Editors Note: This talk was originally given when I was a campus minister/staff worker with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. During this Lent season, I have included this talk here on 'Being a Witnessing Community' and made revisions where I felt necessary. Ever since, I have been going consistently to Oakland International Fellowship church service, which is the international branch of the Pittsburgh Chinese Church-Oakland, I keep hearing sermons or Sunday school teachings that remind me of the talks, devotionals, or Bible studies, I did with InterVarsity at one point or another whether it was at the weekly fellowships, Small group Bible studies, Harvest, Mannafest, Cedar Campus, or Urbana. What is amazing is that I have been able to pinpoint the exact themes that I covered at InterVarsity each Sunday at church. I decided to finally include those themes here. Last Sunday, Pastor Hugo Cheng spoke on faith, hope, and love. I hope to share with you all what I shared with students at one when I was with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. It is still applicable today.

Before I give a talk on ‘What it means to be a witnessing community’, I want to ask you all 3 questions:

What is witnessing?

What is community?

What is a witnessing community?

Take a few minutes to think about the questions.

Let’s now turn our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 1

Some background on the Church at Thessalonica:

"After imprisonment and scourging at Philippi, Paul (1 Thes. 2:2) passed on to THESSALONICA. With Silas (Acts 16:3; 17:1-9,14) and Timotheus he founded the church there (1 Thes. 1:1; 3:1-6; 2 Thes. 1:1). Christ's coming and kingdom were his chief topic (1 Thes. 1:10; 2:12,19; 3:13; :13-18; 5:1-11,23,24), that the Thessalonians should walk worthy of it (1 Thes. 4:1). The time of writing was soon after Timothy's arrival with tidings of their state (1 Thes. 2:17; 3:6), in the autumn A.D. 52. Paul wrote in the winter of that year, or else early in A.D. 53 at the beginning of his stay of one year and a half at Corinth (Acts 18:11)." (Source: Bible Works 5)

The first 3 verses of Thessalonians should be seen as the introduction to the entire message where verse 3 is the thesis statement supported by chapters 1 & 2.

Verse 1
“Paul, Silas, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.” (1 Thessalonians 1:1, NIV)

This letter starts out with a blessing of grace and peace. Grace is not something we earn but unmerited from our Lord Jesus including His peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. This world is full of curses and it is time we start blessing each other in the Lord.

A witnessing community blesses each other in Christ.

Verse 2
“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.” (1 Thessalonians 1:2, NIV)

Paul does not waste any time in his letter to remind the Thessalonians the time he takes to thank God for all of them and interceding on their behalf mentioning them in His prayers.

There is a reason Paul does what he does which will be evident in verse 3 which will serve as a thesis statement for the entire chapters 1 & 2 regarding being a witnessing community. We will be just looking a chapter 1 today.

Friend, it is wonderful to know when God is thanked because of you making a difference in someone else’s life that they take the time to mention you in their prayers. This is what Paul does.

What Paul does reminds me of what one of my pastors, Pastor Hugo Chen of the Pittsburgh Chinese Church and Oakland International Fellowship does each Tuesday. He prays for everyone in the church directory by name bringing them before the Lord.

Let us thank the Lord for our brothers and sisters mentioning them by name in our prayers and interceding on their behalf.

A witnessing community takes time to thank the Lord for brothers and sisters the Lord has placed in their lives and intercedes on behalf of the brothers and sisters.

Verse 3
“We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3, NIV)

This is a continuous remembrance and not a one-time thing. When we are faithful, loving, and hopeful we leave a footprint of our walk with the Lord making others always remember what we have done and interceding on our behalf before the Father.

Here we see 3 Effect-Cause relationships:

Work produced because of faith

Labor prompted because of love

Endurance inspired because of hope

Let’s look at a diagram here.

Work Labor

Endurance

Faith, love, and hope are inner qualities that grow on the inside of us when Jesus is our central focus.

The first thing is, as Jesus becomes the center of our life, our faith produces work. I am talking about good works.

James 2:17 says, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17, NIV)

The second thing is as Jesus continues to be the center of our lives, our love for the Lord prompts us to engage in labor. I am talking about spreading the Gospel by being ministers of reconciliation and Ambassadors of Christ in the areas our Lord Jesus places us in whether it is in class, Greek life, athletics, work, academia, etc.

This can only happen when we have so much love for the Lord that his pain and love for the lost becomes our pain and love for the lost that we want to finish God’s work through laboring. We will look at specific examples later.

Luke 10:2 says, “He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” (Luke 10:2, NIV)

The final thing is as Jesus Christ continues to be the center and focus of our lives, our hope in our Lord Jesus Christ inspires us to endurance. Now, I am talking about persecution and hardship that Christians’ work produced through faith and labor prompted by love ignites. But because of hope in Christ, endurance is inspired through the suffering and persecutions.

Romans 8:37 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39, NIV)

A true witnessing community is all about work, labor, and endurance as a fruit of faith, love, and hope.

