Sermon Tone Analysis

At an old seminary, there was a custom that the president could call on any student on any day for that morning’s chapel sermon.

One young man was petrified, and each day he dreaded going to chapel.

Sure enough, one day the president looked over the audience, pointed directly at him, and said, “Young man, you are preaching our sermon today.”

As he ascended the platform he was a nervous wreck.

His mouth was dry, his knees were knocking together, his hands were shaking, him mind was reeling, and finally he stammered, “How many of you know what I am going to say today?”

Nobody raised a hand.

“Then neither do I,” he said, and sat down.

The next day as the students filed into chapel, the president again pointed to the young man, giving him a second time.

Again, the young man was gripped with stage fright, his hands and knees shaking.

With a tremor in his voice, he finally stammered, “How many of you know what I am going to say today?”

This time everyone raised their hand.

“Then if you already know, I don’t need to tell you,” the young man said and promptly sat down.

The president of the seminary was angry, but he decided to give the young man one last chance.

The next day, he again called on the student, and this time the student was even more nervous than before.

At last he muttered, “How many of you know what I am going to say today?”

This time, half the students raised their hands and the other half didn’t.

“Then those of you who know,” he said, “please tell those of you who don’t!”~* [i]

            This is the essence of evangelism: /for those of us who know to tell those of us who don’t know.

/Evangelism is everybody’s business, and the 4th Biblical purpose of the church.

In my experience, I’ve seen different approaches to evangelism.

/            /Some people are very passionate about evangelism.

They talk about soul-winning and leading people to the Lord a lot.

On the other hand a lot of Christians don’t think a lot about evangelism.

They think winning people to Christ is the preacher’s job, or the missionaries’ job.

But I wonder how many of us understand Jesus calls us to win the world, but we’re really unsure just how to do it?

What this group wants to know is, “How can I reach the lost?”  

/            /I want us to address these issues tonight as we look at *Matt.

28:18-19*.

/ /

*PRAYER*

 

 

 

Like all of the Bible, the context of these verses is very important.

Jesus has died for the sins of the world, risen again, and is now spending some bonus time with His disciples.

Sometime during these special days, Jesus gives them this Great Commission.

But this isn’t the only place you will hear Him give these marching orders.

In fact /He repeats this commission at least 4 times.

/*Mark 16:14-15; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8*.

Why does Jesus repeat this command 4 times?

There is a rule of Biblical interpretation I learned a long time ago: when God repeats something in His Word, He does it to emphasize what He says.

/Jesus  is stressing the importance of evangelism.

/Jesus wants His followers, both in the 1st century and the 21st century to understand evangelism is not an option, but a /command /from God to /all/ of His people—both as individuals and as the Body of Christ.

But what does this command involve?

What is it Jesus is commanding us to do?

He makes it very clear.

First of all He says /Go…/ Our Lord has a very different philosophy about evangelism than many churches.

Some Christians seem to have this idea /Let’s make the church attractive, get a nice building, some good music and preaching, welcome everybody who comes in the door and we’ll fill up the church.

/I call this the “Field of Dreams” approach: /if you build it, they will come.

/It’s pretty attractive because once you get everything in place, you can just sit back and wait for the crowds to start streaming in.

There’s only one problem: /that’s not Jesus’ plan for winning the world.

/

He says /go…/This word is what in English class you learn is an /action /verb because, well, it means you have to /do something/.

You can’t sit and go; you can’t stand and go; you’ve got to move.

You’ve got to move out of your comfortable pew, move out of your comfort zone, not wait for the lost to come to you but to go where /they /are and bring the Gospel /to them/.

That is not so attractive.

Cartoonist Doug Hall sarcastically put it like this:

The question is, /How do we win the world to Christ ... with a minimum of fuss and bother?/ [ii]

     The answer is /you won’t win the world to Christ that way.

/Evangelism is an action verb.

It involves effort and energy and dedication and commitment.

You cannot obey Christ’s command here by sitting in church and waiting for sinners to come to church.

In some way, you and I are commanded to go where they are.

So who exactly are we called to go /to? /Jesus makes that pretty clear also: /Go into all the world…/Now think about this for a minute: He gave this command to people living before the invention of the automobile, before the invention of the railroad, before the Wright brothers figured out how to fly.

At least one of them had to wonder /how in the world can we go into all the world?/

I’m sure some of them asked that question.

I do know Christians today ask the same question.

You’re a stay at home mom, a husband with a steady job, a student who hasn’t even graduated from High School.

/How in the world do you go into all the world?

/

            Well one thing Jesus did was to break down this task into manageable units in

*Acts 1:8* …/you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth./

/            /He’s speaking to His followers in Jerusalem---their home-base.

/You can bring the Gospel to your own community.

/That’s how those words would translate into our situation today.

But don’t stop there.

/…in all Judea…./That

would be the province in which Jerusalem was a part.

For us that might include our county, our state, our own country—what FWBs call /home missions.

/But don’t stop there.

/…and Samaria…/Here’s the first big leap.

Jews and Samaritans hated one another.

For centuries they had hated one another.

One of the prayers of a good Jew of those days was /I thank you Lord I was not born a dog of a Samaritan.

/There is a cultural barrier of prejudice and race and religion between these two groups of people.

But Jesus includes Samaria in their mission, and later on, in *Acts 8:4-8* a man named Phillip preaches in Samaria and people are saved and healed and filled with joy.

Samaria represents all of those people who are different from us, people who are separated from us by economic, social, or even racial barriers.

/Bring them the Gospel?

Yes, /Jesus says /bring them the Gospel.

/

Finally we get to the final frontier—/…to the end of the earth…/Jesus wants His Gospel spread all over the world, to every person, in every language and culture.

Now let’s finish out this mission back in *Matt.

28:19* by answering the question /what are we supposed to go and *do*?

…make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…./That

involves 2 things:

1)    Bringing the Gospel to them

2)    Leading them to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ (symbolized by baptism in

water).

In other words, our mission is not just to get people to church (as important as this is.)

Our mission is to lead people to surrender their lives by faith and become committed followers of Jesus Christ.

/This /is the mission of the church./

Brothers and sisters, this is the mission of Gray’s Chapel Free Will Baptist church.

/Jesus does /not /call us /just/ to reach the people in our own families, or /just /in our own communities, or even /just /in our own country—/He calls us to reach the world.

/That’s not my idea, or the mission board’s idea—/it is His idea.

Christ expects every single one of us to be involved in the mission of winning the world for Christ./

The logical question is simple: /how?

/Does the Lord expect us all to quit our jobs and move overseas and become missionaries?

For some of us, maybe He is calling us to do just that.