WHY BOTHER?
Who can name the five purposes of the Church? Do you know what they are? Can you name one of the five purposes of the Church? (Worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism).
To be honest, I think that after the three ships most of us start scratching our heads. A study revealed that less than 1 out of 10 members could name all 5 purposes of the Church. And less than 1 out of 4 named evangelism as one of the purposes of the Church. So it is not surprising that we have trouble naming all five. And who came up with this list anyways? Well, it is a good list and evangelism, though neglected, is indeed a major purpose of the Church.
In his book The Purpose-Driven Church, Rick Warren reported on another survey that found 89% of church members believe the Church’s purpose is to “take care of my needs and those of my family.” Only 11% said, “The purpose of the Church is to win the world for Jesus Christ.”
We as a church are looking at our vision for Church Growth. For some of us that means deciding how to increase our building space. We need more room for Christian Education programs. We need more sanctuary space for our growing congregation. Church growth is often equated with the size of a building. That is not completely false, but if our purpose is to get bigger for the sake of getting bigger, we have no vision.
The Apostle Paul likened the Church to a body with Christ as the head. If we compare the Church to an organization, we get an image of rules and bylaws and buildings. If we compare the Church to an organism, like the body, we are compelled to look at the Church as something that is intended for growth. Take this metaphor to the extreme, because I think we can, and you will admit that even though you are an adult your body is still regenerating. We lose dead cells every day and, if you are still breathing, your body is replacing them. That’s how it is with the Church. New cells have to be added constantly or the Church dies. How does the body, the Church, regenerate itself? Through evangelism. As we intensify our look at Church Growth over the next few months, I have been inspired and encouraged to focus the next five Sundays on the heart of Church Growth – Evangelism. For without evangelism, the Church is not truly the Church, it is simply a group of people intrigued by religion.
So okay, is this another ‘smack over the head’ sermon on evangelism? Is this another guilt-trip to motivate you to get out there and start handing out gospel tracts? Maybe. Does the thought of expanding our facilities motivate us? Could a sermon break through the fear we have of evangelism? What motivates us to share our faith? Why should we bother?
Looking At Wrong Motives For Evangelism
While we are on the subject, why don’t we look at some wrong motives for doing evangelism? We are so easily defeated in our efforts to share our faith; we are discouraged when it comes to witnessing for Christ. Why is that? We need to understand that wrong motives will sabotage any zeal for a good cause. What are these wrong motives?
a) Guilt – Let me share a story from Crestview Fellowship. At one point the Church under our leadership was growing and vibrant. It seemed like a golden era for this body of believers. Then, in a period of less than a year, our congregation of 135 saw 46 people leave. Amazingly, none left in anger. All left because of work found in other places or for various related reasons. Much of our leadership was part of this exodus. It was hard but we managed.
Not long after this exodus, a deacon and close friend of mine became obsessed with altar calls. We argued over the philosophy of it – he thought we should have them every Sunday – I resisted because a group of 85 would lynch me if I hounded them that often. As a result, the deacon and his family left Crestview to go to a church that believed in evangelism. He wrote a letter stating as much to our church.
There we were, licking our wounds and wondering how to build our church up again. Having been accused of not being evangelistic also smarted. Along came the Power To Change campaign, and our church jumped at the opportunity to prove the deacon wrong. We went door to door, 5000 of them, and came back with little to show for it. Our evangelistic effort and desire died with that experience because we were out there for all the wrong reasons. Guilt was not enough to keep us reaching out to our community.
b) Obligation – Along with guilt comes its brother, obligation. Obligation sucks the joy out of any task. If you are expected to perform a task, resentment will taint your motivation. When it comes to evangelism, people can see through your motives and will recognize obligation as your reason for witnessing.
