Faith in Action – “Speaking What We Have Seen and Heard”
Acts 4:1-22
April 21, 2024
A certain refrain is repeated many times throughout in the biblical story
and throughout the history of the church:
a common person receives a gift of the Spirit of God and cannot help but proclaim that Word to others,
but what they cannot help but speak threatens the status quo, threatens the position of those in power.
This is the age-old conflict between titles and testimonies.
An African-American preacher once recited the whole biblical story of this conflict in a sermon.
He began with Pharoah. Old Pharoah, the preacher belted out, he had the title.
He was a powerful man, in charge of the superpower Egypt.
He had thousands of soldiers and slaves at his command and all the gold of ancient Egypt.
Old Pharoah had the title.
But then there was Moses, poor old Moses, out herding sheep in the wilderness,
a refugee from the law, a young man just settling into family life with a wife and kids.
Moses at the burning bush received the Spirit of God and all of a sudden, Moses had a testimony,
a powerful testimony.
Queen Jezebel was the daughter of a king; she was the powerful wife of King Ahab.
It was written that Ahab and Jezebel did more to provoke the anger of the Lord
than all of the kings of Israel.
Ahab and Jezebel led Israel in its worship of idols and the false god Baal.
Jezebel had the title and Jezebel enjoyed her title, and Jezebel very much wanted to kill Elijah.
And Elijah, poor old Elijah, out in a cave in the wilderness, hiding out from Jezebel,
experienced the earthquake, wind, and fire on the mountain,
then he heard that still, small voice of God: what are you doing here, Elijah?
So Elijah returned to face the wicked Jezebel, to speak the Word of God to her and all the people.
Jezebel had the title, but Elijah had the testimony, a powerful testimony.
King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon…he had a title. He ruled over the entire fertile crescent.
He conquered nations across hundreds of miles and brought in exiles from all over the known world.
Nebuchadnezzar built a tremendous golden statue and commanded that all in his kingdom
should bow down and worship before his statue.
But Daniel, Daniel was a man of God.
Daniel was given a strength beyond his own. Daniel was given boldness in faith, even in the lion’s den.
Old Nebuchadnezzar, he had the title, but Daniel, Daniel had the testimony, a powerful testimony.
And so the story continued through the ages –
those who received a word from God came into conflict with those in power,
with those who were keepers of the status quo.
In the end, the story of the ones with the testimonies so often would rise over those who held the titles.
Benjamin Netanyahu holds the title; who will arise with a testimony?
Vladimir Putin has held his title for a long, long time,
but there are those like the wife of Alexei Navalny who have a testimony to share.
Some years ago, at the graduation ceremony for Wake Forest University,
Tony Campolo, a college professor who had become nationally known as a religious speaker,
told the graduates how proud he was of their new titles.
You have graduated from such a fine institution, he told them.
All of you likely have such bright futures ahead of you.
But, he told them, your titles, your degrees, your connections, won’t mean a thing
if you only use them to promote your own self-interest.
Do not use what you have received just to build some career that will make a lot of money.
Do not live your life pursuing power and prestige and affluence.
Do not live your life for the sake of gaining some title.
Instead, he encouraged them, use your degrees to equip yourselves for service to others.
Live your life so that when you die, many will gather around your gravestone
and not be talking about your titles, but about the value of your life and the depth of your relationships.
Tony Campolo told those graduates: “I wish for you both: titles and testimonies.
But if it ever comes down to making a choice, hear me out. You go with the testimonies.”
(from “Campolo Calls for America Committed to Serve Others”, by Wayne Thompson
in Year of Religion in American Life, 1/22/98, a Wake Forest University publication)
Countless individuals today are having trouble in life because they have no testimony.
They lack purpose and deep commitment in their lives.
They are so caught up in taking care of their family’s daily needs or their hobbies or careers
that they have forgotten who they are and what really matters most to them in life.
Many are feeling depressed because they are struggling to keep up financially.
Others find themselves bored with their relative success and wondering what their futures will hold.
