(This message adapted from The Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren)
SERIES: “THE GROWTH FACTORS”
TEXT: MATTHEW 28:18-20
TITLE: “THE INVITATION FACTOR”
INTRODUCTION: A. There once was a fellow that was deeply moved by the preacher’s sermon on
evangelism one Sunday. Before he left the church, he decided to pray this particular
prayer every morning: “Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please
give me a sign to show me who it is.” And he did.
One day the following week, he was walking through the city park and sat down on
one of the benches. A big, rough-looking man sat down next to him. The man’s size
and tough exterior frightened him so he went to stand up and walk away.
Just then, the big man burst into tears and cried out loud: “My life is miserable.
I’m a lost man. I need the Lord. I need to be saved. Won’t somebody tell me how I
can be saved?!?” He then turned to the Christian, grabbed him by the shoulders, and
pleaded in a desperate voice, “Please, mister. Can you tell me how to be saved?”
The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, “Lord, is this a sign?”
1. The Great Commission has become the Great Omission in a lot of congregations
2. The people around us are lost, dying, and going to hell but the church members
are too afraid and too ignorant to do anything about it
3. Mt. 28:18-20 – “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the age.’”
B. We’re wrapping up our series “The Growth Factors” through these next few weeks
1. We’ve been taking a much more intensive look at the five purposes of the church
2. The five purposes:
-- By the grace of God and in faithful obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, we exist to:
a. EXALT GOD
--through worship
b. EXPRESS HIS LOVE TO OTHERS
--through ministry
c. EVANGELIZE THE LOST
--through outreach
d. EDIFY THE SAVED
--through fellowship
e. EQUIP THE SAINTS FOR MINISTRY
--through discipleship
3. We’ve covered the first two purposes and move to the third – “THE INVITATION
FACTOR” - evangelism
--it flows naturally out of the first two
a. Part of our daily worship and show of love for God is shown in through our
communication of the grace of God to others
b. Loving others means that we care about their eternal destiny and their
relationship with the Lord
c. 1 Jn. 4:20 – “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For
anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God,
whom he has not seen.”
C. Jesus said that we are to “go”
1. In the original language, it’s literally “as you are going”
2. He wants us to understand that as long as we live and as long as His church is on
this earth, the Great Commission never stops.
--Like the Energizer Bunny, we should KEEP going and going and going….
3. This is not Mission Impossible.
--This is Mission Inevitable.
4. The mission Jesus started when He was here is the mission He has left for us to
complete
-- Jesus is in heaven. An angel comes up to Him and Jesus says, “My plan is to
give the Good News to my followers on earth and ask them to share it."
The angel asks, “What if they don’t? What’s plan B?” Jesus replies, "There is
no plan B.”
5. How do I do my part in accomplishing the mission Jesus has asked me to do?
I. I MUST SHARE THE GOOD NEWS WITH THOSE IN MY WORLD
A. There’s an event recorded in Luke 8 about a guy that Jesus healed.
--he was possessed by a legion of demons
1. After Jesus healed him, he wanted to travel with Jesus
2. V. 39 Jesus says, “ ‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ [then it says] So the man
went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.”
a. Jesus says the same thing to you.
b. You know where your mission starts?
--Right at home, starts in your own neighborhood, in your own community.
3. It says he went all over town. That’s what God wants you to do. He wants you to go to your
friends, your family, your coworkers, your neighbors, anybody who crosses your path
4. Perdue Farms used to have a commercial that said, ““It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.”
They decided that they wanted to increase their sales in Mexico so they tried to translate that
commercial into Spanish. It lost something in translation: “It takes a virile man to make a chicken
affectionate.”
a. It’s our job to translate Jesus to our world
b. How’s your translation working?
B. Why do we have such a difficult time being obedient to Jesus’ command?
--One main reason is that we believe the myth that people aren’t interested in spiritual issues.
1. Nothing could be further from the truth.
a. Not too long ago, George Gallup did a survey and discovered that 65 million Americans have no
church home, but 34 million of them said they would attend if somebody would just invite them.
b. 34 million just waiting for an invitation!
2. You see, opportunities to share the Good News really are all around you.
a. They’re staring you in the face every single day.
--You just have to be ready for them.
b. Back during the Civil War, several Confederate soldiers were gathered around a campfire one
evening. One of those soldiers was named Zeke and although Zeke was a little “slower” than most
of his military buddies, he was a pretty good soldier.
Zeke got up from the campfire circle and announced that he was going for a walk in the woods.
His companions told Zeke to be careful. There might be Yankee patrols about. Zeke assured them
he would be okay and left for his walk.
About two hours later, Zeke’s buddies were worried about him and were gathering their rifles
and equipment so they could go look for Zeke. Just then ol’ Zeke walked out of the woods with 7
Yankee prisoners in front of his rifle. One of Zeke’s buddies asked, “Zeke, where’d ya get all o’
them there Yankees?” Zeke replied, “Why the woods is full of ‘em! Why don’t you go out get ya
some?”
3. The church that doesn’t want to grow and reach out is basically saying to the people who live around
them: “You can go to hell.”
--[REPEAT!]
**I must share the good news with those in my world
II. I MUST DARE TO REACH BEYOND MY WORLD
A. Love demands that I move beyond my comfort zone to people with different background, different
education, different language, different economics.
1. You see, our mission has such eternal consequences, heaven and hell, that we must be willing to risk
anything to get the message out.
2. If I had the cure for cancer or AIDS, believe me, I’d be shouting it on the street.
-- It would be criminal to keep it a secret.
a. But we have something even more important than that, the way to eternal life.
b. Somebody cared enough to tell us, we’ve got to be caring enough to tell others
3. Repeatedly in the Bible, we’re told to reach out.
--God expects us to make the first move. God says, “I want you to go.”
a. You can’t have “God” without “go.”
b. You can’t have “Good News” without “go.”
c. God says, “You have to go!”
