “evangelism,” emphasizing that God wants to use you and me to reach out to those who don’t know Him with the good news of His salvation.  We observed on July first that evangelism begins with prayer.  Praying for kings and leaders around the globe, praying the Lord of the harvest that He would send laborers into His harvest, and praying for individuals we know without Christ, starting with family, friends and neighbors.  Last Sunday we observed that evangelism begins as we make friends with those who don’t know the Lord.  Luke 15 describes Jesus as a shepherd searching for one sheep, a woman searching for one coin, a Father, waiting for His prodigal to return.  It pictures vividly the passion of His heart, leaving the 99 because of His love for one, sweeping the whole house because one coin is missing, waiting anxiously with His eyes in the far country for that skinny, worn out kid to come over the horizon and running to him and kissing him and welcoming him home. 

          You don’t have to say much to a sheep, you just have to find him.  You don’t have to speak to a coin, you just have to discover it’s hiding place.  You don’t even have to say much to a prodigal son; you wait for him to return so that you can welcome him and stamp on his heart the word, “forgiven.”  Jesus was reaching out to each of these by spending time eating with sinners.

          Today we want to start talking about how we “talk.”  I think there are hundreds of misconceptions about what we say as we represent God.  Some people think that if we use the word “God” in a sentence we have achieved our goal.  Others believe that if we don’t nail every person to the wall that we meet and ask them if they are going to heaven or hell, we’ve missed our opportunity.  Obviously someone who is so passionate about people going to heaven that he/she pressures each person into making a decision for Christ the first time they meet them, should be a good example of the heart of God.  That’s what God wants, isn’t it?  But is that the way Jesus did it?  He did bring people to a decision point, but how did He do it?  And what did He mean when He said to His disciples, “you will be witnesses of Me?”

          Today we are emphasizing that evangelism begins with a testimony.  What is a testimony, and how is it that a testimony starts the process?

 

I.  A Testimony is evidence.

          A testimony states facts.  What are the facts?  Is there a God or is there not a God?  Is He working today or is He dead?  Does He have the ability to work in Bowie or is He primarily at work in 3^rd world countries?  Testimony is a word we use in a courtroom to establish a fact.

          Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate dictionary defines “testimony” as, “firsthand authentication of a fact:  evidence;”  “a solemn declaration usually made orally by a witness under oath;”  “a public profession of a religious experience” (not direct quotes, 912).                                                                  

          Think of that first statement.  It’s “a firsthand authentication of a fact.”  This definition comes out of courtroom experience.  They’re trying to establish the truth.  Two cars collide.  Which one hit the other one?  Which direction did each come from?  How did it happen?  To establish the answers to these questions you call in “testimony.”  You call in a witness – someone who saw the event – someone who just “happened” to be there.  Let me mention two features of testimonies:

 

          A.  Witnesses establish God’s truth in the courtroom of life.  How do people know that God is alive and working on planet earth?  It’s through people who talk about what He has done for them, who relay publicly the details of His work.  That’s why testimonies are so important.  We meet and rehearse the glory of God this week.  The testimony is the evidence.

          Think of how much of the Bible comes to us as “testimony.”  Genesis gives us the testimonies of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.  Exodus: the testimony of God speaking to Pharaoh with the goal of getting his attention before He judges him.  The plagues in Egypt were testimonies to Pharaoh of the truth that Yahweh was greater than the Egyptian gods. 

          Moses said to Pharaoh in 5:1, “Yahweh says, ‘let my people go.’” And Pharaoh replies, “WHO?”  "Who is this Yahweh, that I should obey His voice (I’m the king of Egypt, after all!) to let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, nor will I let Israel go" (Exodus 5:1-2).

          Do you see what he is saying?  “I don’t know this God you’re talking about and you guys aren’t going anywhere.”  Yahweh’s response is, “perhaps we ought to get better acquainted.  Let Me introduce Myself.”  God proceeded to reveal His glory on earth through Moses’ testimony and the 10 plagues.  Each plague demonstrated that Yahweh God was stronger than Pharaoh’s Egyptian gods.  Repeatedly Moses stated to Pharaoh, “Yahweh is going to do this plague so that you may know that He is God” (rather than you).

