The Dreaded E-Word
Evangelism for the rest of us
TCF Sermon
January 9, 2011
There are things in life we don’t look forward to because we don’t enjoy them. We might not look forward to getting up to early in the morning. We might not look forward to the proctologist, urologist, or even the dentist appointment.
We might not look forward to going back to work or to school after a nice vacation. Then, there are things that, at least in our minds, are much worse than those we just don’t look forward to. These are the things we dread.
Some of us, for example, dread any occasion of public speaking. Some of us might dread written tests or exams. For some of us, what other people just don’t look forward to, because they really don’t enjoy, we dread.
For example, I know some people who just dread going to the dentist. Some people dread getting older. You know, realizing that the day has come when everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt doesn't work. Or dreading the day when your insurance company has started sending you their free calendar... a month at a time.
Very few things are universally dreaded. Some people actually enjoy public speaking, or going back to work after a long vacation. But there are those things that are dreaded by most people.
A perfect illustration of this is when Mark Radzinski led a study in our house church years ago. He started out the meeting by saying that we were going to go out and do evangelism – we were going to go witnessing.
You could see the beads of sweat forming on people’s brows, and hear the nervous laughter in the room, until Mark told the group that he was just kidding. But it revealed something about us – and I think this applies to many more of us here, than it doesn’t apply to.
While there are some here for whom the idea of going out witnessing sounds fun and exciting, I believe those people are few and far between. For most of us, this sounds like something we dread. It’s the dreaded E-Word, evangelism.
I’ve thought a lot about why this is true. I think I’ve come up with at least several key reasons why most of us dread the idea of going out on the street, or even going to one of our neighbors, and doing what we call evangelism.
It’s not just fear of rejection. It is that, but not just that. It’s not just that it takes us out of our comfort zone. It’s not just that we fear we won’t know what to say or how to say it or when to say it. I think Evangelism is the dreaded E-Word because we’ve so narrowly defined the parameters of what evangelism is, and we have a sort of Christian cultural understanding, that evangelism is bringing people to the point of deciding to follow Christ.
Part of the problem is that it is that, at least eventually – but that’s not all it is. Evangelism isn’t just the point of decision, when a person is convicted by the Holy Spirit that he’s a sinner, repents, turns and decides to follow Jesus. That’s just a part of the process, but well-meaning teachers and preachers and writers through the years have made the point of decision, the sum total of evangelism.
Since most of us don’t like to challenge people, or confront them in any way, or ask them to make a decision, we’re not only uncomfortable with this part of the process, but we dread it. It feels too much like selling something, and while there are some people who are really good at sales and even enjoy it, most of us find it challenging at best, and dreadful at worst.
So let’s start by re-defining just what evangelism is, and isn’t. First of all, evangelism isn’t just a particular method. Evangelistic crusades are not the only kind of evangelism. Evangelism Explosion, in which some of us were trained, is not the only thing that qualifies as evangelism. The Four Spiritual Laws are not the only kind of evangelism. Street witnessing, or door-to-door witnessing, are not all there is to evangelism.
The common denominator of all these things we’ve mentioned, is a complete presentation of the gospel, that begins by explaining the sin problem, and ends with an invitation to receive Christ. Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with these kinds of things. They’ve been effective in bringing people to Christ, and for that we should all be grateful.
But most of us never, or hardly ever, do these kinds of things. Why? Because we dread the whole experience. Most of us will avoid this, and then feel guilty because we’re not involved in evangelism.
If we define evangelism by these kinds of activities alone, what happens when we don’t do these things?
In real life, most of our encounters, apart from real growing relationships, are limited to a few minutes here and there, to talk to a co-worker or a school friend or a neighbor, or the checkout person in the grocery store. Or how about that family member you’ve blasted with the gospel so many times they start avoiding you.
Most of the time, you cannot give a worthy presentation of the gospel in these settings. If you try, you end up alienating yourself. So we don’t say anything at all, which is a mistake, too.
