Jonah 3:1-10. Three C’s to effective evangelism
Today I want to look at three C’s which I believe are essential for effective evangelism. We live in an age where the Church is a buzz with evangelism tools you can buy endless books, go to conferences, start courses, join training programmes on evangelism etc. But I believe that the Bible is the best source we have in our possession to aid is in effective evangelism, because here we have living examples to emulate from Jonah to Jesus Himself.
We are looking at the book of Jonah and probably one of the greatest reluctant OT evangelist Jonah, who saw a city of 175,000 people turn to the living God in a period of three days the whole city was converted from the man in the street to the King in his palace..
What was it that brought about this dramatic revival in such a God forsaken place like Nineveh?
Is there anything we can take from it to help us to be more effective in our own evangelism. Well I think there are three effective C’s which we can all implement to make our personal /corporate evangelism/witness more effective for God.
1. Obedience to the Commission. v1 – 3. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Go to the great city of Nineveh..... Matt28:19
Do you remember learning to ride a bike as a child, maybe it as with your father for me it was with my mother. I remember distinctly the bike and the times, I remember at first I wanted nothing to do with it but mum would be there encouraging me to sit on the bike to have a go, to take part in this new experience eventually I did after much persuasion. Mum would hold onto the back seat , as I peddled trying to keep my balance. All the time mum would be communicate instructions, encouraging, then I would fall , as I fell she would show great care as she wiped me down and put me back on the bike. I would get on the bike again and have another go. What made it successful for me was the fact that mum was there with me every step of the way.
It reminds me of Jonahs situation,Jonah was a reluctant prophet, who didn’t want to get on his bike the first time (the will of God) (1:1 the word of the Lord came to Jonah) Jonah disobeyed instead going in the opposite direction. God wanted him to go to Nineveh but Jonah walked outside of the will of God he didn’t want to do what God wanted him to do, he decided to go on a world cruise. So God pursued him and Jonahs world cruise would turn into the holiday from hell.
If you’re a Christian this morning and you are running outside the will of God things could begin to get really tough for you in the days ahead, as a result of your own actions things will begin to take a sharp turn for the worse. Take head from the life of Jonah.
Time to wake up: The storm at sea that ensued under God’s providence was directed at Jonah as a result of the dilemma in hand Jonah new deep down he was the cause of the problem (2:12), Jonah had come to the point of surrendering his life afresh to the will of God. Here we see him prepared to lose his life yet at this point he would save it.
At Jonah’s point of surrender:God delivers Jonah (compassionate nature of God) by providing a huge fish, from inside the belly of the fish Jonah cried out to God with a testimony of thanksgiving for his deliverance and vowed to commit his life a fresh to God. And so once again on the sea shore Jonah receives a fresh call to go and fulfil the will of God for Jonah and Nineveh. V1 – 3 now Jonah is obedient he gets back on his bike, with his Father right behind him.
Have you ever fallen of your bike? (Are you outside the will of God?)Have you experienced what Jonah experienced a God who PURSUES, maybe you need to experience a fresh deliverance today a need to surrender your life afresh to God? Could it be that the Word of the Lord is coming to you again?
Note: If that is the case God is calling us to get back on our bikes. (Because he is right behind us) God is prepared to use us again the Word of the Lord comes a 2nd time to participate in God’s work. You might feel that you are disqualified from serving God because of your past mistakes. But we must remember that serving God is not an earned position – no one qualifies the amazing truth is that God wants to use us even after our failures.
The Word of the Lord has come to each one afresh today (singular and corporate) to be part of the great commission, (TO GO) this is the (the will of God) for all our lives there is a dying world out there. We are all called to fulfil the same commission. Matthew 28:19.
If we are to be effective in evangelism we need to be obedient to the commission
Maybe it’s not that God’s power is not available or that God has turned his back upon us as a nation - but that we are faiing to be obedient to our God given mandate to Go and tell others.
• Baptist preacher C.H Spurgeon once said “we are all called to be missionaries if not were imposters “Could it be that the great commission has become the great Omission in our lives.”
