P.E.W.S. of the Church: ‘E’ is for Evangelism

Sermon Title: The P.E.W.S. of the Church – ‘E’ is for Evangelism

Good News Statement: God provides us with Good News

Preached: Sunday, August 15, 2021 at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NIV): Matthew 28:16-20 – Today’s scripture reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 thru 20. Listen to what the LORD is saying:

The Great Commission

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Mark 16-15-18: “15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.

Luke 24:45-49: “45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

John 20:21-23: “21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Acts 1:8: “8 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.”

Introduction:

A new pastor was visiting the homes of his parishioners. At one house it seemed very obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, the pastor took out a business card in which he wrote “Revelation 3:20” on the back of it, and stuck it in the door.

            When the offering was collecting the following Sunday, the pastor found that his business card had been returned.

            Added to it was this cryptic message, “Genesis 3:10.” Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, the pastor broke up in gales of laughter. Revelation 3:20 begins, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” And Genesis 3:10 reads, “I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid to respond for I was naked.”

I don’t know about you, but I would be both afraid and uncomfortable answering the door with nothing on; so, I understand why this person was afraid to answer the door and provide hospitality to their pastor.

However, I ask you today, how many of you are afraid to answer the door: to welcome or invite the person on the other side into your home, to do as Christ would do—provide food to those who are hungry, provide a drink to those who are thirsty, provide clothes to those who are naked, and provide and welcome a stranger. How many of you are afraid to answer the door because you don’t know what or who is on the other side? How many of you are afraid to even knock on the door.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, together, call us on a daily basis to “go.” As a matter of fact, within both the Old and New Testaments, we are reminded at least ten times to “go” do something for the sake of God’s Kingdom. Whether we are told to go and save the Israelites as Moses is commanded or to go assemble the elders of Israel or to go and be sent as Jesus orders the Seventy-two in the Gospel of Luke or to go and be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth as Jesus proclaims in the book of Acts before his ascension or to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ, as the Great Commission of Matthew insists, for the transformation of the world, we are told by God and Jesus to go out into the world proclaiming the good news. But are we listening to what God is telling us to do? Are we avoiding God’s commission because we are afraid and naked? What is holding us back from sharing the good news?

Opening Prayer:

            Let us pray… Dear Heavenly Father, allow this message to be a reflection of the power of your Holy Spirit so that your message will transform and shape us into true vessels of your Word. Help us to not be afraid to share the good news of your Son, Jesus Christ, within this church as well as in the community. Help us to gain confidence in your teachings as we go and share with this world the healing power of your grace. I pray that my words fall to the ground and that words settle in the hearts of all those before me. In your name we pray, Amen.

           

Body:

The ‘E’ in P.E.W.S. stands for evangelism. Let’s examine how Jesus informs us to share the good news by looking at the FIVE commission statements of the New Testament.

In Acts chapter 1 verse 8, Luke, the supposed author of Acts, states “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus Christ through Luke begins our call to evangelism by suggesting that we all become witnesses. But witnesses to what? Author Brenda McNeil claims that to be a witness for one’s self and for others is to embrace, without fear, the “mandate of God.” The mandate of God is to embrace the notion that we are called to be reconcilers for those who need to know God’s salvation. “Our mandate and calling,” according to McNeil, “is to live differently from the world around us so that all people—regardless of their differences—might be drawn into a divine relationship with God and each other as a new act of creation.”

We are called to be witnesses of God’s ability to reconcile those within and outside our church community. As a matter of fact, we are called to witness “to the ends of the earth.” And the ability to witness begins with having God in our heart. Compelled by the love of God for us and for the world, we choose to follow a divine mandate: we choose to share with others the same love that God has given us through our witnessing. To witness is not to shy away from the needs of our neighbor; instead, as witnesses, we are called to embrace the needs of our neighbor as we share with them meaning and importance of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To witness is to share the good news; and to share the good news is to not only see the work of Christ in our community, but it is to below to the work of Christ in our community. As Paul states in his epistle to the people of Ephesus, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10) with others walking by our side. To evangelize, is to be witness to the good news.

Not only are we called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, but we are called to share the peace that passes all understanding as we are sent out to the ends of the earth. John notes in his Gospel, “Jesus said to them [the disciples] again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Jesus is calling us to bring peace to his people. This peace is the good news of Jesus Christ—the very news that reassures us that we are forgiven of our sins, that salvation has been granted to us, and that the love of Christ rests at the center of our mission. Jesus through John, is giving us peace so that we can give peace to rest of the world. And we all know, that this world needs peace. As a matter of fact, I believe that good news of Christ is found within the saying, “World Peace.”

After receiving the peace of Christ, after being told “Peace be with you,” Jesus shares that “I am sending you”—“As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15), Christ is sending us out into this crazy world to bring peace to all those who “are weary and burdened.” We are to go out into the world letting people know that Jesus is there to comfort them, to give them rest, and to assure them through his “gentle and humble heart” (Matthew 11), Jesus will always be there for them as he has been there for you. Sure people may push you away or shut the door in your face or hang up the phone on you, but after seeing your “respectful and pure conduct” (1 Peter 3:2), they may realize that accepting Christ is not a danger but instead a life changer. And what you do, not matter the outcome, it will be pleasing in the sight of God our Savior (1 Timothy 2:3), because you are doing what you have been told: sharing peace within a world seeking the peace that passes all understanding.

