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Bear Witness

John 15:27, “And gye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me hfrom the beginning.”[1]

I.   Bear

     A. Proof

     B. Plus

II. Been

     A. Present

     B. Prior

III. Beginning

     A. Purpose

     B. People

Introduction:  The scripture that we will examine today is one verse from Jesus’ long goodbye to His disciples.  The twelve were there but Jesus was speaking to all of us, His disciples.

This particular Sunday is traditionally Ascension Sunday.  Today represents the time and place when and where people actually saw Jesus as He ascended away from this earth.

There were three with Jesus earlier on a day when He was in His glorified body.  Moses and Elijah were alongside.  We recall that as the Mount of Transfiguration.  On that particular day Jesus came back down to earth after the three witnessed that event.  This time Jesus would not descend back down in His earthly body.  This time Jesus went home glorified.

Later this morning we will observe Communion or the Last Supper.  Those three bore witness of the transfiguration.  We today bear witness of a transformed life.  The moment Jesus came into your life was the moment that you were transformed from lost sinner to saved disciple.  We bear witness by taking a representation of Jesus flesh and blood into ourselves.

Baptism represents the time when we are washed outwardly from our sinful nature.  Communion symbolizes that we are consuming a part of Jesus inwardly that will become a part of us.  We do this with our church family to show that we collectively are a part of the family of God.  We are washed of our sins once and for all but we partake of communion periodically that we might always remember that Jesus is a part of us.

John 15 serves as a warning from Jesus to us, His disciples, that as Jesus was persecuted and ridiculed so too we shall be.  For those who preach that it will be well for us Christians in this sinful world, Jesus warns that since it meant rejection for Him so shall it be for us.

We know the rest of this story.  Jesus did ascend back to heaven yet He sent the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the world through us that Jesus is alive.  The Holy Spirit is our comforter that guides and accompanies us so that no matter where we go and no matter what happens in this earthly life we are not alone.  The Holy Spirit comforts and equips us to bear witness even as the world wonders what is going on here in Merry Oaks Baptist Church on this Ascension Sunday.

It is not by chance that things happen.  God never encounters anything that He is not aware of.  Today is not different.  We saw this as we celebrated and remembered those who served last weekend.  We witnessed a brave man who was ready to leave but wanted to stay.  It is always the wrong time to lose a friend yet it was the perfect time for a hero to be honored.

We normally have our Last Supper observance every fifth Sunday of the month.  It was previously decided to postpone that for Memorial Day.  We decided previously to move Communion to today. 

We should and must remember earthly loss and we must understand that to be comforted requires the Holy Spirit.  Today we remember that as Jesus left and they supped together the Holy Spirit came later to comfort and witness.  Let us be comforted.  Let us bear witness.

Scripture:  The scripture today is John 15:27.  Please stand if you’re able.

Prayer:  Let us pray.  Be seated.

Message:  In John chapter fifteen Jesus tells of the parable of the vine.  There was a small book of encouragement written many years ago by Bruce Wilkinson entitled, “Secrets of the Vine.”  Wilkinson restated Jesus’ parable in a way that brought attention to the fact that Jesus is the source of everlasting life.  As branches connect to the vine to bring fruit, as long as we are connected to Jesus, we will bring forth fruit.  Without that tie to Jesus there is no spiritual fruit.  If anything takes power away from the branch so that it does not bear fruit it will be pruned away as a grapevine so that the nutrients will be able to flow from the source through the branch and new fruit will come.  Otherwise nothing will happen.

Notice what Jesus says in the last two sentences of the first paragraph.  John 15:7,” kIf ye abide in me, and dmy words abide in you, lye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 mHerein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; kso shall ye be my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in nmy love. 10 oIf ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept pmy Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” [2]

These are conditional statements.  If you stay connected to Jesus you will ask that which is His will and you will receive what you asked for.  God is glorified when we make more disciples of Christ.  That is how we became disciples of Jesus.  Someone also led us.  It is a loop of dependence.  Jesus loves us just as His and our Heavenly Father loves Jesus.  To continue in that love we must keep His commandments which all depend on loving God and loving each other.  If we do that then we will continue in God’s love. 

