Tag: Testimony

Posted on

The Life of the Truth, Part 2

There is the witness, and there is the testimony carried by the witness. Jesus Christ works in those of us who believe, to make us witnesses who bear true testimony to Him. It is not that we hold a truth, or many truths, but we have the truth in a living way within us. He is Life and He is Truth. We have the life of the truth. So, what we say rings true to others who hear it because the testimony matches up with our life. It resonates because we are expressing our share of His life. 

The apostle Paul visited the Christians in Corinth. When he did so he was determined to know nothing among them except Christ, and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). He desired that their faith “might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” In the previous chapter he had equated the power of God with the testimony of the cross of Christ. He did not resort to conventional rhetoric, intended to convince on an intellectual or emotional level. He was there, he says, “in weakness and in fear and much trembling.” Paul did not frame his message in “plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power…” (1 Corinthians 2:3-5). The witness with the crucified life carried the testimony of the cross. That life and its testimony expressed the love of God, the wisdom of God and the power of God.

What was the power of Paul’s gospel? We have an insight from Acts 13. “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus” (Acts 13:26-33).

Paul directed his message to both Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. “Those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers” were people who held the God-given truth. They did not, however, receive the testimony of Jesus. Neither were they willing to apply the Old Testament prophecies to his life. Therefore, they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

During his ministry, Jesus sent out his followers to testify about him and his Kingdom. He was training them to prepare the way for him to visit local villages. It wasn’t until his ascension that Jesus first provided his followers with the indwelling life of the truth. “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The outpouring of God’s Spirit on Pentecost gave each of them a deposit of divine life. It came from Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father, as though—so to speak—on permanent loan. That is, the gift of the life of Christ did not make its recipients divine; they nevertheless had a share of the divine life.

Paul himself became a witness, even though he began as one of those who held the truth without possessing the life of it. The Paul we see in this passage was a true servant of God. He had abandoned his own program. He fully committed himself to God’s project. And the conduct of his life supported the content of his message.

The work of transformation begins with our receiving a deposit the life of Jesus Christ. It continues as that life spreads in all directions from the center toward the circumference of our being. That work brings us to the place where we are witnesses. Others can detect in us the life of the truth. Then He teaches us what to say, so as to testify to the truth whose life we have. In this way He engages us in faithful service to the living God.

&&&

Posted on

The Life of the Truth

“It is not that we hold the truth; it is that we have the life of the truth.” T. Austin-Sparks, The Essential Newness of the New Creation

Jesus had to pass through Samaria. Exhausted, he sat down by a well of water. At the same time a woman arrived from a nearby village to draw water. After a brief conversation, she dropped her water-bucket and sprinted back to the village proclaiming, “Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did!”

What was the power of the message of Jesus, to have such an impact on this woman? What was the power of her one-line message to her fellow villagers that compelled them the way it did?

First, there was the utter improbability of their meeting. Jews, as Jesus was according to ethnicity, avoided contact with Samaritans by traveling around rather than through their territory. And if a Jew found himself face-to-face with a Samaritan, he certainly would not initiate a conversation. A Jewish man, furthermore, would not address any woman in public, let alone a woman of Samaria. Jesus set aside all these conventions. He shared his Father’s love with all people impartially. 

It seems that this woman also had reason to avoid contact with others, seeing that she chose to visit the well outside of the usual times—morning or evening. Her expectation was that she would see nobody at that well. She never imagined that the recurring need to fetch water would that day change her life dramatically for the better. 

Second, there was the person of Jesus. He embodied love, yes, but also joy and peace and kindness and humility. He spoke with grace. He had been trained to deliver a word in season to those who were weary. Although he was righteous and never condoned evil, he did not use righteousness as a weapon. His personality was inviting. The Father had taught him to be the ultimate Witness. As Jesus told Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Every witness has a testimony. The conversation of Jesus with this woman was profound, touching on truths historical, religious, and personal. Jesus conveyed each revelation with love. The encounter culminated in his revealing himself as the Messiah, the promised King. 

Each factor contributed to the ultimate effect of Jesus’s meeting. The shocking circumstance of the meeting itself, the manifest godliness of the witness, the content of his testimony—all these led to the woman’s change of heart. She was inclined to believe the claim he made when he revealed his identity. She forgot her shame. The influence of Jesus turned her from a recluse into a witness. It inspired her to use her own disreputable past as a testimony. “Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did, and that God still loves me! Who can this be but the Christ?” 

Her message electrified the town. This was at a time when the testimony of a woman would not stand in court. Yet many of the villagers came out to see for themselves. They then had their own experience with Jesus, confirming the truth of the woman’s message and bringing them to believe in Jesus as Messiah. 

When Paul visited Corinth, he recalls that he “did not come to proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). The phrase “testimony of God” is also translated “mystery of God” or “secret of God.” The authentic witness of God testifies to Jesus Christ in some new, previously unknown, aspect. The truth of the testimony is backed by the very life of the witness. That was the power of the preaching of the woman of Samaria. That is one aspect of God’s transforming work in our lives as well. He empowers us with an effective expression of the life of Christ among His people and in the world. 

&&&