Evangelism as a Lifestyle
Col 4:3-4
At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it as I am required to speak.
Paul prays for opportunity to speak to his prison guards and the magistrates who were holding him...not my point. My point is that the majority of us do not take advantage of the opportunities we already have, so praying for more opportunities would be pointless.
And this leads right into today's sermon as we look at living a lifestyle of evangelism. Because it is only through creating a lifestyle of evangelism that this will become second nature to us.
but How do we make evangelism a lifestyle?
As we learned last week, we want people to enter our story and we do this through friendship.
And as we come to learn, friendship is an essential aspect of our lives.
Research found people with more friends live 24% longer and that low social interaction is actually more detrimental to your health than smoking and over drinking.
They have also found that when we are with our friends, the stress hormone cortisol, goes down, and this was even true when participants were put in high stress situations.
science is continuing to prove the principles of scripture true...“bad company corrupts good morals”, but also its opposite, meaning that the more we hang out with people who excel in life, the more likely we are to excel through healthy peer pressure.
In fact, friends are so important that studies have shown that if you can name just 3 close friends you are 98% more likely to be happy.
And this makes sense, as we know Jesus was famously called a “friend of … sinners” And we are called to follow his example, But the reality is that we can only have so many friends.
You can’t be best friends with everyone. Ex: i don’t expect the women in the church to search out friendships with the that creepy guy you know...
So it seems as though this project is doomed from the start.
For example, several studies have shown, that trusting too many people is actually detrimental. Several studies have concluded that people who post their struggles on social media such as FB will actually become more depressed and anxious. The problem is that you want something from these people, but you don’t get it because, spoiler alert, they’re not really your friends.
We can only have so many real friends at any given time and one Study out of England found that the average person will only average around 365 friends in their lifetime.
So We are called to love others, but being friends with everyone in the fullest sense is impossible. But as I’ll explain today we are not expected to.
You can’t be everything to everyone and you can’t give everything for everyone. Only Jesus could do that and you're not him, but sadly Scripture actually doesn’t give us a good definition of friendship. A commentary on the NT writes,
Nowhere does the Bible present a concise definition of “friend” or “friendship.” Instead, both the OT and NT present friendship in its different facets.
Though we are never given a definition, scripture testifies to at least three different levels of friendship.
The first level is a Hebrew word that is for the most basic form of friendship which is relationship with those you work with or are just generally friendly to. These folks are not really your friends in the fullest sense of the word, you’re not going to hang out or go on a double date, but you are friendly to one another,
The next level is friends you hang out with. Those you spend time with. People who enjoy your company just as you enjoy theirs. These are who we today would often times call real “friends.”
But then there is a third level of friendship, which the bible calls family.
In this instance, your friend is closer than a normal friend as you would do almost anything for them. They are as close or closer than a brother or sister even.
We have a picture of this type of relationship in the friendship of King David and Saul’s son, Jonathan.
2 Samuel 1:26
I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. You were such a friend to me. Your love for me was more wonderful than the love of women.
Proverbs 18:24
A man with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.
So we learned last week that we bring people into our stories by sharing our lives with them, but this does not mean being everyone’s best friend. It is grounded in love, definitely, but I am not expecting you to be fanatically giving to everyone to the point that you are devastating yourself. It is not realistic.
What we see is that God wants us to pursue the first level of friendship with everyone and be open to the next levels as they present themselves.
So how do we live a lifestyle of possible friendship? Through Goodwill.
We are called to love one another. Which means
1. We are called to want what is good for others. Goodwill.
Good-will towards others is the word we would use to describe the attitude of a good Christian.
Luke 2:14
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And we are not alone. Doing things with a goodwill is a principle laid down well before the bible in the writings of Aristotle. IN fact, aristotle wrote an entire manual on friendship in his Nicomachean Ethics and there is no doubt that those who wrote the majority of the NT were familiar with his teachings and in turn followed them.
Jewishencycopedia.com says,
“Jewish philosopher Aristobulus, made the positive assertion that Jewish revelation and Aristotelian philosophy were identical. Hardly had 200 years elapsed before this opinion was modified to such an extent that it was claimed that Aristotle derived his doctrine directly from Judaism.”
Contemporary Jewish Writers at the time of Jesus such as Josephus and Philo wrote that they were heavily indebted to Aristotle as were earlier authors such as Maimonides.
and since the authors of the NT would no doubt have been familiar with his teachings we have a glimpse into the mind of 1st century writers including Paul and the apostles and though the bible doesn’t give us much detail we have this handy manual which states,
“...it is those who desire the good of their friends for the friends’ sake that are most truly friends, because each loves the other for what he is, and not for any incidental quality.”
This is a statement that scripture would no doubt agree with and as we continue,
We see that by searching out the good of others, we are showing them the love of God, because God is good. In fact, God is the origin of all good things.
The Jewish writer, Philo, agreeing with Aristotle wrote,
For good-will is a desire that one's neighbour should enjoy good things for his own sake. Philo
Eph 6:7-8,
With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
The modern HCSB rewards it like this,
Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.
In both cases, We are called to live with a good attitude or as the KJ explains with goodwill towards others, which is the beginning of friendship.
