Easy Evangelism by Osmosis
Notes
Transcript
Chinning It
Chinning It
Years ago we hired, back at AlphaTrac, we hired a bright young junior developer named Chin. She knew all the things, seemed super smart and motivated, great resume. We made her an offer, she accepted and got started.
And things seemed like they should work out.
We got her all setup with the computer and our code base… we got her all the credentials she needed, we had a few days of orientation, teaching her where all the things were and how to get started.
But she had this funny little quirk.
2, 3 times a day she would fall asleep at her desk. For 20 minutes. 40 minutes. Going on an hour.
At first we thought, oops, funny thing that happened once. Let’s let it go.
Then… I think she’s asleep again, let’s subtly wake her up.
A couple days in she falls asleep while I am working with her to show her how to do something. Now it’s a problem.
So we have a conversation. Hey, I see that you are having some trouble staying awake at work. Is there anything going on? Are you getting enough sleep? Any medical concerns? Anyway that I can help you?
We want to work with you… we just need you to be awake at work in order to pull that off!
“Oh yes, I was just tired, won’t happen again.”
Guess what? It did happen again. And again. The difference now was she put her sunglasses on first. I STILL KNOW that you’re sleeping!!!
In the end, we had to fire her.
She had all the qualifications.
She showed up to work.
She knew the things. Was smart enough.
But… she didn’t do the main thing. The reason we had hired her, to develop, to write code, moving the mission of the company forward… and it didn’t matter that she was there… she wasn’t doing her job.
Now, this, church, isn’t a company. But we do have a mission. A reason for existing.
Mission of Next Step
Mission of Next Step
As we talk about who we are and what are we doing here… what does it mean to be a church. What is our mission?
Our “mission statement” has been this:
Our mission is to encourage and equip people to take the next bold steps toward Christian belief, maturity, and ministry.
So many things I love about it. So much good and truth in there. I might rephrase it just a bit.
We have talked about the beautiful simplicity of “love God, love others.” We want to be famous for the way we do that within our fellowship. We want to be bold, even risky, loving the “least of these” outside our fellowship.
But why, again, are we still on this plain of existence? Why, after coming to “Christian belief”, salvation, doesn’t God whisk into eternity? Then we would easily be able to pursue further belief, certainly grow into maturity, and minister in the Kingdom for the King! It would be great, it WILL be great!
Why don’t we skip to that part? That’s exactly Jesus’ first disciples wanted?
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
They want the end-zone. They want heaven and eternity and victory! Me too.
Instead, Jesus gives them the mission. Be his witnesses.
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
So what is the mission of the church? To be His Witnesses. This was a reminder in Jerusalem of a mission he had given them, already in his resurrected body, on a mountain in Galilee. Famously called the “Great Commission”:
Great Commission
Great Commission
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Go
Go
While you are going. The implication is that you will be going, always. While you are going… it picks up some of that imperative from the next piece, but the idea here is that in everything you are doing, everywhere you are going...
Make disciples
Make disciples
This is the command. This is the center of the text. What did Jesus do? He made disciples, he invited people to follow Him, he taught them, modeled to them, and expected them to look and act like him.
Baptizing them
Baptizing them
This part we love. Party on!
Teaching them
Teaching them
We like the “teaching them” part.
“Teaching them to know all that I have commanded you.”
Nope.
“Teaching the to observe [or do] all...” So they learn how to love God… love others… inside and outside the fellowship. And they learn to make disciples too, this is self-referential, self-replicating.
Disciples who make disciples.
That is the mission. That is why Jesus didn’t remake heaven and earth in that moment. He was looking to extend His Kingdom forward through space and time, across the earth, to the ends of the earth, and for thousands of years… and all those disciples would be a part of that mission.
Down to you and I now. We are on the forefront of that battle, on the frontlines of the Kingdom of God. Commanded to be His Witnesses. To be his disciples by making disciples who make disciples, obeying all Jesus has commanded us.
And those disciples who first heard these words probably didn’t think it was possible… but they did it. That’s the story of Acts.
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
And boldness is what is required. Holy Spirit boldness.
That doesn’t mean we all suddenly become extroverts. It doesn’t mean we all suddenly have the spiritual gift of evangelism.
Boldness is not aggressive or rude or confrontational, necessarily.
It is παρρησία, “a use of speech that conceals nothing and passes over nothing.” You say what needs to be said. Openness, courage, fearlessness!
Here is the sobering question:
Are We Living This?
Are We Living This?
Are we living this out?
Or are we “Chinning” it? Have we fallen asleep? Are we showing up, capable of the right things, smart enough… but not actually fulfilling the mission He has given us?
Have we ever? Yes. We have some “Ws”. We have some wins for the Kingdom.
But is this our practice? Is this our focus? Is this in our DNA? Or is it a happy accident that happens sometimes?
Do we act like this is our mission?
