Identity and Purpose

I have been thinking the last couple of days about identity and purpose.  I think both are tied up in what it means to be witnesses.

Witness is Our Identity 
Like the early Christ followers, once we know God, we become witnesses of His glory and love.  Witness is more than a task that must be done, an obligation that must be fulfilled, or a job that we are paid to do.  It is who we are.  Even in baptism, we verbally and physically confess Christ and identify ourselves with His community, and thus, we are witnesses of Him.  Witness is the identity Jesus gives His followers: “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses…” (Acts 1:8).  A few days after these words are spoken, the Spirit falls on the disciples, and they boldly tell “of the mighty deeds of God” (2:11).  They become what Jesus said they would be - witnesses.  Peter, speaking for the group, gives an account of the death and resurrection of Jesus, of which they had witnessed (2:32).  Even though they are fishermen, tax collectors, and common people, they are above all else witnesses. 

The role of witness is much larger than any vocation or cause.  Most of us have been taught from an early age to interpret the witness of Paul in terms of a vocation.  This way of seeing Paul is so engrained in us that without a second thought we explain Paul’s passionate witness with a profession - missionary.  Thus, we give Paul a vocational designation that he never uses of himself.  Paul refers to himself as “an apostle” (Col. 1:1), “a bond servant” (Rom. 1:1), “a prisoner” (Eph. 3:1), and “a witness” (Acts 22:15), but never does he use the term missionary to define himself.  And though Paul supports himself through making tents, this vocation does not define him.  Vocation is a secondary issue.  Witness is primary and gives him identity.  His ambition (Rom. 15:20), hope (Phil. 1:20), longing (Rom. 15:23), and passion is that he might bear witness to Jesus.  Just like Paul, no matter what our vocational choice or gifting is -engineer, teacher, social worker, student, or computer programmer -our identity is first and foremost that of a witness. 

Witness is Our Purpose
God’s purpose in sending the Son is the glory of His name.  As holy and eternal God, He becomes man and empties Himself in sacrificial love and thereby reveals “the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).  Jesus’ prayer in John 12 anticipates the means through which God’s glory is to be realized.  With the prospect of death before Him, Jesus yields Himself to God’s purposes.  He finally prays, “Father, glorify Your name.”  A voice from heaven responds, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (v. 28).  Jesus’ purpose was to reveal God’s glorious love and mercy.  Likewise, He commissions His followers for the same purpose.  He exhorts those who would be His followers to “let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).  Paul states the same purpose in a different way: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).  Because God’s love through Jesus Christ is His glory on earth, we glorify Him as our lives reflect and tell of this love.  Our purpose is to give witness to His glory.

Much of the confusion about purpose stems from two misunderstandings.  First, if we believe we must work for our salvation, then we will feel compelled to do something for God.  Witness is too simple of an act or not substantial enough, so we want to do something more tangible or grand, such as build a church, raise money for a cause, or do something heroic.  We forget that salvation is by grace alone, so that we might not boast in ourselves.  Rather, the best we can do is boast of God and point to what God has done and who Jesus is.  In fact, witness to God is our declaration of His unmerited love and grace toward us. 

Second, because we do not trust the power of a simple witness to change lives or change the world, we give ourselves to other activities that either supplement witness or are in place of it.  This is clearly seen in missionaries who think that the ‘natives’ have to be ‘civilized’ before they can receive a proper witness.  In the end, schools and hospitals become the purpose of missions.  Education and health care are certainly part of our response to the problems of our world and expressions of love for others, but these need to be accompanied by a verbal confession of our transformation in Jesus.

In order to maintain a clear understanding of our purpose, we need to continually remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is the fundamental witness.  He Himself bears witness of Jesus (Jn. 15:26), and He empowers the believer for witness (Acts 1:8; Lk 24:49).  Through the work of the Spirit, our pale and faulty words become brilliant and true words of witness.  Not only our words, but our lives are transformed into true witnesses, by the mysterious work of the Spirit.

Be who you are - witnesses!  Do what is ultimate - witness!