“THE MISSION OF EVANGELISM”
1 Corinthians 9:16
Illustration SOURCE: From Charles Cockroft’s Sermon: Am I My Brother’s Keeper
I heard a story about a guy:
? who applied for a job as an usher at a theater in the mall.
? As a part of the interview process,
The manager asked him, "What would you do in case a fire breaks out?"
The young guy answered, "Don’t worry about me. I can get out fine."
That’s exactly how:
? many in today’s world
? respond to a lost and dying world around them.
If you asked them:
? "What would you do if Jesus came back tomorrow?"
? they would probably respond,
? "Oh, don’t worry about me. I’d be fine."
But what is all too easy to forget:
? is that you’re an usher!
? It isn’t enough just to get out yourself.
? You are responsible for helping others know the way.
The Mission of God’s body the Church:
- Is to Reach those who are not yet believers
- with the saving message of the Gospel
- and to build up believers to serve and worship the Lord
Do you know why Jesus came to earth?
- He was not bored with heaven
- He was in love with God the FATHER and people
- so He came with a purpose….
Do you know the purpose and reason Jesus came?
Luke 19:10 explains why Jesus came to EARTH FROM HEAVEN…
“for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Jesus came to save people:
- God loves people
- desires that none should perish but that all should come to REPENTANCE
Author and Preacher Francis Chan:
- responded to an apparent critic
- who didn’t like the worship service
- maybe it was the music or the preaching who knows…
A person said:
“I didn’t like worship today…”
Francis said:
“That’s ok, we weren’t worshipping you.”
While I hope ALL of us are comfortable in this building:
- our comfort is not the main purpose of the CHURCH
- Obedience to God comes over our personal preferences
- the objective and purpose is to KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING
Jesus was crucified buried and raised on the 3rd day:
? to take away the sins of the world….
? not just my sins or your sins,
? that the world might be saved
So this morning let each of US think about:
? What is the business of the Church and how is business.
? Making sure we understand that.
? We exist primarily for those who are not yet here.
The sermon in a sentence is:
Missions is evangelism and is taking the Gospel to
lost souls who have never heard of the love of Christ.
1. BEING A CHRISTIAN IS TO BE A SOUL WINNER!
The Great Commission:
- is an imperative or command
- it is a command for Christians to follow.
" Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
The instruction is:
- as you go “Make Disciples.”
- teaching and baptizing
- The command in the verse is to make disciples.
- to make learners and followers of Jesus
A disciple is one:
? who follows,
? who devotes his very life
? to the one to who he follows.
A disciple is a multiplier:
- a disciple makes disciples
- and that disciple makes disciples
- each one be one and make one
A Church that fails:
- to make disciples
- and thinks that command is for everyone else
- is not going to be around long
If we got busy with making disciples:
- our building problems would change from
- this building is broken
- to this building is too small for our needs.
A main concern for the Church is that:
- there are addicts that don’t know Jesus as Lord and savior
- that there are professional people that don’t know Jesus
- that there are children walking past the Church every day that are lost
Is it okay with us if people die and go to Hell?
- do we shed a tear for the lost?
- do we pray for the lost to be saved?
- do we love the lost?
When the day of judgement comes:
- I wonder what we would say if Jesus asked
- Did you care for the widows and orphans?
- Were you interested in the lost
- Do you care that your neighbor is going to burn for eternity?
Do we love the lost?
- more than our comfort
- more than our calendar
- more than ourselves?
“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
- Matthew 5:46
The Church is to be a hospital for sinners not a country club for saints….
Are we seeking to save the:
- drug addict, the felon
- the down and out, the downtrodden
- the least the lost and the lonely?
Or are we waiting for:
- a family of 5
- with a nice house and nice cars and clothes
- with a $100k plus income?
- to come and join us, and we don’t have to go look for anyone?
God loves people, do we love people?
- enough to tell them about Jesus?
- enough to invite them into our lives?
- do we have room for new friends?
