Sermon: "Authentic Evangelism"

2nd in the "Authentic People" series.
Delivered April 26, 2009 by Rev. Laura Crihfield.
Sermon Text: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

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Last week, Pastor John began this series that we're in on authentic faith. And he spoke of how the Thessalonians heard the message of Christ from Paul and his cohorts, that they believed it, and the call that we have on our lives and on the lives of all of us as believers to live authentically for the sake of the gospel. Well today, we're talking about evangelism, specifically Authentic Evangelism.

I'm going to pause and say I understand that might sound like an oxymoron... authentic and evangelism paired together in the same sentence. I know that all of us probably could pretty easily conjure up some images, some pretty bad images, of evangelists that we've either heard or seen over the years, people who've been known for arm-twisting or manipulating things in order to present the gospel or get what they want out of the gospel.

Evangelism has historically, unfortunately, gotten such a bad rap, that as a topic, we often avoid it at all costs. But whether we label it evangelism or witnessing or simply sharing the love of God... the Bible is clear that we are all called to love those around us and to do what we can to lead them to Christ. That's very different than the negative images that can come to mind. But it's a challenge, and it's one that can lead to many mistakes and perhaps some fears along the way.

The video, hysterical video, that we just saw, points out pretty clearly two pitfalls that if we're not careful, we could find ourselves in if we try this work of evangelism. The first is not caring one iota about others, enough to seize the opportunity that Christ puts in front of us, even when they literally walk right by us, right?

The second takes us to, maybe, what we can think of an opposite extreme, caring about evangelism, but being so concerned about saying the right words, having a script, that we're oblivious to the needs of the people to whom we're talking. And we come across as clueless, uncaring... none of us want to come across like either of those two scenarios.

Or perhaps, we're afraid of having our words rejected or laughed at. Or we're fearful of alienation if we speak of Christ. We could all name fears, and they're valid. But our fears don't free us from the reality that as believers we are called to share the love of Christ and the message of salvation with others where we live, work, and play. Thus our focus here at Central is moving people toward Christ where we live, work, and play.

There are countless places that we see this call in the Bible. I want to take a look at just a few to kind of get us thinking about it. Matthew 28:19, perhaps the most well known, known as the Great Commission: "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."

We looked a little earlier in Matthew at chapter 5, verse 16, another, perhaps familiar charge where Jesus is talking about us being the light of the world, and he says "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Or if we look at Acts, chapter 2, about the earliest days of the Christian church community, we hear "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." And here's the result, "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

We could spend hours... we're not going to, but we could spend hours looking at passages of people coming to Christ because of the example, the witness, and the love of the early church community. Today we're looking at one; it's from 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 1 through 16. And it speaks directly to this evangelism challenge. And I want us to look at it together, but before we do, let's ask God to open our hearts as we open his Word. Will you pray with me?

Lord God, thank you for your Word, thank you that it is as alive and relevant for our lives today as when it was written so many years ago. God, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together would be acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

First Thessalonians, chapter 2, 1 through 16, hear the Word of God.

You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.

For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed... God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from any human being, not from you or anyone else even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our prerogatives, Instead we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order to not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your fellow citizens the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

Thanks be to God for his Word. Powerful words, really powerful words, and there's a lot to unpack in there, and I want to do so by starting near the end. It seems a little bit backwards, but I want to start with the end, because we see it, that it's the result. That's what happened. Now remember that Paul is writing this letter to the church in Thessalonica, and he's speaking to them about his time with them. Essentially, he's reminding them of a piece of their history.

And he says in verse 13, "And we also thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe." Wouldn't we love to be able to speak the words of verse 13 to a new generation of believers? I'm not talking about our own children; although, we want to see them come to know Christ as well... a new generation of believers.

To be able to confidently give thanks, like Paul, that people heard the message from us, that God took that message, turned it into his words and that people are living through Jesus Christ because of it. I want that. I know the rest of the leadership of this church wants that. I hope you want it. I hope we all want it. God certainly wants it.

But it's not enough to just want it. To achieve it, we have to know how. Now obviously Paul's approach was pretty effective, right? We see that throughout the New Testament in his epistles. And its worth, in this case, a close look at verses 1 through 12 of this chapter we just read, to see specifically what worked for Paul and his partners, what got them to the point where they were able to confidently give thanks because lives were changed.

So let's take a look. The fist part of this passage, verses 1 through 4, gives us the first key to the success, and it's pretty simple. They did what God asked them to do, no matter what. They were faithful. Despite the opposition that they faced in Philippi, the apostles continued to dare to talk about Jesus. Now this is a really powerful statement for Paul to include here because they had been horribly mistreated in Philippi. Our version says outrageously mistreated.

