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Being A Gospel WitnessMarks of a Witness in Mark

The evangelical world has experienced a gospel craze over the decade, a renewed emphasis on church planting, and a revitalization of expositional preaching. We should be grateful and excited to live in such an era. However, sometimes even these principles can live in abstraction instead of reality.

Recently, I was in a discussion with young seminarians and the question was asked, “What is the evidence of someone being called to church plant?” After responses about theology, leadership, qualifications of eldership, and personality traits I remarked, “What if the would-be church planters were just asked, ‘Write out everyone you have evangelized in your life and how has the gospel grown in them since?”

The men shifted uncomfortably. The truth is, though, that fruitfulness in evangelism — which should be the norm for the Christian life — is non-negotiable for church planting. Further, it’s easy to over-estimate how often we are “doing the work of an evangelist” as Paul exhorted Timothy in 2nd Timothy 4:5. Think through this “Witness Cardiogram” as a check up:

WITNESS CARDIOGRAM

1. Do I have regular conversations with people outside the faith? 2. Have I shared a meal with someone outside the faith in the last month? 3. Have I served a friend who is outside the faith in the last month? 4. Have I invited a friend who is outside the faith to church or my small group? 5. Have I shared the gospel in the last month? 1

If you’re a Christian, you’re probably saying, “I know I should . . . I know I ought to be witnessing more.” God does not want us to live out of “ought” and “should,” or out of a compulsive cycle of legalism. Resist the “oughts” and “shoulds” of legalistic Christian living by simply repenting for the sin omission (failing to do what is right) and turning to a life marked by consistent and courageous witnessing. God wants us to live out of relationship with him. A call to witness is first and ultimately a call to relationship with God.

So what is a witness? A witness is defined as someone sent by God. Someone who has experienced the power of the gospel and then testifies to what they know and have experienced. This is the natural movement of the gospel. The gospel comes to us in order to

move through us.

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. Total Church, 2008, p. 33.1

BEING A GOSPEL WITNESS: 7 Marks of a Witness in Mark 6 !1

ARE YOU A WITNESS?

“ Fruitfulness in evangelism — which should be the norm for the Christian life — is non-negotiable for church planting.

Witnessing isn't just something Christians do, but it’s who we are. This is what theologians would call ontology. The scriptures tell us that as Christians we become witnesses to Christ’s resurrection by experiencing Christ’s work in themselves. Listen to the scriptures speak on our ontological identity:

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so

that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god

was formed nor will there be one after me…I have revealed and saved and

proclaimed - I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,”

declares the Lord, “that I am God.” (Isaiah 43:10,12)

Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?

You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I

know not one. (Isaiah 44:8)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my

witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

(Acts 1:8)

In the gospel, we aren't merely defined by our actions or inactions; our functionality is not our identity. Gospel dynamics show our functionality comes from our ontology. Christians should witness because they are witnesses. If we fail to root our witness in the gospel, our evangelism may end up what Brennan Manning described as “…passing out brochures to places you’ve never been.”

This can be more than an individual issue, witnessing can be a church-wide issue. A church that isn’t witnessing, that isn’t moving outward doesn’t have a problem with technique. It doesn’t need a new program. Because the lack of witnessing isn’t a witnessing

problem, it is first and foremost a gospel problem. Witnessing is a natural response to the experience of God’s grace, and its power lies entirely in the gospel. If we’re not compelled to share the gospel, we should wrestle with whether we actually believe it.

The call to evangelize is a call to experience God and let the gospel shape and influence who we are and how we do what we do as a church. Too often, the reason we fail to live out our identity is because we are more shaped and influenced by the spirit of consumerism and a consumer culture than the Spirit of God. But instead of our churches being formed and fueled by the power of the Gospel, we are shaped by the power of consumer culture.


YOU ARE WITNESSES

“ Witnessing isn't just something Christians do, but it’s who we are.

Witnessing or missional living first and foremost isn’t about technique. Evangelism is about an experience rooted in a relationship with the living God. What we do flows from who we are. It’s not just something we do; it’s who we are. God’s gospel makes us witnesses and our witnessing is all about his gospel.

So what does a missional church populated by witnessing members look like? Let’s examine the seven marks of Jesus teaches in Mark 6:6-13 about when the gospel flows to mission.

MARK #1: MOVEMENT

Jesus went around teaching from village to village. [Jesus] began to send them out. (Mark 6:6-7)

Many religions require a pilgrimage or a quest. You travel to a guru or a center of religious worship, such as a temple or a shrine. Jesus could have adopted a similar model for ministry, one that involved a lot of sitting

around, staying in one place and waiting for people to come to him. But he didn’t. If you read through the

Gospels, you’ll see Jesus characterizing himself as being “sent,” or “seeking” followers, and going towards lost sheep. Jesus both

Consumer Church Missional Church

Outwardly Critical – it’s all about pleasing you, your preferences are central

Inwardly Critical - marked by humility, wanting the Scriptures to search, challenge,

and shape you.

