A World That Is Waiting: Go Out and Become a True Witness

A World That Is Waiting: Go Out and Become a True Witness

There's a phrase from the apostle Paul that should make you lift your head this morning: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God" (Romans 8:19). This isn't a poetic image. It isn't a nice verse to frame on the wall. It's a reality that concerns you today. The world around you is waiting for something, and that something is you. Not one more Christian in a pew, but a son, a daughter of God who is revealed wherever God has placed them.

Look at Esther. A determined woman, courageous, who left everything behind to go where God asked her to go. An immigrant, almost a slave, who ended up at the king's court, in the most influential position imaginable. And God entrusted her with a mandate: to influence an entire people, to save millions of Jews who were to be killed. You too have that mandate. Her quality was beauty, the king saw her and was amazed. You may have something else: your ability to organize, to paint, to write, to speak, to give wisdom. It doesn't matter. These are the qualities that will bring you to where God wants to see you, because the world, not knowing God, sees your qualities first.

Article outline

1. The world isn't waiting for believers, it's waiting for witnesses
2. You cannot bear witness without the power of the Spirit
3. Step out of selfishness and into your mission
4. Like Paul, obey even when everything unsettles you
5. Like Mary, give Jesus what is most precious to you

1. The world isn't waiting for believers, it's waiting for witnesses

Read it slowly again: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God" (Romans 8:19). Paul does not say that creation is waiting for believers to be revealed. He says it is waiting for the sons and daughters of God. There's a huge difference. No one in the world cares whether you're a believer. What the whole earth eagerly longs for is that you, as a child of God, be revealed.

Being a child of God is not a label. It's an identity that knows who it is and knows who its Father is. All your influence flows from that: first from your identity, then from the qualities God has given you. The whole earth is waiting for the Church of Christ to be revealed. So step out of your religious context and go influence wherever God has placed you.

2. You cannot bear witness without the power of the Spirit

"But 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). Look closely: the verse begins with a "but." If there's a "but," it means there's a "yet." Something comes before it, a block, a problem.

What comes before is the disciples' question: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Do you see their self-centeredness? Jesus has just told them to wait for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And they're thinking about themselves, their nation, their comfort: "You're leaving, and what do we do? At least set up our kingdom before you go!"

Jesus answers: it's the Father who determines the timing. But "you," you will receive power. Before bearing witness, you must receive the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the foundation. Without it, you can do nothing. And look at what this power is for: to change the way you think. To stop thinking "me," and start thinking "others, my neighbor."

3. Step out of selfishness and into your mission

Often we're frustrated in our lives because we only think about ourselves. When I started playing soccer at six or seven years old, I was always on the sidelines. Every Saturday there was practice, and when a key player wasn't there, my desire (my real desire) was for my team to lose. I was so angry about not playing that I wished for their defeat, so the coach would finally see that things didn't work without me. This went on for a few years.

That little example may speak to you. How many times, when something doesn't go our way, do we wish for others to fail? We think about ourselves when God is calling us to think about the good of our neighbor. The disciples were in exactly that mode: "you're leaving, and what do we do?" Jesus had to send them the Spirit to bring them out of that "me" and into the mission.

A witness is someone who no longer thinks about himself. A witness is someone who gives. Who gives what he has received. That's why the power of the Holy Spirit is given to you: to change the way you think, to turn your eyes from "me" toward "him and others." As long as you think about yourself, you can never be a true witness.

4. Like Paul, obey when everything unsettles you

Look at Paul in Acts 16. At one point, he is completely lost. He wants to go to Galatia: the Holy Spirit forbids it. He wants to go to Bithynia: the Spirit of Jesus stops him. He has just quarreled with Barnabas, his traveling companion, over Mark. He has just returned to Jerusalem to argue with Peter over the question of circumcision. Nothing is working. He is unsettled, his own will seemingly crushed.

And it's there, at Troas, that he receives a vision: a Macedonian tells him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" Macedonia, meaning Europe. Paul had never left his own context, Asia Minor. And yet he obeys.

Read what he writes afterward in 2 Corinthians 2:12-13: "When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest, because I did not find my brother Titus. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia." Paul looks for his best friend Titus, doesn't find him, and despite that heartache, he obeys. He doesn't tell God, "wait, let me find my friend first, embrace my loved ones, and then I'll go."