• A new pastor was called to serve at the local church. On the Sunday of his arrival the congregation gathered excitedly and expectantly. Everyone was suitably impressed afterward. "My, how well he spoke" remarked one. "A superb sermon to be sure. If he keeps this up we’re in for a treat" remarked another. Keep it up the new pastor did. For the following week he preached exactly the same sermon. The people were puzzled, but generously surmised that it had probably been too busy a week to prepare a new sermon, what with moving into a new house and meeting all the people. Yet he preached the original sermon the following week as well, and the week after that. The people were very concerned, and the church leadership decided it was time to confront their new pastor. They met him after the service and asked whether he had any other sermons or whether he planned to preach the same one for his entire ministry. "I certainly hope not" said the pastor. "I plan to begin a new one when you start putting into practice the first."
2. Truthful in our Communication v2 – 4 Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you v4 A message of Judgement
We live in a culture where we are bombarded with words of communication from T.V to the internet and I think we have come to a saturation point that Words are becoming more and more defunct, unreliable and unbelievable. Whether it’s the media from the TV to the papers, politicians, religious leaders or a friend in the street there is a tendency for people to put spin on their words, so that people will hear what they want to hear......
• I believe we live in a society that is simply bending to the social pressures of its day, Like a child having a tantrum in the super market, we give in to their behaviour way we give the child and people what they want just to be liked and to please people around us...
Spin is a term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one’s own favor of an event or situation.
We see spin often in the political arena but sadly we also see it in the religious arena which is also prone to spin Religious leaders spin their words often failing to be truthful, why? Often the cause is a bending to the social pressures around them. The world begins to dictate to them what they can and cannot say and d what is politically acceptable.
We see a Church that spins its words even today: whether in the realm of morality, social issues, environmental issues, poverty issues, rather than addressing the underlying issue that is the cause of all our problems and speaking with a truthful voice the gospel into the spiritual vacuum we find the Church simply jumping on the bandwagon of the latest morality change, global concern it appears to be everything but the gospel.
• Gavin Hestler recently interviewed Bishop Tom Butler of the C of E on HARDTALK it was on the issue of homosexual clergy and the division it’s causing in the Anglican communion. Tom Butler was spinning his words not giving a direct answer to the question on where does the Church stand. Gavin Hestler replied “We (Populace) no longer know what you stand for?” People just want to know the truth.”
• Prime Minister. Winston Churchill once said, ‘truth is incontrovertible Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is.’
Don’t get me wrong I am in favour of more user friendly Churches in our communities, and lets change the non essentials but what we must never do is compromise on the truth. We must always speak the truth in love...., he was the embodiment of the truth, Jesus came to testify to the truth and said that when the truth is embraced people will be set free!.
The truth of God’s Word is our foundation if this is taken away (Our faith will become futile) because we will have nothing to build upon, it will simply fall apart when tested. The communication of God’s message to the world is as relevant today as it was in the 1st century Palestine. Human nature has not changed and the means of salvation is still the same. Yes change is necessary for the Church to be relevant in our culture but the message itself doesn’t change, The message is culturally relevant to our defunct culture looking for meaning and purpose.
Truthful communication with others is of paramount importance to bring real lasting life change... we must speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth as the James says “let your yes be yes and your no be no.”
Imagine you’ve been getting chest pains so your G.P refers you to a heart specialist yet after the heart surgeon examines you and finds a real problem, he sees that your clearly upset but rather than telling you the true prognosis he just tells you to go home and take a couple of paracetomal. In the short term you might feel good about yourself but long term death is closer than you think if not promptly treated.
I believe that is what much of the so called Church is doing today.... and has given people a short term feel good factor but with no long term treatment.
We must communicate the truth of God’s message in all our situations: Jonah is a shining example of speaking counter culture to Nineveh, if anyone would be open to social pressure for change of message would be too this culture who were ruthless as a people who skinned their enemies alive, dismembered their bodies and placed their heads around the city walls on huge spikes as a deterrent to their enemies.
If anyone had an excuse to go in with a different method it was Jonah. But he went in as Gods man with Gods message v2 It was a message of Judgement v4 Which was received and believed v5 which brought a deep conviction v5 a fast – put on sackcloth – sat down in dust –v8 give up their evil ways
Rom 10:14 How can they call on the one they have not believed in and how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
• The gospel is pebble dropped in the pond – it will cause ripples.
b. Christian conversion will communicate the gospel: Jonah himself was a living testimony of the grace of God, he himself had experienced Gods grace towards himself maybe as the people looked at Jonah and how God had been gracious to him that they too could experience the same grace also.