What most of us are is not evangelists. We are witnesses. Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:8 that they will be His witnesses. One Bible dictionary defines a witness like this:
One who has information or knowledge of something, and hence, one who can give information, bring to light, or confirm something
Complete Word Study Dictionary
Witnesses proclaim, they tell, in this case through not just word, but deed. As followers of Jesus, we are witnesses of the grace and mercy of God. We are witnesses of His plan of salvation, the good news, at work in our own lives.
If we begin to think of ourselves as witnesses, living out the life of Christ in the midst of a lost world, and looking for opportunities to share that life and that witness, we can begin to realize that we are, in fact, doing the work of evangelism.
A critical thing to note is that evangelism is a process. We need to view it as such. Not everyone is at a point of making a decision to follow Jesus. I do think we need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, so when the time is right to ask someone, when the Holy Spirit has made them ready, to consider the most important decision they’ll ever make, we can be ready to cooperate with the work, that only the Holy Spirit can do.
I don’t know any other way to do that…to be ready ourselves, to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading…than to be continually praying for people – this is a critical component of witness - and to abide in the vine, so that we stay exceptionally close to the Lord and don’t have to strain to hear His voice, or be His instrument.
But if we see our role as bringing people, step by step, closer to Christ, we’ll be fulfilling Jesus’ admonition to be His witnesses. And as we serve as witnesses, we are, in fact, participating in the process of evangelism.
The incremental effort of plowing, seed planting, and watering, are absolutely essential to the eventual harvest that comes, when people come to the point of accepting the free gift of eternal life through Christ.
It’s interesting to note how little the New Testament uses the word evangelism or evangelist. Any guess how many times? Three. Three verses talk of evangelism, using an English form of that word.
One, Acts 21:8, mentions Phillip, who was apparently gifted as an evangelist. One is a list of the kinds of gifts God has given the church, in Ephesians 4:11, and includes evangelists, along with apostles, prophets and pastor/teachers. The other time is when Timothy is encouraged to do the work of an evangelist. That’s it!
You’d think something we consider to be so important, and feel so much guilt about not doing, would be talked about more.
But here’s the rub. Though this particular word is not used often in scripture, the New Testament believers lived and breathed what we could call evangelism. That’s because the same root word for evangelism in the New Testament is also translated good news or gospel, and those words are used quite often.
And the gospel, or the good news of salvation in Christ, the good news of the Kingdom of God, was the very air they breathed. They lived the gospel, and yes, they spoke the gospel. They were witnesses, testifying in their lives and in their words, to the power of the gospel in their lives.
So, a quick and incomplete study of evangelism in New Testament times might make you feel like you’re off the hook – hey, evangelism or evangelist is only mentioned three times – how could it be that important.
But the good news is mentioned dozens of times. And though the New Testament does not ask all of us to be evangelists, per se, it does ask all of us to be witnesses.
I can count on one hand the times I've ever participated in an "event" designed to evangelize, like street witnessing, or door to door evangelism, or approaching people in the mall or something like that. I don’t like it when the Hare Krishnas approach you at airports – I can imagine many people feel the same way about Christians.
It goes against the grain...it's kind of unnatural. I think most of us are where I am. Our heart's in the right place...we know people need Jesus – we truly want to see people in the kingdom. We dread the idea of evangelism, but we also dread seeing lost people spend eternity apart from Christ.
So, the truth is, I'm NOT an evangelist. Some of us here are – but most of us won't ever be like that - the vast majority of us are not, and never will be, evangelists. Evangelism is a God-given gift, and I’m thankful some have that gift, or are developing it by the Holy Spirit at work in them.
But what we all are is witnesses. We are light. We are salt. We are all called to be witnesses, and in that, we participate in the process God uses to bring people to Himself.
So the tension is there...we are to be witnesses, but most of us are where I am, we're not evangelists, and it takes all the gumption we can muster to do any of the more traditional "evangelistic" things. So what do we end up doing? Nothing?
It’s time to refocus our thinking. Maybe the problem is with the assumptions we have.
Maybe these traditional things we think of as evangelism are only a small percentage of the things God can, will, and wants to do through us to reach people for Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:4-10 (NIV) For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
The Message paraphrase of 1 Thessalonians 1:5,6:
"When the message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions. You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master."