Receiving - sitting back & waiting to be ministered to.

Giving – actively loving others through generosity, hospitality, encouragement, etc.

Individualized – church is something you do personally and privately, not anyone’s else

business.

Community Focused - church is a family with open accountability, support, and sharing.

Often results in church shopping Results in commitment to local church


“ Witness or missional living first and foremost isn’t about technique.

SEVEN MARKS OF GOSPEL WITNESS IN PROGRESS

went and Jesus sent: Jesus went around teaching from village to village (Mark 6:6). And in verse 7 we read: [Jesus] began to send them out (Mark 6:7).

There’s so much we can learn about mission and sharing our faith with others by simply looking at Jesus. We see Jesus embodying the nature of God’s missionary impulse all over the Gospels:

• Jesus going to people and making room for people who were considered outsiders. (Mark 2)

• Jesus going to people and telling stories to capture people’s imagination. (Mark 4:1-34)

• Jesus going to people and not manipulating or sugar-coating the truth. (Mark 10) • We see Jesus going to people and not simply telling them what’s true but

engaging them, moving towards people, by asking, mind stretching and heart probing, questions.

One of our community group coaches went to visit a community group a while back, and found this tendency at work. It was a newer group at a campus that had recently launched, and the group members were eager to do something big and evangelistic. They wanted to coordinate a fall festival or cookout inviting the neighborhood around the church to attend and had requested funding more support from the church leadership.

The coach listened, nodding, affirming there desire and finally interrupted: “These are all

great ideas, but let me ask you something. What’s the guy’s name in the house next door?”

There was a long and awkward pause.

Finally the group leader spoke up: “Uh, I’m not sure.” The coach continued: “How ’bout across the street?”

This time the leader knew a first name, but when pressed further, he didn’t know the wife’s name, the kids’ names, or what the neighbor did for a living. Often times we are eager for an abstract program, when we lack affection for concrete people. The group had a big vision for reaching the “lost,” but they didn’t have affection for the people living just next door.

The coach, wisely, identified something all too common for us. We’re happy to put together projects and throw big events at our churches or give money to worthy causes. But we’re much more hesitant to befriend neighbors, share life with them, and be witnesses to grace in our ordinary, everyday interactions. In order to LOVE people, we must KNOW people. Jesus was sent and happily went. Mission is marked by movement or as John Piper declares, “Go. Send. Or Disobey.”


“ Often times we are eager for an abstract program, when we lack affection for concrete people.

Mission is marked by movement and Jesus models this movement. And this isn’t something we do alone. We are created for community, for relationship. There’s something about community that communicates who Jesus is, what he’s done, and all he promises to do.

MARK #2: COMMUNITY

“Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two

by two.” (Mark 6:7)

Jesus doesn’t call one Rockstar, or one missionary Superstar, to himself; he calls 12 average men ‘to him” as the beginning and basis of their community. And he sends “them out [in pairs] two by two” in community.

•Jesus does this because we were created for community. •Jesus does this because community offers people a window

into the Gospel. Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if

you love one another (John 13:35). • Jesus does this because there are many different gifts given to different people

for mission. • Jesus does this because it makes sense to work together.

Ben is a 69 year-old guy from our neighborhood, a tough working class area in the heart of the city. Ben had a rougher life and lived just 100 yards from our building. One evening, Ben’s adult son was hit by a passing train just down the street from his home. A deacon named Louis noticed the cop cars, ambulances, and people on the sidewalks on his way home and called our pastor of mercy ministries. Together they visited the home and found an audience of twenty-five folks who were eager for news of hope found in the gospel.

Soon Sojourn pastors were invited to perform the memorial service and began a relationship with Ben, the father. Eventually, Ben started coming to our Sunday services and a number of Sojourn leaders began to pour into him and answer questions and visit his home. Though Ben was angry at God for taking his son, he began seeking the Lord in the midst of it. He asked great questions and Sojourn members embraced him.

One day, Ben was ready to proclaim Jesus as Lord and was baptized. Since then we can't keep him out of the building. He faithfully serves at nearly every function. He beats staff members to the building standing outside in the early morning, rain or shine, ready to serve on Sojourn Church’s hospitality and connect team. He is now a vocal evangelist in the neighborhood and tells anyone he sees, many of whom knew Ben well before his


“ It makes sense to work together…witnessing in tandem.

conversion and see a marked difference in his life, about the love of Jesus Christ.

Ben attends a weekly neighborhood Bible study and continues to grow in his faith. When he had surgery a few months back, all of his fellow connect team servants visited him in the hospital and cooked dinner for him and his wife, Evelyn. This is God’s story in

Ben’s life, but who gets credit for witnessing to Ben?