This is what happened when our Region 7 churches wanted to band together to make a mark on the inner city. The plan was to find a house in the inner city and renovate it for a family in need. Those involved thought this was such a good idea. That is, until a person from the inner city interjected and asked, “Why are doing this? Who do you think you are in your nice suburbs to come into our neighborhood and fix our houses?” He pointed out a very hard fact. This project was designed to appease the guilt and obligation of those who felt bad about the inner city situation. The project was dropped.
c) Fear – Sometimes our motive for reaching out is based on fear. We are afraid that our friend or family member is headed for hell and we anxiously wonder how to witness to them. This is understandable but what we are doing is emphasizing the negative (hell) instead of accentuating the positive (God’s love). Our message focuses too much on rescue and not enough on Christ’s promises for their present situations.
d) Pride – We can be motivated by the pride of numbers in our efforts to do evangelism. I personally grimace when I hear of statistics declaring that an organization has led 50 people to the Lord. Is it just about the numbers? What are the stories behind those numbers? We have to be careful that these new disciples are not just numbers or notches on a belt.
Reasons For Not Doing Evangelism
We can talk about wrong motives for evangelism but by and large the fact of the matter is that the majority of us do not even do evangelism. All the worry about doing it right can keep us from doing it at all. What are the reasons for not getting involved in evangelism?
a) Apathy – The number one reason Christians must admit for their lack of witness is apathy; we just don’t care. Our busy lives are so full already we can hardly find the time to include one more person, a needy person at that.
b) Giftedness – Many Christians say that they do not possess the gift of evangelism. The Bible makes it clear however that there is the gift and then there is the responsibility. In Acts, those chosen to wait on tables also brought many to the Lord, such as Stephen and Philip. The parable of the Talents reminds us that to each of us the treasure of faith is given in various portions. The person with the smallest portion is responsible to invest it and grow it.
c) Fear of rejection – What if the person I share my heart for Jesus with does not accept what I say? What if there is persecution or ridicule?
d) Risk of loss – Stemming from the fear of rejection is the possibility that we could lose our friendship with that person; we could lose their respect; esteem; or our jobs in some cases.
e) Not equipped – the final reason for not sharing our faith is the feeling of not being properly trained. While training is helpful, this can be just an excuse for simply not doing it.
The Right Motives And Reasons For Sharing Christ
If we were to ask the Lord what his motives were in entrusting us with his most important message, what would he say? If we were to ask Jesus why we should hang around with sinners and speak to them about God’s love, what would he say? Well, you know he already told us.
Some tax collectors and “sinners” were drawn to Jesus and attracted to his message. To the Pharisees both were a waste of time and could only serve to provide a negative influence. Who is influencing who? “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” How revolting. “To understand what Jesus was doing in eating with ‘sinners,’ it is important to realize that in the east, even today, to invite a man to a meal was an honor. It was an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness; in short, sharing a table meant sharing life…Thus Jesus’ meals with the publicans and sinners…are an expression of the mission and message of Jesus” (Jeremias). But this is not what Jesus said to the Pharisees.
Jesus told a parable instead. He said, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep…” This is interesting since Jesus is still talking to the Pharisees. In the OT, David was seen as the Shepherd King and God himself was pictured as a shepherd in Psalm 23. But to the Pharisees a shepherd as a lowly, dirty job. They were unclean and often not allowed in the Temple area. Now Jesus says, suppose you were a shepherd. It’s a double shot, since in a way Pharisees were shepherds – of people. They’re on their heels now.
But a hundred sheep? Not likely. Most families in farming communities had only as many as 15 sheep. This shepherd Jesus is talking about is not the owner of all the sheep. He is probably looking after a community herd with about 5 or 6 families’ sheep in the mix. So suppose you are looking after a hundred sheep, not all your own, Jesus says.
Suppose you lose one of those sheep. We often confuse the imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd with this parable about a shepherd. Luke is not intending that we see this shepherd as Jesus, only as characterizing Jesus, but we’ll come back to that. This shepherd has lost a sheep. “Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” What an absurd thing to do. How can he leave the ninety-nine alone just to search for one sheep? Fact is, a flock was never attended by one shepherd. The other shepherds would have taken the rest of the sheep back to the community village. On arrival, the neighbors would notice the absence of the shepherd and would be told that he was out looking for the lost sheep. The concern would be, not for the sheep, but for the safety of the man. So great is the shepherd’s concern that he risks the wild animals and possible bandits to find one single lamb.
