June 3, 2001 John 4:1- 38
¡§We exist to evangelize¡¨
INTRODUCTION
[read Mat 28:19-20] Question ¡V what I just read ¡V is it a suggestion or a command? [command] What do we call it when we refuse to obey one of God¡¦s commands? [sin] What happens to the individual or the church that is living in sin? [punishment, lack of blessing]
1. Soul-winners don¡¦t allow anything to stop them from reaching people. (vs. 1 ¡V 9)
„X Opposition (vs. 1-5)
[refer to article in Time magazine about Good News Clubs going to Supreme Court to retain right to have clubs on public school grounds after school ¡V June 4, 2001, pg 58-59]
„X Physical obstacles ¡V tired, hungry, time (vs. 6)
Jesus made evangelism a part of his everyday lifestyle. He practiced what we now call ¡§Lifestyle Evangelism¡¨. All of us have time constraints. We work, we play, and we chauffeur our kids all over the place. We take them to little league, gymnastics, school plays, etc. Then tack onto that, that we have to go to the grocery store sometime, and we might even be able to go out to eat occasionally. Why not make those events of your everyday life evangelistic events? You may not have time to come and be a part of our organized efforts here at the church. Fine, I understand that there are some cases where you don¡¦t even have one hour to give or some situations where it just isn¡¦t feasible. But take a moment to add up the total of the people that you encounter on an everyday basis ¡V the parents of the other students at your daughter¡¦s gymnastics class, the person who checks out your groceries at Kroger¡¦s, the guy who fixes your car, the parents of other students at your child¡¦s class, your children¡¦s doctor. These are all part of your normal everyday life. You¡¦re already being forced to interact with these people. Why not add one more ingredient into your interaction? Why not include the gospel?
¡§Let me tell you a simple, but beautiful, story of a family in our church. The Orsborns occasionally go to Columbus and eat at Brio, their favorite restaurant. As Jennifer is in the habit of doing, she said to the waitress, who had just delivered their food to the table: ¡§We¡¦re going to pray together here in a minute. Is there anything we can pray for you about?¡¨ The waitress was somewhat stunned and said, ¡§Does it show that bad?¡¨ She became emotional and had to walk away. When she came back she said, ¡§This has been the worst day of my life. This morning my grandfather died. And then I just found out that my boyfriend has been cheating on me the whole time we have been going together. It¡¦s wonderful to know that there are people who care.¡¨ That simple act of reaching out in Christian love and concern brought a person closer to God, and that brings glory to God.¡¨
Tomorrow morning, I will be going to the doctor for a check-up. My plan is to help him do a spiritual check-up by seeing where he stands with Jesus. I might chicken out. I hope not. Part of the reason that I¡¦m telling you this is so that I¡¦ll have in the back of my head, ¡§The people in church are going to ask me next week whether or not I shared with my doctor.¡¨ I will help build my motivation. It¡¦s called accountability.
„X Social boundaries (vs. 7-9)
On Wednesday nights, it has happened several times that we have gone out in groups of three ¡V either one lady and two men or two women and one man. This past Wednesday, Mike and I were having a little discussion about what number of evangelists would make people most receptive at their door. If only one goes to their door, people think that you are a salesman or a thief. If two go to the door, they think that you are Jehovah¡¦s Witness. If three go to the door, they don¡¦t know what to think. Other groups have created social boundaries ¡V fears ¡V that we will have to overcome as we go and seek to minister to people. Thursday night, I was out in the Gables apt. complex off of Rt. 50 around Maple Lake. I had several apts to visit of people who had recently moved into the area. So I was flitting back and forth all over the apt. complex. One other time that I was out there, the mgr. had seen me at someone¡¦s door, and came over to check out who I was. I don¡¦t know if he thought I was a salesman or someone who was trying to break into one of the apts. I kept expecting him to show up on Thursday since I was out there for quite some time and since I was sure that someone would place a call to him or to the police about some weird looking short guy who was knocking on doors randomly.
On January 21, 1930, the name of Harold Vidian became synonymous with heroism. On that day, England¡¦s King George V was scheduled to give the opening address at the London Arms Conference. The king¡¦s message was to be sent by radio all around the world. Donald McCullough, in his book The Trivialization of God (NavPress, 1995), tells us that a few minutes before the king was to speak, a member of the CBS staff tripped over an electrical wire and broke it, cutting off the whole American audience. With no hesitation, chief control operator Harold Vidian grasped one end of the broken wire in his right hand and the other in his left, thus restoring the circuit. Electricity surged through his body. Ignoring the pain, Vidian held on until the king had finished his address. I see in this a challenge for Christians. The message of the King of kings must go to the whole world. But only as we allow God¡¦s power to pass through us can the Lord¡¦s saving gospel be transmitted. Paul wrote, "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" If we are willing to serve as conduits, regardless of the cost to us, the good news will be proclaimed around the world.
