October 23, 2005
Morning Worship
Text: Colossians 4:2-6
Subject: Witnessing Part 2
Title: Proclaiming the Word Clearly
I have a hearing problem. That’s why I wear hearing aids. I have been accused of not listening instead of not hearing. Do you know there is a difference? There are times when I have been talking with people and they change the subject and I become completely lost in my understanding. First of all, I don’t hear clearly. Secondly, when the conversation switches gears like that and I don’t hear I can’t even begin to figure out what was said. Do you know where I’m coming from?
Today we continue our series on evangelism. Well Pastor Mike, what does your hearing problem have to do with witnessing? I’m glad you asked that question. You see my hearing deficiency keeps me from understanding. I need to be able to follow a conversation in a logical pattern in order to understand completely. Likewise, your presentation of the gospel message must be clear and concise.
Last week we began praying for people and for God to open doors for us to share. An open door doesn’t do us much good if we don’t have the clear and simple message to share. Our passage today is the same as last week.
Colossians 4:2-6
“2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And 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. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
This week I want to place the emphasis on verse 4, “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”
There is a companion passage in Ephesians 6:19-20 “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” In Colossians Paul prays for clarity, in Ephesians for boldness. The common bond in both passages is that we need the Holy Spirit’s help in witnessing. As we go through this passage today let’s be open to the Holy Spirit’s voice speaking softly to the recesses of our hearts to hear what the Lord is saying.
I. EFFECTIVE WITNESSING REQUIRES THAT WE PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Mark’s version of the Great Commission states simply that we are to, “go into all the world and preach the good news…” What is that good news? Christ crucified! One of the biggest stumbling blocks for the world is that they do not realize that they even need a Savior. The clear message in the bible is that man’s state after death results in one of two destinations – heaven or hell. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter of great theological importance to the church in Rome – to those who were already Christians. But before he really got into the theology he said these words, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” He understood that there was power in the simple message of the cross, the gospel of Jesus Christ. I could spend the rest of the day telling you about the different techniques that have been tried and are currently being promoted to bring people into the church. 1) There is friendship evangelism. This is just being a friend to someone. That’s great but it still requires that you, at least at some point, share the gospel clearly. The problem with friendship evangelism is that it normally stops with the friendship and never makes it to the evangelism. 2) Lifestyle evangelism. I’m not even going to talk about this any more for it does not work. 3) Fishing Pool Evangelism. That is having basically “non-religious” (therefore non-threatening) events at the church simply for the purpose of getting them in the doors. I’m not saying that this is a totally wrong approach. As a matter of fact the Lord has been dealing with me in this area; that we need to have these types of events at the church on a regular basis. But if it stops with that then church becomes just about numbers and not souls. The one approach that seems to have fallen by the wayside is what I call the “look what Jesus did for me” approach. Let’s face it. Many Christians feel inadequate to share the gospel. But every one of you has a testimony. You have a story of a life that was changed by the gospel. Some stories are more dramatic than others. Some, who have been Christians since an early age think that they don’t have much of a testimony, but they have the testimony of what Jesus has meant to them all their lives. They can’t imagine what a life without Christ would be like. This church is at a breakthrough point. And we do not need a gimmick to help us get there. We have the simple message of who Jesus is and what he did. We just need to be willing to proclaim it. Bits & Pieces, February 4, 1993, p. 14.
II. II. EFFECTIVE WITNESSING REQUIRES THAT WE COMMUNICATE CLEARLY. We don’t need to come up with some new way to present the gospel. We just need to learn how to communicate with others. We don’t need to muddy the waters with “Christianese” the language of theology. The world doesn’t know, nor care, about sanctification, adoption, or predestination. Nearly everyone does understand death and the afterlife. Our job is to communicate in a clear fashion the gospel and that alone. A worker asked for a pay raise and got this note back from his supervisor: "Because of the fluctuation predisposition of your position’s productive capacity as juxtaposed to standard norms, it would be momentarily injudicious to advocate your requested increment." The puzzled worker went to the supervisor and said, "If this is about my pay raise, I don’t get it." "That’s right," said the supervisor. Communication often demands that we listen more than we talk. Teachers are continually trying to find new ways to communicate learning to the students. I don’t know what happened to the days of sit down, listen, take notes, and ask questions… but learning is different now than it was when we were students. I am still a firm believer that the best way to communicate is to speak facts. When Jesus had His conversation with Nicodemus (who was a teacher of Israel) He simply told him the facts. “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already…” Now when I said we don’t need to be creative I don’t mean that we don’t try a new approach. But we never try something that takes the place of the message. When Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well He appealed to her social life, her inquisitive self, her personal life, and her religious life before He told her that He was the Messiah. Proper communication is necessary for clear understanding. Diane Prestwood (Magee, Miss.). Returning home one afternoon with my two daughters, Kimberley, age two, and Kristi, six months, I pulled into my driveway and stopped to check the mailbox. But when I returned to the car, I found Kimberley had pushed the locks down on both doors and I had left the key in the ignition. For an hour I tried to explain to Kimberley how to pull up the door handle. I was on the verge of tears. My husband wasn’t home, and since we live in the country, there were no neighbors to help. Finally Kimberley stood up and softly tapped on the window. As I looked down at her, she said, "Mommy, do you want me to roll down the window?" Our message of hope has to be given with clarity and communication.
