Show and Listen
(credit to Len Sweet, whose published work helped this pastor immensely in the preparation of this sermon!)
Evangelism - # 1
“Hello.”
“Hello, may I speak with Jerry Scott?”
“This is Jerry.”
“Hello, Jerry. Bank of New York has selected you for a no fee.....”
“I don’t need another credit card, sir.”
“credit card with a 0% interest offer...”
“Did you hear me, sir? I don’t want your card....”
“that will extend until January, 2004 on all transferred ...”
Snarl “Take me off your call list. Goodbye.”
“balances. Doesn’t that sound...”
CLICK
“Telemarketers... they will have a first class reservation in perdition!
From the living room...
“Honey, don’t be rude. They’re just people try to make a living!”
Nothing brings out bad manners in me like a phone call from a telemarketer! Is it just me, or is it your experience that these calls come on the at the busiest times when you least want to talk with anyone on the phone? Dinner is cooking, kids are fighting, the door bell is ringing . . . and some way-too-cheery guy on the phone launches into his spiel that can go on for ten minutes before he draws his first breath!
Now, I know that the best and simplest defense is just to hang up. When I’m irritated by the intrusion, its hard to resist the temptation to say something unkind! Even more irritating is when the telemarketer calls back wondering "how did we get cut off?" A real moment for character building occurs on that rare occasion when the way-too-cherry guy calls back angrily yelling at me for hanging up on him!
Here’s where I offend some of you...
Modern evangelism is, in the minds of many people, respected about equally with telemarketing!
Evangelism, in case you’re not up on church-speak, is the work of spreading the good news about Jesus Christ. The word comes to us from two words of the Greek language of the first Bible.
– eu, meaning, ‘good,’ and – aggelos, ‘to bring the news.’
Christ last words to us are about evangelism. Mark 16:15
“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.”
∙ When we put together the word meaning ‘good news,’ AND the commandment of the Lord Jesus to ‘go and tell,’ how do we end up feeling like this work is something to be avoided?
∙ Why do those being evangelized all too frequently resent our efforts?
One reason is our culture’s high value on tolerance and inclusion!
Evangelism’s implied message is “You must believe what I believe, because what I believe it the TRUTH!”
To make a claim of absolute Truth, to even imply “I’m right and if you don’t believe as I do, you’re wrong,” is the social ‘no-no’ of our time. I don’t have time to explore the whole idea of post-modern relativism this morning. But, basically, this culture suspends reason so that each of us can affirm everybody’s ‘truth’ to avoid offending anyone! Any sense that there are things that are right/ true and things that are wrong/false – morally, religiously, or philosophically – has been largely lost on people today.
Stephen Carter, in his book, Culture of Disbelief, observes that
“More and more our culture seems to take the position that believing deeply in the tenets of one’s faith represents a kind of mystical irrationality, something thoughtful American citizens would do better to avoid.” He also observes,
"The message of contemporary culture seems to be that it’s perfectly all right to believe that stuff-we have freedom of conscience, people can believe what they like-but you really ought to keep it to yourself." (Culture of Disbelief [New York: HarperCollins, 1993]
Additionally, Believers frequently set themselves up for discomfort and criticism by presenting an
unnecessarily confusing message! Instead of talking about God’s invitation to know Him and to walk
in His will, we begin to attack the social sins of our time and/or push our narrow doctrinal point of
view. A friend who is struggling to feel that life is worth living is not helped much by a discussion of
how a Christian views homosexuality! A person who is wondering about the meaningless of existence
is not aided by a talk centered on the various opinions of God’s plan for the end of the world! Few will come to faith in Christ as a result of our witness if all we do is BASH other churches, their doctrines, and their practices!
A second reason for resisting evangelism is that it has been done so badly by so many!
Christians step into the place of the Holy Spirit and attempt to force what only God can create - new birth by the Spirit.
