The Battle Plan - Evangelism
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 4/10/2016
Last Sunday I started a short, two-part series I’m calling The Battle Plan. If we want to be successful in whatever we do, we need to have a plan. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “When you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
That’s true as much in our spiritual lives as it is in the classroom or boardroom. In Colossians 4, Paul provides us with a clear, concise strategy for developing our prayer life, which we looked at last week. He tells us to be persistent in prayer, perceptive in prayer, and praiseful in prayer. But, like I said last week, prayer is only half the battle.
After giving the Colossian Christians a three-point plan for prayer, he asks them to pray specifically for him, saying, “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” (Colossians 4:3-4 NIV).
Paul’s mind is obviously on sharing the gospel, sharing Christ, with the world. After asking them to pray for him to have opportunities to witness, he then turns it around and reminds them that sharing Christ is everyone’s responsibility. He writes: “Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” (Colossians 4:5-6 NLT).
Just as he did for prayer, Paul outlines a three-point battle plan for sharing our faith and spreading the Gospel of Jesus. Amazingly, God calls us—ordinary Christians—to be contagious with our faith—spreading it to as many others as possible. He wants to use every one of us to lead others into a relationship with him that will last throughout their lives and into eternity.
Unfortunately, some people hear the word evangelism or evangelist and have an immediate negative reaction. Maybe you envision hokey TV evangelists or the pushy, annoying salesmen-type who show up at your door with religious literature, or sign-wielding, bullhorn blaring street evangelists. Or maybe you imagine guys like Billy Graham or Kirk Cameron who just seem so gifted at sharing Christ and you just think, “Well that’s not for me, I just couldn’t do that.”
No wonder many of us get nervous when we hear the word evangelism! I hope you’ll be relieved to know that you don’t have to be any of those things in order to share your faith in Jesus effectively. Rather, we can be ourselves! God knew what he was doing when he made you! And if we put his plan into practice, then God can use us to spiritually impact our friends, relatives, co-workers, and neighbors for his glory.
So what’s the plan? First, Paul instructs us to be wise about witnessing.
• BE WISE
Paul starts off his battle plan for evangelism by saying, “Live wisely among those who are not believers” (Colossians 4:5 NLT). Often living wisely simply means that we need to remember that those who don’t yet know Christ are watching us.
This reminds me of a woman who was in real rush to get to an important meeting. Speeding through town, she got stuck behind a slow moving truck. When the truck driver stopped at a red light, she pounded on her horn and leaned out the window, screaming at him for not going through the light. Still in mid-rant, she heard footsteps and looked up to see a very serious looking police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up, took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, and put in a jail cell. After a few hours, she was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer apologized to her. He said, “I’m so sorry for the mistake. You see, I pulled up behind you and saw you honking and swearing at the man in front of you. And then I saw your What Would Jesus Do? license plate holder and your I Love My Church bumper sticker. Naturally, I assumed you stole the car.”
According to a study conducted by LifeWay Research 72% of people surveyed agreed with the statement “the church is full of hypocrites.” If you are a Christian, you ought to know that your neighbors and co-workers have their “hypocrisy-radar” scanning your lives 24/7. We need to live wisely among unbelievers because people are making decisions about the validity of Christianity based upon how we’re living. When we pray, God will give us open doors. Let’s not shut them by our behavior.
Now, being wise doesn’t mean we have to be perfect, but we must genuinely seek to follow and honor God in our daily lives. Jesus said, “Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:16 NLT). Joe Aldrich, in his book Lifestyle Evangelism, put it this way: “Christians are to be good news before they share the good news.”
There’s an old story from the life of Francis of Assisi. “Brother,” Francis said one day to one of the new monks at the Portiuncula, “Let’s go down to the town to preach!” The young novice delighted at the invitation. Together they passed through the main streets, turned down many of the by-ways and alleys, and eventually made their way out to the suburbs. Along the way Francis extended warm greetings to passersby and purchased some fresh fruits and vegetables from street merchants. Then the pair returned to the monastery. As they approached the gate, the younger monk said, “Father, have you forgotten that we went down to the town to preach?” Francis replied, “My son, we have preached. We preached while we walked. We have been seen by many and our behavior has been closely watched; it was thus that we preached our morning sermon. It of no use, my son, to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere we walk.”
There’s a man who understood what Paul meant to walk wisely among unbelievers. When our walk with God is real and evident, it naturally overflows into the lives of others. So step one in sharing our faith effectively is to be wise.
Furthermore, Paul urges us to be watchful about witnessing.
• BE WATCHFUL
In the second half of this verse, Paul says, “Make the most of your opportunities” (Colossians 4:5 GWT). This is an interesting phrase. It’s actually a commercial term and means to “buy up.” The phrase was often used to describe someone finding a really good bargain on sale and buying all they can afford because the price is so good. In so doing, they made the most of their opportunity. Of course, Paul doesn’t have shopping in mind. He wants us to make the most our interactions with unbelievers.
In other words, we need to be watchful and ready to share Jesus every chance we get. This really isn’t as difficult or awkward as it might sound. It’s simply a matter of sparking spiritual conversations.