Invite and Include
Invite and Include
We are called to be His Witnesses: in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the World. We have this beautiful method of evangelism called “Invite and Include.” Don’t worry, I love that, and it is more Scriptural than I ever realized, it features prominently in our Expanded Covenant, and we will live it out as it was meant.
But we need to confess and repent: “Invite and Include” can become code for “live your life and hope it happens.” It can be twisted as an excuse.
It has been that in me. That’s my confession. In me, “Invite and Include” becomes code for easy evangelism by osmosis.
Jesus commands us to “Go” and to “make”. It is intentional. It requires faith. It requires suffering. If we talk ourselves into a version of “witnessing” that is unintentional, requires no faith and no suffering or discomfort we have sold ourselves a bill of goods. Jesus is not confused.
Months ago the PULSE team reached out to ask the question “Are you being discipled at Next Step?”
Now that’s a good question, a good check in, to see how we are doing. Because we want to be a church that disciples, that challenges you all to move forward and to be built up in knowledge and wisdom, in courage, challenging and equipping and all those good things.
Are you being discipled?
In light of the Mission God gave us… is that the exact wrong question? Does Jesus command his disciples to say “make sure you are being well-discipled?” No! How easily that road leads to consumerism. Am I being fed.
Jesus says “Go! and while you are going make disciples! Teach them.” How can we do that? “I am with you, even to the end of the age!”
And yet we, the church, have trained ourselves to skip this. To opt out. To assume that someone else in the church is doing it. And let’s examine our own fruit, that’s what we are called to do. Our fruit as individuals, our fruit as a church.
What disciples have we made? Who have we discipled? Who are we discipling right now?
I hope and pray that you have some answers. That some names come to mind. I know some of you are actively and faithfully pursuing this.
Testimonies
Testimonies
Last month I challenged you all to write your 5-minute testimony and email it to me. I followed that up with an email saying the same to all of you. I followed that up with another call from the pulpit for those testimonies. I followed that up with yet another email.
Then some of y’all delivered those testimonies at KVD… which was powerful and beautiful… but also should have served as a reminder to write your story… because it is HIS story!
Do you know how many testimonies I received? 9. And 3 of those were my kids I forced to sit down and do it. Maybe more of you did it and chose not to email it to me, that’s okay. But most of you forgot… or didn’t take it seriously, because we have trained ourselves not to take challenges from the pulpit seriously. We are hearers of the Word but rarely doers.
So, in rejection of that false narrative of “easy evangelism by osmosis”, we are going a bit old-school.
We will take our stories, His story and share it. To our friends neighbors. To passer-by’s in the park. To Uber drivers (aka captive audiences). Even while we “Invite and Include” we will practice Bold Witness with random strangers.
If you haven’t shared your faith this week/month/year you have a problem. Maybe you lack:
· The tools: how to share your faith, your story, His story. Intentional questions, active listening, a five-minute testimony, the believer’s prayer.
· The opportunity: how to find the lost (this is sometimes my challenge. Go grocery shopping (grocery store pastors), take an Uber, invite neighbors for s’mores in your driveway.
The courage: Love Jesus, Love Them, embrace suffering.
We are going to work on all of those.
You have two weeks.... here’s what I am asking for. In particular, to those who didn’t get a chance before, or got distracted, or forgot, or wrote it down and never sent it.
Write your five minute testimony.
Here’s a quick and easy outline.
Your life before Christ… before salvation, or before you trusted him with an area of your life. Before.
How. How you came to salvation. How you received grace and forgiveness, freedom in a whole new way.
And after. How has your life in Christ made a difference?
Video yourself saying it. Telling your story. That’s telling His story. And send me the video. If you need help recording, grab a friend, call me, we will make it happen.
And we can share some of the videos in two weeks as part of our worship service.
This shouldn’t feel scary. This should be the easiest thing you know how to do. This should be the most practiced and ready thing you know how to say. Because this is your mission, this is our mission, to be His witnesses.
We want to be a people who live this out, who are disciples of Jesus and so we make disciples of Jesus. In all the ways. From our bold witness, through baptism, through teaching and practice, in everything we do being and making disciples of Jesus.
Invite and Include? Yes.
Old school evangelism? Yes.
Sharing the story of Jesus? Yes.
And so we are going to practice this again and again, making opportunity, creating expectation that every one of us is ready to share His story. His testimony.
We practice with one another so that we know we have the tools, we have the words, to speak as we go. Whenever and wherever we get opportunity.
Then we will go about creating opportunities with one another.
And prayerfully, by the Holy Spirit, encourage one another to the Holy Spirit boldness to actually witness.
As part of the covenant I’ve been sharing I propose we modify our mission statement. We will vote on this in January, but I want to share the idea now.
We are on Mission:
To encourage and equip one another to take the next bold step in being and making disciples of Jesus.