Naturally occurring evangelism occurs as part of our lifestyle, part of our ongoing relationships - it's the overflow of our life in Christ. 1 Thess 1:5 – the word is "assurance" in the KJV, or in the NIV, "deep conviction"...others render it "full conviction"..."but it’s a message with power behind it - the effectual power, in fact, of the Holy Spirit"
Vines says "it describes the willingness and freedom of spirit enjoyed by those who brought the gospel to Thessalonica."
It reminds us of the passage in John 7:38: “rivers of living water will flow from within" the person who believes in Jesus.
Think about people you know who have deep convictions, or passionate interests. Think about how easily and naturally you learn about those convictions or interests, - they're a part of that person's life, a part that can't easily be separated from the other parts of life. Spend much time with me and you’ll figure out I’m a sports fan. Spend much time with Jim Garrett, and you’ll learn he loves Dixieland jazz music. Spend time with Kirk Wester, and you’ll find out he’s an avid bicyclist and runner.
These are the kinds of things that flow naturally from our lives because they are deep interests. It’s the same kind of contagious passion we’re supposed to exhibit about our life in with Christ. That's the kind of people God wants us to be. That's the kind of thing that produces overflow, which witnesses to the grace of God in our lives. It’s our life – the way we respond to good things and bad, the priorities in our lives people recognize.
The truth is we are witnesses, whether we're aware of it or not, whether we want to be or not. The question is, what kind of witnesses will we be?
Note verse 6: Message paraphrase: "In imitating us, you imitated the master." The original language there for imitate is the root of where we get the word "mimic."
Did you ever notice that when you spend a lot of time around people, you begin to imitate things, take on characteristics of speaking, phrases, accents, behavior, maybe even beliefs? Do we live the kind of lives people want to mimic? To imitate? Do we live the kind of Christ-like lives people would want to pattern their lives after?
Look at verse 7: And so you became a model... NAS says: "you became an example." Message version says: "your lives are echoing the master's word."
To me, this understanding came as a powerful revelation, a new and important understanding with implications I've been pondering for some time. The word there translated "model" literally means the impression of a blow, or a mark, an imprint.
It’s the same word used in John 20:25 to describe the nail prints in Jesus' hands when Thomas said unless he saw the nail prints, unless he put his fingers in them, he wouldn't believe Jesus was alive.
Thomas couldn't believe until he saw the blows Jesus suffered for us. Is it safe to say that the world won't believe until they see that same Jesus in us? Until they see the power of his death, and the fellowship of his suffering evident in our lives....that's true witness.
To me, it gives new and added meaning to Galatians 2:20: ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
Salt and light are not projects we undertake; they are characteristics of the people of God living in biblical faithfulness. What you do flows from what you are. Witness, evangelism, flows from what you are. The character of something like salt or light determines what it does.
Charles Colson said of Christians: "being precedes doing." The idea is that we need to BE Christians in our circle of influence - it's the most powerful evangelism tool we have.
There's a flip side to this being witnesses. Paul admonished the Jews in Romans that "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." John Calvin recognized this problem 400 years ago:
"Everything bad they can seize hold of in our life is twisted maliciously against Christ and His teaching. The result is that by our fault God's sacred name is exposed to insult."
Jerry Bridges said,
"As believers, we should seek to be exemplary in every aspect of our lives, doing our best for the sake of Christ and His gospel. Our work, our play, our driving, our shopping should all be done with a view that not only will unbelievers have nothing bad to say, but on the contrary, they will be attracted to the gospel that they see at work in our lives."
We are light. We are salt. It's the idea of infiltration as opposed to confrontation. Influence from within our culture, within our own individual circles of influence. The truth is, people don't care how much we know until they know how much we care. What you know is not as important as what you are. The days we can expect the world to come to us are over. However, most of us are in the world in some way. We have a circle of influence – and this circle did not develop by accident:
- our neighborhoods
- our recreation
- our work
- our families
- our commerce
Jim Peterson, who wrote a book called Church Without Walls noted:
“The believer is strategically positioned inside the marketplace, the neighborhood, and the institutions of society. He or she is at the scene of the disaster when it is happening, is there at the moment of opportunity, to embrace and serve people as the occasion arises. The believer is the key to penetrating our society."
