All of us would probably agree that some of God’s instructions just don’t make any sense. One of the most overwhelming and difficult tasks is that of reaching the world around us with the message of Jesus Christ. In fact with every passing day the task seems to be getting more and more difficult. Our society seems to be growing more and more hostile toward Christianity and people seem to be less receptive. The landscape of America is definitely changing. In 1963 around 90% of Americans identified themselves as Christians while only 2% claimed no religious affiliation. In 2012 the percentage of Americans identifying themselves as Christians declined to 70%. The percentage of Americans claiming no religious affiliation increased to 13%. This has caused many people to arrive at the conclusion that evangelism is a waste of time and the mistaken belief that the Gospel is not as powerful as it once was. The problem is that as the culture changed the church failed to change and adapt their methods of evangelism. Forty years ago providing clear evidence of Jesus’ resurrection and the reliability of the Bible was sufficient. However, we now live in a culture that believes that truth is relative which demands that we change how we reach out to the culture. We need new ways of sharing that old, old story. The truth is God has only told us to go and share the message but He has left the methodology up to us. If we want to reach people who now have this new mindset, we must begin to think outside the box and find new and fresh ways to share the greatest story ever told. Today, we are beginning a series entitled “Reimagining Evangelism” and our goal is to discover some Biblical insights that will help us reach this ever changing culture in new and fresh ways.
I. A fresh look at Jesus’ final instructions for His followers.
A. Jesus had the authority to call His followers to this overwhelming task.
1. Earlier Jesus had stated that the Father had committed all things to Him. In other words God had empowered Jesus to accomplish His ministry.
2. Now Jesus is claiming a complete and all-encompassing authority. An authority on the same level as God’s. This without a doubt establishes Jesus’ divinity.
3. This authority gives Jesus the right to hand out this daunting task to His followers.
4. This authority also gives Jesus the right to expect His followers to obey the command that He is giving.
B. What Jesus called His followers to do was revolutionary.
1. The Greek connective word oun which is usually translated therefore connects verses 18 and 19 and shows that Jesus’ authority stated in verse 18 is the foundation for what He commands in verse 19.
2. The verb go and the phrase make disciples are imperatives in the Greek which shows that it is a command and not a suggestion.
3. The revolutionary part of this command is Jesus telling His disciples to go beyond the boundaries of Israel to all nations which would include gentiles.
4. This marks the beginning of a new era in which God will deal with people in a totally different way.
C. Coming to grips with the components of the commission.
1. When the Jewish leaders baptized their converts it was done in the name of the Father and the Spirit. Now the Son is added placing Jesus on the same level as the Father and the Spirit.
2. The prepositional phrase “in the name” in the Greek shows that the goal of Baptism was to bring the individual into a relationship of belonging to the Father, Son and the Spirit.
3. Teaching was to precede baptism but the text also shows that a critical part of the process of discipleship is continued teaching following baptism.
4. Matthew clearly shows in his writing that Christianity is a way of life, not simply a system of beliefs or patterns for worship.
5. Jesus completely lays the responsibility of teaching new Christians what the new life in Him involves on our shoulders.
D. The power available for accomplishing the task.
1. Jesus promises that His presence would continually be with His followers as they carried out this daunting task of reaching the world with the Gospel message.
2. This promise is more than words of comfort, it is an anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work that He would do in the life of the believer.
3. The Lord’s continued presence would not only encourage His followers but it would empower them to accomplish the mission that they have been called to.
4. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26—NIV 2011)
II. Evangelism has always been a strange plan.
A. God’s whole plan to save the world was quite unusual.
1. No one would have expected God’s Son to make His entry into the world through an unknown peasant girl with the sole purpose of dying for the sins of the world.
2. Why would God choose to extend grace and forgiveness to people that have continually rebelled against Him.
3. The contemporary Christian group 4-Him echoes these sentiments in the song, “A Strange Way to Save the World” which tells the story from Joseph’s perspective.
4. Consider these powerful words: Now I'm not one to second guess; what angels have to say, but this is such a strange way to save the World.
B. God has always picked the most unlikely people to accomplish His plans.
1. When you examine the eleven disciples originally receiving this commission; they were definitely unlikely candidates to bring about change in the world.
2. God has routinely chosen unlikely candidates to accomplish His purpose, for example consider John the Baptist who by today’s standards would have been a marketing nightmare.
a. His appearance and style was quite undesirable.
b. He had an in your face approach which was undoubtedly quite offensive.
c. His message was negative.
3. The original eleven disciples were uneducated, politically incorrect and common blue collar workers.
4. Why does God choose unlikely candidates such as these? He always looks at hearts rather than resumes.
C. God used a very unusual strategy to spread the message.
1. Jesus’ goal from the very beginning was to equip others to carry out His work.
2. After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Luke 10:1-2—NIV 2011)
3. On the surface this task was overwhelming for this group of misfits to even think about. How could a bunch of nobodies accomplish such a tremendous task?
4. Actually the strategy is brilliant, if you want to bring about change on a large scale invest in the lives of others equipping them to carry out the work.
III. Preparing ourselves for reimagining evangelism.
A. We must begin to get comfortable with thinking outside of the box.
1. Change undoubtedly comes hard, we struggle when we consider retiring methods that have been used for years because they are no longer effective.
2. Jesus showed that evangelism best happens as a team effort rather than an individual effort.
3. Jesus focused on discipling and equipping others to carry out the work of ministry.
4. As we begin to push outside the box we will begin to see God doing new things and opening new doors.
B. Evangelism is the most effective when it is unrehearsed.
1. Evangelism training throughout the years has been based on teaching the proper formula and learning how to present it a step at a time.
2. Evangelism today involves reaching people who are skeptical of the church but long for a legitimate spiritual experience.
3. Jesus worked through building relationships and establishing credibility rather than following a particular formula.
4. If we wait for opportunities to use the formulas we will miss countless opportunities to win others to Christ through loving them and serving them.
5. These opportunities cannot be rehearsed they actually happen quite spontaneously.
C. We must learn not to be discouraged by rejection.
1. The disciples were taught to expect rejection and Jesus taught them not to be discouraged but to move on to the next opportunity.
2. The truth is rejection comes with the territory, so we need to prepare ourselves to be able to bounce back and to move on to the next opportunity that God presents.
3. If people rejected Jesus, why should we expect it not to happen to us?
D. We must never allow ourselves to become satisfied with our efforts.
1. We often rest on our past accomplishments or become satisfied with where we are as an individual or as a church.
2. God wants us to desire to do something fresh and to reach for the extraordinary rather than being comfortable with the ordinary.
3. We should never be satisfied with being where we are. As long as there is still one person who needs Jesus our work is not done.
Closing:
In the fourteenth century, Marco Polo traveled to Central Asia and China. Returning to his native Italy, he wrote articles describing the wonders he had seen and the magnificent cities he had visited. He was accused of lying, of course, since what he described lay so far beyond the imagination of his readers. Disbelief turned to ridicule. Polo was in disgrace. When he lay dying at the age of 70, priests asked him to confess his lies. They did not wish him to face God with these wild tales on his conscience. His last answer was, “I never told the half of it.”
