A Community of Faith - part 14
Tell the Good News!
Take a look at the wall. You’ll find a lot of sticky notes. Those notes represent blocks of people—each block is 100 people. There are about 53,000 people in Johnson County. Only 18,000 of those attend some form of a Christian church. It drops to 13,500 if you count only Evangelical churches. The yellow are those unreached with the Gospel, and the pink represent those who actively attend.
Quick disclaimer: whether or not someone attends a church does not necessarily mean they are actually a Christian, but attendance is the easiest way to measure outreach. There is more to being a disciple than just showing up, but that will be another sermon.
Now, I’ve purposefully chosen Johnson County because many times when we hear super large numbers, like billions of people we tend to get lost in the abstract. It’s hard to fathom that many people. But in Johnson County, we can understand that better. These are people we see on the road every day. They are at the gas station, Walmart, restaurant, and wherever we go in our daily living. They are our neighbors, our coworkers, or even family. Notice how much yellow there is. It’s more than half. More than half the people you come across are not attending church, have not affiliated themselves with any church, and are most likely headed toward hell.
Before we begin with the Baptist Faith & Message, I want to dispel a myth. Sometimes church members believe evangelism is about telling others about their church. Or, it’s some way to help grow the church. That can certainly be a side effect, but the reason we evangelize is because those people represented by yellow sticky notes are most likely bound for hell, and they don’t have to be.
Why do we evangelize?
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations.
XI. Evangelism and Missions
There are a few reasons we evangelize. The first is quite simply because Jesus said so.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
It is our duty and privilege because Jesus said to go do it. He has all authority and therefore we should go and make disciples.
Jesus calls His followers to go and make disciples wherever they go.
Every once in awhile, a preacher will remind his listeners that “Go” in the Greek is a participle, so you could render it, “As you are going.” You could render it that way, but you would be wrong. The participle for “Go” is connected to the verb “make disciples” (or literally “disciple-ize” since it’s one word) making it what Greek linguists call “a participle of attendant circumstance.” Bill Mounce, a Greek translator who has worked on the NIV and ESV translations, notes there are 27 occasions in the New Testament when a participle is followed by an imperative verb. In each case, the participle is translated as an imperative.
The reason I bring us this little Greek lesson is because sometimes I think the Church is reverting back to the days before William Carey. Are you familiar with Mr. Carey? In 1792, William Carey published a little book that shook the Christian world called “An Enquiry.” In it, he argued the Great Commission was not just for the immediate disciples, but Jesus meant for all of His disciples to go and make disciples. At the time, the majority of the church believed that if God wanted all the heathens of the world to be saved, God would have already saved them. Carey said the reason they were not saved is because no one has gone to tell them about Jesus. Paul says something very similar in Romans.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:13-17
We have to go and tell others about Jesus because there is no one else who knows about Jesus.
We must go because the lost cannot know unless they are told.
This reality brings us to the next point.
Love for God brings a love for others
The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ.
XI. Evangelism and Missions
It is part of being a Christian that we will go and tell others. Christians make more Christians. If you have a group of dogs, eventually, you will have more dogs. If you have some cats, you will have more cats. If you have apple trees, you will have more apples…and then more trees. It is the natural cycle of life that kinds beget more of the same kinds.
When we are reborn by the Holy Spirit, He also puts in us a desire to love others. Now, we may not always love the other person. In fact, Paul said that we should strive to “live peaceably with others, as much as it depends on us” (Romans 12:18). There are times when we don’t get along, but that should not keep us from telling them about Jesus.
Turn with me to Mark 12. Here, Jesus and a Jewish scribe discuss the Two Great Commandments. Now, this is one of those rare instances where Jesus and the religious authority agree, so we know it must be right…and important!
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Mark 12:28-34
Love God and Love your neighbor. Those are the two big commandments. If we get those right, everything else will fall into place. So, what do they have to do with evangelism? Well, let’s break it down.
If we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, then that also means that we align our values with His values. We tune our heart to His heart. His desires become our desires.
And, if God’s desire is for all to come to faith in Christ, then we must follow that lead. Consider these other texts:
who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1-4
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
The Bible is clear on the matter:
God desires all people to come to repentance in Jesus Christ.
Loving God means being involved in the mission of God which is seeking and saving those who are lost in their sin. Jesus came in order that people could be saved.
If God loves people so much that He was willing to send His Son to die on the cross for their sins, then we are to love people as well. Loving others as we love ourselves is the second greatest commandment, and what is more loving than telling them about Jesus? What is more loving than sharing with them eternal life? Forgiveness of sin? The Coming Kingdom of Heaven?
The most loving thing we can do for others is tell them about Jesus.
How do we evangelize?
The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
XI. Evangelism and Missions
Now, we cannot just simply go around yelling, “Jesus saves! Jesus saves!” You could, but it probably wouldn’t be very effective. The statement in the BFM reminds us that our verbal witness must be undergirded by a Christian lifestyle. Our walk has to match our talk.
True evangelism begins with a transformed life.
We cannot share what we do not have. A person cannot share the transforming power of the Gospel if they have never experienced the transforming power of the Gospel. Once we have been transformed by Christ, then we have 3 methods of reaching the lost.
The first we have already mentioned. It’s found in Romans 10:14.
Tell them about Jesus!
It’s obvious and yet, it is also one that is most neglected. Whenever you think about the lost person in your life you have been thinking about (probably this whole message), ask yourself, “When was the last time I actually tried to talk to them about Jesus?” Not about church, not about politics, not even about morality, but when have you asked them about Jesus? Tell them the Gospel!
Live the Gospel!
Match your walk with your talk. In all my jobs I have worked with two types of Christians. One type acted like Christians. They spoke fondly of God and His people. They smiled when the topic of Jesus came up. They were patient with their fellow humans—even when they didn’t want to be. They weren’t perfect, but they desired to demonstrate the mercy and grace of God. Then, I have worked with the other type. This type I didn’t even know they were saved (if they really were), because they sounded an awful lot like the lost people around us. They complained like lost people. They cussed like lost people. They lamented the problems of this world like lost people. The only reason I found out they were any sort of Christian was when the topic of church came up. They would mention they attended such and such church…when they went.
Now, if you examined the first type long enough, I’m sure you could find some flaw where you could call them a hypocrite. We all have them. But it is far better to have to examine a person’s life to find their flaws than to have to examine them for awhile to figure out they might actually be a Christian.
Peter says it this way:
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain form the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:11-12
Yes, at some point when you tell others about Jesus, they are going to call you an evildoer and hypocrite. But, if you keep your conduct honorable among them, then one day they will change their tune.
Use whatever means to gain a hearing so long as it doesn’t compromise your values.
Paul says this:
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Paul’s idea of missions was to become like the people without becoming too much like the people. Of course we should abstain from sin and abstain from the things of this world that do not honor God. But we should also not remove ourselves so much that we cannot reach those around us—“In the world, but not of the world” as the old saying goes.
If the lost are at games, then we go to the games. If the lost are at the market, we go to the market. If the lost are at job sites, we go to the job sites. If the lost are in prison, we go to the prisons—visit, don’t get arrested!
It is possible to meet the needs of those around us, and even maybe meet some of their wants, without compromising the Gospel. Rather than saying, “Well, that’s not how we do it,” it would be far better to say, “Let’s try it.” We may not reach them all, but at least we will reach some.
We try what we can knowing we are under the law of Christ, and He will guide us in the way we should go. But we must listen to Him and go!