Devoted Together #6
Every Day Evangelism: Living the Gospel
Theme: In the final sermon of our *Devoted Together* series, we dive into the idea of *Every Day Evangelism*. The early church grew not through grand strategies, but because everyday believers faithfully shared the gospel in their ordinary lives. Like the early Christians, we are called to be bold, visible witnesses of Christ’s love. Whether in our workplaces, neighborhoods, or casual conversations, God empowers us to share His message—and trust Him for the results. Let's live out the gospel every day, making the most of every opportunity!
** Introduction **
Video Ill.: Awkward Invites: Bee Farm — The Skit Guys
https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/the-spread-of-the-early-church-11629561.html
It was unthinkable that a small, despised movement from a corner of Palestine could move out to become the dominant faith of the mighty Roman Empire, an empire steeped in fiercely defended traditional pagan religions. The spread of the Christian church in its earliest centuries is one of the most amazing phenomena in all of human history. The church was considered an illegal and depraved religion. Wave after wave of persecution was unleashed to squash it. At least two of the persecutions were empire-wide and intended to destroy the church.
Yet here we are today.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/early-church-growth/
Robert Louis Wilken, emeritus professor of history at the University of Virginia has estimated the number of Christians in the first few centuries of the church. He writes:
At the end of the first century there were fewer than ten thousand Christians in the Roman Empire. The population at the time numbered some sixty million, which meant that Christians made up one hundredth of one percent or 0.017 percent according to the figures of a contemporary sociologist.
By the year 200, the number may have increased to a little more than two hundred thousand, still a tiny minority, under one percent (0.36).
By the year 250, however, the number had risen to more than a million, almost two percent of the population.
The most striking figure, however, comes two generations later. By the year 300, Christians made up 10 percent of the population, approximately 6 million.
So how did this young fledgling movement make it?
The growth of the church was a natural result of the believers’ devotion to God, to teaching, to fellowship, and to service: the proclamation of the gospel.
In Acts 2, we read:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling || their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And || the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2, NIV1984)
Sharing the gospel isn't just a duty—it's a natural outflow of a transformed life.
So let’s take a few minutes and see how the gospel was making a difference in the early church.
** 1. They felt the power that is in the Gospel. **
Verse 47 read:
47 … And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2, NIV1984)
The early church didn’t grow by marketing or strategies—it grew because the gospel itself has power.
Paul wrote in Romans 1:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Romans 1, NKJV)
The Cross: Christ Descends into Our Sin
Source: James R. Edwards, Is Jesus the Only Savior (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005), pp. 160-161
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2010/september/3092010.html
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Theologian James R. Edwards retells the following true story:
In August 1957 four climbers—two Italians and two Germans—were climbing the 6,000 foot near-vertical North Face in the Swiss Alps. The two German climbers disappeared and were never heard from again. The two Italian climbers, exhausted and dying, were stuck on two narrow ledges a thousand feet below the summit. The Swiss Alpine Club forbade rescue attempts in this area (it was just too dangerous), but a small group of Swiss climbers decided to launch a private rescue effort to save the Italians. So they carefully lowered a climber named Alfred Hellepart down the 6,000 foot North Face. They suspended Hellepart on a cable a fraction of an inch thick as they lowered him into the abyss.
Here's how Hellepart described the rescue in his own words:
As I was lowered down the summit … my comrades on top grew further and further distant, until they disappeared from sight. At this moment I felt an indescribable aloneness. Then for the first time I peered down the abyss of the North Face of the Eiger. The terror of the sight robbed me of breath. …The brooding blackness of the Face, falling away in almost endless expanse beneath me, made me look with awful longing to the thin cable disappearing about me in the mist. I was a tiny human being dangling in space between heaven and hell. The sole relief from terror was …my mission to save the climber below.
James Edwards applied the story to our lives:
That is the heart of the Gospel story. We were trapped, but in the person and presence of Jesus, God lowered himself into the abyss of our sin and suffering. In Jesus God became "a tiny human being dangling between heaven and hell." He did it to save the people trapped below—you and me. Thus, the gospel is much more radical than just another religion telling us how to be good in our own power. It tells us the story of God's risky, costly, sacrificial rescue effort on our behalf.