In the name of Christ, Christians are frequently rude, insensitive, obnoxious, or even down-right silly! This has led some Christian leaders to call for the "Death of Evangelism." As one advocate of evangelism’s demise has put it,
"Many Christians think of evangelism the same way they think of visiting their aunt with Alzheimer’s: something they know they’re supposed to do, but are always finding ways of putting off. I think the vast majority of American Christians find the notion of evangelism extremely distasteful and do not practice it in any fashion."
That is tragic. If we avoid sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, we are disobedient to His final command to those who follow Him. Not only are we disobedient, but we miss the greatest joy in the world – seeing another person come alive to the presence of God! Further, someday when we give account before the Lord, we will answer to Him for our failure to share the good news!
____________
Turn with me to a great text, a story of evangelism. ACTS 8:26-40
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch reveals what true evangelism is about and how it’s carried out. If we learn from it, we can lose our fear of or distaste for spreading the good news of the Kingdom and begin to see this work as the adventure with great rewards that God purposes it to be. (READ)
Before we try to apply the text, let’s try understand what we’ve read.
Philip is called away by an angel of the Lord (verse 26) from his considerable success in Samaria to take a strange wilderness trek. He goes without hesitation. By noting that an angel directs Philip’s movements, Luke layers the story over the broader underlying theme of God’s active involvement in all the work of His Church! With divine coordination of the direction of the Christian mission, evangelism never just happens by accident. Both the settings and the characters involved in each Kingdom building drama are choreographed by God.
In the case of the story we read, it seems evident that the divine intent is to purposefully extend the reach of the gospel! Philip’s success in Samaria was great. God, however, isn’t content simply to increase these numbers. Luke points to the divine plan for intentional worldwide reach of the Christ story!
Remember, Jesus is not MY property, YOUR property, AMERICAN property, or WESTERN WORLD property. HE is Savior and Lord of the whole World!
Philip starts his journey by traveling south on a desert (better translation would be - “rural”) road. This road was a wilderness stretch only in the sense that it didn’t run through any populated towns. This road was clearly not some desert track. This road was smoothed enough to allow the Ethiopian to travel by chariot, and, as the story unfolds, the narrative reveals that this road ran alongside abundant water sources.
The Ethiopian eunuch traveling along this path is a fascinating character on a number of different levels. As an Ethiopian, he was from a distant, little-known land. Geographically he would have been a resident in what we know as northern Sudan, in northeast Africa. Among first-century Romans and Greeks, Ethiopians were considered to be literally living on the edge of the world! For Philip to encounter this individual and witness to him thus represents the Christian mission itself being taken to the ends of the earth. This Ethiopian isn’t only distinctive for his deep, dark skin color and his edge-of-the-world residence. He’s also described as a eunuch and as a high court official-indeed, the individual in charge of the Candace’s [a title, not a proper name] entire treasury.
The term "eunuch" had a variety of inferences in ancient times. It most commonly described a castrated male. This Ethiopian eunuch’s physical condition has significance because it shows the complete newness of the Christian Gospel. Because of the prohibitions of Deuteronomy 23:1 and Leviticus 21:20, castrated males (eunuchs) were specifically denied access to offerings for the Lord. That mandate grew into the law forbidding eunuchs from becoming full converts to Judaism. His permanent exclusion from Judaism makes his eventual acceptance and full inclusion into the Christian faith all the more wonderful and dramatic!
He had been to Jerusalem to worship. He isn’t only able to read, but to do so in multiple languages (he’s reading Hebrew Scripture, the Scroll of Isaiah, as he travels along). The mere fact that as a non-Jew he had been able to obtain a copy of Holy Scripture speaks to both the man’s wealth, influence, and passion for the faith.