Probably the most natural way to start spiritual conversations is what Bill Hybels, in his book Becoming a Contagious Christian, calls bridging. Bridging turns the conversation by using the topic at hand as a bridge to a related spiritual topic. This is exactly what Jesus did with the woman at the well. Remember how Jesus asked the woman for water? Then he told her that if she knew who he was, she would be asking him for living water. Jesus moved the conversation from something ordinary to something spiritual.
We can do the same thing. It starts with everyday subjects like hobbies, music, sports, kids’ activities, or even ordinary struggles, and then introduces a spiritual element to the discussion. For example, if your friend or co-worker is going through a difficult time—such as an illness or a financial challenge—you can mention how something your learned from the Bible or at church helped you through a similar experience.
Or if you’re telling some who’s new to the neighborhood where to find the best restaurants, coffee shops, etc., you could add, “I also know where there’s a great church if you’re interested.” If a friend asks what kinds of things you do in your spare time, you might mention a couple ordinary hobbies (like dressing up in spandex and attending comic conventions), but then also mention the church you attend or a small group you participate in. If you see a co-worker or friend reading a book, ask them about it. Most likely, they’ll then ask you if you’ve read any good books lately. You can then share with them about a Christian book you’ve been reading or even a passage in the Bible.
Not every conversation has to be deep and profound. What you’re doing is planting seeds and laying the groundwork for deeper spiritual conversations.
Another great tool for sparking spiritual conversations is just inviting people to spiritual or church related events—a Christian concert, a special event like Sportsman’s Day or Amazing Women/Amazing Faith, or just a regular church service. But don’t get discouraged if you get turned down.
There’s a story about Billy Graham when he was visiting a city for one of his crusades. He wrote a letter to his wife and was looking for a place to mail it. Outside the lobby of his hotel, he came across a young boy. He asked the boy if he knew how to get to the post office. The boy gave Billy Graham the directions and before leaving, Billy said to the boy, “Come on over to the arena tonight and I’ll tell you how to get to heaven.” The boy looked at him and replied, “How can you know how to get to heaven? You don’t even know the way to the post office!”
Even Billy Graham got turned down occasionally. According to a study by Lifeway Research, though, 1 in 4 of your unchurched friends would come to church if you invited them. That’s pretty good news—but the better news is that 4 out of 4 invitations can turn into spiritual conversations! Even if they turn you down, you could follow up by asking them about their spiritual or church background. And now you’re having a spiritual conversation.
Charles Spurgeon advised his congregation, “Try to turn the conversation to profitable use... Be ready to seize opportunities skillfully, and lead on unnoticeably in the desired track. If your heart is in it and your wits are awake, it will be easy enough, especially if you breathe a prayer for guidance.” That’s good advice.
So step one is—be wise. Step two is—be watchful.
Finally, Paul instructs us to be winsome in witnessing!
• BE WINSOME
I don’t want to skip over this last part, because I think it’s so important. Paul says, “When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should” (Colossians 4:6 NIV). Instead of “kind and pleasant,” the New Living Translation says, “gracious and attractive.” The older translations say, “Let your speech always be…seasoned with salt” (NKJV).
Salt enhances flavor and makes food appetizing. “Salty speech” in Paul’s day referred to witty and winsome discussion. It was the opposite of being boring, belligerent, abrasive. The point is—if you want to share your faith in Jesus with someone or if you want to invite someone to your church, you need to do it in a positive, pleasant way. No matter how much sense the message of Christ makes, we lose our effectiveness if we’re not courteous and kind. Let me illustrate this for you with a little video.
• Play Video – Awkward Invitations
Now, on the one hand… this neighbor did a good job of being watchful. He made the most of this opportunity and found a way to bridge the conversation to a spiritual topic. But he fell pretty short at being winsome. His speech wasn’t very salty!
Unfortunately, we can often make the same mistake. Many times Christians are quick to condemn and criticize people who are living in sin. Or we rant about some moral issue in our culture, forgetting that there may be someone listening who is caught in that particular sin. When we’re filled with self-righteousness or criticism people feel judgment, not hope.
We need to be more like Jesus, who was the perfect embodiment of both truth and grace. Even when He dealt with sin, He spoke words of grace. The Bible says, after listening to Jesus teach, “Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips” (Luke 4:22 NLT).
Nobody walked away from Jesus thinking, that guy’s a jerk. We don’t want people walking away from us thinking that either. So remember to smile, be pleasant, be polite—be winsome.
Conclusion:
One day a lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody replied, "I agree with you. I don't like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady answered, "Well… I don't do it." Moody retorted, "Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it."
No matter how you go about sharing your faith, you’ll be much more effective if you follow the Bible’s Battle Plan:
• Be wise: make sure your character matches your creed.
• Be watchful: take advantage of opportunities to start spiritual conversations.
• Be winsome: be pleasant and polite. Share your faith with a smile.
Someone once said, “Prayer is simply talking to God about people. Evangelism is simply talking to people about God.” In either case, it’s time to start talking.
Invitation:
If you are spiritually seeking and you have questions, I’d love to help you work through those questions. Please feel free to pull me aside after church and we’ll talk. I want to challenge the rest of you to be watchful this week. Pray for an opportunity to start a spiritual conversation this week, then seize that opportunity when it arises. In the meantime, let’s all stand up and sing together.
