from the hubby...

I thought I would share something that Matt recently wrote for our church's weekly newsletter. Hope you enjoy it:

Recently, I had coffee with a friend who posed this question, “What does it mean to be a faithful witness as a follower of Christ in today’s world?” My friend is a Fuller grad who just started a pastor gig with a local church, and he is wrestling with the fact that for the writers of the New Testament being a faithful witness, ultimately, ended in martyrdom. Every one of the original “twelve” pretty much faced the same death as their Rabbi. This was the road that early believers faced as they lived life as a follower of Christ in the midst of a hostile and violent Empire. This idea pops-up its uncomfortable head as Paul speaks of “sharing in the suffering of Christ” in his letter to the Romans, (cf. Rom 8:17). What are we as 21st century readers, in the prosperous and influential U.S., to make of these statements?
It is the distance from which we read these New Testament passages that bothers my friend (and it should bother us as well). We have become so far removed from the original setting in which the New Testament was penned, that for us to try to grapple with its original meaning many times is out of our reach, we simply do not have the perspective. If I am truly honest with myself, I have no idea what it means to be a martyr, and the shallow understanding that I do possess will falter before a challenging voice, just like Peter before the rooster crows. However, “with human beings this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” (Matt 19:26, TNIV). Somehow, someway we are still called to be “faithful witnesses,” and the sobering thought becomes that God has not given up on us, and it is by his power and ability that we can carry this out. How, then, can we let 2000 years stand in the way of what God wants from us, his children? The call to be a faithful witness is still valid; it did not die off with the martyrs of old. In fact, it is upon their shoulders in which we stand, they are the foundation in which we can look back and see a continuous line from the teachings of Christ to us today. We, my friends, are part of a movement, a mission; we are members of the Kingdom of God. And, we are asked to be “faithful witnesses” to that Kingdom, and the way we live our lives should be marked with the same commitment and drive that the early Christians had as they faced death because of the message that they witnessed too.
We do not face possible death (most of us who read this) for our commitment to Christ. But, that does not mean that there are not real and substantial challenges in our lives. Early Christians faced death, we face ridicule, abandonment, broken relationships, financial hardship…the list goes on. It is important for us to come to the understanding that their challenges were their challenges and the New Testament speaks into that context. Our challenges are ours, they are valid and real, and if we let it, the New Testament can speak to us as well. For as Paul says in that verse in Romans, “if indeed we share in his suffering…we may also share in his glory,” (8:17) So the question comes now to you, the reader, “What does it mean for you to be a “faithful witness” in your life today, even now as you read these words…