          The book of Ruth is a testimony of a foreigner being welcomed by God. Esther and Daniel are testimonies of protecting and using His people in the most difficult of situations.  Jonah is the testimony of a prophet who checked out of his ministry and took off for the Riviera.  His testimony is evidence of the love and mercy of the Lord to both him and a bunch of rebellious, fierce, warring sinners in Nineveh. 

          The book of Acts records Paul telling of his own conversion story three times. No doubt he told it many more times in his ministry.  Each one of these testimonies states a fact – “there is a God; He is alive; He is at work today; here’s what He has done for me.”

          That’s how God begins His message to unbelievers – through the words of those He has touched.  We are the show window in God’s store.  We display, talk about, what He can do.  We are His evidence.  He doesn’t speak publically from the skies.  He doesn’t write messages with lightning in the sky.  He uses you and me.

          “OK,” you say, “that’s good, but I’m not very good at that.”  Let me talk about another amazing feature of testimonies.

 

          B.  Witnesses are lay-people.  Non-professionals.  How many of you have given testimony in court?  Why were you called to give testimony?  Are you a professional “testimony giver?”  Have you been trained?  Were you called because you knew something about how the courtroom works?  Or you were a friend of the judge?  None of the above.  Why were you called to give testimony?  Because you were there when it happened.  You didn’t come to argue.  A lawyer does that.  You didn’t come to preach or to teach.  You came to tell what you saw, what you heard.  That is where evangelism begins; when people open their mouths and talk about what they have seen and heard and experienced of the work of God in their lives.

          God uses unprofessional, untrained, lay-people to communicate His message to unbelievers.  The blind man in John 9 gave testimony within five minutes after his healing.  The lame man in Acts 3:8-10 gave testimony within five minutes after he was healed.  God uses your words as statements that give a glimpse of His kingdom.

          Every religion, every salesman, every business, does this – uses testimony as a statement of the “facts” about the religion, or the product, or the business.  Last Tuesday we had an example of a Muslim testimony.  It went like this.

          It came to light that teachers in Iraq were changing the grades of certain students.  It seems that 50,000 high school students a year take the final Bakaloria exam which covers 7 subjects, Islamic history, Arabic, English, Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.  They need a 50% grade to pass but they must score higher than 50% if they hope to get into a state-funded university.

          Apparently all 50,000 tests are graded at 14 grading centers in Baghdad.  The problem is that there is a mixture of Shi’ite and Sunni teachers at eight of those grading centers.  They discovered last week that the Shi’ite teachers were changing the answers of Sunni students, and Sunni teachers doing the same with Shi’ite students, sometimes even erasing their answers and writing in different ones, since the exams are done in pencil.

          But the “testimony” comes out of the response of students who found out what was happening.  Haider Abed is the name of an 18 year old Shi’ite, who threatened violent revenge if he failed to get into a university.  He declared, “If I found that I was one of the victims of these two (Sunni) teachers, then I’ll do all I can to cut off their heads.”

          Doraid Kasim, is an 18 year old Sunni who said, “I studied very hard for a long year, and I got excellent marks before the final test.  I swear to kill all the Shi’a teachers if I got bad marks” (WT, 7/10/07, A9).

          Haider and Doraid are giving “testimonies” of the work of Allah, their god in their lives.  They are declaring what he would have them do in this situation.  They are saying, “from my experience, here’s what I know is true: Allah gives me permission and authority to cut off the heads of those who injure my name, my accomplishments, or my future.”

          Do you see how these statements are testimonies?  They “establish the facts about Allah” according to Doraid and Haider.  As Muslims their words speak of their god.  I wonder if we sometimes give a similar kind of negative testimony when we stand up for Jesus Christ on one hand, and yet, on the other hand we want to hurt someone.  James calls it “blessing God and cursing men who are made in the image of God” (James 3:9).

