Sharing God
Established - Week 6:
Scripture- Matthew 28, Acts 1
We've been in a series over the past few weeks called Established. As we wrap up the series, I want to talk to you about sharing God, about sharing your faith.
When we start talking about sharing our faith, its something that puts a weird feeling in our stomach. Most of us were raised to believe that faith and politics are not the subjects of polite conversation.
Introvert-Don’t like walking up and talking to people I don’t know. This even effected me as I started to study for the ministry. After all, if a pastor can’t feel comfortable sharing his faith, is he or she really called into the ministry?
Part of our preparation was to do a course called “Soul winning”, and the major assignment of that course was to honestly share the gospel with at least 30 people.
That’s not that hard in Kenosha as there are over 100k people to choose from, and the lakefront is always filled with people so you can just walk alone and talk with anyone who passed by.
I did that a few times, and got pushed, threatened, and no one wanted to hear any message about the bible, Jesus, God, sin, Salvation- they just wanted to be left alone.
One of the elders in my church at that time, a slightly crazy guy named Gaylord Kling, said that walking along the lakefront was the easy way out, and they would ignore us anyway.
He said, let’s go down to Lincoln Park neighborhood, or Washington heights, and go door to door and let people know that Jesus loves them.
These two neighborhoods are the roughest in Kenosha. These are where the gangs are, this is where you get solicited by prostitutes trying to pay for the their drugs, and this is where it is very dangerous for you to be if you are not from those blocks.
I agreed, and we ended up going door to door in the roughest part of town. I honestly wasn’t that nervous about that- we obviously were not cops carrying bibles and tracts, and were mostly left alone.
In fact, the people there took the bibles, and they took the tracts, and they listened intently about what we had to say. Over the course of 4 different times going to those neighborhoods, we witnessed to over 200 people and lead over 20 in the sinners prayer.
Did they actually become Christians? Only God knows.
I know that a drug dealer probably got his first full Gospel presentation about 11pm on a street with all of the lights shot out when he rolled up on us and got out of his car- .45 caliber pistol in his waist band and started to threaten us to leave or else. The car he was in had a tinted back area, and the window came down a little and we heard a voice asking us politely to come over.
Gaylord and I walked over and the person in the backseat said, “Look, I know you are trying to do right by my people here, but your “bleeping” with business. I’m asking nicely, get out of here while you can.”
Gaylord pointed a finger at the car and yelled, “I rebuke the spirit of drugs in the name of Jesus!”
The voice said, “Yo homie, let’s bounce” and they drove away.
It’s a crazy story, but absolutely 100% true. The bible says we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and today Gaylord is among them, probably laughing.
What that whole course showed me is this-
Our job isn’t to save them. Our job isn’t to tell those outside the church how to live.
Our job is scatter the seed, our job is to show love to the unlovable.
and then to harvest what God has given us. Then take those baby Christians and help them mature into healthy disciples of Jesus Christ- and take the reigns of the church into the next generation.
This is the model that Jesus has given us.
Turn to Matthew Chapter 28. That's the last chapter in the book of Matthew. We're going to begin in verse 16, and what we're about to read is known as the Great Commission. It's the last thing that Jesus says to his followers before he ascends into heaven.
Matt 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
NIV 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Prayer-
Let’s review what your Bible says: “Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain, to which Jesus had directed them, and when they—” What are the next two words? “When they saw him, (the resurrected Jesus) they worshiped him. But some—” Next word?
Let's take a time out and have a pastor moment. Jesus is standing there. The resurrected Jesus. Died on the cross, has risen again. He's been revealing himself now for 40 days. The resurrected Christ. They are looking at him. Some worship and some… what?
Some doubted.
Anytime God is on the move, anytime God is at work, some are going to worship and some are going to doubt.
There are always naysayers.
I had a friend that took a church out east. He told me that the new church was really excited he was coming, and were on board with everything he wanted to do.
The first several months, everything was great- the church started growing, more ministries were started, and everyone seemed happy.
Except for the core group in the church.
Some of the people who started coming were from the wrong side of the tracks.
Some of them were people that used to go to that church but left after a major sin had been made public and they left in shame.
Some of them were even hard-core biker types from the Saturday night service he had that biker bar, and those core people don’t like the look of the or the roar of the their bikes on Sunday morning.
After all, they all road Harley’s…of course.
And to top it all off, one Saturday morning he was playing basketball with some of the youth and took off his outer shirt, revealing the tattoos they never knew he had.
That core group= at least that is what they thought themselves as, began to complain about things.
I’ll bore you with the details, but it lead to a church vote to remove the pastor. They lost, and they left.
The weird thing is- although the numbers that next month showed a 30% drop in membership, the next year showed a 400% increase in membership.
I tell you this story to remind all of us-
This is not about you. This is not about me. A thousands times- this is not about me!
God can make rocks cry out- He had a donkey correct a prophet.
He doesn’t need me.
Creation can sing the glory of God, he doesn’t need a worship team.
The earth is his footstool, he doesn’t even need to have this building.
What Jesus wants is a church family, dedicated to adding more to their church family. Seeing it grow not only numerically but most importantly- Spiritually.
