Worship and Witness
Two Displays of Divine Power in Jesus’ Disciples
Aaron Lee | October 29, 2023 | FCBCW Children’s Worship | Various Passages
Introduction
We’ve been learning about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. To be a disciple means to be a student. It means to be a follower of our teacher, Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, we trust Jesus as our Savior. We consider ourselves crucified in Christ, believe that Jesus lives in us, and live by faith by trusting God’s Word. You might not feel it, but God has given us power to live for him. They’re sort of like superpowers. Let me explain what our powers are.
1. Worship
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3)
The first power God has given us is the power to worship. The word worship does not appear explicitly in this verse, but you can see it in the first part where it says life and godliness. It means you have power to live your life and be godly – to be like Jesus. To be like Jesus means to be holy, to be loving, to be righteous or to do right things, and to be kind. Notice that this type of worship is not about singing, but living. Jesus lived a life of worship to God. He was totally pleasing, totally acceptable, totally committed to God. Jesus is the son of God, and we have the power to be like Jesus – sons and daughters that obey and trust and love our Heavenly Father.
How do we know what Jesus was like? How do we learn to obey and trust and love God? The verse says we know through the knowledge of him who called us. The way we have knowledge about God is by reading his Word. It’s by coming to church to learn about him. It’s by learning from the example of our parents. This is how we know what God wants. And we have the power to do it.
Application
We might sometimes get disappointed and discouraged when we sin. We might feel like we keep getting angry at our friends, we keep getting into fights with our brothers and sisters, or we keep disobeying our parents. And you know this is wrong but you feel like you can’t stop doing it. Our passage today tells us that we have the power to do it. We really do have the power to change. Keep learning about God through his Word, and pray that God will change your heart to be like him.
2. Witness
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
The second power God has given us is the power to witness. To be a witness means to see something happen and then say what you saw. Think about if you see someone committing a crime. In court, they might call someone a witness – a person who will testify and tell about what they saw. The witness is someone who is supposed to verify that something is true. So you witness and you tell others that Jesus is true. You see Jesus in the Bible and you see Jesus here at church and you see Jesus in the lives of believers.
Who exactly are we supposed to tell about Jesus? How far are we supposed to witness? The verse says that to witness in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Jesus says that the Gospel must keep being spread all around the globe. Yes, we must tell those close to us – our family and our friends – but God wants even those who are strangers to us to know about him. We have missionaries, and maybe some of you can think about becoming missionaries and going overseas – but the principle applies to us here today. Go as far as you can, tell everyone you can, about Jesus. And you have the power to do it.
Application
Telling others about Jesus might seem like a scary thought. We might be shy. But that should not stop us from sharing about him. The power to witness for Jesus means that he will help us be brave and bold. He will help us make friends with people who we might not know so that we can one day share Jesus with them. He will help us know what to say when people ask us questions. He will help us be able to face rejection. But he will also help us by opening the eyes of others so that they, too, will believe.
Gospel
I’ve been talking about our powers, but they’re not really our powers. They are the powers that come from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, and the Holy Spirit is a person who helps those who believe in Jesus. So if you are not a Christian, you do not have these powers because you do not have the Holy Spirit. If you want to become a Christian and live a life that pleases God, a life of empowered worship and witness, admit that you are a sinner. Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that he came back to life again. And then confess him as King over your entire life.
Big Idea
Jesus’ disciples have the power of the Holy Spirit to worship God and witness to others.
Application
Will you see your entire life as worship? Realize that we cannot please God apart from having Jesus in our heart and with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Will you share your faith with others? Understand that the Holy Spirit helps us share and causes others to believe.
Conclusion
I talked about us having superpowers, and sometimes we think that makes us superheroes. But we must remember that we are simply disciples of Jesus. We are students. We are followers. We are not the stars of the show. Jesus is the true hero. My prayer is that you will use your Holy Spirit powers to worship and witness well, and that all the credit, all the glory, all the honor will go back to God.
Appendix
How can you say that Jesus is true if you have not really seen him? Even the Bible says that Jesus is not physically here, but he is now in Heaven. So how can I say today that I have seen Jesus? We see Jesus by reading the Bible. There were many people who saw Jesus but they did not believe, they did not really know him as the Son of God. There’s a story in the Bible about people who were walking with Jesus, and they didn’t even know it was Jesus. Jesus had to show and tell them about himself in the Scriptures. And they didn’t even realize they were talking to Jesus until he left and God opened their eyes. When you read the Bible, it says that you can taste and see that the Lord is good. The Bible says that God needs to open and enlighten the eyes of our heart so we can know him. To know him is the point. We want to be witnesses to say that Jesus is true, to see him, and to know him.