St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for Last Judgment -- November 4^th and 7^th, 2004

Dear Witnesses for Jesus,

What are some of the responsibilities that you have? You might have certain responsibilities toward your family or your employer or boss. You might have certain responsibilities toward you parents or teachers. As we look around us we soon realize that we do many things, because we realize that it is part of our responsibilities. We don't question these things, we do them, because we know it is the right thing .

On this our Mission Sunday, we are reminded again of our duty and privilege as God’s redeemed children in Christ to proclaim the message of Jesus. So often we lose sight of this work that God has placed before us. We forget our personal responsibility to God and his many commands, especially his commands to share God’s Word. May the Holy Spirit refresh our hearts and souls with the many things our Lord has spoken to us about doing his mission work Our theme will focus on this thought:

The work we have before us as God’s children is a very unique work. It is work that God’s says will be successful and necessary as God reminds us: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19). The same command is repeated in St. Mark’s Gospel in the words: "Go into all the world, and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15). Whenever and wherever we do that work, we have this assurance from God himself that hearts will be changed: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so it is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Is. 55:10-11.)

The disciples were not to be left helpless as they tried to carry out God’s command. He promised them power, and this power should come to them through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They did not have to wait long for the supply of that power, for it was only ten days till the promise of the Father, which they had heard from Him, was fulfilled on Pentecost. Then they immediately went forth in that power to do the work assigned to them.

Do we have that power? Has the Holy Spirit come upon us? How may we know if we have the Holy Spirit? Let us ask another question: Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? The fact that you are a Christian, the fact that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, is evidence that you have the Holy Spirit. Then you have the power of which the Lord spoke to His disciples that day that he ascended into heaven. Then, because you have received the Spirit, you will want to go to work as Christ’s witnesses.

"You will be my witnesses." What do these words mean? The work of a witness is to testify, to bear witness. The disciples were to be faithful witnesses. Jesus had told them that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth and bring to their remembrance all things that he had spoken to them. They were to be witnesses to the truth. There have always been a great number of false witnesses in the world. Elijah was a witness. Isaiah was a witness. The disciples were witnesses and so were the many other followers of Jesus. They were all his witnesses

Jesus said: "You will be my witnesses." To a handful of people gathered about him on the Mount of Olives He assigned a tremendous task. It was worldwide in its scope. Yet the enormity of the task in no wise deterred this small group of people from going forth to do the Master’s work. Think of the work done by the twelve Apostles! Only eternity will reveal how many thousands of souls were won for Christ and for eternal life through their testimony. Just ten days after the Ascension the number of believers had increased to three thousand. A short time later we find their number to be five thousand. During the remaining seven decades of the first century, congregations were established in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome.

The little word "YOU" is by no means exhausted when we think of the Apostles or of the Gospel ministry of our day. This command of Christ is addressed to all Christians. There were others present on that day.. We know that this command of the Lord was understood by the early Christians as applying to them all. The early Christians did not leave the work of witness bearing to the Apostles alone. They all wanted to be our Lord’s witnesses. These devout people did speak to others of Christ Jesus; they did bear witness wherever they found opportunity. They jeopardized their very lives that they might be his witnesses. No one really knows how many of these early confessors gave their lives as witnesses for Jesus, God only knows.

"You will be my witnesses," also applies to you and me and to all Christians of this present age. No one is excluded from that command. All followers of Christ must obey this command. His command to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them applies to us also. To be one of his witnesses, you must see to the preaching of Christ crucified. You must bear witness to Christ by word and deed. You are to bear witness by your conduct. Your life must show that you are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said: "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16).

"You will be my witnesses" says the Lord. We are to hold Jesus up before all the world and say: "Look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Christ of Bethlehem, the Christ of Calvary, the Christ of the empty tomb, the Christ at the right hand of God, is to be the subject of our testimony. It is important that we be faithful witnesses to Christ, for it is written: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12). We must bear witness of His Person and of His work.

We must bear witness to his wonderful Person. By this we mean that Jesus is both God and Man; that He came into this world, taking on himself human flesh and blood that he might bring about the redemption of all mankind. We must bear witness of his life, of his suffering, of his death, and of his resurrection. All the simple truths of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed must be told to all nations. Your witness must be: "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lard, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead."

We must bear witness of the meaning of His virgin birth, his perfect life, his death, resurrection, and ascension — that He came into the world to save sinners; that He fulfilled the Law of God in the place of all sinners; that He died in the place of condemned criminals; that He arose as Victor over sin, death, hell, and the grave.

We must testify that Christ did this for all men, for "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Rom. 3:22-24). We must testify that if any man sins, we have a Mediator with the Father who is Jesus Christ and that he is the Payment for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world . We must tell the world that his work on the cross is all-inclusive. In Christ all barriers of race and color and nationality are removed. As his witnesses we dare not pass anyone by. He came into the world to save sinners; and wherever there are sinners, we must testify to the Savior of sinners. We are to tell all mankind of the all-atoning work of Christ, whose blood cleanses us from all sin.

Since the bleeding, dying love of Christ covers the whole world, we cannot confine our witness to any one place or nation. There is a universal need, and there is a universal remedy for that need. The Apostles might have thought that their witness was for Jews only, since Jesus, according to the flesh, was a Jew. But Jesus told them and us differently. He said: "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."

The disciples did bear witness to him in Jerusalem. After the Ascension they remained in Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit with His wonderful gifts. Jerusalem was not a safe place for them, but though their Master had been condemned in that city, they had the courage to carry out His command in that hotbed of Jewish hatred. Soon there was a large Christian congregation in that city.

In the same way we are to be witnesses to Christ in our own city, in our community. We must begin at home, but we dare not stop there. There is ample opportunity for witness-bearing right here in our city. Here we have opportunity for personal evangelism, for personal soul winning. It may require more courage to speak to individuals in our community than it does to contribute of our material goods to missions away from home. But God will help us.

Christ also said: "You will be my witnesses . . . in all Judea." Soon the Apostles carried the Gospel beyond the limits of Jerusalem. They were not content to do mission work at home only. The result was that men and women were brought to Christ in all parts of Judea.

Judea of that time and place is like our country. Our whole land is our field. We sometimes hear the boast that ours is a Christian nation, but less than half of our people are members of churches, and of those many are only Christian in name. The WELS is doing a great work in our country. Congregations have been gathered in all parts of the USA. Many chapels and churches have been erected, but there is need for many more. Many cities and towns should be served with the bread and water of life; and they would be if we had the money and the men to send as missionaries, as evangelists. There is still a great need for witness bearing in our nation.

"You will be my witnesses . . . in Samaria." Samaria was a hostile country. It might have seemed that any effort put forth there would be doomed to failure. The Jews didn’t like the people of Samaria and might have thought is was a waste of time. Have we a Samaria today? We must bear witness also in hostile people even if it might seem like things will never work out

"You will be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth." Here Christ calls on us to do foreign mission work. The Apostles, being Jews, did not stop with witness bearing to their own people. We see Paul, Barnabas, Titus, Timothy, Silas, Luke, reaching out, going while life and ability was granted them.

Fields are white for the harvest today. Pray that Lord will continue to send workers into these fields. Pray that God will bless us financially to support this work and pray that God would give us the strength to share his Word with those around us. There are around 6 billion people in the world and around half do not know Jesus as their personal Savior. May the Lord lead us all to realize that the Holy Spirit has filled our hearts so that we have the strength and zeal to be God’s witnesses throughout he world. Amen.