2. Soul-winners meet people where they are and take them to God¡¦s throne. (vs. 10 ¡V 26)
„X Find something in common (vs. 10-15)
The only thing that Jesus and this woman had in common was that they were both thirsty. So Jesus took that and used it to get an entrance to her heart.
The young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, "I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can¡¦t make him drink." The manager replied, "Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty." So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel.
Jesus took something from the everyday world and used it to point to something in the spiritual world. Friday morning, I spent about an hour getting my car inspected. As I did, I spoke with the mechanic trying to find something that we had in common so that I might have opportunity to share Christ with him. But each subject I tried came up short, and I could tell that he wasn¡¦t really in a talkative mood. Near the end of my time with him, other customers arrived, and I was running late for another appointment, so I didn¡¦t get to talk with him the way that I would have liked to. But as I paid my bill, I handed him a tract that I had with me, and I said this, ¡§Roger, you inspected my car to help me with my safety on the road. I¡¦m concerned about your safety, so I¡¦d like you to read this little pamphlet when you get a chance.¡¨ I went on to tell him that I was a pastor and where our church was if I could ever be of help to him. He said that he had noticed my car there, and our conversation was done. It wasn¡¦t much, but maybe it was enough. Maybe the next time that he does a safety inspection, he will think about that preacher who was concerned about his safety.
„X Deal with sin (vs. 16-18)
„X Bring them to God¡¦s throne (vs. 19-24)
Evangelism itself is an act of worship. All obedience is worship. Evangelism places me on the altar and says I¡¦m willing to sacrifice my life for the service of my King. Evangelism brings more worshippers into the family and the church.
„X Introduce them to Jesus (vs. 25-26)
Fred and Hazel Corr were in their seventies when I first met them. I looked up one Sunday morning at Springfield Baptist Church and their set this little couple in their seventies. I went and greeted them and found that the reason that they came was because a few in our church had the vision enough to have a soup cooking. They invited all of the people in the community churched and unchurched. Fred and Hazel came. To find out...they were lonely people. And they were invited to church the next day. They came. At the end of the service they asked me to come to their house. I did and that night Fred Corr accepted Christ as His Savior and Hazel having already been saved came with Him the next Sunday to make a profession of Faith. I baptized them both...in their seventies. A few months later I received word that Fred had had a stroke. I rushed to the hospital room...A few days later Fred passed away...Three months after his Baptism. That happened because somebody cared enough to stop and invite. They cared enough to give Fred and Hazel a little of their time. It wasn¡¦t me. Oh, I wished it was. But it wasn¡¦t.
3. Soul-winners are going to see results. (vs. 27 ¡V 38)
„X You will encounter people who don¡¦t understand ¡V they just don¡¦t get it (vs. 27)
The disciples were too concerned about food to recognize that something of much greater significance was happening there. They had their minds on worldly things. Some people just won¡¦t get it that their job here on earth is to be serious about their relationship with Jesus and to help others enter into that same relationship.
The great Indian leader Ghandi was a Hindu, but in his early days was much impressed by the message of the gospel of Christ. He determined to find out more and for several Sundays attended a church in Pretoria. This turned out to be a sad experience for he found that his fellow worshippers weren¡¦t serious believers at all; they were worldly-minded people going to church for recreation and in order to conform to the expected custom. Ghandi concluded, wrongly, that there was nothing in Christianity which he did not already better possess. He once said, "I¡¦d seriously consider becoming a Christian - if it weren¡¦t for Christians". What an indictment! Remember that Christians are the visible representatives of Christ here on earth. Are we giving the right signals to those around us?
