The Cross-Centered Life—“I am a Witness”
Luke 24:36-51
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The Da Vinci Code outreach took two months of planning and an $800 dollar budget. I’m tempted to say the results were a disaster, but that may be too strong of a word. Last Saturday about 60 people showed up, only four of which were probably nonbelievers—eight weeks, $800 and many hours of work for four people. Personally I learned a lot and had many great conversations about the Bible and Jesus Christ. There may be hidden results from this that we will never know about, but I have to say that I was extremely disappointed. The haunting question is why? Why did no one show up? There could be many answers to this question, but the one that sticks out in my mind is religious consumerism. A religious consumer is one who walks down the religious aisle of life and fills his or her cart with their favorite spiritual goodies. Jesus is a popular guy so most people put at least a little Jesus in their cart. Most have a good amount of materialism, generous portions of hedonism and secularism, and in Viroqua, many carts have bits of eastern mysticism thrown in. When they arrive home some people mix all of these religious choices into an enormous blender and drink them like a milkshake. Others prefer to keep them separate and sample each to experience the different tastes one at a time. A religious consumer can easily put the spurious claims of the da Vinci Code into their cart and not think twice about it. Our attempts at warning of the poison they are consuming simply fell on deaf ears, therefore no one showed up last Saturday night.
Yes,
it’s easy to say that the world is lost and hates the truth. It’s a simple
solution to blame the complacent religious consumers and say, “Oh well—they’re
going to hell in a handbasket and there’s nothing I can do about it.” I am
concerned about the religious consumerism in our community, but I am more
concerned about the Christian consumerism in our churches. First, let me give
you an extreme example of Christian consumerism. Some of you may have heard
about Pat Robertson’s claim that he leg pressed 2000 lbs. Here is a picture of
Pat allegedly performing the amazing feat of strength. The only problem is that
this exceeds the world record for a leg press by 700 pounds! At 73 years old,
how did Pat crush the world record? He did it by drinking his own protein
shakes. It’s so ridiculous I wish it were a joke, but it’s not. Even more
amazing, Robertson’s doctor and personal trainer claims he leg pressed 2700
pounds—twice the previous world 
record.
As it says on his website, this is all due to Pat’s “age-defying” shake, which
you can buy in creamy vanilla flavor for only $21.99. Does this make you want to
scream like it does me?
Pat’s protein shake and ridiculous lies are Christian consumerism at its worst, but this is not my chief concern. I am more concerned about a common type of consumer Christianity which distorts the gospel in more subtle ways. This type of person consumes the perceived benefits of Christianity without considering much of the cost. A consumer Christian is in direct opposition to a cross-centered Christian. A consumer Christian receives the benefits of salvation at the cross, but rejects the pain of carrying the cross to others. A consumer Christian views the church more like a social club—a place for conversation, coffee and kid-friendly programs, but a cross-centered Christian sees the church like an army outpost—a place to get refreshed and trained for more battle. Consumer Christianity always leads to disappointment with God, but a cross-centered Christianity will lead to delight with God.
During his ministry, Jesus taught about the cross-centered life and predicted his own cross—and then the Romans killed him. In Luke 24, Jesus suddenly appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. Peter and John had seen the empty tomb. They had heard reports from several witnesses who had seen Jesus alive, but it was so difficult to believe. In the twinkling of an eye, with all doors locked, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” The disciples were in a state of panic and confusion, but Jesus spoke into their lives to give them hope of the resurrection and the mission of a cross-centered life. But before giving the mission he established proof of his resurrection and he did this in two very tangible ways.
The disciples thought they were seeing the ghost of Jesus—just his spirit without the body, so he immediately corrected their thinking by inviting them to look at him and touch his body. We know that later he also invited Thomas to put his hand in Jesus sword-pierced side. If that were not enough he asked for something to eat and proceeded to eat a piece of broiled fish in their presence. Did Jesus need to eat? He wouldn’t die of starvation if he did not eat, would he? This was purely a proof of his resurrection. You know the old saying, “dead man don’t bleed”? Well ghosts don’t eat either. The disciples needed this immediate evidence of Christ’s resurrection, but they also needed it for the future. What do you think happened after Jesus left them? Of course their attention turned to the scars on his body and the fish that he ate. For the rest of their lives, if anyone ever challenged the resurrection, any one of the disciples could have born witness to his scars and his small meal. When peter and John were commanded by the Sanhedrin not to teach in the name of Jesus, they said, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20) Without this evidence they would be foolish to risk their lives for a lie. Not only was this firm evidence for the disciples, but it has been written down for us—recorded as evidence for the world to read for the past 2000 years.