When we faithfully share the gospel, we trust in its inherent power to change lives, not in our own abilities.
The power of the gospel is stronger than any blockade, barrier or wall that mankind can build. The good news of grace can convert hearts, alter lives, and transform entire communities by bringing hope, healing, and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
** 2. The early church had a visible witness. **
Acts 2:47 read:
47 [They were] praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. (Acts 2, NIV1984)
When I think about the early church, I cannot help but start to realize that they were living their faith on public display for everyone to see.
People in Jerusalem were noticing this group of believers. The believers had a powerful witness — a visible witness — so much so that they enjoyed the favor of the people in Jerusalem.
The believers’ actions, unity, and devotion were on display for everyone around them.
They shared their lives together, which made the gospel message believable and attractive.
It’s hard to live our lives on public display for everyone to see.
When I worked at the big bank branch in Christiansburg, it was nothing short of nerve-wracking at times. The big branch there on Arbor Drive at the time was the corporate headquarters branch.
There on the first floor behind the branch was the commercial banking department. Mortgage had offices there, too. Operations was in the back half of the first floor.
The second floor of the building had the HR department. The third floor was training and development. The fourth floor was the bank president’s suite. That’s where all of the bank executives were.
It was nothing to have any number of “high profile” customers and employees come into the branch to have their business transacted.
Everything we did in the branch there had to be of a higher quality, as we were under constant scrutiny. We always joked that we worked in a fishbowl.
Everything was on full display: the good, the bad, and the ugly. If a customer was not treated as they thought they should be, all they had to do was get on the elevator and go right up to the president’s office and complain.
That happened more often than the customers who went up to brag about us.
I tell all of that to say when I first began working at that branch, I was afraid of making mistakes or saying the wrong thing and upsetting the wrong customer. I learned, though, that if I did my job correctly, to the best of my ability, following bank policy and procedure, I really had nothing about which to worry.
The same was true for the early Christians. They were following Jesus and His teachings, showing love, compassion and grace to each other and to their community. And the community noticed. The believers found favor with all the people. There was nothing that could be said against the early Christians.
Reminds me of what Jesus taught us in Matthew 5. Jesus said it this way:
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5, NKJV)
This morning, how are we living our lives? Do we act one way at church and then completely different at home? At work? At youth sporting events?
Do we enjoy the favor of the people? Or are we living hypocritical lives?
Our lives should be a living testimony to the gospel, making people want to know more about Jesus through the way we live, serve, and love one another.
** 3. There was a Boldness in their Sharing. **
The early Christians were not passive about their faith.
Faith to Tell the Truth
Source: Lyn Cryderman, Christianity Today, Nov. 20, 1987
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/1997/september/837.html
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The story is told that Kim Duk-Soo will never forget November 20, 1950. That was the day Communist troops found him hiding with his father in a root cellar.
Kim, now the administrator of Presbyterian Hospital in Taegu, has difficulty telling his story. He is not alone. Hundreds of thousands of Christians made up the human wave escaping the North for the free South. And each has a similar story of deliverance from a regime opposed to religion.
Kim tells the story with tears in his eyes:
"When we heard the soldiers coming, I was sure we would be killed. My Daddy told me we could not tell a lie to save our lives."
Kim's father had pastored the same church for 42 years. He had helped his wife hide their children by covering them with rice bags and dirt. But after two days of hiding, Kim uncovered himself. Just then, Communist troops approached the house. Kim and his father ran to the back yard and hid in the root cellar.
He said, "I told God I would serve him all my life if I got out of the root cellar alive."
The soldiers found Kim and his father and took them off to a makeshift prison. They were to be executed the next morning. That evening, a captain approached Kim. "Are you a Christian?" he asked. For a fleeting moment, life for a lie seemed the only logical way to go. But the young boy remembered his father's instruction.
"I am a Christian," Kim said.
The captain drew closer, and whispered, "I am a Christian too. I used to be a Sunday school teacher before the war. You must escape tonight. I will help you." Kim fled that night, having to leave his father under heavy guard awaiting his eventual death.
The young Kim reached an American army base, and while "hanging around" there discovered an organ and began teaching himself to play. An American he remembers only as Captain Shoemaker learned of his musical interests and ordered a spinet from the States. For the next ten years, Kim played that organ for chapel services at the base.
At First Presbyterian in Taegu, "A Mighty Fortress" reverberates from 2,000 Korean voices. As he has done for 30 years, Kim plays the organ. "I should have been killed after the Communists found me, but God sent that Christian guard to help me escape. When I play the organ at church, I am doing it for God."
Kim Duk-Soo was not ashamed of the gospel. He was boldly shared his faith, just like the early church did.
Just a few chapters over in Acts, in chapter 4, Peter and John are preaching the good news. The temple priests and guards, and the Sadducees were upset about the gospel message Peter and John were proclaiming. They were also upset by the fact that so many were listening and believing. They arrested Peter and John.
The next day, they were brought before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem to be questioned about their actions. Peter and John explained their message, which was not well received by the rulers and teachers of the law.
The authorities threatened Peter and John to stop talking about this Jesus and to stop spreading the message that Jesus had risen from the dead.
But Peter and John were not phased. In verses 19 and 20 we are told:
19 … Peter and John replied, “ Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4, NIV1984)
The Spirit’s empowerment led them to share the gospel boldly, even in the face of persecution.
Are we that brave? Do we speak of Jesus with boldness? Do we share the gospel with authority and courage?
We are called to step out in boldness, trusting that God will give us the words to speak.
** 4. The early church lived an every day evangelism. **
In the early church, the good news of the gospel was not shared just on special days or in special places. It happened daily.
Evangelism, the sharing of the gospel, isn’t just for pastors or missionaries; it’s for everyone, every day, in everyday places.
ChatGPT prompt: Do you know of a powerful real life illustration of someone living out "every day evangelism"?
Consider the life of D.L. Moody, a famous 19th-century American evangelist. Moody, originally a shoe salesman, lived out his faith in simple, everyday ways that had a profound impact on others. One pivotal moment came when a Sunday school teacher named Edward Kimball visited Moody at his workplace, burdened to share the gospel with him. Kimball’s simple act of sharing Christ in the shoe store eventually led to Moody’s conversion.
Moody, in turn, became a world-renowned evangelist, preaching to millions. But what’s remarkable about Moody is that he continued to live out "everyday evangelism" even as his influence grew. He would approach strangers in everyday situations—on the street, in parks, or while traveling—and share the gospel with them. Moody once made a commitment not to go to bed any night without having shared the gospel with at least one person. His dedication shows that evangelism wasn’t something reserved for big events or organized efforts; it was part of his daily life.
One account tells of Moody sitting in a restaurant when he felt prompted to speak to a man about Christ. Initially reluctant, he went over and shared the gospel, and the man later said it was a turning point in his life. Stories like this illustrate the power of being intentional about sharing Christ in the ordinary moments of life.
Moody’s legacy reminds us that everyday evangelism is often about small, faithful steps that God can use to make an extraordinary difference.
Paul wrote in Colossians 4:
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 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. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward || outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4, NIV1984)
We need to live every day, being ready and watchful for those opportunities to share God’s love and grace. When those opportunities present themselves, we must be ready to make the most of that opportunity.
Are we ready? It starts with making sure that our hearts are filled with God’s love. When we live out God’s love in our daily lives, we cannot help but share God’s love and grace with all with whom we come in contact.
Sharing the gospel is as much a part of our daily lives as any of our other routines in our daily lives—at work, at home, in our neighborhoods, in simple conversations. May we be ready and willing to share!
** 5. Finally, the early church trusted God for the results. **
Notice that Acts 2:47 says, "The Lord added to their number daily."
The believers’ role was to share the gospel, but it was God who brought about the transformation and added to their numbers.
Stuart Briscoe Learned to Trust God in His Preaching
Source: Daniel Sillman, "Died: Stuart Briscoe, Renowned British Preacher and Wisconsin Pastor," Christianity Today (8-8-22)
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2023/january/stuart-briscoe-learned-to-trust-god-in-his-preaching.html
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Stuart Briscoe preached his first sermon at age 17. He didn’t know much about the topic assigned him by an elder. But he researched the church of Ephesus until he had a pile of notes and three points, as seemed proper for a sermon. Then he stood before the Brethren in a British Gospel Hall and preached.
