Daylight, Housetop Witnessing
Pastor Bill Zacharda
August 24, 2008
Luke 12:1-12
Introduction: I am just full of questions today. For some questions I do not have the complete answer. Let’s see if you do. Why doesn’t the world come to Jesus? Jesus said if they persecute me they will persecute you. Why such opposition? He counseled thousands who gathered that day to hear him, that when they are dragged before the authorities to see if they believe in Jesus, that they are to listen for the Holy Spirit to give them the right words. No one makes a confession of faith in Jesus Christ without the Holy Spirit. Why doesn’t the world come to Jesus? Why is there such opposition?
Where will Christianity break out next? In spite of opposition, Christianity keeps growing. Will China become today’s Africa where Christianity has been exploding? Jesus wants to use us for daylight, housetop witnessing to proclaim Christ using words that the Holy Spirit will give us when we need them.
For some questions I do have answers. Let’s see if you do. •When Jesus said (verse 3) “...whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops,” what had been said in the dark and whispered in private rooms? What was Jesus referring to? Any ideas? Our Call To Worship contains the answer. Peter said privately in the presence of the disciples, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Where are the private rooms today? Perhaps they are SS rooms, or rooms in our homes, or this sanctuary is a private room. Sometimes I feel I’m only preaching to the choir. These are safe rooms to talk about Jesus.
Where is the lighted place and where are the housetops today? Any ideas? These would be the unsafe places. Verse 11 says: “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities,” That’s not as safe place. American society is becoming an unsafe place to voice our religious beliefs. But Jesus tells us plainly that we are to be “daylight, housetop witnesses” to a wounded, weary and worn-out world.
How can we be witnesses to people who do not know Jesus? What words can we tell others to express the vital new life that is available to people in Jesus Christ? So, here is some common sense “daylight, housetop” evangelism.
1. The best witness is one who names the name of Jesus. Wilberforce defined Lordship with 4 short words: admit, submit, commit, transmit. Admit your sin and need for a Savior. Submit your life to Jesus. Commit your ways to his Lordship. But don’t stop there. Transmit his love to the world. You can spend a lifetime in private rooms admitting, submitting and committing, but God wants to use you for daylight, housetop transmitting in places that are not safe and not comfortable. God wants to use you as a transmitter. That means that you don’t have to have any words of your own. He has the script for you to read. It means that the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say. You Jesus are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Those words come from the Holy Spirit. You need to name the name of Jesus. When was the last time you named the name of Jesus outside the church or home?
In the old Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote sees the world as he would like it to be. His decrepit horse becomes a noble steed, a prostitute becomes a lady and so on. The amazing thing is that those who listen to Quixote’s dreams begin to bear a resemblance to the dreams. Confronted by cynics, Quixote says, “Who’s crazy? Am I crazy because I see the world as it could become? Or is the world crazy because it sees itself as it is?” God has given us a dream. He has given us a vision of what the world could become when he sent his Son Jesus. He has given us the mission of being daylight, housetops witnesses to turn this world “upside down and right side up” until he comes back again to claim the world for himself and create a new heaven and a new earth. Name the name of Jesus. People need nothing less.
2. Secondly, the best witness cares for people. Do you think that millions of people in Asia and Africa would have come to know Jesus if they did not believe that the missionaries first cared for them? Would you be a Christian today if it were not for someone who took the time to care for you? The Salvation Army had a saying: “No one gets a blessing if they have cold feet, and nobody gets saved if they have a toothache.”
In caring for others, the first step is listening. And that’s not easy to do. It takes a sharp ear to hear people’s hurts and hopes. It takes as soft ear to hear without being critical or judgmental. It takes a sensitive ear to hear what the Holy Spirit wants you to say. The best witness is one who listens and moves at the impulse of the Holy Spirit. For instance, a little girl went to school wearing white mittens. As she was about to enter the school, a mischievous little boy grabbed one of her mittens and threw it in the mud. The teacher saw it all and disciplined the boy. She then comforted the little girl. Brushing the mud off her mitten the little girl in a soft voice looked up at the teacher and said, “Sometime I must take a day off and tell him about Jesus.” You can see who had a hold on her life! Some of my deepest regrets in 40 years of ministry are the opportunities where I took the lead instead of letting the Holy Spirit lead. We are to encourage the Holy Spirits hold on our lives so that we can abandon ourselves and follow his whisperings.
3. Thirdly, the best witness demonstrates the way. Ben Franklin had a new idea, street lighting. He told others about it but no one thought much of it. So he hung a lantern outside his home. It lit the way for people going by. They saw how beneficial it was. Soon his neighbors began hanging a lantern and the idea caught on. Much about Jesus is best caught not taught. Demonstrate the way of Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The author, Robert Louis Stevenson always remembered when he was a child how he would watch from his bedroom window the old lamplighter coming down the street in Edinburgh, Scotland. Darkness fell while the lamplighter would light the oil lamps, one by one. Years later Stevenson recalled, “What I remember best about the lamplighter, ... he always left a light behind him.” Demonstrate the way of Christ in you and you will leave lights behind you. This is lifestyle evangelism.
Now the biggest problem with the lifestyle of Christians is not that they sin openly and miserably, but that they have hid their light under a bushel. Charles Colson, for instance, sinned openly and miserably and look what God did through him. In contrast, the Christians in the Laodicean church were not miserable sinners, they were just lukewarm. Apparently God can’t do much with lukewarm Christians because Rev 3:16 says that God will just spit them out! Jesus had no patience with people who were nice, respectable decent and harmless and bore no fruit!
Dante in his Inferno wrote: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in a time of moral crises.” Do you see the world needing moral direction and hope? If you do, God will put people in your path daily who need your example. Demonstrate the way of Christ in you, the hope of glory. His light in you can give others moral direction and hope.
4. Okay, let me wrap this message up in a sentence or two. The motivation to name the name of Jesus, care for others and demonstrate the way was given by Jesus to his followers in our passage today. It’s a total reliance on the inspiration and impulse of the Holy Spirit.
No one person brings someone to Christ. How many prayers went before it, how many teachings preceded it, how many God-directed experiences prepared someone’s heart before they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord?