Introduction:
A. Before I begin a new sermon series next week, God put it on my heart to focus this week’s sermon on the place of evangelism in the life of a disciple of Jesus.
1. Two weeks ago, we completed our sermon series on the final days of Jesus’ earthly life by looking at one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances when He gave His disciples the Great Commission.
2. Jesus told them to: “Go 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 everything I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20)
3. The desire of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is for everyone to come into a saving relationship with God.
4. Jesus’ mission while He was on the earth was “to seek and save the lost.” (Lk. 19:10)
5. And when Jesus called the apostles, He said for them to “Follow Him and He would make them fish for people.” (Mt. 4:19)
a. I think it is helpful to imagine ourselves as fishers of people as a simple way to understand our mission.
6. Early in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus suggested two other images or concepts that His disciples should allow to represent their evangelistic mission – those images or concepts are salt and light.
a. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.” (Mt. 5:13-14)
7. As we move through today’s lesson, I will touch on these three images or concepts (fishing, salt and light) to help us understand how we can be about our mission in simple and concrete ways, but I mainly want to use another image or concept that I will introduce in a minute.
B. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the mission of evangelism, and it’s easy to make it so complicated that we are too intimidated to get involved with it.
1. So my aim today is to give us a simple and concise model to help us embrace this mission as a lifestyle – so that it’s not something we do, but something we are.
2. I hope that it becomes natural and second nature for us to be God’s witnesses.
C. I have chosen to package the simple model in the concept of being God’s eyewitnesses.
1. As you know, an eyewitness is a person who has personally seen or experienced something, and therefore can give a first-hand description of it – and we all, who are in a relationship with God, can witness to our personal knowledge of God and our experience with God.
2. To help make the message more memorable, and to help us keep in mind the three words that begin with “I,” we will use the word “iWitness,” rather than use the regular word “eyewitness.”
a. I am piggy-backing on the Apple Corporation and the name of their products – iPhones, iPads, and iWatches.
b. Here’s a pun I came across: If you see a crime at an Apple Store, does that make you an iWitness?
3. The three words that begin with “I” that represent the concrete actions that we can be engaged in as God’s “iWitnesses” are: iNvoke, iNvest, and iNvite.
4. Let’s explore the practical ways to be iWitnesses through iNvoking, iNvesting, and iNviting.
I. Let’s start with the first “I” in our iWitness model and it is “iNvoke.”
A. The word “invoke” is a synonym for the word “prayer.”
1. Prayer is the best place for us to begin the evangelistic mission and the best place to continue that mission.
2. As I have said so many times, prayer is powerful, because God is powerful, and He answers prayer.
3. Our God is always at work around us in the lives of people.
4. When we pray concerning evangelism, we are not asking God to start doing anything new, because God is already at work around us in people’s lives.
5. God is at work: He is drawing people to Himself, He is preparing hearts, He is establishing relationships, and He is arranging divine appointments.
6. When we pray, we are simply joining God in what He is already doing in the lives around us.
B. I want to encourage all of us to make a list of people to pray for each day about their spiritual relationship with the Lord.
1. To help us follow through with this mission, a good question we might begin to ask each other is “For whom are you praying for salvation and spiritual growth?” Who is on your prayer list?
2. Our list might include family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors, people we see regularly in the community: at the grocery store, bank, gas station, doctor’s office, or fitness center.
3. I like something Charles Swindoll once said, “Rise and shine, friend, everyone you meet today is on heaven’s ‘most wanted’ list.”
4. Every person you and I encounter each day could be a divine appointment that leads to a positive spiritual outcome – that’s a mindset we need to develop.
5. Your list may be long or short, but I want to encourage all of us to have a list of people we pray for each day concerning their salvation.
C. As we mention people by name in prayer, we can be praying some of the things we see prayed about in Scripture.
1. Like the apostle Paul, we can pray that “the eyes of people’s hearts may be enlightened” (Eph. 1:18).
2. Like Paul, we can pray “that God may open a door to us for the word” (Col. 4:2).
3. Like Paul, we can pray that we can speak clearly about the gospel (Col. 4:6).
4. Like Paul, we can pray that we can speak boldly and fearlessly about the gospel (Eph. 6:18).
5. And in obedience to Jesus, we can pray that God send out more witnesses and workers into the harvest field (Mt. 9:36-38).
D. Praying for these things and for the people on our lists will make us more ready for the other two parts of being iWitnesses – the investing and inviting.