If you're a Jesus follower and you're part of that, don't be a doubter. Be a doer. Just do what Jesus says. If you're like, "But I got all these doubts," let me tell you how much faith is enough—51%. You can have 49% doubt, but if 51% of you believes, just go for it. Jesus is standing there and every once in a while, God's on the move and people are being baptized and lives are being changed and somebody will be like, "I don't know. Music seems kind of loud to me."
All that stuff's normal. But don't be a doubter. Be a doer. Whatever Jesus asked you to do, even if you're like 49% doubt, 51% belief is enough.
So he’s standing on the mountain, he's there, and yet some are doubting.
It's obviously God that's at work. Verse 19. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Here's the command. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
What's a disciple? Somebody who has met, who knows, and is following Jesus. Here's what we do as a church. We help people meet, know, and follow Jesus, which is another way of saying, our goal is to make disciples. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”
How many of you have heard this passage of scripture before? This is known as the Great Commission. Again, let me remind you that Jesus has done his ministry. Three years of ministry. He caused the blind to see, and the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk.
He fed thousands of people with just a little bit of food. He's done all kinds of miracles. He has taught. He has spent time with his disciples. He has died on the cross. Three days later, he rose again. This is the resurrected Christ.
For 40 days, he's made himself known to his followers. Hundreds of people have seen him. This was recorded in the scriptures. He's standing on a mountainside. He's about to ascend into heaven, which literally means he's going to fly right off that mountainside and go up into the clouds. This is the last thing he says. At this moment, this was a big deal, right? This was the culmination of his time on the earth. He could talk about anything. He could say anything, but what he does is he gives this last command before he ascends.
He says, "Go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and then teach them to obey everything that I have taught you. And I'm going to be with you as you do this to the very end of the age."
Which begs the question, what is the subject of that command?
What do you think the most important word or subject is?
Look though the commands
Go make disciples.
Baptize all nations.
Teach.
What do you think the subject of this command is?
It's the word them.
Who is Jesus telling the disciples to go to? Them.
Who are they supposed to make disciples out of? Them.
Who are they supposed to baptize? Them.
Who are they supposed to teach? Them.
Who are them?
If you're a Jesus follower, them would be anyone who is not currently in the category of us.
If you're a Jesus follower, in the context of this scripture, you would be in the “us” category. But you used to be in the them category because all of us used to be one of them. Then, we put our faith in Jesus and became part of us.
Wherever you go, that's where you are and them is always there. Now, this was fascinating because church people very rarely think about them because, as church people, we're usually thinking about who? Us.
Yet, the last thing our king tells us before he ascends into heaven is for all of us to go after who them, baptize them, make disciples out of them, teach to them, and by the glory of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit, them will become part of us. This is the mission.
If you have this idea that church is for church people, that's not biblical. The church is not for church people because if you're a follower of Jesus, you are the church.
As the church, you’re called to reach Them.
The church is not a building that you come and sit at. It's a movement that you choose to be part of to help people meet, know, and follow Jesus.
When you think about missions and missionary work, missions is across the world and missions is also across the street.
It's not either or. It's both.
Because God has called you and me as Jesus followers. Those of us who were in the “us” category. He has called us to reach who? Them.
Listen, there is no Plan B. If you're a Jesus follower, you're the hope of the world.
You're God's plan to change the world one life at a time.
When you look around and when you watch the news and when you see all these horrible things around us, what's God doing? What's His plan? It's you.
But, here's the beautiful thing. The Bible says, you and I, in the saving business, are not called to be salesmen. This is what scares most people away from sharing their faith-What if I mess it up?
But think about this- if you are giving an honest testimony to a person, no matter how jumbled up it is or how poorly you say it, the Holy Spirit is the one working on that person’s heart and HE is the one responsible for them coming to Christ.
You can’t mess it up. Let’s say you really mess it up. What happens?
They go to hell number 2?
So speak the truth in love. You may just plant a small seed that someone else down the line will water and then someone else will collect that harvest.
We are called to be witnesses. They just talk about what they've seen and heard.
Missions is across the world and it's also across the street. You and I are called to be missionaries. We've got some saving to do. Who in your life do you know that doesn't know Jesus?
Could it be that God in His mercy and His grace and His truth, and quite frankly, in His sense of humor, that He's put you in their life to be a witness and to give them an opportunity to respond to His love, mercy, grace, and truth?
You never know what God might do through a simple invitation. Now here's the power of planting seeds. You can count how many seeds are in an apple, but only God knows how many apples are in a seed. It could be that you think you just planted one thing, but you planted an orchard and you don't even know it. You make an invitation but have no idea what God will do with that.
Spurgeon Salvation
Just be faithful.
I leave you with one more thought- God doesn’t expect you to gird up your loins and do it yourself.
He doesn’t expect you to do this alone. Here is the truth-
People filled with the Holy Spirit will reproduce after their own kind- a people filled with the Holy Spirit.
This is why Jesus also included in His final instructions Acts 1:8
Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
God is asking you this morning- be that last best hope for someone out there. Be willing to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. Be willing to help them grow in the things of God.
And Guess what- He gives you himself and HIS power to help you do it!
Let’s pray.