We also must remember that people are at different places along the path to life. As we’ve noted, when we think of evangelism, we think of the moment of harvest. Let's not forget that so much precedes harvest, and no harvest happens without these things:
- cultivating, often earning the right to be heard
- planting
- watering
- growing
- and then comes the harvest
1 Cor 3 recognizes that God is the One who does all these things, and though the context of this passage refers to unity in the church, it clearly recognizes that all these things must happen.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV) What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
A person's entrance into the kingdom may happen in a moment, when they accept Christ, but getting to that point is always a process. Many people aren't ready to receive Christ this moment, so, most of us are involved in cultivating, planting, watering.
The attention seems to go to the one who reaps the harvest, the one who actually gains the privilege of leading someone to the Lord Jesus. But note that this scripture says God is responsible for it all.
That power, that same Holy Spirit 1 Thess 1 spoke of is at work, and we need to be sensitive. Sometimes, we need to earn the right to be heard. We need to model, and be an example. We need to allow people to see the mark, the imprint, of Jesus on our life, because our actions speak louder than our words.
That's one kind of evangelism God has envisioned for TCF, because it encompasses all of us - those who are gifted as evangelists, and most of the rest of us who really aren't.
We don't have to go looking for the lost, for the strayed, for the hurting - we live among them daily. We don't need evangelism programs to reach out, all we need is to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.
One of the articles I reviewed in preparing this message said this:
" I learned I could effectively spread the message of Jesus Christ without having to fit a mold that isn't me."
Isn't that liberating? Doesn't that lift the guilt from you that you haven't led anyone to the Lord this week? The flip side of this is that I don’t think this lets us off the hook - in fact, I believe this is actually a more demanding call than that we normally associate with evangelism.
Our call, our responsibility is to be witnesses. And the New Testament word used for witnesses is also translated martyrs in some places. I think that illustrates the seriousness of this call on all of us.
And also, don’t hear me saying this morning that we’re just supposed to be nice people, and others will notice this and come to Jesus. Though evangelism is a process, and often a long one of cultivating with the love of Jesus, planting seeds of grace, watering with His mercy, there still does come a point, or a season, of decision, a point where a person must be challenged with the claims of Christ, the reality of their sin, the grace and mercy of God, the need to repent and turn their lives over to Christ.
Even though the inviting them to come to Christ is not the sum total of evangelism, it is God’s end goal – and the result we pray for. All the more traditional things we think of, when we think of evangelism and witnessing, are right on this part of the equation.
But that’s another sermon, and it brings us full circle. Because we dread leading with that challenge or invitation, or because we find it challenging to confront people with these truth claims, we often leave the work of evangelism to others.
But we don’t have that luxury. As followers of Christ, we are witnesses. Are we good witnesses or bad witnesses, or maybe just ineffective and inattentive?
Do our lives illustrate the grace and mercy of God? Are we seeking out opportunities to engage the people who need Jesus, even if our part of the process is just the plowing, watering or planting of seeds? Are we willing to build relationships with those who need Jesus, unconditionally – developing genuine relationships and not just pre-selling them, and then trust God, and look for the opportunity, to share with them my story of God’s mercy reaching out to me, saving me from sin and eternal death?
As we pray throughout this year, for the Lord of the harvest to send us laborers to come alongside us and to do the Kingdom service God has given us as a church, let’s pray too, for the harvest itself, and be diligent to hear His voice, to fully participate in the harvest work God would have us do, as individual workers, servants of the King of Kings.
There was a young salesman who was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, “I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” The manager replied,
“Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty.”
So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel. November-December 1985, Preaching.
Only God saves. But God allows all of us the privilege of participating in the process which He uses to bring people to Himself. Let's remember that as we pass that sign on our way out of TCF this morning, which points out we are now entering the mission field.
Let’s not be so self-absorbed, so insulated in our lives, even in good things, that we forget there are people all around us, headed for hell unless they receive the gift of life, a gift that we have the joy and privilege of communicating to them, as God chooses to use us as His instruments of grace.
Response - Pray