Last week we used John 15:13 as our quoted Bible verse.  “tGreater love hath no man than this, uthat a man lay down his life for his friends.” [3]  It is always dangerous and costly to only concentrate on a particular verse of scripture without understanding the context.  Many cults have gotten started that way.  That one verse is an explanation of how to have the joy of Jesus to remain in you.  When we love each other as much as Jesus loves us we will always feel the joy of being a Christian which is to say of being a disciple of Jesus.  Jesus laid down His earthly life for us because Jesus counts us as His friends.  There is no greater love than that.  Jesus finished that thought with the fact that we are His friends.  Amazing!

In the verses following Jesus explains that though we are in this world we are not a part of it.  They persecuted Jesus and so will they persecute us.  Before Jesus came their sin was hidden but now their sin is plainly visible.  What is sin?  To hate God the Father and God the Son is sin.  It had to happen so that everyone could plainly see their hatred.  It is more visible today than ever before in this old preacher’s lifetime.

“But when cthe Comforter is come” [4]  We know that The Holy Spirit has come.  He is here now.  When The Holy Spirit came He came to comfort and testify that Jesus is Lord.  The Holy Spirit will indeed testify which is to bear witness to the fact.  Plus we also shall bear witness.  We will carry and share our witness as proof that Christ is Christ and that is that.  We are His people and our purpose is to bear witness and produce fruit.

Why?  How?  Because we have been present with Jesus prior to the start.  The text actually says we have been with Jesus from the beginning.  What beginning?  Jesus has no beginning.  How could we have been with Jesus from the beginning?  We had a start here on earth didn’t we?

Right there in the end of this verse is a beautiful secret.  It is stated other places in the Bible. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I jformed thee in the belly kI knew thee; and lbefore thou camest forth out of the womb I msanctified thee, and I †ordained thee a prophet nunto the nations.” [5]

This might be the greatest argument against abortion.  God has a definite plan for you.  Whether you follow God’s path for you; that is your choice.  It always has been your choice.  If you follow His will for your life you will be joyful and you will bring forth more disciples of Jesus.  If you choose otherwise you will not.

Prayer:  Let us pray

Invitation:  What happens on this planet has always been conceived in heaven by God.  You are not a mistake!  If you are a Christian God knew that you were going to be before you were placed in your mother’s womb.  This is not happenstance.  Every bit of who you are and what you will do was preknown before.  Does that mean that you have no choice?  NO!  But if you choose to forfeit the plan that God has for your life you will never experience true joy.  His plan for your life is that you bear witness of Jesus present within you so that there will be more fruit.

Today we will partake in the ordinance of the Last Supper as those other disciples did so many years ago.  The question is what will you do when you are finished with this that we call communion?  True communion for a disciple of Jesus continues no matter how far apart we might be.  We are His church and we are in communion with Jesus and each other as long as we abide in the vine.  Let us partake…

g See Luke 24:48. So Acts 4:20, 33.
h Luke 1:2. 1 John 1:1. Comp. Acts 1:21.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 15:27). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
k So ch. 8:31 (Gk.).
d ch. 17:17. So ver. 7. Eph. 5:26.
l So ver. 16. See ch. 14:13.
m See Matt. 5:16.
k So ch. 8:31 (Gk.).
n As ver. 10, or as Luke 22:19. 1 Cor. 11:24, 25 in the Gk.
o See ch. 14:15.
p ch. 10:18. & 12:49. So ch. 8:55.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 15:7–10). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
t So Rom. 5:7, 8. Eph. 5:2.
u ch. 10:11 (Gk.), 15, 17, 18. 1 John 3:16.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 15:13). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
c See ch. 14:16.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 15:26). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
j Isai. 44:2, 24. & 49:5. See Gal. 1:15.
k So. Ex. 33:12, 17. 1 Cor. 8:3.
l Judg. 13:5. & 16:17. Luke 1:15.
m Ecclus. 49:7. See John 10:36.
† Heb. gave. ver. 18 (Heb.). 2 Kin. 23:5.
n ver. 10. ch. 25:15–29. &ch. 46–51.
[5] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Je 1:5). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.