John 14:15 – “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”
Matthew 28:19 -“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,
20 – and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I think you probably remember what happened on January 12th of this year—but in case it’s slipped your mind amidst all the other disasters that have been in the news lately—at 4:53PM on that day an earthquake registering 7.0 on the Richter scale hit about 16 miles west of Port-a-Prince, Haiti—the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. The Haitian government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people were killed in that disaster. They say that another 300,000 were injured and over a million were made homeless by the 250,000 homes that collapsed or were severely damaged in the quake and its aftershocks.
Almost as soon as the first quake ended humanitarian aid from all over the world began to flood into Haiti in the form of medical personnel and supplies, food, drinking water, engineers—not to mention troops to keep order. One of the first e-mails I got after the quake was from Arlene Street asking us to pray for her husband Felix who was already on the ground in Haiti, helping to direct International Mission Board resources to the area.
Four days after the quake a team from our church landed in Santo Domingo—the capitol of Haiti’s neighbor nation, the Dominican Republic. For those of you who are visiting you should know we didn’t go to the D.R. because of the quake. In fact, we had planned on making this trip for many months. It’s our second such trip to work with Pastor Carlos and his church in Hato Mayor.
When we landed we saw several teams in the airport who had come to help the people who suffered from the earthquake—but the group that stood out to me was from Taiwan. They wore bright orange coveralls and carried special equipment—because they were specially trained men—experts in finding and rescuing people from under the mountains of debris that the quake caused. They—and others—landed in Santo Domingo because the earthquake had severely damaged the airport in Port a Prince.
I watched them as they prepared to head West for Haiti and even though I couldn’t understand their language it was obvious to me that they were very passionate about their job. They were eager to get to the scene of the disaster and start rescuing people. We saw them again on the following Saturday as we boarded planes heading home and I could tell from their hand gestures that they were reviewing stories of the people they had saved. I was unable to get stats on the total number of people teams like this saved but I would estimate the number to be in the hundreds or even thousands, including one man who was pulled out of the rubble four weeks after the quake hit. I believe he set a record when it comes to length of survival when trapped like that.
Now—I want you to try and imagine what it would be like to be one of those Hatians who was buried alive in piles of rubble like these. So close your eyes and picture it all.
On January 12th you’re in your home or you’re at work or the grocery store and the ground starts to shake violently underneath your feet. Walls and ceilings start to crumble and before you know it you are in total darkness—trapped between slabs of concrete. You try to find a way out but quickly realize there is none. There’s no where you can go and it’s so dark you can’t even see your hand when you hold it in front of your face. You hear people screaming in pain and terror all around you—trapped in their own concrete pockets—many of these poor people bleeding and dying. The dozens of aftershocks that follow make the concrete around you crack and crumble and you fear that soon you will become yet another fatality crushed by tons of rubble. Eventually the screams around you fade and it is quiet but in the darkness you begin to lose track of time. You have no food or water. What keeps you going day after day? What enables you to hold on?
Well—it’s one very important four letter word: HOPE. As you lay there buried alive in your concrete coffin the thing that keeps you breathing…the thing that keeps your heart beating…the thing that keeps you sane…is your HOPE that eventually someone will come and rescue you. You hang on to the belief that in the next few minutes or hours you’ll hear digging and then light will shine into your tomb followed by the smiling face of one of those specially trained rescuers. And, as I said, for hundreds and hundreds of Haitians that’s exactly what happened. Eventually someone came and saved them.
I bring this all up because in a very real sense—just like the men on that Taiwanese Team, you and I have been sent out on a search and rescue mission.
We’ve been ordered—commissioned—to help billions of people in this world of ours who are trapped…imprisoned…powerless to escape on their own. Instead of a “concrete prison” they are held in a prison of sin—sin that separates them from the Creator they long to know…sin that prevents them from experiencing life in all it’s fullness…sin that leaves them helpless to stop the death that comes for us all. And, like the commander of one of those specially-trained teams Jesus has commanded you and me to go to these people and share with them the liberating NEWS of the GOSPEL. This is a THIRD reason we exist as a church. We LIVE TO GIVE others the HOPE that is found in Jesus Christ.
Of course the main word we use to describe the act of sharing this HOPE is “evangelism” and before we go any further let’s make sure we understand it’s meaning because it is a word that is often misunderstood by Christians and non-Christians alike. In fact, one thing many of us have in common with non-believers is the fact that this word, “evangelism” or “evangelist” tends to rub us the wrong way because when we hear it many of us think of people with really big hair who shout real loud on TV and say “Send me your money!” But that’s not what evangelism is—and that’s not what real evangelists do. No—evangelism is simply sharing the good news that our RESCUER has come. On the cross Jesus made THE way for our sins to be forgiven! And the sharing of this “Good News” is something that all Christians—no matter what their hairstyle—are called by God to do.
