No 6

(The witness of the Body)

In our studies of the Church, the body of Christ we have seen that all true believers are in the body and, in the area of Christian witness, this is also applicable. The Lord calls on all believers to be His witnesses to the unsaved world and to tell the story of Jesus (Matthew 28 :19, 20). In a court room when a witness takes the stand, he or she is generally asked the following questions :  what did you see or what did you hear?. In other words, to be witness, a person must have had experienced first-hand knowledge of the situation. The same applies to Christian witness. Anyone who says they are Christian, must have experienced Jesus Christ personally to be a witness. The Bible says in John 15 :26, 27 that individual Christian witness is through the Spirit; of Jesus Christ; from the Father; and to the world. So you say, wow! All this witnessing going on and where are we in all this? Where does the Spirit abide? In us! Therefore, Christian witness is by individual believers and by the entire Body to the world.

The Bible text that best helps us understand this concept of witness is in John 13 :34, 35 where Jesus commands us to “love one another and by this all men shall know that ye are my disciples”. Our unity is the best witness to the world because people will want what we have. But, wait a minute, if we look around us, the Body is all fractioned up where this little group does this; this little group does that and the witness as the whole Body is seemingly all mixed up. A dear brother told me the other day that, on the surface or from our vantage point the Body does look in disaray but God sees it as perfect, through Jesus Christ. Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. (2 Cor 13:11-14)