Witnesses wanted: please present evidence

A person's last words before leaving carry special weight. Acts 1:6-9 records the last words of Jesus before He ascended to heaven, and they reveal the church's vocation: "you will be my witnesses."

1. Call, mission, and vocation

When Jesus tells Peter, "on this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18), He calls the church into existence. At the end of the Gospels, He gives the mission: go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15). In Acts 1, He reveals the vocation: to be a witness.

Mission has to do with the mind: it requires intention, strategy, and planning. Vocation has to do with the heart: it's what burns inside you. When mission and vocation line up, everything flows.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus realized their hearts were burning while Jesus talked with them on the way (Luke 24:32). The mind needs to understand the mission so the heart can burn with the vocation. And in that place there is no hierarchy: Jesus didn't say only pastors and leaders would be witnesses. He said "you," the whole church.

2. An expectation that needed correcting

The disciples were expecting a warrior king who would defeat Rome. The cross brought frustration, and they went back to fishing. Jesus went to the shore, restored their vocation (John 21), and after 40 days with the risen Christ, they asked: "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Three years of teaching about the kingdom of God, and they were still thinking about the kingdom of Israel. Jesus answers that times and dates belong to the Father. Now it's the kingdom of God, and that kingdom doesn't advance with soldiers or armies. It advances with witnesses.

3. What a witness is

A witness isn't just someone who saw, heard, and tasted. A witness is someone who has become the message itself. Our Christian journey is meant to remove any gap between what we say and how we live.

After Elijah prayed and the widow's son came back to life, she said: "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth" (1 Kings 17:24).

Artificial intelligence can be a great help in studying the Bible. It can be a teacher, but it will never be a witness. Being a witness is when the heart burns and the mind understands.

3.1 A witness is a martyr

The Greek word for witness is martys, from which we get "martyr." A biblical witness isn't just someone in a courtroom. It's someone willing to give their life for the truth they carry. Even today, many brothers and sisters are martyred for it.

3.2 Your own experiences

We tell many testimonies about other people, passed from mouth to mouth. But you need your own experiences. God's voice, most of the time, comes to the heart and the mind. Like Samuel, learn to say: "Speak, for your servant is listening" (1 Samuel 3:10).

Once I sensed in my heart that I should go to a certain store, without knowing why. There I ran into a friend of more than 20 years who had drifted away from the faith. Coincidence? You may try to find a rational explanation, but God wants you to have your own experiences, however small they may be.

The man who had been healed of blindness told the Pharisees: "One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25). There's no way to break a witness like that.

3.3 Stephen, the first witness

Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Facing false accusations, he didn't act as Jesus' lawyer: he gave the reason for his faith. Jesus doesn't need lawyers; He needs witnesses. As he was being stoned, Stephen forgave his executioners and said he saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). In other texts, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus stood up to welcome His first witness.

Tertullian said that the blood of Christians is the seed of the church.

4. Beware of false testimony

Sometimes we act like spiritual reporters: we know everything about God's fire, but we're in an air-conditioned studio, feeling nothing. We know details about Jesus, but we've never looked at anyone the way He does.

Keep studying the Bible, but in order to live it, not just to fill your head. When knowledge turns into legalism, only two roles are left: Jesus' lawyer or your brothers' judge. Paul asks: "Who are you to judge someone else's servant?" (Romans 14:4). That is exactly the Pharisee's place. The sons of Sceva tried to drive out demons in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preached and were exposed (Acts 19:13-16). Jesus wants true witnesses.

5. The world is thirsty for your testimony

The world lives on appearances and is thirsty for truth. Even so, many believers live like secret agents: no one at work knows they're Christians.

• Living with integrity is essential, but it isn't enough. How will they believe if no one preaches? Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:14, 17).
• Don't use Jesus to fill your business, but let Jesus fill your business and talk about Him.
• Celebrate what God does in your life. That's gratitude. People don't need to see you; they need to see Jesus in you.

6. The witness's secret

"You will receive power." The witness's secret is the Holy Spirit. The power isn't ours, it's His. He reminds us of everything Jesus taught (John 14:26). Our part is to make ourselves available: pray for people, speak, act. You step out and He uses you.

Conclusion

The church isn't a place where people go to hear about Jesus, but where witnesses gather to show the evidence that Jesus is alive. Paul said he did not consider his life worth anything to himself, as long as he could finish the race and complete the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace (Acts 20:24).

What evidence has your life been presenting that Jesus is alive?