Now why does God want us to do this? Why does He want us to share the hope of gospel with everyone? Why has He given us this “search and rescue” mission?
Well, it’s simply because God LOVES people—ALL people. Every person who has ever been born or ever will be born matters to God. He would literally rather die than live without them. which is what Jesus did for us. God in the flesh died on the cross—died in our place. As John 3:16 says, “For God so LOVED the WORLD…that He sent His only Son.” And as 2 Peter 3:9 says,“God does not want anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance.” So our search and rescue mission comes straight from the heart of God! It is motivated by His great, all-encompassing LOVE for all people.
In fact, as Rick Warren reminds us, completing this search and rescue mission is the only reason God keeps Christians like you and me here on this earth. Think of it this way. Heaven is perfect. Earth is not. It’s full of problems and trials, sin and temptation. Wouldn’t it make sense for our loving Heavenly Father to take us away from this fallen world—just beam us to Heaven the moment we respond to His love and become Christians? To answer this dilemma Warren points to the fact that there are only two things we can’t do in Heaven—SIN, and tell people who don’t know it the Good News about God’s love. Well, which of these two things do you think God keeps us here on earth to do? I’ll give you a hint—it’s not SIN. No—the only reason God keeps us here after we come to Christ is because He wants us to share the Good News of the Gospel with people who haven’t heard. God wants us to tell all the people we can what He has done for us and what He waits to do for them so that more and more people will respond to His love by giving their hearts and lives to Jesus. Let me put it more directly. Jesus came to “seek and save the lost” and when He left He gave us the responsibility of finishing that job—so we all are in the search and rescue business.
This morning I want us to review four things we need to know in order to be effective in this business that is every Christ follower’s business.
(1) First, as I alluded earlier, we must remember that people do NEED to hear the good news we are commissioned to share.
We have to understand that our unsaved friends and co-workers and friends NEED to know what Jesus has done for them. You know, I think that people like me—people who came to faith in Jesus early on in life—many times we don’t understand how truly lonely and empty and lost someone is without Jesus because we didn’t go through the challenges of our teenage years and the fears and burdens of adulthood alone. I mean, I’ve known Jesus personally since I was seven!
Well, people like me have to remind ourselves that the Bible teaches that people who don’t know Jesus—don’t have the advantages of that all-important relationship. For example, Ephesians 2 says that without Christ people are, “spiritually dead.” and “without hope.” Have you ever thought of your non-Christian friends like that? Colossians 1 says they are “prisoners in the domain of darkness…enemies of God and cut off from Him.” Try to imagine how that would feel.In Matthew 9:36 Jesus said that apart from Him people are lost in that they are without real direction and purpose. Titus 3:3 says that non-Christians are “enslaved by the pleasures and passions of this world.” Do these texts help you better understand the behavior of friends and family members who don’t know Jesus as you do?
The fact I’m trying to get us to wrap our minds around is that our witness is indeed GOOD NEWS. What we have to say is relevant to people in the “here and now.” Think about it Christian—how would it feel for you to face the trials of life in this fallen world without the comforting presence and guidance of Jesus? How lonely would you feel? How afraid would you be? Well, that’s what it’s like for people who don’t know Jesus as Savior and follow Him as Lord.
But of course, the gospel we are commissioned to share doesn’t just affect their HERE and NOW. It also has relevance to the “there and then” — it affects their eternal destiny.
Remember? Texts like Romans 6:23 say that the “wages of sin is DEATH” — and the morgues and cemeteries of the world are proof that these words are fact. Let the words of this familiar verse REALLY sink in. Ask yourself, “How scary would it be for me to face death without Jesus’ promise of eternal life?” Listen—fellow evangelists! Our friends, co-workers, neighbors, and family members who DON’T know Jesus—they don’t have the hope we do. Instead of the joy of Heaven, they face the Hell of an eternity separated from God. Doesn’t that make you want to get more serious about this mission we’ve been given?
As Christ-followers, this is one way we should be more like Jesus. He grieved over the people who rejected Him! Do you remember His sorrow over the rich young ruler’s decision? Do you remember how Jesus wept over the people of Jerusalem because they were sheep who had rejected His shepherding and He knew it was only a matter of time before they’d wander off the cliffs of eternity and into Hell’s abyss? This should jar all Christians out of their evangelistic complacency. It should make us as pumped to share our faith as those Taiwanese rescue workers were to begin searching the mountains of rubble in Haiti. We have NEWS that people desperately NEED to hear!