III. EFFECTIVE WITNESSING REQUIRES THAT WE BE CORRECT. By this I mean that the gospel message has to be biblical. We need to present Jesus in a biblical fashion that tells people who He is and what He did. The media in general does not do a very good job of presenting Christ. Unfortunately that’s where much of the world gets their idea of who Jesus is. In most movies, popular books or even stage presentations, Jesus is portrayed as a fictional character, a great teacher, or a prophet; in any case He is seen as just a man. But the biblical reality is that He was more than just a man – He was God incarnate. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life. That’s who He is. The “what He did” answer was that He gave His life for you. Why did He do that? So that we can have eternal life. John the Baptist told of the purpose of Jesus on earth when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus said in John 10:16-18, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Jesus gave His life for two reasons. 1) Because we are sinners. 2) Because we couldn’t do anything about it ourselves. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins.
As D.L. Moody walked down a Chicago street one day, he saw a man leaning against a lamppost. The evangelist gently put his hand on the man’s shoulder and asked him if he was a Christian. The fellow raised his fists and angrily exclaimed, "Mind your own business!"
"I’m sorry if I’ve offended you," said Moody, "but to be very frank, that IS my business!" Even if people reject the gospel, we still must love them.
Let’s look at the necessities of a good gospel presentation.
1. It must be proclaimed. If we are witnessing out of guilt, because that’s what the bible says we have to do, don’t bother. If your primary motive for witnessing is pure concern for the eternal state of lost man then it is a natural step to want to tell others about Jesus.
2. It must be proclaimed clearly. Be careful how you talk to non –Christians. Don’t use Christian lingo like saved, sanctification, conviction, predestination … If you tell someone in the world they have to be saved, they’ll ask, “saved from what?” They don’t understand.
3. It must be proclaimed biblically.
1) There are two choices for the next life – heaven or hell. Heaven is a free gift.
2) Man is a sinner and can’t do anything about it.
3) God loves us but hates our sin so He must punish us.
4) Jesus was God who came to earth to die for our sin in our place and offers the promise of heaven as a free gift.
5) We accept the offer of eternal life by faith.
How many of you remember back in the 50’s and 60’s the sign that would be at the car dealers that would advertise “FACTORY AIR”? Back then there were three types of air conditioning in cars. Factory air, which was built in, add on units which were bolted on, and windows rolled down or none.
Evangelism in the church is the same way.
1. It is built in so that people just naturally want to share what Christ has done in their lives. It comes out of a pure love for people and concern for their souls. That’s the way it is supposed to be and is the healthiest attitude for the church.
2. It is bolted on. Evangelism is an afterthought where the church says, “I guess if we don’t do something pretty soon the church is going to die.” Add-on evangelism therefore becomes self-centered and is more concerned with the church itself than with souls.
3. None. We’re happy just the way things are. We don’t need new people. We like the old and don’t want anything new. That’s not the way we always did it. That’s a slow agonizing death.
D.L. Moody and once spoke with a woman who didn’t like his method of evangelism. "I don’t really like mine all that much either. What’s yours?" She replied that she didn’t have one. Moody said, "Then I like mine better than yours."
Timothy K. Jones.
The wind of the Holy Spirit has been blowing mightily in the church, breathing new life into people. Do you think that God has a purpose other than blessing us? Maybe God is taking us back to the factory to have that factory air installed. He is calling this church to be hungry for His word and hungry for the harvest.
I have to tell you, I believe that witnessing has been built in to every one of you. You just haven’t figured out how to turn it on yet. Friday night’s men’s conference challenged us to Make a Difference. The Holy Spirit is calling to you today to make a difference.
Pray for souls, depend on the Spirit, wait for open doors, then step through and share the gospel and your testimony. Let that factory air you have in you bring a freshness and newness to a life headed for eternal heat.