Before John and Luke share their commission statements, Luke, in his own Gospel, combines the act of witness and being sent in an intertwined way that highlights the sacrifices that Jesus made so that we, too, can make sacrifices to keep his Kingdom alive. After Luke shares with those around that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name, Luke writes in his Gospel, “You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you…” (Luke 24:48-49). If Jesus accepted was willing to accept his punishment and suffer for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins, then why are we not sharing this good news with those around us? If Christ is willing to allow us to seek repentance, then why are we not offering repentance to our neighbors? If Christ is preparing us for his Kingdom by having us witness these miracles, then why are we waiting for people to find us when we can be meeting people where they are and telling them about the miracles of Christ? Why are we choosing to remain still when Christ is continually telling us that he is sending us out into the world to share his good news and to invite others to know about him and the works that he has done?

What Luke is hinting at by saying that through Christ’s suffering we have been forgiven and that we are to share this with the world, is what Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” As evangelists, we are not called to convert. Rather we are called to share and invite, and to let others know that what has happened in the past has passed away because through Jesus Christ, you and I can be made new. By witnessing and being sent, we are called to bring Christ’s new creation to all those who are willing to be present in the miracles of Jesus Christ.

From witnessing to being sent out, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is now demanding that we “go” do what he has declared upon us. As the Psalmist reminds us, “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalm 96:3). Here in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is holding nothing back: He is urging us to “go” and proclaim the gospel. According to Mark, in his last chapter of his Gospel, Jesus said to the disciples, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 15:15). We are no longer allowed to sit around and await. Jesus wants us to go now and to proclaim the gospel to the whole creation—to those outside of this church, to those in the community, to those at our places of work, to those at our school, to friends and family, to anyone that we meet. We are to go, like Moses is told to go assemble the elders of Israel; we are to go, like Jesus commands the woman’s daughter after being healed of the demon; we are to go, like Jesus commands the man who was cured of leprosy. We are to go and meet people where they are. We are to go as Jesus did and commands us.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus is found amongst the people: he is in the Synagogues, he is in the streets, he is the peoples’ homes, and he is even on a boat proclaiming the Gospel news. Jesus is going and declaring the glory of his Father to all nations. Jesus is devoting himself to public reading of the Scripture to exhortation, and to teaching (1 Timothy 4:13). Jesus preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near (Ephesians 2:17). Jesus even entered into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, after John was arrested (Mark 1:14). It is even stated in Mark chapter 1, “And Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go onto the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out” (Mark 1:38). Jesus came to provide us with instruction on how to go and proclaim the gospel to all nations. And part of his instructions is to remind us that we are to “go” where the people need us. To be an evangelist of Christ, we must be willing to “go” where Christ needs us to be.

But what are we to do when we go? Matthew, in his Gospel, provides some direction for this question. Matthew writes, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). We are to “go,” “make,” “baptize,” and “teach” others about the wonderful news of our Lord and Savior. When we “go”, we are to do so in a manner that meets people where they are. We are to share the good news with intentions of invitation and not conversion. We are to share the good news as we go about our daily lives. We are to share the good news as if what we learn on Sunday is carried to Monday, to Tuesday, to Wednesday, to Thursday, to Friday, to Saturday, and back to Sunday. We are to go and be on the move just like Jesus was moving from town to town.

As we go, we are to make disciples of Jesus Christ. To make disciples is to focus on the calling of individuals to absolute commitment to the person of Jesus Christ. We are to make disciples in such a way that reassures that each disciple is one with Christ, one with other disciples, and one in ministry to the world or to all nations. Just like Jesus, who broke through a variety of barriers to call his people, we are to do the same as we seek to invite others to experience the good news. And this good news is not only meant for us, but it is meant for “all nations.” We are to go into all nations seeking to baptize others in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptizing describes the activity by which a new disciple identifies with Jesus and his community. As baptized persons we have agreed that we have rejected the evil powers of this world and have repented of our sins; we have accepted the freedom and power of God; and we have confessed Jesus Christ as our Savior. We are to offer this same experience to all who wish to be washed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Through baptism we are to teach others to obey what Jesus has commanded his disciples: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind…and to love your neighbor as love yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). We are to teach others of Jesus’ miraculous works. We are to teach others that Jesus forgives them of their sins. And we are to teach others that Jesus will be with them always. As evangelists we are to go and bring others to Jesus Christ that they will in turn become disciples, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit so that they can go into all nations proclaiming and teaching the good news of Jesus Christ. The news that Christ loves them for who they are.

Conclusion:

Now I understand that not everyone is called to be the evangelist who goes from door to door, from person to person, or from business to business sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. For some of us, sharing about our faith in public or even with others is frightening—creating this feeling that we are naked and afraid. And that’s okay. But I want you to know that Jesus is with you and will use you according to your gifts. The act of evangelism is different for everyone; however, sharing the good news is what keeps the kingdom of Jesus alive. It is up to us to continue to grow God’s Kingdom. Through are willingness to witness, proclaim, teach, baptize, make, bring peace, and to go, we are all called to be evangelists. The question becomes, are you doing your part? Are you sharing the good news with others? If not, then what is holding you back? Isaiah reminds us, “Don’t be afraid; I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13, CEB).

I leave you with these words from Isaiah, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Isaiah 52:7, ESV).

Closing Prayer:

Backpack Blessings and Blessings of the Teachers and Students

Gracious God, thank you for teaching us.

You give us wisdom now to help us in the future.

We are grateful for this new year in which we may grow in

faith, friendship, and the love of Jesus.

We pray for all students in our community.

Thank you for their curiosity, hope, and kindness.

Help our students to listen for your voice,

as they explore Scripture and seek to live what they believe.

We pray for all teachers.

Thank you for giving them dedication, experience, and insight.

Sustain them by your Spirit with creativity, patience, peace, and joy.

Continually guide and bless all parents, families, and

the whole congregation throughout this year.

We ask this in the name of Jesus, who asked and answered many questions. Amen.

 

Benediction:

            Remember, that has you seek to meet people where they are through the act of evangelism, Jesus is with you always to the end of the age. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, go, share the good news and serve the Lord. Amen, Amen, Amen.