Reflections on "A compelling Witness" Acts 4: 5-22;Isaiah 6: 1-8

Sorry for no blog last week while preparing this sermon -- I was out of town with limited time for Internet access.  

I thought the sermon worked very well.  It reminded me of how I used to preach more highly structured sermons.  Move 1 introduces and hooks the listener (hopefully); move 2 makes the biblical case; move 3 parallels move 2 from our current context.  I suspect if you like structure you prefer this style.

I am wondering a bit if is futile to preach on telling our stories when Presbyterians typically are not known for telling their stories!   I keep thinking the story-telling mode or testimony model provides a way for us to share our story that fits with our reticence.    I know that with confirmands it is hard to get them to talk about their faith when they meet with the Session.  I don't think it's a content issue for most of us, but a comfort issue.  

My liturgist (also my daughter) looked at me after the sermon and said, 'this would be the perfect time to sing 'here I Am, Lord.'"  I immediately noted that I had saved that hymn for this coming week when the confirmands make their faith profession, but her comment did remind me the importance of music to the overall theme of the sermon.

“A compelling Witness” April 29, 2012; FPC, Troy, Acts 4: 5-14; Isaiah 6: 1-8

introduction: We continue our series on telling our stories: both the stories of what God has done, and how the stories of our life's journey are impacted by God's stories.

Move 1: We reflect today on what makes a person a compelling witness?

a. In other words, if you were putting together the team to go out and spread the word of the resurrection, who would you pick?

1. Drama – When I was in high school, Austin College, a Presbyterian school in TX, had a troupe of singers/actors who would travel around to churches and youth gatherings and act out or do a musical type presentation of a Bible story. Part of the show was how that story might connect with our current life. It was pretty powerful. If I were putting together some witnesses, I might get some people with dramatic flair.

2. Or maybe a some Debaters – make a good case for the resurrection and for how God is at work. I've always been persuaded by the person who could argue the facts in a forceful, logical, powerful way.
3. Good Preacher – maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I might want a good preacher who could captivate the crowd and get them excited about the resurrection.
4. Person of Compassion –

5. Who do you think would make a compelling witness?

b. We do know that the religious authorities and scribes we read about in Acts are surprised that Peter and John make compelling witnesses.

1. After all, Peter and John are uneducated and ordinary men.
2. Eugene Peterson, in the Message translation, describes them as uneducated with “no training in Scripture” (Eugene Peterson).

3. Apparently they had no credentials that impressed the religious authorities.
4. They had no training in teaching about God.
5. But, there they were, talking about God in a compelling way that led people to want to follow Christ.

Move 2: What makes a person a compelling witness?

a. Filled with the HS

1. Throughout Acts and in this particular story, we are reminded of the role of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct.
2. Peter and john can speak and act in compelling ways because they are under girded by the Holy Spirit.
3. What they said and what they did was closely connected to God.

b. their actions match their words.

1. I find this a fascinating image described in Acts.
2. Peter and John are talking to the crowds.
3. There off to the side, but in plain view, is the man they have healed.
4. I have no doubt that their words were powerful and convincing, but I suspect that as the crowd hears their words while looking at the man they have healed, the image gives power to their words.

3. What God has done through them becomes a powerful witness.

c. Their willingness, no their desire, to speak.

1. AS we read of these followers of Christ who seem compelled to share their story, I was reminded of the prophet Isaiah's call story.

2. There stands Isaiah, who describes himself as being lost, being unclean, and living among unclean people.

3. not the model witness.

4. But when the celestial being touches his lips, Isaiah burns to speak.

5. When the question is asked, “whom shall I send?” Isaiah volunteers – “Send me.”

6. he is overcome with desire to tell God's story.

7. peter and John have that same sense about them. They want to tell God's story.

8. They have to tell God's story.

A compelling witness for God is not someone who has taken the right classes or has the right pedigree; no, the compelling witness is the person who is filled with the Holy Spirit, whose actions illustrate their words, who has to share the story.

Move 3: So what makes you a compelling witness as you tell your story?

a. Connected to God.

1. the behind-the-scenes part of telling our story involves being in conversation with God.

2. Reflecting and exploring how you have discovered God.

3. Inviting the Holy Spirit to fill you and guide you.

4. By the time we actually tell our stories, we have already been engaged and guided by God so that we have a sense of how God has been at work in our lives.

5. as many of you know, my father was a drama professor, which meant he directed lots of plays. Over the years, I was always amazed at how much work took place before the first rehearsal – research on the playwright; research on the time frame in which the play was set; in a storage shed he has several shelves of his 'black books,” for each show he directed. Each page contains the text of the script, but typically the handwritten director notes about those lines and that scene far outnumbered the actual words of the playwright. The preparation allowed the story to be told.

6. We prepare for telling our stories by being in conversation with God, the author of our stories.

b. Our actions need to illustrate our stories.

1. If we tell the story about the God of love, then those people listening to our story better be able to find examples of how we have shown God's love.

2. If we want to talk about how we have experienced God's forgiveness, than it will help if we have actually shown forgiveness to others.

3. To speak about the God of the resurrection who can turn death into life and transform us is just words, until we can show how we have been changed by God.

c. We also have to want to tell the story.

1. Imagine listening to someone telling you a story, and the way they tell it makes it clear that it is just some ho-hum event that took place that didn't really matter to them and they are just taking up time to tell the story to you. It does not take very long to figure out the person telling the story does not care so you do not care.

2. On the other hand, think about someone who gets excited about the story they are telling. It clearly matters to them.

Maybe their tone is excited and demonstrative; or perhaps they are soft-spoken, but intent on sharing the story with you. Either way, you can tell by their demeanor that this story means something to them. We pay attention to that person and their story.

When someone burns to tell their story, we listen.

Conclusion: Imagine for a moment this astonishing, imaginary conversation that Jesus might have had with the archangel Gabriel upon his triumphant return to heaven.

"Well, how did it go?" Gabriel asks Jesus. "Did you complete your mission and save the world?"

"Well, yes and no," Jesus replies. "I modeled a godly life for about thirty years. I preached to a few thousand Jews in one corner of the Roman Empire. I died for the sins of the world and promised that those who believe in me will live forever. And I burst from the tomb on the third day to show my circle of 120 frightened followers that my life and story are God's way to save the whole world. Then I gave the Holy Spirit to those 120 and left them to finish the task:'

"You mean," Gabriel asks in amazement, "your whole plan to save the world depends on that ragtag bunch of' fishermen, ex-prostitutes, and tax collectors?"

"That's right," Jesus replies.

"But what if they fail?" Gabriel persists with growing alarm. "What's your backup plan?"

"There is no backup plan," Jesus says quietly. Ron Sider's book, Living Like Jesus.

Jesus depends on you to go and tell his story.