God so loved the world! the whole world...not just a part of it.
While we might look at our average attendance:
- and get discouraged or even mad
- who are we mad at?
- we can’t be mad at people for not coming
- when we didn’t ask them to come?
That would be like me saying to you:
- hey, where were you last night?
- you’d be like “what?”
- and I’d say “you weren’t at dinner!”
- and you’d be like… “Well, you didn’t invite me over?”
Missions is evangelism and is taking the Gospel to
lost souls who have never heard of the love of Christ.
2. THE MESSAGE ITSELF COMPELS US TO SHARE THE GOSPEL!
In 1 Corinthians 9:16, Paul says:
"16 Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!”
- 1 Corinthians 9:16 (NLT)
Paul says, "God has compelled me to spread the Gospel."
How do you see this matter of:
? telling a lost and dying world about the Lord Jesus in this light...
? do you acknowledge that it the standard not an optional task
? We surely ought too.
In 1 Corinthians 9:19 Paul's says
"Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.”
1 Corinthians 9:19 (NLT)
To share the message of the cross:
- to Paul was not something to take lightly
- Paul understood that
- God had told him to share that message
- and he would not disobey God
Do you think that God gave:
? to Paul any greater responsibility,
? any greater privilege to be a preacher.
? of the Gospel than you and I?
Let’s be done with the false notion:
? that God only called preachers of the Gospel to spread the Gospel.
? The truth is God has called us all,
? not just evangelists, preachers, missionaries and pastors.
Each of us is a:
? servant, minister, missionary and gospel seed planter…
? To all who have received the Love of Christ,
? is the call to share it with others.
Missions is evangelism and is taking the Gospel to
lost souls who have never heard of the love of Christ.
3. THE PATTERN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT IS OF CHRISTIANS GOING OUT BY FAITH.
My mom used to sew a lot when my sister and I were little:
- she made clothes, curtains and other stuff
- she made my sister a “Cabbage Patch” doll
- once she sewed me a bag for my marbles…
I guess she was concerned I would lose my marbles…legit concern.
Back then nearly:
- if we couldn’t find it or afford it
- my parents would make it or do it themselves
Mom used to cut out the pattern and
- lay it out on the floor.
- then she would pin the pattern and the material together
- she would cut out around the pattern and then
- fold the pattern up to use another time
She would save the pattern:
- because it was valuable
- and could be used to duplicate something
See we Christians:
- use the Bible as our pattern
- we strive to do things the way
- the Bible describes and how Bible people did things…
WE look to the Pattern of the Bible for direction….
In Acts 2:41 Peter preached and about 3000 souls were saved.
Peter continued to preach in Jerusalem and later around Joppa and the Plain of Sharon.
Acts 8:4 records that Philip preached Christ to the Samaritans.
Acts 8:26, 40, states that Philip to the Ethiopian Eunuch and He was saved
Acts 8:4-5 explains that these Christians who were fleeing the persecution of Paul.
"Therefore they that were scattered abroad
went everywhere preaching the word."
- Acts 8:4-5.
These men were in a true sense the first missionaries.
There are 20 more chapters in ACTS:
- that describe the missionary journeys of Paul
- who preached, established big C Churches,
- and others who supported him and did the same…
THESE WERE JUST BELIEVERS...
o SAVED AND FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
o WANTING TO TELL OTHERS WHAT
o THEY WITNESSED WHERE THEY FOUND THEMSELVES!
It is God’s will that you be saved:
- and that you tell others about God’s salvation
- that Jesus died on the Cross that all sinners might be saved
D. T. Niles is quoted as saying…
“Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
Remember that we are:
- both saved from something and saved for something
- we are saved from Sin and Hell for good works Eph. 2:10
- saved by grace through faith, for good works
Evangelism can be as simple as telling your story:
- of how you were lost and now are found
- how you were blind but now you see
- how Jesus found you and made you free!
