Called to Witness

August 6, 2017 Background Scripture: Acts 1, 6, 7 Lesson Passage: Acts 6:1 – 8 After about two thousand years, opinions are still diverse on whether it is the calling of every Christian to witness to the world or only a select few. By witness, I mean to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the non-Christians of the world. Allow me to make my position clear. I believe there is a distinction between witnessing and preaching. I believe that witnessing is about sharing one’s own understanding about the gospel based on personal salvation and experience living as a Christian. This sharing by way of witnessing is done with non-Christians. On the other hand, I believe that preaching is receiving a message from God and verbally delivering it to those one is sent to whether they are Christians or not. Furthermore, I believe that one should receive a divine call from God to be a preacher. To this end then I will speak on the topic of today’s lesson from the standpoint of all Christians are expected to be witnesses to non-Christians. It is only from this standpoint that I would use the term “called” to apply to all Christians. After all, people who follow the teachings and ways of Jesus should do the same things he did—not individually but the group as a whole. It should be noted from Chapter 1 of Acts that Jesus told the group of disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were empowered by the Holy Ghost to go throughout the world and be his witnesses. However, after the Holy Ghost came in a demonstration of power on the day of Pentecost, the group of Christians appeared to settle in and become reasonably comfortable meeting in the temple in Jerusalem as they were accustomed. It was only after the persecution against them turned fatal that the group began to disperse away from Jerusalem. Fatal acts of persecution against the infant church began on the day that Stephen was stoned and this led to the dispersion of the Christians out of Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria. Note that the apostles remained in Jerusalem but the Christians who scattered because of the persecution went and witnessed wherever they fled. They did exactly as Jesus commanded or prophesied they would except it was done under duress. Today, Christians are still called to be witnesses. Like our fellow Christians in the Jerusalem congregation, many of us will only do it under situations of duress. Unlike them, in America today, we don’t feel persecution that we believe is widespread and potentially fatal. Rather, we see internal dissension causing congregations to split and form smaller congregations that feel pressured to witness for the sake of growing the new congregations into groups large enough to sustain themselves. Whatever the cause or motivation, Christians of all generations and during all times have continuously returned to the mandate of Jesus that we must witness to a dying world the reality of personal salvation that is available in Jesus Christ alone. We either find it within us to reach out to the lost or we find ourselves in uncomfortable situations that are only remedied by reaching out to others to grow the size of the congregation. Whatever the motivation, we respond to being called to witness to others. Robert C. Hudson June 29, 2017

Amos

July 30, 2017 Background Scripture: Amos 7 Lesson Passage: Amos 7:10 – 17 Amos was unique among the prophets of Israel in that he resided in the southern kingdom of Judah but God sent him to prophesy against the northern kingdom of Israel. This was unique because God typically placed a prophet in the midst of the situation even if it were in exile outside of Palestine. Because the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms at the time, Amos’ work reminds us that God has jurisdiction over all governments. As with other prophets, Amos’ work was met with stiff opposition by the local leaders. The priest of Israel conspired with the king to send Amos out of Israel and back to Judah. There is no wonder God would send an outsider with the religious leaders and civil leaders of Israel being in such collusion. Whenever there is collusion between those in religious leadership positions and civil leaders, then there is often no religious leadership. It may all become political. In spite of the local opposition, Amos defended himself against their verbal attacks and declared the word of God to them anyway. Amos spoke truth to power and the powers that were resisted the truth with all their might. Amos made it clear that his prophesying to Israel was not personal for him. Amos obeyed the calling of God upon his life. Furthermore, Amos testified to them that he was not a prophet nor was he the son of a prophet but rather a rancher and farmer. In other words, Amos was minding his own business when God sent him to Israel with the message of rebuke. There was no reason for Amos to suspect that the prophetic ministry would become his calling but God called him. When Amos gave his testimony about his calling, it is almost as though he saw himself as a fish out of water. Without the pedigree or credentials from the school of prophets to lean on, Amos was left to declare the visions and statements that God gave him just as he received them. And declare those visions he did and it shook the very temples and palaces of Israel. They knew from the oracles Amos spoke that a true God-sent prophet had visited them. In spite of their resistance to the oracles, Amos confirmed by the word of the Lord that Israel would be taken into exile although the leaders had hoped it would not happen. The leaders knew that the word of God’s prophet was powerful and would come to pass because it was spoken. They could not deny the truth of God’s word so they sought to avoid it. Therefore they conspired to have Amos go back to Judah and prophesy there and leave Israel alone. Little did they know that Amos was pleading with God on their behalf and God had forgone some of the judgments that would have been more devastating because of Amos’ plea for Israel. The prophet was being a friend to Israel although the leaders there thought otherwise. If Amos had not been sent to Israel and filled with compassion for them, their fate could have been much worse. Amos was not the son of a prophet nor did he attend the school of the prophets. But the calling of God was upon Amos and a powerful prophet he was. Robert C. Hudson June 7, 2017