I’m sure you’ve heard the name, “Louis Pasteur” because in our day and age he is FAMOUS for his medical discoveries—like his cure for rabies and the pasteurization of milk that prevents the spread of disease. But he wasn’t always FAMOUS. There was a time when many considered him INFAMOUS. You see, when he began his work in the 19th century he was ridiculed by the medical establishment, other doctors who thought he was a fool to think that tiny microscopic organisms caused disease. All this led to Pasteur’s being exiled from Paris. But he didn’t go far. He moved his lab to a hidden location in the forest nearby and continued his research in germ theory. Part of his research involved trying to find a cure for black diptheria, a disease that was killing thousands of his day. Pasteur and his colleagues theorized that the blood of someone who lived through this disease could be used as a serum to cure others. So, he had twenty horses brought to the improvised laboratory to be a part of an experiment. One of his colleagues took a large pail filled with black diphtheria germs, which he had cultured carefully for months. There were enough germs in that pail to kill everyone in France. The scientist went to each horse and swabbed its nostrils, tongue, throat, and eyes with the deadly germs. Every horse except one developed a terrific fever and soon died. For several more days this final horse lingered, lying pathetically on the ground. But eventually he recovered. But when the horse was well, Pasteur had the horse killed and he took its blood and drove as fast as he could to the municipal hospital in Paris. Then he forced his way past the superintendent and the guards and went into the ward where three hundred babies lay, segregated to die from black diphtheria. With the blood of the horse, he inoculated everyone of the babies. All but three lived and recovered completely. Pasteur did this because he believed he had the cure these babies desperately NEEDED. That conviction fueled his passion.
Well, you and I have been entrusted with the CURE that non-Christians need. We know that Jesus took our sickness on Himself. He bore our sins on His body as He died on the cross. But on the third day He rose. He overcame SIN and DEATH so in a very real sense His blood is the “serum” that can sure us from the disease of sin. Jesus’ resurrection makes it possible for us to have eternal life!
You know, I was so impressed with the way that people hurried to help the Hatian earthquake victims. They did all they could to cut through bureaucratic red tape and get there because they knew those poor people desperately needed their help. They knew people were trapped and dying and so they were passionate about getting there as soon as possible. Well, friends people all around us are even more desperate. They NEED the message we have been commissioned to share. They need to hear about Jesus…Who He is…and What He has done. They need to know what our relationship with Jesus Christ means to us….and this leads to a second thing we must remember as we live to give the HOPE that is in us.
(2) We must remember that evangelism is sharing a PERSON not a PLAN.
As Christians, we don’t follow an idea or a set of religious codes. No—we follow a Person! So, to share your faith, you don’t have to be a documented expert on the Bible. It helps—but it’s not a requirement because Christian witnessing is simply talking to others about Someone we know. It’s introducing them to the PERSON of Jesus Christ.
Remember, this is what the disciple Philip did when He met Jesus. John 2 says that Philip immediately went and found his friend Nathaniel and invited him to “come and see” Jesus for himself. Philip’s evangelistic “come and see” technique was effective because when Nathaniel met Jesus and talked with Him he responded by boldly exclaiming, “You are the SON of God!”
And that is basically what WE do when we “REACH in the name of Christ.” We are introducing people to a real Person. Let me put it this way. The goal of evangelism is not to obtain decisions for Christ, but to introduce people TO Christ.
Many of us are uncomfortable when we think of sharing our faith with others. We shy away from doing our part in this search and rescue mission. Well, perhaps it would help for us to understand that witnessing is simply sharing the experiences we have had down through the years in relating to the Person of Jesus. It’s me or you telling another person, “This is what my relationship with the person of Jesus has meant to me. This is how the person of Jesus has changed my life.” It’s that simple. Sharing the gospel is basically sharing a witness of our experience. I mean, Jesus doesn’t want us to be His defense attorney. He doesn’t want us to be His prosecutor. He doesn’t want us to be His salesman. He simply wants us to be His witness. And you can do that. You may think you have nothing to share, but if you’re a Christian that’s not true. In fact, the longer you have been a Christian, the longer you have related to the Person of Jesus Christ, the more experiences you have to share with people who’ve never met our Lord. You can tell them how Jesus saved you, what that means to you, how He has helped you deal with the problems of life, and so forth. The fact is EVERY child of God has a powerful testimony to share. As 1 John 5:10 says,“Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them.” 1st Peter 2:9 says that each of us were chosen by God,“…to do His work and speak out for Him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference He made for us.”
