Bill the plumber had finally made it back to church
He was in His Sunday best
For years his friends had wished he would come,
they had prayed about him coming.
One of them casually suggested coming once
But he said “it’s not for me, the roof might fall in!”
And he was never asked again.
You see for a short time Bill attended church
But he does not have fond memories
It wasn’t the worship service or the music
It was he never felt welcome
People would rarely talk to him
And after a late Saturday night,
He never looked or smelt the best
And the few people he knew would be so busy that he rarely spoke to them
So he often sat by himself drinking a coffee
No one missed him when he left
But now he was back dressed in His Sunday best
as he lay at the front of the church in his coffin.
Do you know any Bill’s?
Do you think the next time you will see a friend or family member at church it will be at their funeral?
When life has ended for them.
Situations such as Bill’s highlights the continual need for me and you to be constantly reaching out and touching people’s lives with God’s love.
Being a Christian means we are called to evangelise.
To constantly bring God’s Great News into the lives of others.
But the truth is few Christians take Jesus’ command
to Go and make disciples of all nations seriously.
In 2006 only 16% of worshipping Lutherans indicated that they had shared their faith with someone in the last 12 months.
Someone once said "Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium."
That is why we are moving into the year of evangelism.
We are focusing on developing an intentional evangelistic culture.
Over the next 12 month we will be intentionally helping each other grow as evangelists.
To be active in sharing the Great News.
The News that changes our future…
And the first thing many of us need to do is to clear our mind of what it means to be an evangelizing.
When I mention evangelizing to some people their face almost goes white.
They think it is about leaving this place walking down the street and telling the first person they meet that that person’s life is full of sin and they will be going to hell.
Others see it as knocking on doors.
Rather I encourage you to see evangelism is about each on us getting amongst the lives of other people sharing the Great News of Jesus through our words and actions.
Our three texts today provide 3 foundational things about life for me and you as evangelists
In Isaiah 43:12 we hear
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.
God is saying to you and me ‘You are my witnesses!
Each one of us is to reveal how Great God is!
How good God is to us!
We are to reveal to the other people in our lives and help them see that everything Good in our lives comes from God.
Lets do that now…
Over the next few moments I encourage you to turn to the people around you and share something that is good about God for you!!!
Thankyou for doing that.
In sharing how good God is we are connecting what is good in our life to God.
We are helping others see that how great God is.
And being witnesses also helps us
Listen again to what Isaiah 43:10 says
You are my witnesses
So that you may know and believe me
As we share our faith.
As we share how good God is, not only are we helping others see How great God is.
We are also nurturing and strengthening our faith.
God reveals to us as we be His witnesses we get to know and believe.
Now there is one more thing about this plan of God’s for us to be His witnesses.
He has no plan B
His only plan for getting His Great News out is through Christians like me and you
Ordinary everyday Christians who have received and experienced His Good News.
Matthew 28:19-20,
Is probably the most common text quoted when it comes to mission and evangelism.
Go and make disciples of all nations baptising people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you
Some people mistake that most important thing in this text is that we must go.
But it is in fact to Make Disciples.
In fact the intent of Jesus command is more clearly seen when we look at the original Greek translation.
The translation from the original language is better understood this way.
As you go about your life.
In other words as you live your life, make disciples of all nations.
As you be a teacher,
As a student
As you be a parent or grandparent
As you be an employer or employee
As you run your business
As you be a neighbour or a customer
God is calling you and me to make disciples
We have a twenty-four, seven day a week focus responsibility to connect people to Jesus,
the only one who can give the Good News
Think about this if God was to judge whether you have been successful or not in your job and other parts of your life
His will not be looking to see if you made money,
enjoyed life,
were healthy,
achieved great results
had huge number of friends.
His first question will be to ask but did you make disciples.
In the roles I place you in, did you focus on making disciples.
As we go about our lives each one us are called to make disciples in every role we are involved in.
And this means that our words and actions need to match
And be consistent with God’s message.
It means at times we will need to admit we have stuffed up and need forgiveness
It means at times we will be involved in forgiving others.
When we live all of our lives thinking about and being active in making disciples
God is elevated as the most important thing in all aspects of our life.
And God is bringing Great News to all aspects and people of our lives.
1 Peter 3:15
Give us an insight into what this may involve for us
‘In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, with gentleness and respect.’
It is an important verse for us.
When you are persevering through difficult times
And people see that you are not being overcome by them but you are hopeful.
Be prepared to tell them why.
There is a family I know who converted to Christianity.
They have many struggles in their life.
They mix with people who have a number of generations of non Christians in their lives.
Their life is not spectacular or easy
But they are consistently touching people with God’s Great News.
When their friends are suffering or in difficult times they are always the first to offer help
And frequently they are putting they are encouraging their friends to seek help from God and the church.
The mother is persistently talks to people about where her hope comes from.
And as a result others are getting an opportunity to hear about the God who loves them, when very few others will.
Having hope is important for each one of us.
And sharing where our hope comes from is a great way to help others see that God is at work constantly in the world.
That is also why bible study, prayer and small groups are so important.
We need to be constantly fuelled by God,
So we can explain more clearly to others the hope that is in us.
One day a person was asked to paint a picture illustrating evangelism
And this is what he painted
There were black clouds everywhere,
flashing lightning,
angry waters,
a little boat that had been crushed by the pounding waves,
and the crew vainly struggled in the water.
In the foreground there was seaman clutching a large rock for salvation.
And with the other he was reaching down to pull up a drowning friend.
That is the New Testament picture of evangelism –
God who has rescued us
Using our hands to rescue others.
Until that hand is extended, there is no Gospel –
and there is no hope for the world.
God is calling you and me to be His hand that reaches into the world offering His hope.
And this hope brings the true message of God
As we discover in John 3:16-17
For this is the way God loved the world:
He gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him will not perish
but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
The Year of Evangelism is about us being very intentional in getting this message out
About being the people God calls us to be
People who not only receive His Good News
But people who are also constantly taking His Good News into the lives of others.
Amen