1. As we pray in these ways and for these people, we will find ourselves more open to the doors of opportunities that God places before us.
2. Also, as we pray, our hearts will become more attuned to the needs of others as our love and compassion for them grows.
3. And as we pray, we will have a greater sense of urgency as we become more burdened for their spiritual state.
4. And finally, as we pray, we will realize that the ability to effectively witness for Christ does not come from us but comes from God.
5. So, the first part of our simple evangelism model as iWitnesses is to “invoke” – to be engaged in prayer.
6. So, let’s make our list of people and let’s be faithful to pray for them.
II. The second “I” in our iWitness model is “iNvest.”
A. What do I mean by “invest”? Investing in others means developing and deepening our relationships with others.
1. Evangelism involves more than just transferring information.
a. We are called to do more than leave a gospel track and run.
2. The biblical mandate calls for all disciples of Jesus to spiritually invest into the lives of those around us.
a. What we should be trying to do through building relationships is to give people tangible expression of God’s love.
3. The fishing model I want to encourage us to have in mind is not the snoozing fisherman waiting for a bite on his hook with a bobber and cane pole.
a. Rather, I want us to imagine that we are a scuba diver who goes where the fish are and is equipped to bring them home.
b. The one kind of fisherman is totally detached from the environment which is fished, whereas the other is submerged in it, yet is protected from it.
c. We must be in the world, but must not be of the world, or become like the world.
B. What does this kind of investing look like? It is simply the building of relationship – friendship.
1. It is the giving of our time and energy, love and compassion.
2. The apostle Paul had such a great love for the people of Thessalonica that he shared with them more than just the Gospel, he also shared his life with them (1 Thess. 2:8).
3. How cold and unloving would we be if we ever gave someone the impression that we wanted to share the good news with them, but that we don’t really want anything else to do with them?
4. Jesus is the best example of someone who invested in others – He spent time with people, visiting them in their homes, and eating meals with them.
5. And Jesus did this with the rich and powerful, and with the poor and outcasts – He wanted to be in relationship with everyone.
6. And those relationships that Jesus had with others led to spiritual breakthroughs.
a. Do you remember Zacchaeus, the short man who was a tax collector? Jesus invited Himself to his house for dinner, and Zacchaeus repented and turned to God.
b. Do you remember the Samaritan woman at the well whom Jesus asked to give Him a drink of water? He ended up spending two days with her and her community and many of them became believers.
c. And those are just a couple of the many examples in Scripture of Jesus investing in relationships.
C. Relationships are a key to leading people to salvation.
1. The Institute for American Church Growth once did a survey of 10,000 Christian people and asked them: “What was responsible for your coming to Christ and to your church?” Here are the results:
a. I had a special need – 2%. e. I attended a revival service – ½ of 1%.
b. I just walked in – 3%. f. I liked the programs – 3%.
c. I liked the minister – 6% (that should g. A friend or relative invited me – 79% (how
be a higher percentage, right? Haha) many people here today are here because of a
d. I liked the Sunday school – 5%. friend or relative? Raise your hand.)
2. The New Testament record tells of 40 people suffering from various diseases who were healed by Jesus.
a. Of that number, 34 of the sick people were either brought to Jesus by friends, or Jesus was taken to them by friends.
b. In only 6 cases out of 40 did the sufferers find their way to Jesus without assistance.
c. The vast majority of people who find their way to Jesus today, do so because someone who cared about them helped bring them to Jesus.
3. And guess what? Relationships are not only important in leading people to Jesus, they are also important in keeping people in Jesus.
a. Studies have shown that if new Christians don’t develop a number of significant relationships in a church, they are more likely to drop out of church altogether.
b. That’s why it is so important for us to invest in relationships with people before they become a Christian and continue to do so after they become a Christian.
D. So, as we seek to be iWitnesses through prayer (invoke) and through relationships (invest), what does that look like on a practical level?
1. With those who are our family members or are already our good friends, then what we need to do is to try to build on those relationships – deepen them and take them in a spiritual direction.
a. We can spend time together enjoying meals, or recreation, or working together on projects.
2. But with those who are just acquaintances (like coworkers, or neighbors, or people we encounter in community), then we need to take additional steps to get to know them and build the relationship.
a. The next steps might be to meet for coffee or a meal, or to attend an event together – like an SU basketball game, or fireworks, or a concert.
b. We might discover something that is of interest to them, and join them in the thing they are interested in.
