Sermon: October 18, 2009 John 9: 1-17
Consider a personal testimony as evangelism. It sounds simple enough. You find yourself in circumstances where someone wants to hear your story, wants to hear our story of what Jesus means to us. This is something that is best written down, so we have it. Some churches integrate the giving of personal testimony into the worship service. The idea is that in front of your own congregation, you will have love and support, that you know these people and will touch their lives through the Spirit.
That sounds scary as anything I can think of. I know, I am the preacher, and I love to preach. To delve into God’s word, to understand what is being said, to try and bring it to life, that is such a tremendous honor that I carry. But my testimony, my personal story of Jesus Christ, I don’t know . . .
The blind man in John 9 is cited as the example of giving one’s testimony. His story is simple and miraculous. The disciples see the blind man on the side of the road and they gossip about him. Did he sin? Did his parents sin? A handicap is a punishment in the eyes of the people of Jesus’ day. It’s a karma thing, what goes around comes around, doesn’t it?
Jesus’ answer is that no one sinned, but that man was blind so God’s power could be revealed, to show Jesus yet again as the light of the world. So with a nasty concoction of dirt and saliva, and a wash in the pool of Siloam, the man regained his sight. The consequences are immediate.
“Isn’t that the beggar, the blind guy? You know, down on the corner, always after the loose change?” Some didn’t believe it. Who do you call in a matter like this? The miraculous? You call your religious leader. They called the Pharisees, who immediately get hung up on the fact that this occurred on the Sabbath. They never seem to get that miracles should be a natural occurrence on the Lord’s Day. They question him, even call his parents to establish his identity, trying to get their minds around what has happened.
The healed man gives us the testimony. First, in verse 15, he is asked how he came by his sight. He says, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, now I see.” Then, asked to evaluate his healer, he says, “He is a prophet.”
What is a prophet? A prophet is one who carries the word of God.
The man’s entire testimony translates into sixteen words. It is in two parts, what Jesus did for him, and what he thinks of Jesus for doing it for him. And that is exactly how we can form our own testimony about Jesus Christ. What life changing event has occurred in our life because of Jesus? What does that say about Jesus to you? Another way to consider it is this, what event makes me take my faith seriously? What moved you to truly accept the grace of Christ? Can we articulate that event? That is what our testimony is supposed to entail.
Of course, that presupposes a couple of things. It presupposes that we, like the man formerly blind, have had a personal, life changing encounter with Jesus. For too many people, Jesus is something, at best, to aspire to, and at worst, is someone of importance we like to be around, you know, just in case.
But what is that personal encounter? What does that life changing event feel like? That is as individual as we are. For the blind man now healed, it was one moment. It could be a lightening flash, when something wonderful happened and life was never the same again. It could be a string of incremental changes, ending in something wonderful. When that story resonates in the life of another person, we have shared our testimony with them. At that moment, pray Jesus to take over and change a life.
What makes the center of real testimony is the personal encounter. Something, somewhere, someone, sometime, God came in loud and clear. You may not have realized it until after the fact, but right then and there, Jesus took hold. All that abstract stuff about the death and resurrection, the grace and forgiveness, the justification and salvation, that stuff came home to live in your heart with the Spirit.
If you haven’t had that moment, pray for it sisters and brothers. This could be the moment, the moment to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, not as the guy we talk about in church every week, but the man and the power and the miracle that caused a blind man to see and loves you like his own.
But if you have had that moment, that personal encounter, here is the challenge to you. How will you use it in God’s service, trusting that what God has done for you may be the spark for God’s work in someone else? And if you have had that moment, has it ever fallen out of memory? The things of life quickly raise the tide over the things of faith. Walk out of here and there are a dozen other things ready to take your time and energy.
Maybe the day of your conversion to the Christian faith is your moment of testimony. Maybe when the faith of your families, the faith you grew up in here at church, took root in your heart. Maybe it was the day when a miracle happened. Maybe recording that event somewhere, on a piece of paper tucked into your bible, maybe on the inside front page of the bible.
We have our story of us and Jesus Christ. We have our testimony. Will we dare to pray for the chance to share that testimony? Will we prepare to share it? Will we accept the fact that Jesus will give us opportunity to share it? Will we share it, will we evangelize when we are given the chance?
Let us pray. . .