In Romans 1:4 Paul wrote, “through the spirit of holiness [Jesus] was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.” Many fools and madmen have claimed to be God, but none have proven their claim by rising from the dead. Now here is where the Christian consumerism comes in to play. Is the cross and the resurrection merely a statement of doctrine to you or is it the driving force of your life? The best way to answer this question is to see the mission which followed. After proving his resurrection to the disciples, Jesus gave them a mission to be his witnesses. This is Luke’s version of the Great Commission.
If you were going to quote the Great Commission, what verse would you use? I think all Christians naturally turn to Matthew 28. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This is the most comprehensive and complete mission that we have from Christ. It is clear, compelling and very action oriented. But please notice that what Luke has recorded is very different from the others. In v. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. Do you notice the difference? In the other gospels Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses”, but in Luke he said, “You are my witnesses”. The word for witness is “martyr”. The disciples had not yet been martyred in the sense of giving their lives, but they were already a martyr in terms of witnessing the power of God through the resurrection.
This is the embodiment of the saying that “being precedes doing.” Being, that is who I am, must always precede doing, or what I do. In other words, I don’t do good works so that I can become a Christian. That would be doing before being. But Christ saves me so that I can do good works. The reality of my being saved must precede the actions of living as a Christian. The disciples were already martyrs and witnesses. Their eye-witness of the resurrection was the foundation of the Great Commission. Jesus could not have said “Go and be a witness of my resurrection” unless he first said “You are my witnesses” of the resurrection. The being of a witness must have come before the action of witnessing. Yet another way of stating this truth is that Luke 24 must come before Matthew 28. I am a martyr, therefore I will be a martyr. And now we see another difference between a consumer Christian and a cross-centered Christian. A consumer Christian says “the resurrection is true,” but a cross-centered Christian says, “I am a witness of the resurrection.”
Let’s do a little exercise together. When I say the words “I am” I want each of you to say it with me and to fill in your own name. Ready? I am…Rich (etc.). Is this a true statement you just made? Did you live like yourself last week? Why did you do this? Think of your next-door neighbor. Why didn’t you live out their life last week? You didn’t live like them because you are not them. Your sense of being your own person came resulted in you living out your own life. Now when I say the words “I am”, I want you to fill in the name of the person sitting next to you. Ready? I am…(Sally). That feels strange to us because it isn’t true. You don’t plan on living that person’s life because you are not that person. Now let’s say together, “I am a witness.” If you are a believer, then you are a witness of the resurrection. You are a witness just as true as you are your own person. For me to say that “I am Rich” is the exact same as saying “I am a witness.” This is who I am. This is who you are. If you don’t feel like a witness of the resurrection then either you are not saved or else you lack confidence in the word of God. As a Christian, you don’t just witness, you are a witness. And what does a witness do? A witness witnesses.
Have you ever said to your kids, “Quit acting like a bunch of animals”? Some of you are thinking, “Well yeah—I just said that on the way to church this morning!” Those of you that have livestock at home—have you ever told your chickens to stop acting like animals? “Come on Mr. Chicken, what are you doing. I just made your bed of straw perfectly now you have it all messed up. Hey Mrs. Cow—close the door, will you—whaddya’ think this is—a barn!” Animals are supposed to act like animals. Children are supposed to act like children and witnesses are supposed to act like witnesses. It is who you are. You don’t witness to become a witness—you witness because you already are a witness.
If your car started only once every 4 tries would you say it was dependable? If your wife or husband only came home 1 night in 3, would you say they were faithful? If you only showed up to work 2 days out of 5, would your boss say you were a reliable employee? If you only mailed in 6 out of 12 mortgage payments would your bank say that’s good enough? Would you get on an airplane if the stewardess said you have only a 40% chance of making it to your destination?[1] We don’t accept these standards in our daily lives, but when it comes to our spiritual lives, we sit in a boiling pot of complacency. Much of this is due to being consumer Christians instead of cross-centered Christians. This is the first of a four-part series on the cross-centered life and next week we will look at the necessity of the cross.
Do you remember the old commercial with the opera singer who belts out a high note and shatters a crystal glass, then the narrator says, “Is it live, or is it…Memorex.” Out witness of the resurrection was not a live event. But like a high quality Memorex tape, it was accurately and reliably recorded for us so that we can be certain of it—the very purpose for which Luke wrote his gospel. Christian—you are a witness of these things.
Rich Maurer
June 11, 2006