“And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’” Twice the shepherd rejoices. Shepherds in Palestine will tell you that a lost sheep will lie down helplessly and refuse to budge, thereby forcing the shepherd to pick up the sheep and put it on his shoulders. This shepherd rejoices at the burden of restoration; it is a thrill to be able to help this sheep find a way home. This is the hard part; coming out of the wilderness and making their way home. But the shepherd is all too happy to participate in this work of restoration. Then, when the shepherd and the little creature return to the village there is a second “party,” if you will, that the sheep has been restored to the community.
Jesus concludes this rich parable with an amazing thought: “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Is there such a thing as ‘righteous persons’ who do not need to repent? Not really. Jesus is exaggerating a point here. The Pharisees whom he is addressing never thought of themselves as needing to repent. But when one person admits his or her need for repentance, heaven goes crazy. What is the repentance in this parable? Did the sheep do anything special to repent? Rabbis in Jesus day made repentance into a work rather than an aspect of grace. But the sheep in Jesus’ parable was simply lost and was found. The work of repentance and restoration rested on the shepherd.
In the second parable we see a lot of similarity with the lost sheep story. One slight difference adds another lesson. A woman with ten coins loses one. In Middle Eastern culture a woman’s value was worn around the neck. In other words, her dowry was displayed so that prospective suitors could see at a glance how much money was to be gained in the marriage of this woman. Losing one coin was a big deal because it would be obvious that the full dowry was not displayed. Eastern women, being oppressed and all, would not have left the house typically, so the woman is sure she lost the coin in the house. She throws all the lights on and sweeps and cleans until she finds the lost coin. Then she calls everyone she knows together and has a party over this newly found coin.
These metaphors are beautiful in their subtlety and in their motivation for finding those we call ‘lost’ in the world. It is obvious that Jesus cares deeply about the lost and came to eat and drink with them specifically. If we love Jesus, could we do any less? He teaches us in this parable that to love God is to love what and who God loves.
Here is Christ’s motivation for us who desire to grow his Church:
1) The responsibility is mine. The shepherd is not Jesus; it is you and me. Suppose YOU had a hundred sheep!! The lost sheep is YOUR responsibility and the joy of finding it is yours too.
2) The responsibility is ours. In all three parables in Luke 15 it is a community that rejoices over the lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost son. They are not observers; they are invested in the search because they all have something to lose.
3) The search is extensive. In both parables the point is clear: the endless trouble that people will take to recover lost property and their deep satisfaction when they succeed. The deep implication is that sinners really belong to God, despite how bad they look to us, and that God wants them back and will go to all troubles to win them back. The search is all-out.
4) The party is unbelievable. There is no greater joy than seeing people accept Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives. I remember scoring my first goal in Spongee league hockey after a dozen games of frustration. After that goal I felt like I could score a hundred, it energized me that much. When I have led people to the Lord, it was a million times more exhilarating. I wasn’t satisfied with one, I wanted to do more. That’s great motivation. Once you’ve scored your first goal, you’ll wonder why you wasted so much time.
This series of messages on becoming contagious Christians – Christians who spread the disease of loving God – is intended to awaken in all of us the thrill and responsibility of real Church Growth.
As you consider the thoughts you will hear on evangelism, I would like to challenge you to write down the names of three people in your circle of acquaintance and commit yourself to doing two things:
1) Pray that God would show you how much they matter to him, how much he loves them.
2) Pray that God would give you the opportunity to share God’s love with them in words specifically, but also in actions.
These people could be relatives, family members, friends, or the gas station attendant you see every week, or the waitress at your favorite restaurant. Pray that God would give you a natural opening to ask about their spiritual condition, or what they think of God and the state of the world, or whatever the Spirit leads you to think of. Are you ready to see what God has for you? Can you handle what God is going to do in you and through you? Then write down those names and commit to praying for these people.
AMEN
