He First Found His Brother - Part Three

Posted 7/31/14 by Donald Barnhouse
SCRIPTURE
John 1:15-28
 
(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

LESSON

To witness successfully in the circle where we are best known demands certain conditions. If we meet a stranger and talk with him concerning matters of faith, he has no way of knowing whether or not we are living in conformity with what we are saying. He does not know whether we leave others to do tasks that we should do ourselves. He does not know whether we take overly large portions when others might be hungry. He does not know whether we dawdle in the bathroom while others are waiting. He does not know whether we are quick to defend our proud sensibilities. In short, he has no idea whether or not our life is centered in self or in the Christ of whom we are speaking.
 
But a brother knows. A brother knows all about our personal habits and idiosyncrasies. He knows when we are being real and when we are not. He knows what upsets us. He knows where we are weak. And if he hears us talk in flowery language about new life and accepting Jesus, but sees no changes in the way we act at home, he will erect defensive barriers against us and our witness of Jesus Christ.
 
In order to have an effective witness, to those in our own household, therefore, we must allow Christ to become Lord of the inmost self. They will be attracted to Christ when they cannot miss the transformation, the obvious presence of new life.
In the first epistle of John, the beloved disciple explains the nature of true Christian witness. We read in 1 John 1: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you ... " (1 John 1:1-3).
 
This is what we must do if we are to be true witnesses. When Andrew and the other disciple met Jesus at the tenth hour-four o'clock in the afternoon-they spent the night at His place. What did they talk about until suppertime? What were their thoughts as they saw, for the first time, Christ lifting His eyes to heaven and thanking the Father for the bread which He broke for them? How did they spend the evening? What Scripture did He bring to their minds as they talked together? How late did they stay up talking of spiritual things?
 
It is not astonishing to me that there is no record of what happened that night. Such things cannot be set down in human language. The nearest thing to it in the Word of God is that spoken by the disciples on the road to Emmaus, after the Lord vanished from their supper table: "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?"' (Luke 24:32). Such experiences must be the prelude to spiritual power. If you pass through such unspeakable glories you will be able to go out and find your brother.
STUDY QUESTIONS
  • How important is our character in individual evangelism? 
  • Does the lack of character diminish our ability to speak the truth to people?
  • Should we primarily appeal to experiences we have when speaking to others about Christ or should we limit our experiences and foundationally speak with scripture to them?