Scriptures: John 1:35-37, John 1:40-42, John 1:43-46, John 4:25-26, 28-30, John 12:20-22, Matthew 19:13-15, Matthew 9:1-7.
Listen here: https://www.lcepc.org/blogger
What do all of these passages have in common? Bringing! In each one, somebody brings a new person to meet Jesus! All of them “walked with” the people they brought. And among them we see a variety of reasons that they were motivated to do so, all good reasons. In summary:
1. They brought because of being pointed in the right direction.
2. They brought because of enthusiasm.
3. They brought because age, physical and spiritual condition were no obstacle to the friend or neighbor of faith who cared about the friend or neighbor in need.
To look at the ones who brought others after having been pointed in the right direction, first of all we see John, the Baptist himself, the last great prophet of the Old Testament style. He knew his important role as the one who would herald the coming Messiah. But he did not maintain any self-importance. He humbly directed his own disciples to leave him and follow Jesus! John pointed out Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” That’s same mission we all have, great or small, our job is simply to point at Jesus and proclaim him as the savior we all need.
We also see it in Andrew, one of those that John sent to Jesus. Andrew went and got Peter. Where might the church be if Andrew had not thought of going to get Peter? And that’s something to think about. Andrew was a disciple of Christ, but Peter overshadowed him in becoming the leader. We might think Peter became the more important Christian. Absolutely not! Andrew brought Peter!
And so it is for us. We may never fully realize how important we might be to the work of the Kingdom of God. But one thing is for sure, we won’t have done much if we don’t invite and bring anyone! And in John 12, Andrew was at it again. This time Philip wanted to know how to handle the fact that some Greeks wanted to talk to Jesus. That was a question because there was a thought that Gentiles would not be included in God’s plan. But Andrew pointed them all in the right direction, toward Jesus, and went with them.
All of us are on a continuum of bringing others to Christ. John directed his own disciples toward Christ. He didn’t hang around to be sure that they stuck with Jesus. His ministry had always been simply to point out the Lamb of God and that’s what he did. He was content to decrease and let Christ increase. He didn’t keep control. Sometimes, we get in the way by thinking that we have to be the one to bring another to Christ, but we may simply be a planter or a waterer. We need to let go and trust Christ to do the increasing. We know that Jesus cares about our loved ones, but we need to see how much we really care and how much we’re willing to trust Him for our growth as well.
In point two, we need to examine ourselves and ask, “Are we truly amazed at what Christ has done for us?” Are we enthusiastic about our faith? Why or why not? We need to be honest with ourselves. Has this series of messages about evangelism motivated you or irritated you? Are you hoping I move on soon?
But, note the enthusiasm of the woman at the well. Everything changed for her when she began to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. She left her water jar. Suddenly she wasn’t thirsty anymore! She ran back to town to tell everyone. Suddenly she wasn’t embarrassed anymore and had no concern for what the local gossips would think of her. This was big news! And her enthusiasm led a whole town full of people to want to see for themselves. She led them all to Jesus. That’s all she did. Then Jesus did the rest. We know because after he stayed with them for 2 days, they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”
And, what made the Greeks in John 12 curious? Do our lives make people curious? Are we enthusiastic enough to generate other people’s curiosity? Now by enthusiasm, I don’t mean strange fanatic behavior. I mean devotion to Christ that spills out of heart full of love for him that causes you to speak about him in almost every conversation, wherever it is appropriate and logical, as Paul said, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Col. 4:6.
Thirdly, we dare not give up hope. For example, most of you have heard of our son Christopher struggling with mental illness. It’s been a long heart breaking, tough road trying to be effective parents for him, and praying that he could recover. He’s thirty years old this year and not much has changed. I only mention it because it’s the kind of case in which it would be easy to give up hope. But no. We will never stop praying for Christopher’s recovery until God answers our prayer and brings our son home or takes our son to his eternal home.
Specifically, we pray for Jesus to send loving Christian people into his life who will tangibly love him and lead him closer to Christ. If they would just pray for him, care about him, listen to him, share the gospel and offer him the chance to repent, they might just bring him to Christ. Maybe not all at once. We’ve talked about how God may choose to use a number of different people.
But we know that no matter how bleak it looks, no one, no matter their age, spiritual or physical condition, is too far from Christ’s grasp. We can’t always bring them along, and we don’t want to unnaturally force it. We have to listen and be sensitive to the people we care about as we listen for opportunities to share the gospel message with them and offer them the opportunity, and most importantly, never stop praying!