While were are not bold because we fear being socially awkward:
- we don’t want people to think we are weird
- we fear people not liking us
- yet we probably know that there are no secret agent Christians
The precedent in the Bible is way different than how most of us live:
o In the Bible believers shared the GOSPEL
o despite being driven from their homes and families,
o despite being under the threat of death they told others about Christ.
If you want to make everyone happy:
- that is not Christianity
- while we diligently pursue Church unity
- our message is Divisive
Our message is divisive in that:
- we claim that there is one way to heaven
- we believe there is one way to God
- and that is ONLY through the blood of Jesus
The world would love us if:
- we claimed that Jesus is one of many ways to God
- and if we proclaimed a convenient message of comfort and prosperity
- and if our message didn’t require total participation to the death
Christians, everywhere the Gospel has been preached:
it has cause controversy and opposition.
That is the normal way the Gospel is spread.
The Gospel is offensive and confrontational.
The Gospel confronts individual sins and calls for repentance.
People do not want to hear:
- that the way they live is wrong in anyway
- or that there is a better way
- no matter how terrible a person lives, they want to hear “GREAT JOB”
To be honest…. most people don’t want to hear REAL GOSPEL:
- God accepts us as we are
- but He is not content to leave us in that condition
- we are to become holy as He is holy!
When you are immersed:
- into Christ for the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit
- and you come out of the water.
- the water will be the same, but you should be different
The word of the Lord says in 2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV)…
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
That time is here:
- people want to hear topical sermons on how to feel better
- with no call to change or to repentance
- preach against someone else’s sin, just leave mine alone
OUR Message may be:
? unpopular, even hated,
? that doesn’t mean we can remain silent.
? We have no right to remain silent.
The greatest revival in history:
o took place during the
o persecutions of Christians
o by Rome in the first three centuries.
Yet, despite the threat of:
? being killed by wild animals,
? crucified on crosses, being burned alive, or
? killed before thousands of people for sport...
Under extreme duress:
? men, women, boys and girls
? believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior and
? refused to recant or dishonor the name of Christ.
They gladly gave their lives and:
? became martyrs for the name of Christ.
What keeps people:
? from being saved is
? when God's people are silent and
? refuse to share Christ with others.
They believed in the promises of God:
? They trusted in the promise of Salvation.
? to all who would believe in the Lord Jesus
? and they shared the GOSPEL with others.
Do you see the pattern?
? The Apostles, preachers, believers in many situations...
? all preaching and witnessing...
? all telling others about Christ Jesus...
Relationships bring people into a saving relationship with Jesus:
So, we must go to people. And
Jesus is our example in this for,
He went to where the thirsty individuals were.
The pattern of meeting people where they are:
Jesus met Peter at the docks...
the woman of Samaria by the well,
Matthew as he sat at his tax office, and
others while they were in the process of their daily pursuits.
Jesus went to the people.
So, to complete our God-given mission:
? we must look for opportunities.
? to go to where the people are and
? build relationships with lost individuals.
Now is the time of Invitation:
- where we decide who comes first in our lives
- will continue to pursue our own will?
- will we chase after things?
Or will we lay down at the feet of Jesus:
- and worship Him
- turn away from the idols of this life
- and submit to Him and Him alone?
The decision is yours and the consequences as well:
- will you follow Jesus?
- the one who has seen you at your worst
- who knows your every thought
And despite all of that:
- He went to the cross
- and when He spread His arms out to be nailed to the cross
- He opens the door of salvation to everyone who would come to Him…
Some here are running away from God:
- and it’s time to stop running
- it is time to come home
Will you come to Him today?
- the invitation is open
- respond while there is still time.
Credit: Sermon outline and many parts of the are from Cooper Abrams. The sermon is highly edited, but many of Coopers thoughts are key. This sermon started as a sermon from Cooper Abrams online. I kept the outline and a lot of HIS material. In the end more than half is my work probably only the outline is unedited. In the end it is my sermon, but I am not trying to take credit for Coopers work.