They were whipped, they were put in stocks, they were essentially tortured... all because of what they were saying for Christ. And to say that they could have been easily discouraged would be an understatement. I think I would have been very discouraged, but they weren't. They still dared to share the gospel.

It's important to note that Paul isn't just talking here about a daring that comes from this kind natural, within myself, I can pull it together and dare to do something, get that kind of courage. That's not what he's talking about here. He is referring specifically to courage given by God to those who believe... a courage that only God can provide. And he does provide when he calls people to specific tasks.

We see this equipping over and over again throughout Scripture, ordinary people called to extraordinary tasks who were fully aware, perhaps like you and I, of their incompetence on their own to succeed. They were fully aware of their need for their reliance on God. They were fully aware that it was God giving them exactly what they needed, when they needed it that allowed them to succeed.

See it's ultimately that dependence that allows for completely pure motives. Paul and the other apostles weren't out for any gain; they weren't trying to trick anyone into anything. And as verse 4 clearly states, they weren't out to please anyone but God whom they loved and whom they knew would test their hearts. And it was that dependence, that focus, that allowed them the tremendous freedom that they felt to say exactly what needed to be said when it needed to be said without worrying about what people thought. They were faithful to their call no matter what. I pray we can be as faithful.

Verses 5 and 6 reiterate the purity of their motives. Paul's again writing a letter, so he repeats himself a few times in here to kind of get his point across. So 5 and 6 reiterate the purity of their motives and their desire to please God. And then in verses 7 and 8, we see another key to their success, and again, it's pretty simple. The first, they were faithful. The second, they loved people. And they not only loved people, but they loved them enough to share their lives with them.

Verses 7 and 8 say "... instead we were like young children among you, just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well."

Paul and his teammates were successful because they loved people. It wasn't clever words said at just the right moment that convinced the Thessalonians to follow after Christ. Yes, they spoke the words when God asked them to, and that's really important for us to remember. You can't just let it be about our actions, there's going to be a point at which God will say, "Speak," and we need to be ready to speak.

But it was about so much more then what they said. It was about living among the people, sharing their lives with them, working with them, laughing with them, crying with them, eating with them... loving them. I love verse 7, referring to their time as being like "a nursing mother caring for her children." I don't think that Paul could have found a more tender and loving image to use to get his point across.

It's really interesting to think about then, verse 11, where again, he talks about that tenderness. And he says in reference to a father caring for each of his children, encouraging, supporting, hoping, extolling them to lead lives worthy of the gospel.

What's really interesting about verse 11, and unfortunately doesn't come across in this particular translation (I love this translation, except verse 11 would be my only critique) is that when I studied the other translations and look at the commentaries on this verse, it became clear that Paul was so interested in individuals and loved them so much that he brought the gospel home to each of them, one by one. That's what he's referring to here; evidently, and most likely although we don't have proof of this, in private conversations.

It's so easy to think of Paul, isn't it, just speaking to the masses, that we forget that he lived among the people to whom he was ministering, and he loved them.

And we see here that some of his most effective moments came about because he loved those he served. He shared his life with them, and he did evangelism the way that you and I are called to do it... one-on-one within the context of our relationships. They couldn't succeed at that, and we can't either, without being authentically who God was calling them to be. By living among and sharing with the Thessalonians, they opened themselves up to being known.

And that's what we're called to as well. It's not always easy and it's not always safe. It requires that our passion for Jesus permeate all we are and all that we say and all that we do. It requires that we be real as we reach out to others with very real needs. It's a challenging call for sure, but it's our call as believers.

I want to shift gears for just a minute and speak directly to any of you who might still be wondering about Jesus and whether or not he fits into your life or you want to fit into his life... wondering if being in a relationship with God is for you. To you, we want to say with all sincerity that your questions are valuable, and they are valid. Keep asking. Ask them.

The challenge to you today, is as you are asking them, find somebody to ask. There's a difference between just asking questions and actually finding somebody to ask. Try to think of somebody you know who has committed their life to Christ, is walking with the Lord and ask them, What difference is it making for you having God a part of your life? What difference does Jesus make in the day to day?

Ask us. If you don't know who to ask, one suggestion... and this is a fairly immediate one... is that after the service, there will be prayer ministers at each wing of the room here. Don't be intimidated by the idea of prayer ministers. They will pray with you if you want them to pray with you, but they will also respond if you simply walk up to them and say, "Tell me, what difference does Jesus make?" They're prepared to talk about it. The point is we need to be asking. God will provide the answers, and we're willing to share, so please ask us.