“Goodwill resembles friendship but is not identical with it, because goodwill can be felt towards people that one does not know...goodwill seems to be the beginning of friendship…”
He continues, “Similarly people cannot be friends unless they first come to feel goodwill, although feeling goodwill does not make them friends…”
“One might, then, by a metaphor define goodwill as undeveloped friendship, which in course of time, when it attains to intimacy, becomes friendship…”
We see that we are not called to be everyone’s best friend, nor could we be, because that is not how the world really works. Aristotle writes, “That such friendships are rare is natural…” I would argue that we are not called to be everyone’s best friend, We are only called to have goodwill toward others and to be open to friendships, this is one of the reasons why we are told
Rom 12:18
If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
Because friendships are a tiny microcosm of love and love comes first from goodwill towards others and goodwill, when done correctly promotes peace.
2. Goodwill is a choice we want to make a habit.
Choice is essential to our faith.
“Affection [for others] resembles a feeling, but friendship is a state. For affection can be felt equally well for inanimate objects, but mutual affection involves choice, and choice proceeds from a moral state.”
Doing good for others is a godly decision and And to be moral, choice matters.
Proverbs 1:29
Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the Lord,
Joshua 24:15
But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.”
Choice matters and goodwill is no different.
Though your motive at first is to serve, because you know you should, guilt, We can’t keep this up. The goal is to get to a point where we just create a lifestyle of goodwill towards others without feeling like we have to. We want doing good to become a way of life.
Paul explains in Philemon 1:14
But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will.
We want pursuing the good for others to become a way of life for us. This doesn’t mean that we need to invite every person off the street to live with us or that we need to go into poverty to feed the poor, but what this does mean is that you will use your gifts, out of your own free will, to show others the good that is God’s truth.
By making the good of others a habit we honor God, honor others, and honor ourselves as this is our purpose. This is why Jesus said,
Matthew 7:12, Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.
This means that honoring yourself, your family, your neighbor, your nation, and your God is fulfilled in choosing to love others and creating a lifestyle of goodwill.
1 Pet 2:17
Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
This is what holds together a community, creating a culture of goodwill and trust towards everyone, not just your best friends.
3. We are not to just do good things, but want what is good for others.
There is a reason that homeless shelters will tell you not to give people who beg on the street money
Department of Housing and Urban Development found that six out of ten homeless people admitted problems with alcohol or drugs. “Given the likelihood of self-reported bias, the actual number could be even higher.”
and this has been shown in studies here and in England as well.
The problem is that these folks need help, which is good, but giving them money does not help them, therefore simply giving them money is not actually good for them, but rather according to recent studies, giving them money actually hurts them and continues the cycle.
The Atlantic did a thorough article on the topic and summed up the recent scholarship with
The homeless often need something more than money. They need money and direction.
I would add that this is what we all need.
Author and poet, Henry F. Kletzing wrote, “We often miss the end of life by having no object before us.”
He continues, “It is the man that has an aim that accomplishes something in this world. A young man fired with a determined purpose to win in a particular aim has fought half the battle.”
Many people in this life do not have a purpose, we do and our purpose is to share the love of God with the world.
Through goodwill, we build relationships, which if done for the right reasons, lead people to the origin of love, which is Jesus Christ. And there is no deeper purpose or greater good than this. And helping people know our purpose, our story, creates a habit for us and helps them as well.
“...in loving a friend they are loving their own good. For when a good man becomes a friend to another he becomes that other’s good; so each loves his own good, and repays what he receives by wishing the good of the other...”
We are all equally valuable in the eyes of God. Everyone of us has gifts that we are called use for ourselves and others. IN this way, we are all needed.
We need each other. Paul tells us over and over that we are parts of a body, which makes up the church. And the church, like any community, needs people to do different things and to perform different tasks.
Aristotle teaches the exact same thing, he writes, “For each of these persons has a different virtue (gifts) and function, and different [ways] for feeling love; and therefore their loves and affections are different.”
Scripture agrees, 1 Corinthians 12:4
“Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God activates each gift in each person.“
“For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.”
For some of us it would be a mistake to make a meal for a family in need, because your cooking skills are lacking. In this case, you may be better equipped to mow their lawn or clean their house or help them do their taxes.
You may not be able to change someone’s tire, but you can keep them company or buy them a coffee or take them somewhere to find help.
We need to understand that God is not expecting us to sacrifice everything or to give up our lives and move to Iran to witness to Muslims, though he might be, but for the rest of us, God is simply asking that you use your gifts to bring goodwill to others, with their good in mind, so that they can experience the love of God.
For some people that is a phone call on their birthday, for others it's a hug on Sunday morning, for others yet it is 5 minute conversation. Pray for God to give you a heart of love and goodwill.
Take time this week to be kind and considerate of everyone you meet. Really consider what the person you are talking to might need at this moment and give it to them.
It might be a compliment to the cashier or a helping hand to the guy bagging your groceries. It might mean be leaving an extra tip for the waitress who gave you poor service. It might be sending a thank you note to someone for just doing their job.
It may mean giving up your angry feelings and forgiving someone without them needing to ask.
Think about it. What would you want to hear or have done for you if you were them? And then turn that thought into an action and just do it. That is the law of the prophets.
Matthew 7:12, Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.
Start creating a lifestyle of goodwill this morning.
pray