• Is it the prayer walkers who had silently stalked his street for years on end?

• Is it the deacon who called or the pastor who dropped everything and came to the scene?

• Or maybe the members whose hearts were broken with compassion and leveraged their resources to pay for the funeral?

• Was it at the funeral service? • Was it when Ben heard me preach on Sunday? • Was it the musicians or the liturgy, or the people who wrote the

liturgy? • Maybe the PowerPoint gal faithfully clicking away on Sunday? • Was it the people who financially sacrificed and allowed us to move

into a facility near to Ben’s home?

It’s all those people! God uses the body of Christ, and we all have a part to play in the mission

of God. The question we need to ask is: “What is my part? How Can I join God in what He is already doing?”

MARK #3: AUTHORITY

[Jesus] gave them authority over impure spirits. (Mark 6:7)

Jesus gives his followers authority and power to crush demons and cure diseases. God’s mission comes with God’s authority. Jesus is in the position to simply pass on authority to others. He doesn’t have to pray to God for authority he can simply pass on authority to others. I am 2

not sure how this will work out in your life and church, but to deny God’s transfer of authority to us is a betrayal of

Scripture:

•Jesus came to them [his 12 disciples/followers minus Judas after his death and resurrection] and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been

Robert Stein, Mark (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), 2008, p. 291.2


“ Jesus is in the position to simply pass on authority to others.

given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-19).

• Jesus “has been given” “all authority in heaven” over angels and demons and Satan.

• Jesus “has been given” “all authority . . . on earth” over kings, rulers, prime ministers, presidents.

All authority means unlimited authority. And, Jesus who has “all authority” charges us to go to “all nations.” Paul sums up our position under Jesus authority charged with Jesus mission well when he says: We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians

5:20). We are on foreign soil, we are citizens of a far better country, and every day we a one step closer, but until we step into glory, this is our opportunity to testify to the glory we have experience to what God has done.

An ambassador is someone who has authority to represent for another. We have authority to represent for Jesus. Ambassadors don’t have to accomplish anything on their own. They simply stand in as a representative, knowing that the one they represent is able to follow through on all he says.

Have you ever had a friend recommend a restaurant, saying “Tell them I sent you”? Or have you ever had a business connection that got you a foot in the door somewhere with that phrase? This is what Jesus is doing. “I’ve been put in charge of everything,” he says. “Make sure you tell them I sent you.” It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Who do you know? You know Christ! He is no longer walking the dusty roads of Palestine. He is the exalted Christ at the right hand of the Father, and he is no longer whispering accusations regarding you to the ears of the father. Rather, he rejoices over you. You’re his, his chosen ones.

MARK #4: SIMPLICITY

These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey

except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear

sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house,

stay there until you leave that town. (Mark 6:8-10).

Mission is marked by simplicity in that we are to trust God’s provision. So, “Take nothing for the journey except

[the bare essentials].” Mission is marked by simplicity in that we don’t seek profit from God’s mission.

So, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town

(v. 10). They were not to profit in any way. Mission is marked by

TO REST IS HUMAN: Escape Exhaustion by Trusting, Stopping, and Enjoying !7

“ Mission is marked by simplicity. Jesus’ mission doesn’t need some marketing makeover.

simplicity in that Jesus’ mission doesn’t need props, a show, or sales pitch. Jesus’ mission doesn’t need some marketing makeover. Witnesses are faithful and faithfully evaluate their fruitfulness. It’s a simple message, and it can be communicated simply. This doesn’t mean that God can’t use elaborate presentations to accomplish his purpose. But it certainly means that we should never feel restrained from sharing the gospel because of a lack of resources, be they educational, financial, creative, or physical. Christians are called to be hospitable, especially when people come to our turf (Sunday service, community group, an event, etc.) but the space between hospitality and circus is vast.

Think about your own life: How did you come to Christ? Did you accept Jesus because you saw sports cars and assault vehicles roll onto a theater stage? Or did you accept Jesus because someone shared a story that revealed the power of God? Was it the speaker’s shiny shoes or a profound and simple message?

We are witnesses, not Public Relations specialists. We witness to what Christ has done in our own life and tell them the truth about: God, Man, Sin, Christ, then call for a response. I want to set before you a chart we call the ‘whole world’ at Sojourn. I want to explain it because when you think of witnessing, many of you are thinking “I need to add that to my to schedule”. If that’s you, then you are succumbing to legalism over gospel fruitfulness. I want you to stop thinking of doing more things; instead, I want you to simple do the things you do differently. Before you go across the world (which Jesus may be calling you to as well), Jesus is definitely calling you to share the gospel where you are. The ‘whole world’ helps us have awareness of where we are and the opportunities that abound around us.