          God would rather use a more positive testimony, even a testimony that contradicts what Doraid and Haider said.  I think He would like to hear a testimony spoken to Doraid and Haider that would go something like this:  “I’m so sorry that your god encourages you to live for your teacher’s death.  My God would never allow that, since He is great enough to take care of all that Himself.  He said, ‘vengeance is Mine, says the Lord.  I will repay.’  What He encourages us to do is take the guilty teacher out to dinner and introduce him to a new love.  He says, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.’”

          Do you see that there is a testimony and then there is a counter testimony?  That counter testimony to Muslims who have just declared their faith in Allah may be the first time these Muslims ever hear the gospel.

          We give testimony by feeding our enemies, by giving them something to drink, by overlooking their offenses and choosing to do what we can do to help them in their time of need.  That is evidence that crashes into the thinking process of a Muslim because their god doesn’t live that way.  That’s evidence to them of another kind of God.  Testimony is evidence.

 

II.  A Testimony is firsthand evidence.

          What makes a testimony valid evidence is that you speak of an event that  actually happened to you.  It’s a “personal” testimony.  It’s not based on what you have been taught, what you have specialized in.  It is a story of an experience you have had with God.  It’s not a sermon.  It’s the answer to the question, “do you know what happened to me yesterday?”

 

          A.  It’s the way we announce what God has done in our lives.  Daniel 2 tells the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  He dreams of this huge statue; then he calls in his wise men and asks them to tell him first what the dream is and then what it means.  The wise men say, “that’s impossible.”  Neb says, “OK, all wise men die.”  They come to arrest Daniel and he pleads, “hey, wait a minute; give me a little time to pray about this.”  So he prays with his three friends and the Lord reveals the dream and its interpretation to them.  As I read these verses, notice what Daniel’s testimony is:

          24 Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation." 25 Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, "I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation." 26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?" 27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, "The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 28 "But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these.”

 

          What’s Daniel’s testimony here?  “There is a God who can reveal the dream” (26-30).  Look at the dialog:  “Are you able to make known to me the dream” (26)?  “No, no human can understand what is going on in this realm” (27).  But “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.  He wants to introduce you to His future” (28-29).  Daniel’s testimony is:  There is a God in heaven Who reveals secrets.  And I am evidence for that truth because I come to tell you what only you know.  I come to tell you what your wise men said only the gods know.  But my God has graciously revealed it to me so that you wouldn’t have to kill all your wise men.

          Do you see how Daniel is picturing God?  (1) He reveals dreams, because He wants to relate to humans.  This is not just, “I believe in a God somewhere,” but “I just talked to God.”  And “He wants to meet your need, Neb, and reveal the interpretation of the dream that is on your heart.”  (2) “He has chosen me not only to reveal the interpretation to you, but to let you know that there is a God who reveals secrets.”

          Do you see how Daniel’s statements were firsthand evidence to Neb that the God in heaven was at work in Babylon – and wanted to introduce Himself to Neb by revealing the meaning he was searching for? 

          But, here’s a serious question.  Why is Daniel’s testimony so “shallow?”  How can you call this a testimony when he doesn’t even mention the 10 commandments, when he doesn’t even command Neb to repent? 

          B.  It’s evidence that meets someone’s need.  A testimony doesn’t have to have all the details of the gospel in it to be a testimony.  What Nebuchadnezzar needed to know was that there was a God in heaven who knew what was going on in Neb’s head at night.  God uses our testimonies to meet many different kinds of needs.

