The Testimony of our Faith | On Witness, History and the People of God

Tyler Worlow, second from right, alongside the Student Government Association officers and President Sherrod.

The Testimony of Our Faith

What do we think of when we hear testimony? I think we’ve all got that story that jumps out, and probably a couple more on the periphery. Moments where we can go, “yeah God was present there,” or “God did this in my life.” I think those are beautiful, and we get a lot of Biblical support for that kind of testimony, when one of our many Old Testament characters builds a tower of stones and dedicates it to God, or you get the really specific ones like Jacob wrestling with God and walking away with a new name.

And I think we can all say we’re happy with these. I’m always encouraged to hear how God is working in other people's lives.

I think there’s an undercurrent there that we don’t always appreciate.

I wanna talk about a… bigger testimony if you will.

Looking Back at the People of God

I’m so encouraged by the testimony of our faith.

That I can look back on Abram standing on the plains outside Haran when God said go to the place I will show you and he left everything behind.

Joseph, who turned to God even while sold into slavery, and was elevated to such great status that he saved multiple countries, especially his family from famine.

That I can look back at Moses and the Israelites who said to him, “will you kill us too?” and they did not yet know God, but they would. And Moses met God in the middle of nowhere, but ultimately brought them into the land they were promised as they traveled with God.

We can look back at Saul, David, and Solomon, and see how God moved in the midst of messy, sinful men and redeemed things for his glory.

And I can look back at the faithful witness of Ruth, Hannah, and Esther and the powerful women of faith who God provided for despite all of the hardship they faced.

I look back to the many prophets who bore a faithful, difficult witness to the words they were entrusted with.

Jesus and the Witness of the Church

We see Jesus. The living testimony of our faith. The one who came down, was sinless, and died.

But. rose. again.

And we see after Jesus,

We see Stephen, who is so confident in the testimony of his faith that he preaches it before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish high council) and looks them in the eyes and says you couldn’t even see the embodiment of this testimony when he was walking among you.

I think about Paul, Peter and the other Disciples, James, the Author of Hebrews, Timothy, and Barnabus whose testimonies were the foundation of the early church.

Ignatius, Polycarp, Perpetua, Justin, the martyrs whose witness stands today as pillars of the church, whether we formally recognize the saints or not.

Origen, Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, just a few of the many teachers who have shaped and carried the witness of Christ through the years.

Carrying the Testimony Forward

I think about the friends of Cyprian who, after his martyrdom, soaked up his blood into handkerchiefs and memorialized him. The men and women who had to keep moving, and got to talk about his legacy. I can only imagine what they would’ve been thinking.

“How could we keep going? What’s next?”

And I imagine the response, of maybe even just one person:

“Look at the man who had such great faith that he endured unto death! Let us strive to be such believers as he was. Look to God who has, for his glory, multiplied our church and protected the rest of us from harm. Let us not let the testimony of our friend go to waste.”

When I think of testimony, I don’t just think of my own testimony, important as it is, I get to look back thousands of years and say: That’s the God who I belong to, that’s the God that I saw in my life. I want you to recognize that your testimony is an extension of the same testimony that let the men and women of Israel, of the early church, look the darkness of the world in the eyes and say God overcame you. The same testimony that lets you say, I have endured for the sake of discipline, so I WILL LIFT DROOPING HANDS, AND STRENGTHEN WEAK KNEES. That what is around me, can NOT overcome me; the testimony that proclaims the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness.

Because testimony is not just your or my story, it’s God’s through us.

A Final Encouragement

I think I get it Stephen, because I don’t think there’s any other response to looking back at how far we’ve come as God’s people than to be awe-struck. Stephen looks back, and even before Peter puts it to words, sees it. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” Testimony brings us together, it unifies, it can rectify, it’s like setting a broken bone, where in the midst of the hurt, and the pain, we go: HERE’S HOW GOD’S BEEN GOOD AND HERE’S HOW GOOD HE WILL CONTINUE TO BE! And it jolts us back into place still injured, but now we’re healing.

So when you testify: Do it boldly and loudly. These things in your life that bear witness to the works of God, they’re every bit as important to the life of our community and of our faith, as the records we have in scripture. Your testimony is the latest addition to the testimony of our faith, and by the grace of God it will carry others on just as we are carried on by those before us. Amen.