WHOLE WORLD CHART


Let’s deep into each ‘Where You Are’ to bring more clarity:

• Congregation is great place to start your evangelism by just inviting someone to church or community group.

• Location: Get to know your neighbors by being friendly, learning names, throwing great parties for the block, serving them, being eager to let them borrow things (even when they get broken). Some of you are like, “I let them borrow my mower and he broke it.” Well, suffer for the gospel and move on! What an opportunity to extend grace.

• Vocation: Do you believe that your work matters to God? If your 40-50 hours a week doesn’t matter to God, then your life doesn’t matter to God. He cares about your work, the way you work, the way your steward the power and resources and education you’ve been given. Work for more than a ‘platform’ to share because God cares about your literal work. Work in a way that leaves a legacy of holy love and take opportunities to witness when you can.

• Restoration: Draw near to the brokenness around you or in your city. Bring stability to the emotionally poor and needy. Be a friend to those suffering all sorts of troubles.

• Recreation: We will know revival has arrived when Christians work hard and then put their work down to rest consistently. I can't think of a more counter-cultural witness than the man or woman who works diligently, invests relationally, and rests/plays well. Your full, fruitful, and paced life is attractive. Invite others into it.

MARK #5: RECEPTIVITY

Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that

town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you,

leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a

testimony against them.” (Mark 6:10-11)

Jesus makes it clear, some will welcome you and some will

not welcome you or even listen to you. And some of us get so angry with this culture war and the fact no one listens

to Christians anymore. But remember that was you and me apart from the grace of God! Do you remember how

dark your ignorance in sin was?

We can’t convince or convict, that's what God does. We trust that God will do his part to call his children to him.


“ We trust that God will do his part to call his children to him.

I invited my neighbors every Christmas to a party, and they never showed up. A few years in I invited Cynthia, and she came. Her presence opened up an opportunity to connect with the entire neighborhood. Many of the men who came did not have jobs, and some of them were in prison. One of the big guys, who had just gotten out of prison asked, “Why don’t you beat your kids?” At first I was offended, then I realized he was really asking, “How are you so gentle with your kids? I get so angry with my kids.” He comes back to me later and says, “Hey, can I come back and study the Bible with you?”

And if you’re rejected, “leave that place, take off, and shake the dust off your feet as a

testimony against them.” This is a way of communicating God’s judgment for rejecting God’s messenger. Look we’re not responsible for shoving the message of Jesus down people’s throats, and you shouldn't want to. Share passionately, but know your role. God’s the one who ultimately calls and convinced and convicts.

MARK #6: MESSAGE

They went out and preached that people should repent.

(Mark 6:11)

People must repent. To “repent” is to give up on my path of life because my path of life ends in death and judgment.

People need to hear that God has created them in their image, and that He is calling them home. We need to call them to

experience life with God, and this is the message that should be marked by a sense of urgency. We senselessly try to make the

gospel feel comfortable. But the repentance part is just not very comforting. The gospel is a declaration of war, that all other so called

‘gods’ are false and everyone is facing a future judgment by a holy God. You have rebelled against God. There is a way of escape though. Respond!

Don’t try to make the gospel cool. This is coming from someone who tried for many years. It just doesn’t work.

To repent is to give up and give in to God’s Way of life through faith in Jesus. Repent is a call to turn your life around because here is life in Jesus. There’s an urgency. But there should be a peacefulness because ultimately there is power in our witness.


“ Don’t try to make the gospel cool.

MARK #7: POWER

They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with

oil and healed them. (Mark 6:13)

Whenever someone comes to know Christ, it is a demonstration of the power of God. We have one of the most powerful drama ministries at our church. The most powerful in

the world even, and you have it as well. It’s called baptism. We don’t do skits and clowns, but we do baptism. I ask non-believing

friends who come to Sojourn, “What do you love about Sojourn?” I’m always hoping they say my sermon, but they never say that. They

say we love baptism and communion. It’s fascinating because they are not even invited to participate in it. Why do visitors love it? They say, “It’s so clear that you’re taking communion out of conviction” or on baptism “their life must really be different to say all that in front of all these people.”

When we believe the gospel, witnessing happens. When witnessing is absent, the gospel and its power are missing.

The gospel makes us witnesses. And our witnessing is all about the gospel.

If you aren't witnessing, then it’s time to repent of being embarrassed, ashamed, afraid, or apathetic. The gospel makes witnesses, and unashamed witnesses at that: “For I am

not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone

who believes.” (Romans 1:16)

Examine yourself for the marks (movement, community, authority, simplicity, receptivity,

message, power) and take the small steps of faith to be the witness you are.


“ We have the most powerful drama ministry in the world. We don’t do skits and clowns, but we do baptism.

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