          James Engel, a missionary, outlined what has become known as the “Engel Scale of Spiritual Decision.” The scale describes stages through which an individual progresses in her understanding of the Gospel, as Grace illuminates her heart.  Let me show you his list of stages:

 

         +5 Stewardship

        +4 Communion with God

       +3 Conceptual and behavioural growth

      +2 Incorporation into Body

     +1 Post_decision evaluation

    New birth

     _1 Repentance and faith in Christ

      _2 Decision to act

       _3 Personal problem recognition

        _4 Positive attitude towards Gospel

         _5 Grasp implications of Gospel

          _6 Awareness of fundamentals of Gospel

           _7 Initial awareness of Gospel

            _8 Awareness of supreme being, no knowledge of Gospel

 

          The plus stages represent growth after a person comes to Christ and is born again.  The minuses represent pre-salvation stages.  In other words, Engel is saying that before a person comes to Christ there are at least eight “levels” of spiritual understanding.  For example, a person who believes that there is a god somewhere but has never heard the gospel is at minus eight.  A person who has come to realize that they have a definite spiritual problem is at level minus three on this scale.

          How this scale helps us today is to see the different kinds of testimonies that God uses.  What kind of testimony does a “minus eight” need?  Daniel’s testimony.  “There is a God, and He just spoke to me last night, and that’s why I can tell you what you only know, the contents of your dream.  And that’s why I can tell you what God only knows, the interpretation of your dream.”  Neb was probably a minus eight in spiritual understanding.

          And what does someone need at minus three?  Maybe she needs a testimony about sin and its damaging effect on your life.  Or the realization that the end result of sin is death and the lake of fire.

          What I am trying to say in all this is that the standard “testimony” which states, “I trusted Christ as my Savior 6 years ago,” is not the only testimony that God uses.  I used to think that until I got the entire gospel into my declaration, I hadn’t shared my testimony.  I thought that by definition the word “testimony” meant you had to give 15 minutes worth of the gospel.   As a result, I almost always felt like a failure.  On the other hand, when I read the testimonies of believers in the Bible I was bothered by the fact that they didn’t make the gospel clear.  Then it dawned on me that I didn’t understand the word “testimony.”

          Testimony doesn’t only mean, “I came to Christ 58 years ago.”  Here’s my testimony.  “I was really blessed last Sunday night as we baptized Dave and Kathy and Heidi Andrus and Bill Carlisle.  They each gave a short description of how God brought them to Himself.  To hear of the four completely different ways that God awakened them to their need of Christ and then how they came to Him, assures us once again that God is at work on planet earth, in our area.  And then we heard the report of Zack and Cilla who were missionaries for a short time this summer in Indonesia.  What an amazing story of how God is reaching out to Muslims in a totally closed area of the world.”

          Now that’s a “testimony” – very short, without very many specifics of how to get saved.  Who knows who that testimony fits?  Maybe a “minus eight.”  But God can use a testimony like that as evidence that He is doing something here in Bowie.

          If I were to come down and ask each one of you to stand up and share with us your testimony today, what would you say?  Would you be ready?  I know that you have a testimony, but would you be ready to verbalize it?  You have to think in terms of “what has God done?”  “How can I summarize what He has taught me this week?”  “What evidence can I give that God is at work around me and in my life?”  God wants us to talk.  Psalm 107 says, “let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”  And Peter encourages us to always be prepared to give an answer to those who ask us about our hope (I Peter 3:15).

 

III.  A Testimony is understandable evidence.

          One of the reasons why testimony is given by lay people is so that it will fit lay people.  This is why the best one to speak to your neighbors – is you.

          Look at how Peter turns a problem into a testimony in Acts 3.  He and John meet and heal a man at the entrance to the temple.  And here’s the testimony Peter gives:

            8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them -- walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

 

          A.  He told a story.  Notice that Peter is giving the details of a story line that the listeners knew quite well.  It was Jesus, who had healed many while on earth, who continues healing “through faith in His name.”  This is the same Jesus that the listeners delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he wanted to release Him.  Peter is simply saying, “the story that you think ended on the cross with the death of Jesus is continuing.  He was raised from the dead and He continues to heal through faith.”  Peter’s  testimony was a story.  Testimonies often come out as simple stories.