Remember that young man to whom Jesus says "Follow me"? He answers, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father" (Luke 9:59-60). At the time, if a son was not present at his father's death, he did not receive the inheritance. This young man was actually telling Jesus, "I want to follow you, but first let me secure my financial future." He missed his chance. Not because God was harsh, but because he was thinking of himself.

Because of Paul's obedience, we in Europe have the gospel. If he had stayed at Troas looking for his friend, we would not be here today, or we would be here differently. God needs you. God needs a Church that no longer thinks about itself, but thinks about being a witness in a world searching for sons and daughters of God.

5. Like Mary, give Jesus what is most precious to you

Remember the scene in John 12:1-8. Lazarus has just been raised. There's a banquet at his house. Mary, his sister, comes in with a jar of pure nard perfume, very costly. She pours it on Jesus' feet, then wipes them with her hair. This gesture upsets the disciples. One of them protests: "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?" This perfume was worth, roughly, a full year's wages, several tens of thousands of dollars today. The disciples were thinking about the cost. Mary was thinking about Jesus.

Why did she do this? Just days before, she and Martha had been desperate: their brother had died. At the time, two women alone were worth nothing in society. They were missing their brother. Jesus came and gave him back to them. Her way of saying thank you was to give everything. Everything. "Now I'm no longer afraid for my security, because I have you, Jesus."

Today, Jesus does not ask you to give up your salary or sell your house, unless he personally reveals that to you. He asks you to give him what is most precious to you: your testimony. He wants you to share with others what he has done in your life. Think of Peter, that disciple who, before Pentecost, was self-centered, when Jesus spoke of John's death, he cut in: "And what about me, how will I die?" But after being filled with the Holy Spirit, before a lame man at the Temple, he says: "I have no silver and gold, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" (Acts 3:6). He gives the greatest wealth he possesses: Christ.

God does not want your money, he does not want your possessions. He wants you to be a witness to his power. And the only way to be a witness is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just at baptism, but filled again and again, everywhere, so that you overflow with him.

Key takeaways

• The world isn't looking for more believers, it's waiting for sons and daughters of God to be revealed.
• Without the power of the Holy Spirit, you cannot be a true witness, you will remain a mere practitioner.
• The witness is one who has stopped thinking about himself in order to start thinking about others.
• Obedience to God often comes through seasons of unsettling, where your own will is broken.
• What God asks you to give is neither your money nor your security, but the testimony of Christ in your life.

Personal application

• What quality has God given you to influence the world around you? Are you truly putting it at his service?
• Is there an area today where you think "what about me?" when God is asking you to think about your neighbor?
• Are you going through a season of unsettling? Perhaps God is preparing a door you weren't expecting.
• What is most precious to you today? Are you ready to lay it at Jesus' feet?
• When did you last pray to be filled again with the Holy Spirit?

Scriptures cited

• Romans 8:19 · Creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God
• Acts 1:6-8 · You will receive power and you will be my witnesses
• Acts 16:6-10 · Paul, the Spirit and the vision of the Macedonian
• 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 · Paul at Troas, without rest of spirit
• Luke 9:59-60 · The young man who wants to bury his father first
• John 12:1-8 · Mary anoints Jesus' feet
• Acts 3:6 · Peter to the lame man: "What I have I give you"

FAQ

What does it mean to be a "witness" in a world that expects nothing from me?
Being a witness isn't about convincing people at all costs. It's letting the character of Christ (love, peace, patience, kindness, self-control) shine through in your life, along with his power. The world isn't looking for people trying to convert it, it's looking for different people, who live what they say they believe. Your simple presence, filled with the Spirit, unsettles and attracts.

Why does God sometimes stop me from going where I want to go?
As with Paul in Galatia or Bithynia, these blocks are not punishments. They're often a sign that God is preparing something else, bigger or more fitting. Seasons of unsettling are when your own will fades so his can take its place. If you're in a season where nothing seems to work, don't conclude too quickly. Listen, and wait for the door that will open.

How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit day by day?
The baptism of the Spirit is not a one-time experience to live once and for all. Scripture speaks of being "filled" in the present, continually (Ephesians 5:18). Ask God for it every day. Pray to overflow with him. Step out of "me" and turn toward him and toward others. It's in that movement of giving that the power becomes real.