Verses 4 -7, (Labor, Work, Love, Faith, Hope, Endurance)

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-7, NIV)

The Gospel came to the Thessalonians not simply with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. We need to let others know that God not only loves them but also has chosen them and give them the Gospel. Those who hear the Gospel need to know the Gospel we preach are not just words but they come with power, with the Holy Spirit, with deep conviction.

Unless we have the Holy Spirit working in us and are deeply convicted of God’s message and believe what we preach, we cannot make an impact on others. Just preaching the Gospel should not be our motto because unless others see how we live among them for their sake, they cannot be open to the Gospel. Until we know we are loved by God and have our identity in Him, we cannot be good witnesses. Paul backed up his preaching with actions.

Paul reminds them that they should know how he and his helpers lived among them for their sake.

Living among others for their sake is not easy. It is a sacrifice only accomplished through faith in Jesus. This is what Mother Theresa did when she lived among the sick in India.

We have the opportunity to live among others for their sake right here on campus. Let us spread out of our comfort zones and set an example.

Paul was in the habit of making disciples reproducing the fruit in others. If we are not mentoring others in Christ to the point where they can be excited and willing to mentor others in Christ, we are not doing our job effectively.

If you want to mentor others but do not know where to start, there are two wonderful books that I highly recommend: 'Master Plan of Evangelism' by Coleman and 'Disciple Makers Handbook' by Alice Fryling. These are two books I used with students at InterVarsity.

Paul writes, ‘You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.’ (1 Thessalonians 1:6, NIV)

You become imitators of those who are mentoring you in Christ and eventually imitators of our Lord Jesus Christ because any disciple maker has to be led, taught, and preached to by the Master Himself to be imitators of the Lord.

When we have the Lord in us, we will not allow even severe suffering to crowd out the message of the Lord but will continually welcome it with joy given by the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we should never allow our circumstances to crowd out God’s Word from our lives. Never allow your sleep, jobs, studies, relationships, persecutions, trials, Spring Break, etc to come in the way of your Quiet Times with the Lord, spending time with Him, getting to know Him, talking to Him, and listening to Him by having a personal relationship with Him. You will stand out as a beacon of light in a dark world becoming a model to other students.

Paul tells the Thessalonians that they became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

“And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” (1 Thessalonians 1:7, NIV)

This definitely is not talking about models from modeling agencies. Being a model is not easy. It takes a lot of physical, mental, and emotional training on the individuals’ part. Don’t think it will be any easier to be a spiritual model. It takes much more including spiritual exercise on our part allowing the Lord Jesus to work in us and through us.

We have been given the privilege of setting an example to others how to live. If we want to see changes on this campus, city, country, continent, etc it starts with us Christians being a witnessing community where we are right now. For most of us during spring break, summer break, Winter break, etc, it starts at home. Let us be a model in our homes, campuses, church, fellowship, workplace, etc living out your faith.

Paul writes, “The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.” (1 Thessalonians 1:8-9, NIV)

No one needed to say anything about their faith because their actions spoke louder than their words.

Messengers of the Gospel do not confine the Gospel to just one place but allow it to spread like wildfire. When you hear a ring it is usually loud and more than once. This is what believers have been doing with the Gospel. It has been making a loud and clear impact. For something to be known everywhere it must be active. For something to be received the receiver must be receptive.

As Christians, it is our duty to make sure the Gospel rings out to different places and we do not confine ourselves to just one area of campus. There are dorms, fraternities, sororities, commuters, student organizations, faculty, staff, etc to be reached.

Let us have our message ring out to them. We cannot be passive about our faith like turtle’s hiding under their shell and slowly pulling their head up when the situation is comfortable.

Dear friend, do you make your faith known everywhere or only in areas of your comfort zone?

Friend, making your faith known to just Christians does not mean much. Let us let all our friends, pre-Christian and Christian know about our faith. Think about your classmates, your organizations you are part of, etc and do your part reaching out to them.

What kind of reception do we give those who enter our weekly fellowships, our churches, our workplaces, our gathering places, etc?

Giving others a good reception is so important if we want them to return or be more curious about our fellowship and faith. You will be sowing a seed in them making them ponder about your lifestyle and making them share about your faith with their friends.

Verses 9-10 (Work, Faith, Endurance, Hope)

“They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, NIV)

Idols are not just wooden carved images representing gods but anything we give more allegiance to more than God becomes an idol. We can be serving and loving our relationships, grades, sleep, pleasure, etc more than we love God, making them idols if they are given more priority over the Lord. When the Lord is given priority in our lives, everything else will fall in place. Putting the Lord first does not mean we ignore our responsibilities but on the contrary because Jesus is first in our lives, we will become more responsible. Waiting for Jesus can give us endurance inspired by hope in our Lord.

