Can your life testifies for Christ?

29th May, 2011
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han

John 5: 31-47
Main Idea: Your life needs to testify for Christ.

Objectives: a. Need to challenge the congregation on the necessity to testify for Christ. b. Need to challenge the congregation to stop practicing corruption and stand up against it.

A. Introduction
- Do you still remember my last sermon preached on 26th December, 2010? It was based on John 5: 16-30. Do you still remember the title of my sermon? (Jesus is equal to God) Let me give you a clue. It is something to do with my trademark sermons. (Okay, it is about building a personal relationship with Jesus; your Christian identity; make disciples of all nations, missions) You always get to hear them in my sermons.
- Today, I am going to proceed from my last sermon. I continue from there. I hope that each time I come back to GMC I preach from there for the gospel of John has a lot to offer to GMC. This is my only chance to I choose to preach to you this year and yet I decide to continue with the gospel of John. I pray that this continuity will impact your lives for Christ.
- I pray that after a break of 5 months plus, though I may not preach new things, with my 5 months plus learning, I pray that with a few new insights which I learnt from my learned lecturers and books, you will be greatly challenged to testify for Christ. The title of my sermon to you.
- The passage today is all about Jesus’ word. It is still very much in the context of His conflict with the Jewish religious authorities, where His divinity was challenged. He claimed to be God but He was rejected as God. You see how He dealt with them.

B. Explanation of Text
- Jesus knew the Jewish religious authorities would not accept Him as the son of God. Then, Jesus argued with the Jewish religious authorities that John the Baptist had testified (verses 32 to 34) for Him. He even sacrificed his life in testifying for Jesus but they did not grip the truth that Jesus was God (verse 35).
- Jesus still wanted to quote the weightier testimony of what God the Father had done through Him in all the miracles and mission when He referred to the very work that the Father had given Him in verse 36.
- Jesus further emphasized that His Father had sent Him to testify about Him but they had never heard His father or heard His Father’s voice in the written scripture like the Old Testament and also His Father’s voice of approval at Jesus’ baptism at Jordan River; and also they did not see His form. This may refer to their lack of spiritual perception about Jesus being God. (verses 37 -38)
- Jesus further accused them of studying the Scripture, but they did not recognize the one to whom the Scripture bears supreme testimony. They read the scripture that revealed the promised Messiah who was in the person of Jesus, whom Jesus Himself claimed but they could not recognize. God the Father Himself revealed and testified through the scripture but they could not agree that Jesus was sent by God the Father. (verses 40 -41)
- The revelation God gave to Moses was inseparable from the revelation God gave through Jesus. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus told by Jesus, the rich man who was in torment in seoul (hell), he appealed to father Abraham to send Lazarus who also died to preach to his 5 brothers on earth so that they would not come to the place of torment like him. Father Abraham replied in Luke 16: 31, “… If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
- The Scriptures that Jesus referred to were most probably the Mosaic Laws and they bore testimonies and yet the Jewish religious authorities could not accept them. Jesus really confronted them in their faces they accepted men’s praise and made no effort to obtain God’s praise. How could they not accepted the testimonies of Moses and then, Jesus even went to the extent of telling them on behalf of Moses that he was accusing them of their mistake of not recognizing Jesus as God. (verses 42 -45)
- Therefore, now, Jesus was very frustrated with them, Jesus laid everything on the table and told them the simple logical conclusion which they need to get it right in verses 46 and 47, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
- I see this passage of the personal word from Jesus is all talking about John the Baptist, God the Father, the Scriptures and even Moses testifying God in the person of Jesus, the divinity of Jesus.
- Most of the Jews in Jesus’ time could not accept the most powerful testimonies about Jesus. Today, it is still a great challenge for people to accept the divinity of Jesus. Why?