And then there are others who just won¡¦t get it when they see you totally sold out to God and taking your time to share your faith. When Hudson Taylor, the father of the modern missions movement, felt called of God to go to India as a missionary, he went before the leaders of his church to ask for their support and blessing. Do you know how they responded? They said, ¡§If God wants to save the heathen, He will do it Himself! He doesn¡¦t need you!¡¨
„X You will see people get saved, changed and set on fire by God! (vs. 28-30)
„X You will get filled up (vs. 31-34)
„X You will begin to see people the way that God sees them (vs. 35)
„X You will get to join with others in the work of building God¡¦s kingdom (vs. 36-38)
In our mission statement, it tells the reason why we evangelize people ¡V why we tell them about Jesus. Let¡¦s see how good your reading skills are. It says, ¡§Evangelize the lost for the purpose of bringing them to church.¡¨ Oh, it doesn¡¦t say that? Sorry. Could it be then that our purpose is to get them into heaven not necessarily into church? Don¡¦t get me wrong. I believe that a person on their way to heaven needs to be in church. He needs to be around other Christians. He needs to learn, to have a place to serve and find out about the needs of other Christians and how he can meet those needs. But it is far more important that he be on his way to heaven than that he be on his way to church. And it is far more important that he be on his way to church than that he be on his way to THIS church. Yes, the person who plants the seed out in the field wants to be able to enjoy the fruit that grows up out of the field. But as long as that person is going to a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church, we must say, ¡§Praise the Lord¡¨. We need to get a kingdom mentality, not just a church mentality. We are here to build up God¡¦s kingdom, not to build up New Life Baptist Church. As we build God¡¦s kingdom though, a by-product of that will be that we build this church.
In this church, we give opportunities for you to be involved with other people in the church in reaching out to our community. That might be serving in VBS or coming out to our new visitation opportunity on Wed nights. Now I know that not everyone is going to come out knocking on doors. Don¡¦t think that I or anyone else is going to look down on you for that.
In a short time, we are going to begin the process of installing deacons in this church. Deacons are servants. Deacons are also evangelists. They share their faith. Stephen, one of the first 7 deacons, was martyred for sharing his faith. Philip shared his faith, and the gospel traveled to Ethiopia. I¡¦ll say this clear for everyone to hear. Anyone who desires to be a deacon in this church must know how to share their faith, and must actively be involved in sharing their faith both in their personal lives and as a part of the organized ministry of this church. Deacons are the leaders of the church. If the leaders aren¡¦t active in evangelism, who else is going to be?
Some of you, though, can¡¦t be a part of our organized evangelistic efforts. But all of you can and must be evangelists ¡V in your families, at your job, and in your neighborhood. This summer, there¡¦s going to be a lot of grass in your neighborhood that needs cutting. What do you think would happen if you made it a practice of finding some of the elderly people in your neighborhood and started cutting their grass for free? Do you think that maybe it might break down some barriers between you and them and might give you an opportunity to share your faith? Maybe even others in the neighborhood would notice and start to be convinced that those things you say about Jesus might actually be true. Maybe they might actually start to listen.
Everything that we do as a church must have an evangelistic element and motivation. Last year, at the evangelism conf., one of the speakers was Thomas Hammond. He works at NAMB. He told how that the church where he served was once a part of a softball league that excluded unsaved people. You had to be in church in order to be on the softball team. Thomas tried to get the rule changed. He wanted to use the league as an evangelistic tool. The league wouldn¡¦t listen. So Thomas got together with other churches and set up their own league. Only their rule was, you couldn¡¦t have team unless you had at least 3 unsaved persons on it. Thomas said that by the end of the first season, on his church¡¦s team, the first baseman and his family had gotten saved. The shortstop had gotten saved, and the third baseman had gotten saved. Then Thomas made this statement. ¡§Don¡¦t do anything that isn¡¦t evangelistic! You don¡¦t have time!¡¨
Some of you may get tired of me preaching evangelistic sermons. Well, you know what, I get tired of preparing evangelistic sermons and not having any unsaved people show up. Something has got to change. And I¡¦ll tell you this right now. I¡¦m not going to stop preaching evangelistic sermons, because the Bible says that that¡¦s what I am supposed to do! So folks¡Kwe have got to go out there and invite people to Jesus. Not just to church, although that¡¦s a good start. We celebrated Mother¡¦s Day a few weeks ago. Mother¡¦s, would you like to have someone share their faith with your son or daughter and see them give their heart to Jesus? Of course you would! Then why don¡¦t you do that very thing for someone else¡¦s son or daughter?
CONCLUSION
In your bulletin, you should have received a card entitled ¡§Lifestyle Evangelism Plan¡¨ or something to that effect. [go over the card which has a place to list the names of 10 unsaved people, 5 unsaved people that you commit to praying for every day, a goal for how many times that you will share your faith over the next year, and a goal for how many people you will lead to the Lord over the next year. On back, it has a suggested prayer for the individual that they might gain an evangelistic heart, and a suggested prayer for the unsaved that their eyes might be opened to their need and God¡¦s provision]