We need to focus our lives on serving the true and living God and allowing Him to take care of the rest of our lives knowing Jesus, whom God raised from the dead will come again some day and rescue us from the coming wrath. Waiting for Jesus can give us endurance inspired by our hope in our Lord.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight!" (Prov 3:5-6, NIV)

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Matt 6:33. NIV)

In closing, a witnessing community does the 5 P’s:

Proclaims

Prompts

Portrays

Presents

Pays

A witnessing community:

Proclaims the Gospel as not just words but Gospel with power to change lives as they are deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit themselves.

Prompts self to live among others for their sake being imitators of the Lord and a model to all blessing them, thanking the Lord for them, and praying for them.

Portrays the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit even through severe suffering.

Presents the Lord’s message making their faith be known everywhere.

Pays God ultimate respect turning away from any idols.

"Walking In The Never Ending Savior’s Sight Imparting Nurturing Gospel!"
"Community Of Messiah Makes Unity Nurturing, Imparting Towards Yeshua!" (W.I.T.N.E.S.S.I.N.G C.O.M.M.U.N.I.T.Y)/"I ask you now dear friend, what kind of witnessing community are you part of?

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, we thank you for the love you show us, the hope you give us, and the faith you instill in us. Help us Jesus to use the faith you have given us for good works, the love you have shown us to labor in love for others, and the hope to endure all circumstances. Thank you so much Jesus for dying for us and coming back to life to save us. We are sorry for our sins and repent of them. We ask you for your forgiveness and for your help to be a wonderful witnessing community. Thank you Father God, we can walk in the never ending Savior’s sight imparting nurturing Gospel as we become your community, for your community makes unity nurturing, imparting others towards you. Thank you so much. Help us not to forget what you teach us in your Word but live out your Word in our lives. Thank you so much Jesus. I pray for all that are looking for answers in the wrong places and that you become their Answer key that they would come to thee Jesus. And Lord, those that have come to know you as their Lord and Personal Savior but have been influenced negatively by their associations with the wrong things in this world, I pray that they will come back to you as you lead them and guide them back to you. Thank you so much Jesus. Wherever students are whether it is in InterVarsity, Cornerstone, Campus Crusade for Christ, Greek Life, etc, I pray that you Oh Lord will equip them, enable them, and empower them to engage this campus, city, country, and continent in all its ethnic diversity with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you that you have brought us here for such as time as this and we can be your vessels as we depend and lean on you. Thank you for the power of your love enabling us to live for you and live to make a difference in other people’s lives. In Your Precious Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!

You can pray this prayer with me to offer yourself to Jesus!

Dear Jesus, thank you for being born in Bethlehem in a stable. You had a humble beginning even though you are the King of kings and Lord of lords. I am so sorry for my sins and confess all of them to you. Please Jesus forgive me of my sin and set me free from any bondage I am in. I turn myself over to you and offer myself as a present to you this New Year. Thank you for dying for my sin and coming back to life to save me. I do not know all I want to know about you but I want to start my journey with you and learn from you as I feed upon you and draw my nourishment from you. Help me please Jesus. Thank you so much Jesus. Thank you for saving us and being there for us. Please come Jesus into my heart and make my heart your home. Live in me Jesus and I will live for you and I will serve you the rest of the days of my life. Thank you Jesus you have heard my prayer and answered me. Thank you for being my Lord and Personal Savior. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Help me in my journey with you Oh Lord. Thank you Jesus! Amen!

Friend, if you have prayed this prayer and meant it in your heart, you are a new creation in Christ and all old things are passed away and everything has become new! You may feel something or may not but don’t base it on feelings but base your new life in Christ on the promises of our Savior who will never leave you nor forsake you! Amen!

Spend time in His word and let the Lord speak to you! Start out in the Gospel of Mark which are also the devotionals I have been going through before the Christmas Devotionals and hope to continue in them. Learn from Jesus through study and prayer. Also find yourself a fellowship you can be part of where you can be part of a community of believers to supplement your own walk with the Lord. Let it be a Bible-believing and Bible-breathing church! Believe in Bible Live Eternally!

Feel free to email me at reddy4hisglory2004@yahoo.com if you want to meet to study the Bible, pray with, talk about Spiritual issues or whatever is on your mind! My number is 412-720-4579

"This is my work and I can do it only because Christ's mighty energy is at work within me." (Colossians 1:29, TLB)

Love in Christ,
Ramesh

Express Your View

SEPTEMBER 2005

MARK: CHAPTER 1

How seriously do you T.E.S.T.I.F.Y to prophecy? (Sept 01, 05)

Who do you P.O.I.N.T to? (Sept 02, 05)

"Will you take a S.T.A.N.D?" (Sept 03, 05)

How is your loving P.R.A.I.S.E? (Sept 06, 05)

"How do you handle T.E.M.P.T.A.T.I.O.N?" (Sept 07, 05)

"Who controls your T.I.M.E?" (Sept 08, 05)

"What kind of P.R.O.F.E.S.S.I.O.N are you in?" (Sept 09, 05)