One other thing we know. God is pursuing Christopher, just as much as anyone else. He might seem very far from God right now, but he’s not really. In fact, I have an illustration that might demonstrate what I’m talking about. I need a volunteer to come up here and help me. Jimmy. All right thank you. Let’s encourage him ok? Clap, clap.
Here’s what you need to do. I’m going to pretend to be God. That way you can show everybody what it’s like to walk away from God. We’re going to start out way over here, and when I say go, you start walking all the way across the room to get as far away as you can. After you get as far away as you can, just going straight to that opposite wall, without turning any corners, and without looking back, I want you turn around and see how far you got, OK? Ok. Ready? OK, GO.
(If that worked, then as the volunteer walked away, I was right behind him by only one step, so that when he turned around I was right there to hug him.)
That’s how it is folks, you might think you’ve wandered very far away from God, or that your loved one is too far away, but then, when we turn around…Boom! There He is, right there, arms open to wide receive the repentant sinner who turns away from sin and turns to God.
We’re the ones who put up the barriers. We’re the ones who decide that a given situation is hopeless. But we worship a God of HOPE. He loves the people that we care for more than we ever could. He died for them. Would you do that? Do you really think that He wants your loved ones lost and separated from Him forever? Would you pay the high price that Jesus paid, purchased with his own blood, and not care for the lost who need to believe in it?
But then, if Jesus cares so much about all those lost souls, why doesn’t He just do it all by Himself then? Well, remember we talked about that way back at the beginning. Why did God use Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones? He didn’t need Ezekiel, but Ezekiel needed to work with God for his benefit. What kind of relationship would we have with God if He just did it all himself and left us on the sidelines?
This will be the last message in the series about evangelism, for now. But the importance of evangelism and the motivation to do it will never be forgotten, right? I’ll even remind you from time to time in future messages.
But next week, I want to really preach the gospel message. I want to spend our morning giving thanks to God for all his blessings, but especially we want to give thanks for God’s amazing grace that gives us the gospel of Jesus Christ on the cross and his power to forgive us and save us for all eternity. It would be a good service to bring your unsaved loved ones to hear. I want to invite them into the family and kingdom of God.
Listen here: https://www.lcepc.org/blogger
What do all of these passages have in common? Bringing! In each one, somebody brings a new person to meet Jesus! All of them “walked with” the people they brought. And among them we see a variety of reasons that they were motivated to do so, all good reasons. In summary:
1. They brought because of being pointed in the right direction.
2. They brought because of enthusiasm.
3. They brought because age, physical and spiritual condition were no obstacle to the friend or neighbor of faith who cared about the friend or neighbor in need.
To look at the ones who brought others after having been pointed in the right direction, first of all we see John, the Baptist himself, the last great prophet of the Old Testament style. He knew his important role as the one who would herald the coming Messiah. But he did not maintain any self-importance. He humbly directed his own disciples to leave him and follow Jesus! John pointed out Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” That’s same mission we all have, great or small, our job is simply to point at Jesus and proclaim him as the savior we all need.
We also see it in Andrew, one of those that John sent to Jesus. Andrew went and got Peter. Where might the church be if Andrew had not thought of going to get Peter? And that’s something to think about. Andrew was a disciple of Christ, but Peter overshadowed him in becoming the leader. We might think Peter became the more important Christian. Absolutely not! Andrew brought Peter!
And so it is for us. We may never fully realize how important we might be to the work of the Kingdom of God. But one thing is for sure, we won’t have done much if we don’t invite and bring anyone! And in John 12, Andrew was at it again. This time Philip wanted to know how to handle the fact that some Greeks wanted to talk to Jesus. That was a question because there was a thought that Gentiles would not be included in God’s plan. But Andrew pointed them all in the right direction, toward Jesus, and went with them.
All of us are on a continuum of bringing others to Christ. John directed his own disciples toward Christ. He didn’t hang around to be sure that they stuck with Jesus. His ministry had always been simply to point out the Lamb of God and that’s what he did. He was content to decrease and let Christ increase. He didn’t keep control. Sometimes, we get in the way by thinking that we have to be the one to bring another to Christ, but we may simply be a planter or a waterer. We need to let go and trust Christ to do the increasing. We know that Jesus cares about our loved ones, but we need to see how much we really care and how much we’re willing to trust Him for our growth as well.