C. Applications and Actions
- Why people of all nations, especially those who are most educated, cannot accept the divinity of Jesus? One reason is definitely because most scientific minds cannot accept illogical things like resurrection of the dead and eternal life. Another more important reason could be if take Jesus as God, savior and the master of their lives, then, they feel like they cannot be free to live their self-centered life.
- What about we Christians? Yes, we accept the divinity of Christ. But, most of us do not go all the way out to testify the divinity of Jesus. To show people in our family, in our office and in our society that Jesus is almighty God; Jesus is living. For our life to testify Christ, we need to show Jesus is living in our lives.
- Is your life testifying for Christ?
- This is where I want to share a new insight with you. Evangelicals like Methodists who emphasize on the importance of preaching the gospel of salvation. We desire people to be saved from their sins like hatred, greed, self-centeredness, jealousy, self-pity, pride, etc. We show people how to overcome sins of pride, greed etc. We desire their souls to be saved for eternal life.
- Brothers and sisters that is only the salvation of individuals. The spiritual aspect of salvation. We normally testify for Jesus in terms of spiritual salvation of the lost. This is actually a narrow understanding of the gospel. This is the so called trademark of the church.
- There is another aspect of the gospel which the society needs very much. It is the social aspect of the gospel. It is an aspect of the gospel which Jesus emphasizes very much but we always tend to neglect and not do much because it requires us to dirty our hands; it requires us to go the extra mile.
- It is very much about salvation of people from poverty, injustice, marginalization, oppression, corruption, etc. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ does not only save people from their individual sins and eternal punishment in hell, it also very saves them from poverty, injustice, marginalization, oppression, corruption, etc. You see my point?
- Jesus Christ our Lord has highlighted the social salvation aspect of the gospel when He said in Luke 4: 18, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor…”
- Please do not misunderstand Jesus, let us do not think that what Jesus means is only preaching the gospel of salvation from individual sins only. What Jesus also very much means is this: we need to help people to come out of their poverty.
- I want to concentrate on the poverty. Can our church, Methodist church and all other churches, your life testify for Christ in bringing about social changes to the issues of poverty?
- Can our church address the issue of poverty in our society? The poor are everywhere in the town. Many of them are indigenous people, though some of them are also Chinese. They are at our doorstep, near our homes, church, even in your office. Can your life testify to them that Jesus loves them?
- One faithful disciple of Jesus, a Christian lawyer in Hong Kong, wrote a article called sins against. It is a new term he created to draw Christian attention to the poor people and make disciples of them. Who are the sins against? These are the poor in the society whom we left them to suffer in hunger, thirst, lack of shelter, education, etc. Spiritually, we sin against them because we see their needs we do not anything to help them. In other words, owing to our selfishness and self-centeredness, our sins caused us not to help them. One of these days, these sins against will stand up and accuse Christians of not helping them. When they are so desperate, they may even threaten the living of all of us who are having a descent living.
- How can we help them to overcome their poverty? It is definitely not a matter of feeding them; giving them money; not a matter of taking temporary measures.
- I strongly feel that the church must put in collective effort to help them to come out of poverty by looking into the great area of education of their children. The Chinese in Sarawak have prospered because our ancestors have worked hard on our education. We need to work on this same vision for the poor people in Miri here.
- With higher education, not only the poor will have a better job, but, they are well trained to think about how to live a proper life; how to overcome superstitions; how to overcome poverty; how to manage their money; how to educate their next generation, etc.
- Can the social concerns committee and missions committee and the whole LCEC do it at the district level a tuition centre for the poor in Tudan and Permyjaya? Mobilizing manpower from all Methodist Churches and all those in Miri who are keen to help. A few of us in GMC are doing it minor scale like learning English for fun and doing reading bus. I am willing to come in to advise if you are keen about it.
- We must challenge ourselves to help the poor through education so much so our GMC church trademark or Methodist Church trademark is helping
- the poor to overcome poverty. By the way, as a result of Tudan Methodist church effort in nurturing Ibans at Tudan and Permyjaya. One Iban student scored 3A 1B in his STPM and he is now applying to go for local university. This is a vision which I am always giving them.
- Those of you who are professionals, businessmen or women, or if you are in leadership position, can you influence your company to every year set aside some budget to help the poor in anyway, especially, for example to pay for their miscellaneous fees, tuition fees for their week subjects, etc.
- The best is to do something along the line of social concerns for the poor.
- Any brave souls who are willing to do it? Can you speak out for the poor? Can you invest your life in doing mission among the poor? Can you enjoy a little less and give 2 hours to give tuition to the poor in English, Maths, Science? Jesus today says, “ I am on the side of the poor, I am with the poor, I am living with them, come and visit Me?” Will you visit the poor today after the church service and do something for them? If you are touched by the Holy Spirit to do something for the poor and you believe God has given a vision, you must commit it to prayer, and let the church know so that we commit it to prayer also so that GMC or the district can plan to make it happen.

D. Conclusion
- Can your life be a little bit less selfish and share with others, especially the poor? Remember, in whatever you can. When you do that, you testify for Jesus.
- Some of you who are always worried and depressed, anxious about yourself, your children, your husbands, your wives, your work, etc, in the name of Jesus, I preach to you, go and spend sometime with the poor people out, then, you see for yourself, whether, you are still as worried, anxious, and depressed.
- As you are willing to testify for Christ among the poor, Jesus bless you with joy and good health.
- Come and test Jesus, if you help the poor, whether Jesus will give joy or not.

E. Questions for Small Group Discussion
1. Discuss the various aspects of poverty of the poor. Try to explain why they end up in poverty.
2. Then (related to question 1), discover for yourself, what are the opportunities available for you to do mission as an individual; as small group; as a family; as a church.