Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

            As some of you know, I have been working at building a room in our basement for when Jonathan comes home.

The part of the job that I have been doing this past week is wiring.

I am a rank amateur when it comes to wiring and I have learned a lot.

I learned that if you touch a live wire, you get a little surprise.

I learned that if you plug something into a socket that is not connected to the source of power, nothing happens.

I learned that if the wire is too short to reach the next plug, you will not be able to make a connection.

I also learned that when you are connected to the source of power, when all your wires are connected up properly and you turn on the switch, you get light.

There are a lot of similarities in that to our work of evangelism.

If we are not connected to God, we will have no power in our witness.

If we are not connected with unbelievers, we will not give the light of the gospel.

This morning, as we continue with our study of how we can become involved in evangelism, we will look at how we can make connections with people who need Jesus.

When we become Christians, a whole new world opens up to us.

We find a group of people who love us and who have the same goals as we do.

We enjoy spending time with them and it seems that often we prefer to live our lives in that world.

For people who have grown up in a Christian home, the temptation is even greater and before long, our whole world is lived primarily in the context of believers.

It is comfortable, but it makes it very difficult for us to know how to fulfill the mandate of doing the work of evangelism.

I spoke with someone last week who told me about an experience they had which involved a witnessing campaign.

As a part of the training, they were to go door to door.

The question they were often asked was, “are you Jehovah Witnesses?”

It is hard to make connections when people are suspicious.

At various times, churches which I have been involved with have held evangelistic campaigns.

We were encouraged to invite unbelievers, but I didn’t know any unbelievers well enough to feel comfortable about inviting them.

I am thankful for those who don’t have these same struggles and to whom God has given the gift of evangelism and I believe that as a church we need to free them from all other jobs in the church so that they can concentrate on doing the work of evangelism.

I have discovered that I am not one of those with the gift of evangelism.

On numerous occasions, I have been involved in evangelistic efforts and have realized that I do not handle these things well.

At the same time, I also know that I must be involved in the work of evangelism.

So there is a great tension within me.

I find it difficult to do something that I know I must do.

I feel ineffective in something that I know is of tremendous importance.

That struggle has been good for me.

As I have wrestled to be obedient, I have learned some lessons that I believe will help ordinary Christians to be significantly involved in the work of evangelism.

I would like to share a few of those lessons with you today.

!

I.

We Need To Know God

            We used to live in Cartwright which was less than 8 miles from the US border and we were sometimes able to pick up TV signals from US stations.

On rare days, the signal was clear, but most often, there was just enough signal there to know that there was a channel coming in, but not enough to be able to watch the show.

It was obvious that there was a message there, but the message was not clear.

The starting place for making connections with unbelievers is to make sure that the signal that is coming through us is a clear signal.

The world has a scrambled message about who God is and what it means to have a relationship with Him.

If that signal is not clear in our own life, then we will not be able to make a connection for other people.

Therefore, we need to think about our life and how clear the connection between us and God is.

Are we giving a clear signal?

What are some of the unclear signals and how do we present a clear picture of what God is like and what a relationship to Him is like?

!! A. Love Jesus

            One of the unclear pictures that people have is that they think that God cannot be known.

If people even believe in God, they may see Him as lofty and living way above all that happens on earth.

The communication which people are comfortable with is through angels.

They do not think that a person can know God personally, only through angels.

In recent years, a number of TV shows have illustrated this understanding.

These shows assume that God himself is too far away and too unapproachable.

How do we make it clear that God is both a high and holy God and at the same time a loving Father who wants a relationship with his children?

In order to make connections for people, we need to live lives which are genuinely in love with Jesus.

We will not be able to make a clear connection if we are not making that connection ourselves.

As we think about making connections, we need to examine ourselves and ask, “Do I know God in an intimate way?”

!! B. Get Real

            A second false impression that people have about the gospel is that knowing God is only for the spiritually elite.

People admire Mother Theresa and Billy Graham, but they do not believe that the relationship to God that these people have is for the ordinary person.

We reinforce that impression when we put on an act for people to demonstrate that we are spiritual.

That does not mean that we should act in unrighteousness, but it also means that we should not act “holier than thou.”

The only way to remove that false impression is to live real lives.

People need to see that we are quite ordinary people, that we are not perfect or a breed apart, but that we are just like they are, except for the power in our lives.

As they learn that we are real, but still have a relationship with God, they will be able to consider the possibility of a relationship with God.

!! C. Rejoice

Our oldest son is really into camping.

At one time, he learned that when you go camping, especially in winter, you should always wear wool, never cotton because cotton does not insulate well.

He had a saying that became a family joke.

He would say repeatedly, that cotton “sucks the life right out of you.”

There are many people who have the impression that being a Christian “sucks the life right out of you.”

They think that being a Christian is boring and means that you have to give up on all fun in life.

The wrong way to remove that wrong impression is to participate fully in all the things of the world.

The right way to change that impression is to live lives that are filled with the joy of knowing Jesus.

If our lives are filled with purity and joy people will see a difference that is attractive.

!! D. Born Free

A fourth fuzzy picture of the gospel that is often reinforced by the way we live is that following God means living by a whole bunch of rules.

Legalism does not communicate the truth about what a relationship with God is all about.

We know we are not saved by our works, so why live as if we are.

Living a Christian life is about freedom - freedom from addictions, freedom from hatred, freedom from obsessions, freedom from fear and freedom to truly live.

The way to dispel that wrong impression is to live as the people who among all people on earth, are most free.

Instead of communicating legalism, we need to communicate freedom in Christ.

For example, in regards to the use of alcohol, legalism would say, with a long face and a longing heart, drinking is wrong and I am not allowed to do so.

With the freedom we have in Christ, however, we are able to live with the recognition that we are free of the need to have alcohol in our lives because we are free of the need to numb our minds and free of the need to fit in with the crowd.

It is as we live in a pure and holy freedom that we will remove the wrong picture.

!! E. Be Who You Are

The last false impression that we will look at that people sometimes get of Christians is that they are no different than anyone else.

When they see Christians who lie and steal, who cheat on their taxes, who demonstrate prejudice, jealousy and lack of forgiveness, they get a distorted impression of what God intended.

Unfortunately, that impression is often more accurate than it ought to be.

It is quite obvious what we need to do in order to change that impression.

As we live lives of integrity and faithfulness, people will see what God is really like and what it really means to know Him.

We need to be very careful to live so that what we live does not undermine our evangelistic intentions.

“The gospel will be perceived as a feasible alternative when those who do not know God have some positive, personal experiences with people who do know Him.”

How can we live with freedom, joy, integrity and a genuine love for Jesus and thus make connections for unbelievers?

The only way that such a life is possible is by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22, 23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.”

So it is obvious that we need the Holy Spirit of God ruling our lives.

That kind of a life is possible as Ephesians 5:18 commands us, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.

Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

Are we allowing God’s Holy Spirit to fill our lives?

!

II.