3. And while we do this kind of investing, we should be doing lots of invoking.
III. The third and final “I” in our iWitness model is “iNvite.”
A. Tip O’Neil, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, often told the story of the day his long-time neighbor, Mrs. Elizabeth O’Brien, taught him the importance of a personal invitation.
1. On election eve, when O’Neil was running for election to a seat in the House of Representatives, Mrs. O’Brien told him, “I’m going to vote for you tomorrow even though you didn’t ask me to.”
2. O’Neil was stunned by her words, and said, “I’ve lived across the street from you for eighteen years. I cut your grass in the summer, and I shovel your walk in the winter. I haul out your ashes. I didn’t think I had to ask for your vote.”
3. O’Neil’s neighbor replied, “Let me tell you something: People like to be asked.”
B. Does that ring true with you? People like to be asked. Do you like to receive invitations?
1. What I mean by “invite” is that as we invoke and invest in people, there needs to be a time when we offer an invitation to take a spiritual step.
2. That invitation may be to come to worship, or to attend your small group, or it might be an invitation to study the Bible together.
3. What’s the worst thing that can happen if we invite someone? They can say no.
4. But how sad it is if we never get around to making an invitation.
5. I heard the story of a neighbor who kept inviting his neighbor to play golf with him on Sunday morning.
a. The neighbor kept saying he couldn’t play golf with him because he attended worship on Sunday mornings.
b. This exchange occurred numerous times over several years.
c. Finally, for the seventh time the neighbor asked the man again if he would like to go golfing on Sunday, and the man gave the same response that he couldn’t because he had to go to worship.
d. Then golfing neighbor asked the church going neighbor, “Why is it that I have asked you to golf with me 7 times, but you have never asked me to go to church with you?”
6. Let’s make sure no one can ever say that to us: “Why didn’t you ever ask me to come with you to worship? Or why didn’t you ever offer to study the Bible with me?”
C. If we invite someone and they don’t accept the invitation, then we should just keep on invoking and investing, and then invite them again periodically.
1. We shouldn’t drop them and move on just because they say “no” initially.
2. I like the story of the lady who invited her neighbor 49 times to join her in worship, but the neighbor kept declining.
a. The next time the neighbor invited her to church, she mentioned this was the 50th invitation she had given, and the neighbor declined for the 50th time.
b. But a few minutes later, the neighbor who declined called the neighbor who invited and said, “If you are interested enough in me to ask me 50 times to go to church with you, then I should go with you and see what it is like,”
c. The neighbor went and liked what she saw and later became a Christian, all because her neighbor kept inviting her.
2. The invitation to “come and see” is something we see in the New Testament.
a. The curious disciples of John the Baptizer asked Jesus where He was staying and Jesus said, “Come and see.” (Jn. 1:39)
b. Andrew was one of those two curious disciples, and after spending the day with Jesus, he went and found his brother Peter and told him he had found the Messiah, and he brought Peter to Jesus. (Jn. 1:40-42)
c. The next day Jesus found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me” and Philip went and found Nathaniel and told him, “We have found the Messiah – He is Jesus of Nazareth.”
1. Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said, “Come and see!” and Nathaniel did. (Jn. 1:43-51)
d. When Jesus had the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, she ran to town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” And they came and saw and became believers. (Jn. 4:28-42)
3. I believe if we invite people to take a look at Jesus and His Word and His church, then many will believe.
a. Our job is to offer the invitation, and then let God do the rest.
b. When was the last time you invited someone to worship, or invited someone to another kind of spiritual gathering, or to study the Bible?
c. I pray that God will inspire and enable us to become active inviters who regularly issue lots of invitations.
d. If we never go fishing, we will never catch a fish. Right?
e. If we don’t make an invitation to someone, then one can say, “yes.”
Conclusion:
A. In conclusion, I pray that all of us will embrace our calling as disciples of Jesus who have been given the great commission to make disciples who make disciples.
1. Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
a. As salt, we have a purifying effect and a seasoning effect on the world.
b. As light, we help to dispel the darkness and provide illumination of the truth for the lost.
2. Jesus promised to make us into fishers of people if we would follow Him.
3. We are not called as lawyers or judges, but we are retained as witnesses – eyewitnesses.
4. As iWitnesses, we can be engaged in the mission of seeking and saving the lost by invoking, investing, and inviting – three simple “I”s.
5. May God bless our efforts and bring many people into God’s family by being iWitnesses!