In point two, we need to examine ourselves and ask, “Are we truly amazed at what Christ has done for us?” Are we enthusiastic about our faith? Why or why not? We need to be honest with ourselves. Has this series of messages about evangelism motivated you or irritated you? Are you hoping I move on soon?
But, note the enthusiasm of the woman at the well. Everything changed for her when she began to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. She left her water jar. Suddenly she wasn’t thirsty anymore! She ran back to town to tell everyone. Suddenly she wasn’t embarrassed anymore and had no concern for what the local gossips would think of her. This was big news! And her enthusiasm led a whole town full of people to want to see for themselves. She led them all to Jesus. That’s all she did. Then Jesus did the rest. We know because after he stayed with them for 2 days, they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”
And, what made the Greeks in John 12 curious? Do our lives make people curious? Are we enthusiastic enough to generate other people’s curiosity? Now by enthusiasm, I don’t mean strange fanatic behavior. I mean devotion to Christ that spills out of heart full of love for him that causes you to speak about him in almost every conversation, wherever it is appropriate and logical, as Paul said, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Col. 4:6.
Thirdly, we dare not give up hope. For example, most of you have heard of our son Christopher struggling with mental illness. It’s been a long heart breaking, tough road trying to be effective parents for him, and praying that he could recover. He’s thirty years old this year and not much has changed. I only mention it because it’s the kind of case in which it would be easy to give up hope. But no. We will never stop praying for Christopher’s recovery until God answers our prayer and brings our son home or takes our son to his eternal home.
Specifically, we pray for Jesus to send loving Christian people into his life who will tangibly love him and lead him closer to Christ. If they would just pray for him, care about him, listen to him, share the gospel and offer him the chance to repent, they might just bring him to Christ. Maybe not all at once. We’ve talked about how God may choose to use a number of different people.
But we know that no matter how bleak it looks, no one, no matter their age, spiritual or physical condition, is too far from Christ’s grasp. We can’t always bring them along, and we don’t want to unnaturally force it. We have to listen and be sensitive to the people we care about as we listen for opportunities to share the gospel message with them and offer them the opportunity, and most importantly, never stop praying!
One other thing we know. God is pursuing Christopher, just as much as anyone else. He might seem very far from God right now, but he’s not really. In fact, I have an illustration that might demonstrate what I’m talking about. I need a volunteer to come up here and help me. Jimmy. All right thank you. Let’s encourage him ok? Clap, clap.
Here’s what you need to do. I’m going to pretend to be God. That way you can show everybody what it’s like to walk away from God. We’re going to start out way over here, and when I say go, you start walking all the way across the room to get as far away as you can. After you get as far away as you can, just going straight to that opposite wall, without turning any corners, and without looking back, I want you turn around and see how far you got, OK? Ok. Ready? OK, GO.
(If that worked, then as the volunteer walked away, I was right behind him by only one step, so that when he turned around I was right there to hug him.)
That’s how it is folks, you might think you’ve wandered very far away from God, or that your loved one is too far away, but then, when we turn around…Boom! There He is, right there, arms open to wide receive the repentant sinner who turns away from sin and turns to God.
We’re the ones who put up the barriers. We’re the ones who decide that a given situation is hopeless. But we worship a God of HOPE. He loves the people that we care for more than we ever could. He died for them. Would you do that? Do you really think that He wants your loved ones lost and separated from Him forever? Would you pay the high price that Jesus paid, purchased with his own blood, and not care for the lost who need to believe in it?
But then, if Jesus cares so much about all those lost souls, why doesn’t He just do it all by Himself then? Well, remember we talked about that way back at the beginning. Why did God use Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones? He didn’t need Ezekiel, but Ezekiel needed to work with God for his benefit. What kind of relationship would we have with God if He just did it all himself and left us on the sidelines?
This will be the last message in the series about evangelism, for now. But the importance of evangelism and the motivation to do it will never be forgotten, right? I’ll even remind you from time to time in future messages.
But next week, I want to really preach the gospel message. I want to spend our morning giving thanks to God for all his blessings, but especially we want to give thanks for God’s amazing grace that gives us the gospel of Jesus Christ on the cross and his power to forgive us and save us for all eternity. It would be a good service to bring your unsaved loved ones to hear. I want to invite them into the family and kingdom of God.
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