Our Role ...

So often Christian witnesses take on a role from the analogy of the final judgment, they are not fitted to perform. And as such, they fail miserably at drawing people to Christ. A witness must understand his/her place in the “unseen war” between light and darkness in order to be effective. To that end we should first debunk a powerful myth about the “final judgment” of humanity. It is finished.

Yes, the verdict is in, and you, like all the rest of humanity has been found guilty. But before we get too far down the road on this, let’s begin with identifying the players in this drama. The most important role of course is the judge, final arbiter of justice and mercy. Our judge, even Satan recognizes as being bound by His own laws of love and justice. Our judge is fair, impartial, and cannot be lied to. He is incapable of being deceived so only the facts can be used in this trial. Our judge is God the Father.

In order to have a trial, at least a criminal trial, we must also have a defendant. We are that defendant. We are on trial for our worthiness to be accepted into the kingdom of God and His perfection. All of our motives, traits, weaknesses, and actions over our entire lifetime will be laid bare in this heavenly courtroom. The lies we have told ourselves to justify what we have done, are all exposed. The selfishness behind even those acts of kindness are revealed for all to see. In short, this trial will be different, because we will be unable to hide or exclude evidence. Our lives will be an open book for all to read.

We are accused of being unworthy of entering heaven. The accused must have an accuser, and so in our heavenly courtroom enters Satan, the great accuser of the brethren. He has a massive case file on each of us. Having been an instigator of, or present at, many of the wrong deeds we have committed in our lives, we cannot even hide the truth from him. Our prosecutor is convinced he has an excellent case against us, and that the facts and therefore justice, is completely on his side. He is right.

To defend us from the heinous truth of our lives is our advocate, our High Priest who speaks on our behalf, the greatest and only savior of the people, Jesus Christ. While Jesus will do an excellent job defending us against any false accusations, he will not lie, or cover up the truth of our guilt in any way. We therefore stand before God, accused of horrific crimes of selfish behavior, with full premeditation. For let’s face it, we always knew what we were doing was wrong, we just chose to do it anyway. So we stand charged of premeditated sin, premeditated evil, murder one, the worst of all crimes. And our sentence must be rendered by a Judge who sees all, and knows the truth of our guilt. And so we are found guilty.

There is only one penalty for the crimes of self-service we have been found guilty of. Death: For to continue to choose to embrace the pain of evil is to live a tortured life. To die then, is to be granted a merciful release from this self-inflicted pain of repeated evil actions in our lives, that hurt us, those who care about us, God, as well as our victims, and those who care about them. Our penalty of death is to be permanent, and the sentence is scheduled to be carried out very soon. This is the fate of all of humanity. There are none excepted from it. There are none who can withstand a trial of their life with the truth laid bare and not be found guilty and worthy of death. “No, not one”, says the scripture.

But then, a miracle happens; perhaps the greatest miracle in the existence of creation. Our defense attorney, Jesus Christ, approaches the bench and requests to take on our sentence Himself in our place. He asks the judge to allow Him to die in our stead, take on our punishment including any pain that may be involved, in order that our judge could still fulfill the requirements of the law, and yet redeem those who are lost and guilty as charged. The judge considers the motion. Satan nods his approval as he is more than willing to kill a God, than mere mortals weak in the flesh. This, he believes, will further his goals of becoming higher in the God-like food chain, after all once dead, Christ is less competition. The judge decrees he will allow the motion to go forward despite a great deal of personal pain on His own part. For you see, the judge sent His only son to be our advocate. He wanted for us to have the best defense possible, and now His sentence is to be carried out on His only son. Heaven mourns at this prospect.

Christ submits to our fate, in silence and humility. The God of the universe lays naked on the cross, the blood dripping from the wounds meant for our sin. He cannot see past the grave. He does not know if His own sacrifice will be enough to redeem mankind. The weight of evil He has never partaken of presses in on Him. Evil tries to convince Him there is always another way, He need not have to die, but He knows the truth, and the sentence must be carried out. In His great love for fallen man, for you and me, He submits to death, and dies on the cross for our lives, and our premeditation. In 3 days, just as He foretold, He springs forth from the grave. For He now holds the keys even to death itself. Still unsure if His sacrifice is enough, He goes to His Father. The verdict is in – His sacrifice is MORE than sufficient to redeem fallen man.

And so, those who are guilty, you and I, and the world at large – are granted a stay of execution. Those who will accept the gift of redemption Christ offers are to be saved, and spared death eternal. This gift is greater than we had imagined, for it is not just our final disposition that has changed – it is our current method of living life. Christ broke the chains of bondage that sin had over mankind. In His gift, He offers to change who we are from the inside out. He will change our hearts and minds so that we do not WANT to sin, nor do we WALK in sin any longer. Bit by bit, as we surrender to the gift of His salvation, yielding control of our lives and hearts to Him, He removes the pain we have so long embraced.

Perfection then, is no longer a far off dream. It is a current reality. It is a process we can begin in the here and the now. Through His gift, we are MADE FREE FROM sin. It is not by our actions, or our will, that we are set free, but by His divine power in our lives. We are born again, that is remade in His image, with His desires in our hearts, with His love in our minds. We are NEW creations, because our creator begins His work within us NOW! And THIS is what we have been called into existence to witness of – the victories of Christ wrought in our lives.

A Christian witness is neither Judge, Prosecutor, Defender, or even defendant. A Christian witness is one who is already chosen to be redeemed, and is now testifying as to what God is doing in our lives this day. We are stating what we have seen with our own eyes, in our own lives, by His power and His grace. We become character witnesses not to each other, but to our Lord and Savior. We testify that His gift works. His gift is the freedom we have long sought from the pain of sin and evil. We testify that ONLY Christ can SAVE fallen man from himself and his own desire to serve self. This is our only role in the judgment.

We have nothing to do with identifying the sins that plague the world and each other. The Holy Spirit will alone convict of this. We do not save each other, as only the Savior, can save from sin itself. We do not chastise or carry our sentences on each other as only the judge can render a sentence, and see it carried out. We do not condemn, or judge, or even remark the spiritual condition of others. We ONLY testify as to what God has done for us. Where it comes to our fellow man, we are to strictly follow the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ – LOVE one another, Love your enemies, Love unconditionally everyone. We are to love more than just those who love us. For so it was that God loved us while we were yet His enemy. We cannot love the sins and pains that others embrace, in this we feel as He felt for them, pity. But we can remain steadfast in our love of the person, and see them through the eyes of our God, see them without the sins they carry now, as Christ saves them just as He saves us.

We can finally trust God to save those we love, as we trust Him to save us from us. We are now free to love, without fear, without prejudice or pre-judgment. We are free to see the worth of every man. We are free to love the uniqueness of each individual and respect the differences between us. For we know God will lead every willing heart to His truth, in His time, and in His way. We know this because He is doing it INSIDE of us right now. This is our role, we have been called to give witness to what the Lord has done in us. When He is truly alive in us, we cannot keep silent. We are incapable of not sharing the good news of our personal benefits from His victories in us. The world will be drawn to this love, and this testimony, but only when it is real and meaningful in our lives. If the world is not knocking on your door yet, perhaps you do not have enough to offer it of Him. Let Christ truly change you, and your door will hardly cease from inquiry. Just remember your role when it does, you are a witness of His grace in action in you, nothing more …