September 30, 2007 Sermon

Evangelism
John 1:6-18, 1 Corinthians 3:7-9

Compare these two experiences:

1. You meet a good friend at church. You say, “We went to this new restaurant last weekend. It was terrific! Loved the food. The atmosphere was perfect. It was a little pricey—but what the heck, you could see the water through the windows. I don’t mind spending my money on good food. We had to travel about forty-five minutes to get there, but it’s so pretty to drive around up here that we didn’t mind. When we got there we had to wait an hour. So we just sort of hung around until they called us to the table. But time just seems to fly by when you are excited about something. What’s an hour? You should try it!”
   
   
2. You go to a restaurant and, as you wait to get called to your table, good friends walk through the door. They sit next to you in the lobby and you chat about this and that. You hear your name spoken, wave goodbye, and follow the hostess to your seats. Though you attended a wonderful church just the previous Sunday, and though your friends believe in Jesus but do not go to church, you made sure not to breathe a word to them about it. It might have put them—and you—in an awkward situation.

When we encounter a great restaurant, grocery store, short-cut to town, golf course or hair stylist we cannot wait to spread the news. But we do not tell people the Good News. Tell people what you have seen. Tell them the Good News.

Today we reach the fourth of the Northern Lakes Community Church ’s six focus ministries: evangelism. Evangelism has various definitions. We evangelize in various ways. Mass mailing postcards has worked well as a method of evangelism for our congregation. Challenging people to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior is the most basic method of evangelism. But taking our cue from the Gospel of John, today we emphasize telling people what we have seen. John advocates “bearing witness”, an old-fashioned way of saying “telling what you have seen.” But what have you seen? To what could you bear witness?

Most people are vaguely familiar with the first five verses of the Gospel of John, verses which speak powerfully of the eternal power of Jesus Christ. But John follows these words with an introduction to another John, not the Gospel writer, but John the Baptist. We learn first that God sent him. Then comes John 1:7, an important verse: “He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.” John the Baptist wore wild clothing. He called out the petty kings and despots of his day. He baptized people in the River Jordan and warned them to quit sinning. But according to John the Gospel writer, the most important thing John the Baptist did was bear witness. He told people about the Messiah specifically so they might believe in Him.

“(The Messiah) was in the world,” John the Gospel writer tells us, “and the world came into being through Him, yet the world did not know Him.” Not much has changed. The world still does not know Him. And the world will never know Him unless ordinary believers like you and I tell what we have seen of Him. We believe in Him. John the Gospel writer claims this means we have been born of God. We have received new life because we believe. This may seem strange, but we see evidence of it all around us. We must tell what we see.

Donna Nelson, a deacon in our congregation, works as a geriatric nurse. She speaks of the difference faith in the love of God makes in people nearing death. When believers draw close to their earthly end, they usually accept it peacefully. They tend to trust that the promises of the Bible will come true for them. Though their bodies soon will die, somehow their souls will live on in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Believers surrounding a dying loved one also generally behave more calmly than non-believers. Donna makes this observation with shining eyes and a catch in her voice. She does not mean it as a dig at non-believers. She simply knows—as do most nurses, hospice workers, doctors, orderlies and even pastors—that people who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior are usually better prepared to die.

When Donna tells her story she witnesses to what she sees. She evangelizes. She evangelizes powerfully. She tells a truth that she has seen with her own eyes. That truth can change the lives of those who hear it. Tell what you have seen.

John the Baptist had no problem telling people what he had seen. He cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for He was before me.’” John the Baptist understood, he saw, that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah. As God, Jesus had participated in creation itself. There had never been a time before Him. Although his birth as a human being came slightly after John the Baptist’s own birth, Jesus was and is eternal. And he is glorious, almighty, life-giving. As John the Baptist put it, no one has ever seen God; but Jesus has made God known to us. Jesus has helped us see God.

What have we seen of Jesus/God? What can we tell people we have seen? Have we seen His glory? Have we seen his power? And how can we tell them in a way that they will actually hear?

Last Wednesday I drove my son to school. As we pulled around to the main entrance I noticed a group of maybe thirty students surrounding the flag pole, holding hands. For a moment I did not see what they were doing. Then I noticed their bowed heads, and it all came into focus. Wednesday, September 26^th, was “See You at the Pole Day”, a student-initiated, national movement. The movement started in 1990, when students at one Texas high school met to pray. Frustrated by a local court order that stopped a Bible study club from meeting after school in a classroom, these students decided not to appeal through the court system, but to appeal instead directly to God through prayer. They prayed not for victory in a civil case, but for their school, its teachers and students.

Last Wednesday over three millionyoung people across the U.S.A. prayed at their schools. Canada and Australia now have their own Meet at the Pole days. All this despite the secular media's predictable distaste for it, and the resulting lack of publicity. I confess I had no idea it was happening until I drove up to the school. But what a witness! No doubt many students who walked past their peers praying silently questioned them. Not a few probably mocked them. But how many were encouraged in their own faith? And how many more were challenged to consider faith in Jesus Christ when they saw how much He means to so many?

That’s evangelism. That’s telling what you have seen with power and clarity. Those students told others they had seen and believed in Christ through their actions. In fact, walking our talk is probably the most effective method of evangelism in our agnostic culture. In the coming months our congregation will shelter homeless people overnight in the cold months. That’s evangelism. We will host a speaker who will challenge area youth to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. That’s evangelism. We will take money out of our own pockets and time out of our lives, to build a building which will serve our community. That’s evangelism.

But people shelter the homeless, host speakers and build buildings without Jesus all the time. Our work at NLCC becomes evangelism only when we make it about Jesus. We must tell people what we have seen, and we must have seen Jesus.

Pray for faith in your risen savior, Jesus Christ. Then pray for the strength to tell people—by word and by deed—about Him. Tell people what you have seen. Tell them the Good News. Evangelize.