Is this all there is?
Tony Campolo claimed that “self is an essence waiting to be created through commitments.”
If someone is uncommitted, he contends, then—in fact—that person has no true identity.
“Citing a survey of mothers (from around the world),
Tony Campolo claimed that Japanese mothers want their children to be successful;
(while) American mothers want their children to be happy.”
“We just want you to be happy dear.”
In the ethnic Italian neighborhood in which he grew up,
Campolo said his father did not talk about Tony being “happy”.
His father often encouraged him to be “good” instead.
This idea that somehow we’re all supposed to be happy all the time has got to be challenged.
Campolo, who recently turned 89 years old, taught sociology and religion at Eastern College.
He wrote some 25 books. He founded and directed volunteer groups that operate literacy centers
and provide economic development and other assistance in inner cities of America and the Third World.
He spent his life not seeking happiness, but seeking significance through service to others.
(from Thompson article)
Tony has mostly receded from public view since he had a stroke several years ago,
but he is still appreciated as a major proponent of progressive thought and reformation
within the evangelical community.
He is known as a leader of what was called the Red-Letter Christian movement,
a movement which aimed to place renewed emphasis on the teachings of Jesus.
(Price, Irie interview of Tony Campolo, February 21, 2011, “Campolo talks about social justice”.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Lubbock, Texas. pp. B1, B8.)
Peter and John were not arrested and dragged before the high council
because they were trying to be happy.
Peter and John were arrested because they were placing their emphasis upon the teachings of Jesus.
They were offering their testimony about their risen Lord, Jesus of Nazareth.
Peter and John had no titles.
They left behind any sort of title or economic success when they dropped their nets to follow Jesus.
These uneducated, common men did not have to speak about Jesus.
They could have gone back to their fishing boats, and just tried to be “happy”.
But Peter and John had experienced the risen Christ and received the gift of the Holy Spirit,
and they could not help but speak about what they had seen and heard.
They were witnesses to something – SOMEONE – so incredible, so wonderful,
that they could not help but tell the world, even in the face of great personal risk.
Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, Jonathan, Alexander – those guys at the temple in Jerusalem
had the titles. They were of the high priestly family. They had been privileged since birth.
They were powerful men. They had a monopoly over religion and healing and justice.
They wielded the power of life and death.
And yet, Peter and John had the testimony.
When it came down to titles versus testimonies…
All that those with the titles could do was to threaten those with the testimonies
not to speak or teach anymore in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John did continue to speak and teach. Of course they did.
We would not be here today if Peter and John and the others had been silenced.
The message of Jesus Christ continued to spread in every place where followers of Jesus
could not keep from speaking about what they have seen and heard.
I contend that that is what we are still about in the Church of Jesus Christ…in this church.
Ultimately, we are about faith in action, about speaking to others what we have seen and heard.
The high school seniors did so last week;
they spoke to us and to everyone who will watch that YouTube service
what they had seen and heard in their experiences in youth ministry.
In the baptism today, you have promised to speak what you have seen and heard to Franklin,
to teach Franklin and his brother and sister the stories of Jesus
and to love them and serve them as children of this congregation.
Use whatever you have experienced in your life to equip yourselves for Christian service to others.
Live the rest of your life so that when you die, many will gather around your gravestone
and not be talking about your titles, but about the value of your life and the depth of your relationships.
As Tony Campolo told those Wake Forest graduates years ago:
“I wish for you both: titles and testimonies.
But if it ever comes down to making a choice, hear me out. You go with the testimonies.”
Are you ready to share your “testimony” about the presence of God in your life?
About your salvation by God’s grace alone?
What words might you use to share with your family, with your friends, with your neighbors
that would communicate your gratitude, your awe, your wonder?
I pray that when we leave this place today, we will discover certain situations through the coming weeks
in which we cannot help but speak the love and grace we have come to know in Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus the Christ, our Lord, our Savior.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Todd Speed – Decatur Presbyterian Church – Decatur, Georgia