B. There are some barriers, some walls; things that we use to stay safely in our comfort zone
1. Attitude
--We sometimes have a bad attitude toward those that are not like us
a. One church member was tired of all the sin in the world. He decided that he was going to
confront every sinner and convert them. He didn’t feel real comfortable reaching out to others
because he always looked at himself as being a “good” person. He didn’t want to sully himself by
being around too many sinners.
But his contempt for people not like him got the best of him so he got on a city bus. He was
going to preach at some poor sinner and berate him or her until they did something constructive
with their life.
It didn’t take very long until a fellow who had obviously been drinking pretty heavily got on the
bus and was stumbling toward one of the back seats. The church member was carrying a KJV
study Bible that was big enough to choke a mule. He jumped out of his seat, stuck that huge Bible
in the drunk’s face, and shouted angrily, “Buddy, do you know you’re going to hell?” The drunk
took a step back and said, “Oh, great! I’m on the wrong bus again!”
b. Peter had a problem with Gentiles
1). In Acts 10, God taught Peter in a vision that God decides what is acceptable and unacceptable
and then sends Peter on a mission to offer salvation to a Gentile man
--someone considered unclean by the Jews
2). Later in life, the apostle Paul has to admonish Peter on his treatment of Gentile believers
c. We’re called to build bridges not burn them
1). One writer said about the church: “The assessment of the unchurched is that a typical church is
made up of people who are inflexible, hypocritical, judgmental, and just plain mean.”
2). In comparison, Jesus was loving, gracious, and merciful
2. Apathy
a. We just don’t care about anyone but ourselves
b. There’s an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine and her boyfriend are having a conversation
Elaine: So, you’re pretty religious?
The boyfriend: That’s right.
Elaine: So is it a problem that I’m not really religious?
The Boyfriend: Not for me.
Elaine: Why not?
The Boyfriend: I’m not the one going to hell
3. Activity
a. We’re too busy to reach out and tell others the good news
b. We’ve got our plans, our schedules, our agendas, our hobbies, our clubs, and our interests and we
just don’t have time to do what Christ expects us to do
**I must share the good news with my world
**I must dare to reach beyond my world
III. I MUST CARE ABOUT THE WHOLE WORLD
A. If I am going to be like Jesus Christ, I must care about the WHOLE world.
--Mk. 16:15 – “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
1. Was Jesus talking to preachers and missionaries there?
--No…
2. He’s talking to just normal followers.
a. If you’re a Christian, Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I’ll make you a fisher of men.”
b. If you’re not fishing, you’re not following.
B. He says to His followers, go everywhere, because everybody deserves to hear the Good News.
1. In the 1st century, it wasn’t an easy task.
--modes of transportation:
a. Walk
b. Ride a donkey or maybe a camel
--If you were especially wealthy or of political importance you could ride a horse or a chariot
c. Get on a ship and make a dangerous sea voyage.
2. In the 21st century, we can communicate with the entire world from our own homes:
a. telephones/cell phones
b. e-mail
c. Instant Messaging
3. We can sit in our pajamas and communicate to the entire world
a. But God does not call us to a life of comfort but a life of commitment no matter the cost.
b. Mk. 8:35 – “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and
for the gospel will save it.”
C. First Christian has been a strong contributor to foreign and domestic missions over the years
--We still support South India Church of Christ, Johnson Bible College, the Bantas through
Christian Missionary Fellowship, West Indies Christian Missions, Camp Illiana, the Harts through
Go Missions, and Open Arms Christian Ministries.
1. Sadly, our support for these things have fallen
a. Those of us who have been blessed by God just can’t find it in our wallets and pocketbooks to be
as big a blessing to others as we once were
b. Some of you don’t like the way things have been going so you’re holding back on what you put
in the offering plate
c. Some of you think that you can’t afford to tithe
--Let me tell you from my experience: You can’t afford not to tithe. My wife and I discovered
years ago that we go a lot farther on the 90% than we do on the 100%
d. Let me remind you of something pretty phenomenal this morning
--the only area God allows us test Him is in the area of the tithe
1). Mal. 3:10 – “‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of
heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’”
2). Lk. 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you.”
2. Let’s not stop at just fully funding our established missionaries
--Let’s do more. Plenty of established missions and even more that could be established except
they lack the funds and support to do so
3. Let’s get some of our people to actually go to these places on short-term mission trips
--Why we should go:
a. It leaves an impression on us that we will never forget
b. It leaves an impression on them that they will never forget
CONCLUSION: A. Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you?
1. When you get to heaven, is anybody going to say thank you, thank you for telling me
the Good News?
a. You knew it and you didn’t keep it a secret.
b. You passed it on.
2. Let’s take a hard look at some startling statistics:
a. 50,000 people in Indiana will die in the next 365 days.
--Most of them will go into eternity without Jesus Christ.
b. In the next 365 days, 2.4 million Americans will die
--Most of them will go into eternity without Jesus Christ.
c. In the next 365 days, 54 million people in the world will die
--Most of them will go into eternity without Jesus Christ.
d. The saying is true: “If we care, we must share.”
B. As we close, you’ve got four possible responses.
1. You can say like Moses, “Who me?”
2. Or you can say like Jonah, "Not me."
3. Or you can say it like Habakkuk, "Why me?"
4. Or you can be obedient and say like Isaiah, "Send me."
a. The most dangerous prayer you can pray is "God use me."
--I dare you to say it.
b. Do you have enough courage to say, "God use my life"?
--Watch what happens!