We're also willing to admit that often Christians, ourselves included here at Central, wear a mask over our lives in some attempt to seem perfect. We don't do this always, but we do it often enough that it deserves an apology. We know that you know the truth that we're not perfect, but we put it on anyway, and we're sorry for that. We really, really are sorry for that.

We're sorry for the times that you haven't seen a difference in the way that we live, in the way that we love. What you need to know is that as a community of faith here at Central, we are striving, as imperfectly as it might be at times, to live more authentically and to let others see the difference that Jesus is making in our lives. Our desire, no matter how difficult, is to be real with our joys and our struggles.

Life, as we all know, can be difficult. There's no getting around that. What you deserve to see in us, who claim to believe that Jesus makes a difference, is the reality that he does. But in order to do that, we have to let you in. We have to let you into the midst of the hard times and let you in close enough to see that Jesus is making a difference.

And again, we're sorry for the times that we have not done that. We are now... I'm giving permission for all of you I hope, that are believers, you might be squirming a little bit, but for me, I can speak directly for myself at this point... ask me. Ask us what kind of a difference Jesus is making and force us to let you in close enough to see the difference. Ask us.

Now for the rest of us who might be squirming in our seats right now, who I might have made very nervous by all that I just said, who are tempted to wear the mask of perfection that I just referred to... don't. Again, I'm speaking to myself. Don't put on the mask, for Jesus' sake, take it off. If we put on that mask, we're doing a huge disservice to the work of God.

The people in our lives know better than to think we have it all together. They know better. We aren't fooling anyone; we're only causing others to doubt that God can make a difference because we're not allowing them to see it. Our most powerful witness comes when we allow others a glimpse into our lives, warts and all, and share with them the difference that knowing Christ can make in the midst of it all. That's what we are being asked to dare to do. To love Jesus in such a way that it spills over to all into all that we do and all that we say and we allow people to see it.

A story... many of you know that Judd and I have two children, Anna is almost two, and Joshua is almost seven. Many of you also know, and this will not come as a surprise, that Joshua is a sports nut... complete nut. It's the only way to describe him. He lives and breathes anything sports-related and spends much of his days in an imaginary world of conference championships, final fours, lacrosse games, single-hold play-offs for the Masters, and Word Series, among others.

He's a sport-of-the-day kind of sports fan. He goes with whatever happens to be played that day, and he puts on the appropriate uniform to make it work. His floor in his bedroom, you don't want to see it most days. So it wasn't surprising to hear about a month ago, that he had created in his mind an ACC Championship Basketball game. We were in the middle of Final Four, March Madness, all that, right?

Now I asked him permission to tell this, you need to know that because... and I realize he's getting older, that he's six, almost seven, and I needed to ask him because some of his friends might be in here and he might, himself, be in here, although I did see him go downstairs. But when I asked him, he did point out to me that it would be very helpful if I let you know that it's now a volleyball tournament that he's created in his mind. It's not an ACC Basketball Championship.

So if you're talking to him about this, please make sure that you know that he knows that I pointed that out. So anyway, back in March, he was talking about this ACC Championship, and the point remains, he was so excited about this that you just couldn't believe it. He was so excited in fact, that he decided that he was going to invite his entire class from school, along with other friends from school, not necessarily sports-fans friends, just other friends, and he was going to invite them over to our house and we were going to play this championship game.

He knew who would be on which team, he knew what we would have for snacks, he knew what colors everyone was going to where. He was going to tell them in advance of course. And he knew the date... May 1. A little late, right, for the basketball championship. Well he had considered every detail except a fairly crucial possibility, which was that there just might, even as exciting as this was, be a few people who wouldn't really want to come to our house to play an ACC Championship game in our basement on a carpeted floor that doesn't have a real basketball hoop... on May 1.

So as his mother, I took it upon myself to try to dissuade him of this idea. That went over well, didn't it? Yeah. I should have expected that despite all my attempts to not get over him the idea of a party, because I thought that that would be really fun, you know, to make it more generic party. Maybe we could have a May Day party, maybe we could do something that a wider variety of people might want to attend and have fun at.

Well, I should have expected his response... he wasn't convinced. He didn't care. He still wants to have an AC (well, now its volleyball, but you got the point), he still wants to have this party, that's totally sports-related, and he doesn't care what people's response is, whether they want to come or not. He is excited about it, he loves it, and he wants to share that because he just knows it's going to be a ball of fun. More power to him. Good for him, I think we got a party in our future. Ready for that one?