This is the ESSENCE of witnessing. It’s sharing our personal experiences of the person of Jesus. Warren writes, “There is no other story just like yours so only you can share it. If you don’t share it, it will be lost forever. You may not be a Bible scholar, but you are the authority on your life, and it’s hard to argue with personal experience.”
Here’s a third thing that we must know when it comes to giving others this HOPE.
(3) It’s not just what we SAY. It is what we DO.
Do you remember the words of the great search and rescue mission COMMISSION? A literal translation of Matthew 29:19 is: “AS YOU GO, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” So, personal evangelism is everything you do—AS YOU GO through life.
I don’t want to make you uncomfortable but the fact is we are all sharing a testimony of our experience with Jesus ALL THE TIME…at home, at work, at school. The question is—what KIND of testimony? And—truth be told—this is the area where most Christians fail. Our unspoken witness often pushes people away from Jesus. William Hart, who ranked Jesus THIRD—after Muhammad and Sir Isaac Newton—in his book on the top 100 most influential people in history said, “On His own merits Jesus would definitely be the most influential person ever. The problem is His followers. They have done a poor job of carrying out His message.” Well, unfortunately Mr. Hart is right because when we fail to live out the Gospel—when we live hypocritical lives—when we attempt to shove our faith down people’s throats, when we are grace-less and holier-than-thou…in all these ways we push people from Jesus.
As you may know, author, pastor, and impassioned evangelist Lee Strobel was an atheist until he came to Jesus in his thirties. In his “first life” Strobel was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and he testifies that in these pre-Christian years, he was turned off by many Christians whose walk didn’t match their talk. Stroebel referred to these believers as “cosmetic Christians” because they had a skin-deep spirituality that looked good on the outside but didn’t penetrate deep enough to change their behavior and attitudes: like the journalist he knew who was one of the most crooked reporters in Chicago but who let everybody know what a church-going family man he was or the politician who proudly publicized his church affiliation during election years but who was a vicious back-stabber behind closed doors or the police officer who was the most racist individual Stroebel knew but who also never missed a Sunday service. I think Strobel could relate to the lyrics of a song by Kyle Matthews which refers to hypocritical Christians when it says, “Your life speaks so loud I can’t hear a word you say.”
Well, fortunately these “cosmetic Christians” were not the only believers Strobel encountered during his years as a skeptical atheist. He also met mature disciples who let the power of the Holy Spirit shape their character and actions in such a way that they gently pulled Strobel to embrace a faith in Christ. One of these authentic believers was a man named Ron. Before he became a Christian, Ron had several run-ins with the law. For example, when he was 8-years-old he threw a hammer at someone’s head and ended up in juvenile court. Later he dropped out of school, got mixed up with drugs, and rose to second-in-command of the Belaires, a vicious street gang that terrorized parts of Chicago in the 60’s and 70’s. But when he was 21 Ron got in truly deep trouble. A rival gang called the Palmer Street Gaylords brutally assaulted one of Ron’s friends and Ron vowed revenge. He borrowed a gun and went hunting for the teen who had led the Gaylord attack. It didn’t take long for Ron to track down this Gaylord as he was emerging from a tavern. Ron started chasing the guy down the sidewalk, shooting at him as they ran. Finally one of the bullets found its mark, tearing into the young man’s back and lodging next to his liver. The teen collapsed face-first on the pavement. Ron came up to him and flipped him over. Then, ignoring his pleas for mercy, Ron shoved the gun in the wounded boy’s face and pulled the trigger—but fortunately the gun was empty. By this time the police were closing in so Ron fled the scene and ended up in Oregon with his girlfriend. There Ron got his first legitimate job working in a metal shop…which by divine coincidence was owned and operated by Christians—authentic ones. Through their influence Ron received Jesus as the Forgiver of his sins and the Leader of his life. With this decision, his values and character began to change. He and his girlfriend got married and had a little girl named Olivia. Ron became a model employee, an active church participant, and a well-respected member of the community.
But something kept gnawing at him. Even though he had been reconciled with God, he hadn’t been reconciled with society. There was still a warrant out for his arrest. And although police had stopped looking for him and he probably could have spent the rest of his life in Oregon without getting caught…he felt that the only honest thing to do would be to give himself up and face the possibility of twenty years in prison, away from his family. Otherwise he’d be living a lie and as a Christian he decided that was not an option.
Strobel’s duties as a newspaper reporter caused him to be present in the courtroom the day Ron’s case came up. He noticed that amazingly, unlike other defendants, Ron was not trying to wiggle off the hook. Ron looked the judge in the eye and said, “I am guilty. I did it. I’m responsible. If I need to go to prison, that is okay. But I’ve become a Christian, and the right thing to do is to admit what I’ve done and to ask for forgiveness. What I did was wrong, plain and simple, and I’m sorry. I really am.”