Luke’s text speaks of this pious Ethiopian reading and traveling in his chariot. We should not be thinking "Ben Hur" here. In order to accommodate the Ethiopian, his driver, and probably one or more other attendants, this was probably a four-wheeled cart. Since this cart is moving at a pace leisurely enough to enable a scroll to be held steady and read, and for Philip to be able to catch up with it and engage its occupants in conversation, it’s likely that large, plodding oxen pulled them along.
Still, for Philip to run up to the Ethiopian’s oxcart involved no small amount of Spirit-inspired confidence. As a wealthy, important man traveling along a country road, no doubt some of those in attendance to the Ethiopian would have been well-armed guards. Anyone who ran up to the cart without first identifying themselves would be risking a defensive assault from the Ethiopian’s bodyguards.
Despite this danger, Philip fearlessly approaches. His first words focus attention on understanding. Understanding is a spiritually-given gift, not yet received by all. One may have information about the truth of God without having understanding! In this encounter with the Ethiopian Philip acts as interpreter so that this stranger may be filled with the Spirit’s truth and gain understanding that will lead him to eternal life.
In verse 31 the first of two invitations is given. This first invitation is extended by the Ethiopian who invites Philip to join him and teach him by interpreting the Scripture he’s been reading.
The second invitation is extended by Philip later, when he invites the Ethiopian to believe in Jesus Christ, to receive baptism, and so to become a part of the new Christian faith.
The text cited by Luke in verses 32-33 is a rough cut from the Scroll of Isaiah (53:7-8). In verse 32 Luke introduces this Scriptural citation with a phrase meaning "the content or wording of the passage." This passage, even in its rough form, alludes to (though it doesn’t name) the suffering servant of Isaiah standing silent before his abusers, suffering injustice and humiliation and finally death at the abusers’ hands. The Ethiopian’s specific question about the text is whether these words are describing the prophet Isaiah or if the prophet is speaking of someone else.
Philip’s response isn’t reported in detail by Luke. Whatever course his explanation took, Luke is satisfied describing it as simply the good news about Jesus (verse 35). Luke only records that the Isaiah text was the jumping-off place for Philip’s witness. Whether Philip proceeded to exegete the scroll of Isaiah or shifted over to describe Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as the fulfillment of that Scripture, we can’t know. What we can be assured, however, is that part of the good news Philip taught involved the act of baptism as a symbol of repentance and as entrance into new life under the saving power of Jesus.
Philip’s witness was so effective that the Ethiopian immediately heads for the first water they encounter, exclaiming excitedly, "Look here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" (verse 34). A powerful personage used to being in charge, the Ethiopian doesn’t hesitate to direct this scene so that he may experience baptism as soon as possible.
Luke’s answer to the Ethiopian’s question is "Nothing!" Not the Ethiopian’s race, not his gender-status, not his government attachments, not his previous religious life, not his social status, not his wealth: nothing about this man in anyway hinders his immediate baptism and his immediate entrance into the new community of faith. Through the act of baptism the Ethiopian is invited to participate just as fully in the life of faith as any other disciple.
The Ethiopian’s response to Philip being snatched away as soon as they come out of the water isn’t confusion or despair. Now filled with the Spirit himself, the newly-baptized Christian accepts Philip’s miraculous disappearance without concern, and instead focuses only on his joy. He continues on his journey homeward, rejoicing as he goes.
Philip himself is mysteriously relocated to the city of Azotus, some thirty miles away located on the coast. The Spirit is still fully in charge of this missionary journey, having placed Philip once again in a primarily Gentile area. Nonplused by his instantaneous change of venue, Philip continues on his way still proclaiming the good news as he journeys towards Caesarea.
What can we learn about evangelism from such a rich passage?
1. God is the orchestrator of the events of evangelism.
What a radical notion. God is already present, has already picked the time and place for this remarkable meeting.
A. It was an angel of the Lord who directed Philip’s steps to that wilderness road.
B. It was the Spirit who pointed out the Ethiopian’s chariot and told Philip to join it. Philips’ agenda was not calculated or composed. It was spontaneous and Spirit-directed.
