Bold in Witness

January 8, 2023

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Maybe a few of us made new years’ resolutions. It’s always good to try to improve. New Year’s Resolutions tend to be about things like losing weight, getting out of debt, or cleaning your house.

The tragedy is when we make resolutions and they’re more about us than about God. We expect God to help us when we make resolutions, help us get what we want. But so often we don’t try to figure out what God wants for our life this year. I hope you did make some resolutions that are about taking care of you! But don’t limit them to resolutions about you, like God bless me, God help me be richer, God give me what I want. Sometimes we’re disappointed with God, because we think, we did something for God, and he should do something for me. I read the Bible or went to church. But I didn’t get a better job! I tried, but God didn’t do what I wanted Him to do. We can think God exists for us, when in reality we exist to serve and honor Him!

When Jesus invited people to follow him, he said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must–what? Jesus said, “Deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” If we want to follow Jesus, it has to be less about us, and more about Him. That’s why we’re starting a new message series called, “Selfless,” to help us be less about us, and more about Jesus. We’re going to do what we do each day for the glory of God!  We’ll be selfless and tell Jesus: I want what you want.

Today we’re talking about being Bold in Witness. Jesus trained his disciples to do God’s will. And sometimes he would remind them, one day I will suffer and die, but then I will be raised from the dead. And the disciples heard this and said, “No, Jesus, that can never happen to you.!” Jesus told them he didn’t come for the healthy, he came for the sick. He came for sinners. And Jesus went to the cross, he suffered horribly and died! And what do you think the disciples are doing three days later, on Easter Sunday? Are they boldly proclaiming Jesus is coming back, going to rise from the dead?

NO! John 20:19 says the disciples were meeting behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. They are cowering in fear behind locked doors. Why is it that we are so often not bold in witness? Maybe we fear rejection. Or we don’t want to offend people, we don’t want to be pushy. We don’t boldly witness because we’re afraid. Me too. Just because I’m a pastor doesn’t mean I always ready to tell a stranger about what I believe every day. We know about Peter, who when Jesus went to the cross, denied Jesus three times because a girl kept asking him, Aren’t you a friend of Jesus? There are times when I go for a haircut, and the hairdresser asks, “So what do you do?” And I hesitate. I don’t want to say I’m a pastor. Even though, as I think about it, being a pastor is a great opportunity to talk with somebody about God. I could say, “I love being a pastor, because God is so good. It’s a blessing to see the good things God does, be part of fellowship of the church.” Why, I could go get my hair cut every week, and be a bold witness to a new hairdresser each time! And have very short hair!

But Peter, he went from wimpy to BOLD WITNESS after the resurrected Jesus came and said to Peter and the disciples, “Peace be with you!” After that, Peter preached to thousands on Pentecost! Later the high priest, Annas, asks Peter and John after they heal a man, “By what power and in what name did you do this?” Peter says, “Do you want to know how he was healed? By the powerful name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead!” Because Jesus had risen, Peter wasn’t afraid of anyone! He didn’t care if they threw him in jail. He was bold because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! This boldness was in Peter, the disciples, and it is somewhere inside you! This boldness is inside every Christian!

Like Peter, we speak boldly about what we believe deeply. We all speak boldly about what we believe deeply. If you go to a restaurant, and the food is amazing: you don’t keep it to yourself. You tell everybody: you have to try this place! If you get really comfortable shoes, you spread the news! If there’s a new Netflix series or show on TV that you love, you tell people “You HAVE to watch this!” You talk about it all the time. We speak boldly about what we believe deeply.

Verse 13 says the members of the religious council were amazed at Peter and John’s boldness. They were shocked! They could see they were ordinary men with no special training in Scripture: but they were bold!

How amazed are people by your boldness for Christ? On a scale of 1 to 10: 10 is you’re Jesus, you’re that bold. But nobody is Jesus so none of us are a 10. Maybe you’re a 7 or 8: you bring friends to church, you’re always inviting people, you tell people how much God has changed you. You have a list of people you are praying for, that they would open their heart to God.

How do you know if you are lower on the scale? You probably never brought anyone to church. You don’t pray for other people to find God. People at work don’t even know you’re a Christian.

We are in the United Church of Christ denomination. It’s a wonderful denomination, but probably low on the scale of Bold Witness. But I believe we can grow bolder in our witness. There’s a guy, Mark Mittelberg, who came up with 5 personalities, 5 ways you can be a Bold Witness to God.

The first style is Truth-telling. You know that blunt person who gets to the point, just cuts the crap. There’s a time when a person who is direct is needed. If that’s your personality, somebody out there needs you to tell them: TURN TO GOD. They need your blunt and bold witness.

The second type is a Reason-Giver. This is a person who is good at debate and at convincing someone God exists. A reason giver can really help someone find God.

The third type is a Story Sharer. If this is you, your life is a real witness. You can say, “I was lost in sin, and through a miracle I found God, and He has forever changed me! We love to hear your story. And if there’s someone who says, “I couldn’t go to church, the ceiling would fall in! I’ve lived such a bad life.” The Story Sharing person can say, “I was just like you, but I went to church, and the ceiling stayed up, so you can go, too!”

The fourth type is a Friendship Builder. You enjoy people and making friends. You find it easy to have positive spiritual conversations with friends, neighbors and people you know.

The fifth type is a Serving Style. You do things for others, you’re a kind person, and it opens the door to talking about your faith.

I tell you these 5 faith sharing styles because I want you to know, that there is not just one way to be Bold in Witness. God made you with gifts to share the good news of God’s Love. It is in you, to be a 7 or 8 on the boldness for Christ scale!

We can do this! When I served in Oley, I took a confirmation class to do the serving style. We had asked the owners of a pizza restaurant if we could offer to wash customers’ windshields for free and give the women flowers (it was near mother’s day.) We did these kind things and gave people a card saying this is free, we just want to show God’s love in a practical way. People loved it! At one point I was inside the restaurant, and some of the youth came and told me a man wanted to talk to me. I thought, “Oh no, we’re in trouble!” But I went to see him, and he said it was so great to see these youth doing this for other people! He was blown away and he wanted to pay for pizza for them. I said, “No, we are doing this for free.” But he insisted, so he paid for our pizza. I could tell he experienced our serving as a bold witness!

In Tremont I had some of the confirmation classes do an evangelism scavenger hunt. They would form teams and compete. They would walk around Tremont, and whichever team could gave away their items first: like a soda, or doggie treats to someone who had a dog, and so on: they won. But we all won, because we were doing kind things to show God’s love. If 12-year-olds can be bold in witness, we can too!

My homework for you is to ask yourself what style could you use to share your faith?

Are you the direct and blunt Truth teller? Or the Reason Giver with proofs for God, or the Story sharer: you have a great witness to share about how God changed your life. Are you the Friendship Builder who makes friends easily and can have spiritual conversations, or the Selfless Server who amazes people with your kindness?

There’s a saying, “Don’t die with your music inside you!” Sometimes we don’t even tell our own family members how much God means to us, and how he has changed our life. Most of the time, your family members really want to know your story, even if they don’t go to church. Your faith is a really important thing. A really deep thing you have to share. So many people you come in contact with are looking for a word of hope and peace that you can share. You have good news to share about God.

Peter went from being scared to talk about even knowing Jesus, to where he shocked the religious leaders by his courageous faith! Speak boldly about what you believe deeply! God made you exactly the way you are. With your gifts, you can boldly witness, to God’s power, love and grace, how God changed your life, and can change others too! Amen.