And preached. And preached. He kept going until he used up more than his allotted time just to reach the end of the first point and still kept going, until finally he looked up from his notes and made a confession.
“I’m terribly sorry,” he said. “I don’t know how to stop.” Briscoe recalled in his memoir that a man from the back shouted out, “Just shut up and sit down.” That might have been the end of his preaching career. But he was invited to preach again the next week. And he continued preaching for seven more decades.
In the process Briscoe became a better preacher, discovered he had a gift, and was encouraged to develop it. He ultimately preached in more than 100 countries around the world and to a growing and multiplying church in America.
When Briscoe died on August 3, 2022, at the age of 91, he was known as a great preacher who spoke with clarity, loved the people he preached to, and a had deep trust in the work of the Holy Spirit.
He once wrote,
My primary concern in preaching is to glorify God through his Son. I’ve worked hard to preach effectively. But I’ve also learned to trust as well. Farmers plow their lands, plant their seed, and then go home to bed, awaiting God’s germinating laws to work. Surgeons only cut; God heals. I must give my full energy to doing my part in the pulpit, but the ultimate success of my preaching rests in God.
That’s exactly how Paul felt. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:
6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own || labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3, NIV)
This morning, we have been given the seeds of the gospel to share. Our job is to spread that seed as far and as wide as we possibly can. It is a full-time calling for the believer. The seed is spread by our words, by our lives, by our actions, by our example.
We also have to water the seed, praying that God will allow the seed to sprout and take root.
But that is as far as we can go. The rest is completely up to God above. We plant the seeds by sharing the gospel, but we trust God to bring the harvest.
** Conclusion **
Sharing the gospel is part of being "devoted together."
It’s not just about words, but about how we live and interact with the world.
We Are Better Together Than in Isolation
Source: Staff, “'Marshmallow test' redux: Children show better self-control when they depend on each other” ScienceDaily.com (1-14-20); Rebecca Koomen, Sebastian Grueneisen, Esther Herrmann. “Children Delay Gratification for Cooperative Ends,” Psychological Science (2020).
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2020/june/we-are-better-together-than-in-isolation.html
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The "marshmallow test" is a classic research project that illustrates our lack of self-control and delayed gratification. A while back I showed you a video illustrating this research study. For the study, the researcher would give a child a marshmallow, and tell them that they could eat the marshmallow OR they could wait until the researcher would return several minutes later, at which time they would get a second marshmallow.
In January 2020, the results of a new version of the experiment were released. In this new version, kids were paired up, played a game together, and then were sent to a room and given a cookie with the promise of another if they could wait for it by not eating the first cookie. However, some of the kids were put in what researches called an "interdependent" situation in which they were told they would only get the second cookie if both they and their partner could wait and refrain from eating. The results showed that the kids who were depending on each other waited for the second cookie significantly more often.
According to researcher Rebecca Koomen, "In this study, children may have been motivated to delay gratification because they felt they shouldn't let their partner down, and that if they did, their partner would have had the right to hold them accountable."
This research suggests that indeed we are better together than we are in isolation.
We are better when we are devoted together, as the early church certainly was.
The church is a family, a support system, and a vital part of our spiritual journey.
The early church was devoted together to corporate worship. Corporate worship prepares us to live lives of daily worship.
They were devoted together to celebrating the Lord’s Supper, and the witness that we share when we partake each Sunday. We are proclaiming a message of hope and love when we come together to remember Jesus’ death in our place.
They were devoted together to encouraging each other. We all have a need for encouragement.
They were devoted together to fellowship, which brought them together. They were a true community together.
They were devoted together to serving one another within the church and within their community.
They were devoted together to spreading the good news of the gospel of grace to everyone. And as they were sharing, God was adding to the church.
This morning, I pray that we will all be devoted together as God’s congregation here on this mountain. May we be an example to our community. May we be aware and see the opportunities to share our faith and to live as visible witnesses of the power of God’s love and grace.
