Expert Witnesses

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ~ Acts 1:8

Yesterday I attended a local high school Mock Trial competition. Mock trial pits two schools against each other to try a hypothetical court case, and each team is rated on their ability to present their case as either the prosecution or the defense. Team members are cast as lawyers, defendants, and witnesses. They are scored on their knowledge of the case, how they articulate the facts and how their ability to follow proper procedure. The actual case is just a back drop and the verdict is not rendered and a winner is not declared based on the evidence.

My son is a member of his school’s Mock Trial team and he performs as an expert witness. His characters are medical experts tasked with communicating key facts to support the case. This activity requires a huge time commitment and hours of study, memorization and painstaking practice. It is very impressive to watch, as he and his teammates performed admirably. The caliber of their coaching and their dedicated preparation was obvious in how they carried themselves and how they presented their case.

As believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have the same key task to perform; we are commanded (Matthew 28:19-20) to be expert witnesses and share the Good News of salvation. We are admonished to “study to show ourselves” (2 Timothy 2:15), and we are expected to be “ready to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15), and to “diligently seek” (Hebrews 11:6) after wisdom and knowledge from God’s Word. To be recognized as an expert witness you have to establish first your knowledge on a topic or subject, but you also have to have your credibility confirmed. The only way we can do both is to be in God’s Word, know God’s Word and apply it.

After one of their rounds in the competition the presiding judge commended them for at least showing up, and that they were winners for just doing that. He said that in life just showing up was half the battle. But he went on to say that one of the key things he hoped that they walked away with for the future is that wisdom and knowledge was at it’s best when it was put into application. This is no different than our walk with Christ; by showing up or accepting Christ as our Savior we are winners because we have God’s pardon, but what we do from that point on and how we apply the grace in which we stand is how we glorify God.

We are called to be witnesses; not of ourselves but of our new Master. We are witnesses and we are not Judge, Jury or the Prosecution. Jesus plays a dual role; His life and how He perfectly kept God’s law reveals our guilt and our inability to meet God’s standard. In that sense he is the prosecuting attorney. But through His sacrificial and atoning work on the Cross He provides a way of escape for the penalty of the law. If we place our faith in Christ’s perfect sacrifice He intercedes on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25) and through His blood we are justified and declared righteous. In this He is our defense attorney and He never loses a case!

What is our level of commitment and how much study and preparation do we put forth to be expert witnesses for Jesus Christ? Earlier I mentioned the coaching and training that was poured into the team. As parents are we devoting our time, energy and example to train our children to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul and their mind? Are we being expert witnesses to what the Lord has done in our lives AND sharing the Gospel in our Jerusalem and Judea? We devote time, energy and resources to what we love, to what is important to us and what we derive satisfaction from. We have been bought with a price and we have much to declare and to share.

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” ~ I Corinthians 1:4-9