It’s the height of arrogance to think that we ‘take’ God anywhere. God is already active in our world and in our lives, long before any evangelist gets there. Your job and mine as evangelists is to find out what God is already doing in our world and in people’s lives, and to help other people understand that what’s going on all around them is God saying “Here I am!” That’s why Philip’s first comment to the Ethiopian eunuch makes no judgments. It only asks for insight into the man’s own perceptions: does he understand what he is reading?
2. There is no assumed superiority, only a friendly encounter!
Philip didn’t present himself as one with all the answers and he didn’t presume he knew the needs, wants, desires, of the stranger in the chariot. For all Philip knew at this point, the Spirit could have brought him to the Ethiopian so that the stranger could teach him! What makes Philip a true evangelist is that he waits for the Spirit of God to make the first move, and that he is better at listening than talking.
The Ethiopian, the one to be evangelized, is the first to offer any sort of invitation in today’s story. His long quest for spiritual fulfillment, a quest that had brought him to Jerusalem to worship, was a quest that had driven him to purchase and study the Hebrew Scriptures himself. He was seeking information, insight, inspiration. He was, as the Spirit knew, the perfect candidate to respond to Philip’s question, "Do you understand?" The Ethiopian’s mind is hungry and his heart is ready. He knows he needs "someone to guide me." What he doesn’t know is that God is already guiding him.
It’s the Ethiopian who extends his hand first, who invites Philip to join him in his chariot, who initiates the direction and content of their meeting. Can there be any doubt that God has set these two up, that God has already been working and waiting in the Ethiopian’s life to bring him to this point?
As an evangelist Philip is required to do but two things:
1. go where he is directed and
2. respond to those who respond to him so that he can help them respond in faith to God’s
invitations and initiatives.
And that is WHAT GOD EXPECTS of you and me!
David Henderson even argues that
"If you have ten minutes to share the gospel with someone, spend the first nine asking questions and listening. Only then can we speak words on target. When we speak more than we listen, it’s like flying a kite in the dark. Our words go out, but we have no idea if they ever get off the ground."
(Culture Shift: Communicating God’s Truth to Our Changing World [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998], 212.)
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Keith Anderson’s makes this comparison of old and new paradigms of evangelism:
Old New
confrontational relational
mass One to one
general population specific people groups
single presentation multiple exposure
single method multiple methods
goal: a decision goal: a disciple
church membership Christian discipleship
motive: guilt motive: value and love
-as reproduced in Clarence and Vicky St. John, Taking the Field (Springfield, MO:
Gospel Publishing, 1997), 125.
If we would discard the mistaken idea that we must ‘close the sale’ for Jesus Christ, right here and right now, we would be much, much more effective in sharing the Gospel. Take the example of the conversion of one of the men who has been tremendously influential in making Christianity accessible to people in the 2nd half of the 20th century – C. S. Lewis.
∙ On 19 September 1931, a conversation took place between Hugo Dyson, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C. S. Lewis. The location was Magdalen College, Oxford, and all three of these brilliant scholars were so enthralled by the exchanges that took place that evening that they were moved to write about it later. Tolkien was the first to break up the party-at 3 AM.
Lewis and Dyson walked and talked until dawn. In fact, a few days later Lewis wrote to his friend Arthur Greeves that "I have just passed on from believing in God to definitely believing in Christ . . . My long night talk with Dyson and Tolkien had a good deal to do with it."
Brian McLaren, a pastor whose written works have recently fascinated me, has a phrase:
"Don’t count conversions, count conversations."
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Evangelism is less about invading others lives than it is about following the Spirit through open doors!
It’s God’s work to ready the heart. It’s God’s work to set the stage. It’s God’s work to let the Spirit blow
where it may. It’s our work to help people hear God saying, “Here I am!” And it is our work to help
people speak to God in reply, “Yes, Lord, I am listening!”
Amen