Our lives can be a powerful testimony to the grace of God, in speaking to others as Bill Hybles said “we too need to be the good news before we can even share the good news to others.”
Every Christian has a testimony this is what I was, This what happened, and this is the difference in my life.... And nobody can take that away it is a powerful communication tool to others. Jonah could testify to the grace of God as he stood before them in his bleached condition and so can we with our changed lives. He was a walking testimony to the mercy of God. His very presence was communicating the grace and mercy of God and so will ours.
3. Overflowing with compassion. V10 God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened
• We live in a hard hearted society, a dog eat dog world, where everybody is not somebody and where Jesus Christ is not Lord. Everybody is endeavouring to get themselves up the ladder in some shape and form their seems to be a very much an assertive even aggressive mentality about our culture today.
• I recently read an advert in a newspaper which headed “Unpleasant manager required!. It continued: We are a high-pressure company and we work for money. We push ourselves hard. We are not looking for management to hold our hands. We want nasty, not nice. If you are the kind of person who can make things happen, we want to hear from you. Wimps need not apply.’
Not exactly a job description overflowing with compassion? Although Jonah was eventually obedient to Gods call and was truthful in his communication. His heart wasn’t overflowing with compassion towards these people, he wasn’t rejoicing when they responded with repentance and faith in fact the opposite is true he becomes angry with God, because he knows that Gods is compassionate v2 and he has actually just gone and saved a people he and his nation abhor, and he wants to die v3.
The spiritual climatel: The Jewish nation at this time was their self righteousness as a people the prophets had come to them with a call to repent but their hearts were hard and their response to the message stands in stark contrast to the Ninevites who repented and belileved (Matt 12:39 -41. That why Jesus said that at the judgement the men of Nineveh will stand up and condemn the Isrealites) they were self sufficient arrogant, deeply patriotic and insular and unresponsive to God’s call.
How different we need to be? A missionary couple were returning home from India after a fruitless stint of missionary work they asked William Booth for some advice before they returned, his reply was simply “Try tears.”
The world climate: It was a very volatile time politically as a nation with the different people groups around them. With world super powers rising up like the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians the Persians. These people were groups were not on the best of speaking terms. In fact in a further 68 years Assyria would attack the Northern Kingdom of Israel and destroy it.
I could well imagine it is like God calling us maybe to go to a people like the Iranians or the North Koreans to a place where let’s face it were not on the best speaking terms as a nation.
We learn that God loves the world. Whatever nationality from whatever strata of society you come from whether you live in the Royal palace v6 or the people living in the streets v5 the greatest to the least, God loves all people he has a heart overflowing with compassion towards them as he sees them deep in the pit of sin and passionately wants to see them rescued.
What does it mean for us, closer to home maybe there is somebody you really just don’t get on with in your workplace in your neighbourhood, in your university, in your school or circle of friends or maybe even in this church, then I want to say we too need to take that little step further outside of our own comfort zones to reach out to these people, we might not have but our God has a heart that overflows with compassion towards them.
Finish with a true story: Peter Arnett was a CNN TV reporter. He tells of an incident in a small West Bank town in Israel, where a bomb exploded. Bloodied people were everywhere. A man came running up to Peter holding a little girl in his arms. He pleaded with Peter to take her to hospital. As a member of the press he would be able to get through the security cordon that had been thrown around the explosion scene. Peter, the man and the girl jumped into the car and rushed to hospital. The whole time the man was pleading with him to hurry, to go faster; heartbroken at the thought of the little girl might die.
Sadly the little girls injuries were so server she died on the operating table. When the doctor came out to give the man the news he collapsed in tears. Peter Arnett was lost for words. “I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine what your going through. I’ve never lost a child.” It was then the man said, “Oh mister! That girl was not my daughter. I’m an Israeli settler. She was a Palestinian. But there comes a time when each of us must realize that every child, regardless of that child’s background, is a daughter or a son. There must come a time when we all realize we are all family.
These people are made in God’s Image we too were like them, until we received the mercy of God, they are still perishing don’t remain self satisfied but overflow with compassion towards one and all.
Friends in summing up if we are going to reach out to our community then we need to be obedient to the commission of God to go we also need to be truthful in our communication with all we meet and we need to be overflowing with compassion to one and all.
Pastor. Aubrey Vaughan www.cbchurch.org.uk