This blew atheist Lee Strobel away. He could see that this was not COSMETIC CHRISTIANITY. He knew that when someone takes a costly step like Ron did then it must be prompted by a faith that has radically transformed him from deep inside. Strobel was so intrigued by Ron’s actions that he asked him about his faith and this experience was the beginning of Lee Strobel’s conversion to Christianity.
This story shows that if we want to REACH OUT in the name of Christ we have to LIVE OUT our faith even when it is costly. Because when we take our faith THAT seriously, others who are watching will begin to take it seriously too. Let me put it this way. In order for others to follow in our footsteps of faith, our walk has to match our talk.
By the way, the judge in Ron’s trial was so impressed by his actions that he didn’t think it was necessary for him to go to prison. Instead he concluded that Ron was no longer a danger to society and he put him on probation. Lee Strobel remembers asking Ron for a reaction to the judge’s ruling. Here is what Ron said, “What the judge did was show me grace—sort of like Jesus did. And Lee, if you let Him, God will show you grace, too. Don’t forget that.” Strobel says, “Coming from a guy like Ron, that carried a lot of weight.” The words of an obviously grace-driven Christian always do.
Then, a fourth thing we need to remember as we share the Hope that is found in Jesus is this:
(4) We do this in GOD’S power, not our OWN.
The fact is you and I do not have the ability to change lives. We don’t convict people of their sin. We can’t draw people to Jesus. Only God can do those things. Our search and rescue mission is done in God’s POWER—not our own. Three Scriptures leapt into my mind when I was dwelling on this point. The first was Acts 1:8 where Jesus says “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and THEN AND ONLY THEN you will be MY witnesses in Jerusalem,
…and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Another was Romans 1:16 where Paul wrote,“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the POWER of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” The third was Galatians 2:20, which says,“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in—THROUGH THE POWER OF—the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
You see, the truth is without God’s power it is not only difficult to lead a person to faith in Christ. It is impossible. But in God’s hands anyone can become a powerful evangelist. Years ago a tornado ripped its way through Wichita Falls, Texas, leaving a path of destruction and debris in its wake. The sheer power of the storm was uppermost in everyone’s mind as they viewed trees which had been plucked from the ground…like weeds and buildings which had been shredded like aluminum foil. But, one of the most fascinating witnesses to the tornado’s awesome power was rather small and almost unnoticeable. A small piece of straw had been driven deep into a telephone pole like a nail! This was made possible because of the unbelievable power of the tornado. Well, evangelism that is done apart from God’s presence and power is impotent and ineffective…but when we take advantage of the divine appointments God sets up…when we listen to His Spirit’s promptings in those conversations, when we rely on His power, He uses us to lead people to repent of their sins and respond to the grace of God. When missionary Robert Morrison first sailed to China, he was asked, “Do you really expect to make an impression on the idolatry of the great Chinese empire?” In reply Morrison said, “No, sir, but I expect God will.” And he had the right idea.
Many times when I have been sharing my faith with someone I have experienced a flood of boldness and courage and insights that I can only attribute to the work of God in and through me. This is because effective witnessing is done in God’s power and not our own. Isn’t that a comforting thought!
The words to our hymn of invitation remind us that our salvation….our experience with the PERSON of Jesus Christ was an incredible gift of grace. We have FREELY RECEIVED!!! But the song teaches that our experience of grace should compel us to FREELY GIVE. In Romans 1:14 Paul wrote that since he had experienced the grace of God he was “obligated to share his witness—he was eager to preach the gospel to everyone.” This morning as we sing let us all embrace this same obligation and eagerness to REACH IN THE NAME OF CHRIST. Remember, our evangelism as Christians has eternal consequences. People out there desperately need to hear the GOOD NEWS that we have to share. You may be one of those people. Why not make this the day that you allow us to introduce you to the PERSON of Jesus Christ? Why not accept His free gift of eternal life and make Him the Lord of your life today? If you will come talk to me now as we sing or even after the service, I will be glad to personally introduce you to Him. There may be other decisions God is leading you to make….to go from cosmetic Christianity to authentic discipleship or to walk forward and join this church in it’s GRACE-DRIVEN ministry. We sing to give you a chance to respond….won’t you do so?
BENEDICTION:
Let the PEACE OF CHRIST rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly
and whatever you do…in word or in deed
Do it all in the NAME OF CHRIST giving thanks to God the Father
through Him.