Well back to authentic evangelism, it seems to me that the question before us, both individually and as a congregation, is really direct. Do we care? Do we care about the cause of Christ like Joshua cares about the cause of sports? We're working on the cause of evangelism too... but sports. Are we so passionate and concerned about our neighbors, our colleagues, our family members who don't yet know Jesus that we can't help but share that passion and are willing to risk a bad response? Do we care?

It's caring that provides the motivation to set aside our fears and put ourselves on the line for Jesus. If we don't care, we won't act. And if we don't act, we don't care. There's no easy way to say it, and I know it's hard to hear, and again, I'm speaking to myself, every time I have failed to reach out to the people God puts in my path, I have failed to meet them at the deepest level of their need. It's not about the words. God will give us the words when we need them. But friends, God is calling us to care. He's calling us to act. He's calling us to live what we believe and do the work of an evangelist.

I want to take just a moment to think really practically about this call, and it's going to be quick. If you have a bulletin or another piece of paper, can you grab it and maybe grab the pen or the pencil that you had a few minutes ago... this is going to be quick, I promise. Somewhere on that, in the note section or somewhere on a piece of paper, where you'll remember to look at it later, I want you to write down a name.

Now there are two groups or categories that you might fall into on this. If you are in that group that I was talking to earlier, for those who are seeking after Jesus, not quite sure where you fit... I would encourage you to write down the name, if you've got one in your mind, of someone you could talk to, someone who will give it to you straight, someone who will be real with you, someone who will answer your questions about what a difference Jesus makes. That's the name for you to write down. Again, if you're not able to think of a name, please ask me, ask one of the other pastors, or ask any number of people sitting in this room.

If on the other hand, you're in the category of believer, then the call for you is to write down the name of somebody who God is putting on your heart to reach out to this week. That's the name for you to write down. Maybe you'll think of it in the next minute or two, maybe it's going to come to you this afternoon. Maybe it's going to come to you tomorrow. But God will bring to mind somebody for you to share with, if you're open to that.

I want to give us some examples because I don't want us to walk out of here saying "Okay, I've got a name, but what do I do with it? I've got a name, but I don't know how to act. I don't know what to do. This is scary, this is complicated, this is... whatever." I want us to be able to put aside some of those fears, and so I asked for some help from the Worship Arts Team and we got some brainstormed ideas.

These are just off the top of our heads... you are far more creative then we are, you could put, you know, all these great ideas, you could come up with more. These are just to get the juices flowing on what you could do. Again, not complicated, but if one of these kind of strikes you, write it down.

Here's the first one, very complicated: If you see a neighbor, or a friend, or a colleague, and you're having one of those weird days that we all have sometimes, go ahead and smile anyway. Say hi. Let them know that you're there and that you care about them... even if we're having a weird, hard day. It's pretty simple.

Maybe you're a gardener, I'm a gardener. I didn't think of this idea, but I love this idea: Buy an extra flat of inexpensive flowers, buy some cups at the Dollar Store, plant the flowers, you know, one in each cup, and either with your children or by yourself or whoever, walk around your neighborhood and hand out flowers. Who wouldn't get a smile on their face with that? It's pretty simple. People might wonder what's going on with you, and what's making you tick. That's what we want them wondering.

Or maybe you could host a backyard or a neighborhood cookout. Again, it doesn't have to be on you, don't make it all complicated. Ask them to bring something, just open your yard up to them and get to know your neighbors. One Central member hosted a breakfast on the lawn. She set the date, she said whoever was available was welcome to come, bring a chair, bring something to share. I think she provided the cups and the drinks, paper products maybe and the drinks. Again, not complicated, she had the whole rest of her day and breakfast, as we found in our family, is a time of day that's great for people. Almost everybody's available for breakfast on a Saturday morning.

Maybe at work you could host a brown-bag lunch with co-workers, or invite a co-worker or two out to lunch with you to get to know them a little bit. Host your child or your own sports team for a picnic. The ideas are endless. We could just keep coming up with them. The idea here is to recognize that we don't want to make it complicated, we don't want to make it hard, we don't want to make it too scary, or we're not going to do it. And it doesn't have to be those things. But it has to be done.

It has to be done if we are going to be able to confidently proclaim the words of verse 13, like Paul and his partners were able to, thankfully praising God that others heard the message, responded, and were following Christ with all that they are. It has to be done if we're going to be able to say that with confidence. I pray we care enough to get it done.

Let's pray: Lord God, thank you. Thank you for your Word, thank you for the challenge that's before us. God, it's hard to think about sometimes, but I pray that you would help us to set aside our fears, to do what you're calling us to do, and to love those around us, to share our lives with them, that they might come to know Jesus. We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

© 2009, Rev. Laura Crihfield
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org