I was one way… And now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between… Was Him“.
Repeat.
That is a quote from Mary Magdalene in the TV series about Jesus' public ministry called The Chosen.
She is trying to explain to someone who was witness to her transformation, from having seven demons as the scripture indicates in Luke 8:2 to being of sound mind and heart.
She was trying to explain how that happened.
Mary. of course, went on to be a key disciple of Jesus. She was one of those who funded Jesus' public ministry, who encountered the resurrected Christ at the tomb, and was the very first witness to the fact that Jesus was resurrected.
“ I was one way… And now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between… Was Him“.
Today we are wrapping up our September series on evangelism. Or at least this is the last direct sermon for now on this message,
and we will be having the Bible study after the service as well as the Thursday Bible chat to dig deeper into the scriptures and into the application of what we’re going to talk about today.
Next week, on the first Sunday of October, we are moving on to discussing how it is that we discover our specific individual purpose within the body of Christ.
That will be another series where we discuss spiritual gifts, ministry passions, and what we uniquely bring in terms of a personality to the ministry or Ministries that God has called us to and is calling us too.
But even though in a sense this is the last message on evangelism for now, my prayer and my deep hope is that we will all continue to grow in our love for the gospel,
and in our eager willingness to always be able to give an account for the hope that we have in Christ, when people ask us.
This past Thursday, a number of individuals who regularly attend our Thursday fireside Bible chat, shared the very short and concise, 30 second version of their testimonies.
The previous week we had some discussion and a little bit of training about how to do that.
Honestly I was very moved by how and what people shared as they expressed their testimony.
Part of the challenge of being prepared to share your testimony, is doing the work of thinking about and meditating upon how God first got your attention, perhaps who was involved in sharing the gospel with you, and then a little bit about why and how you come to faith.
This coming Thursday, those who wish to will share the one minute and/or the three minute version of their testimonies, again as training,
as preparation for being able to be ready to articulate the reason that they are a Christian, and how they came to faith.
What is the value of sharing our testimony? It is potentially a Gateway, it is something that can create an open door to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is demonstrating the impact on you of who Jesus is and what he has done for you, and for those whose hearts God has prepared, again it can be an “in“, or gateway to further conversation about the gospel.
It could also be a gateway to inviting someone to church or inviting someone to a Bible study, someone who is seeking God, someone who is exploring faith.
Now sharing our testimony as an opportunity for further dialogue to sharing the gospel is something that excites some people and terrifies others.
It excites some because as Pastor Arleen talked about last week, it’s in our DNA as the Church to want to share our faith, to share the gospel, the incredibly good news of the saving and redeeming work of the Gospel.
It’s in our DNA, it’s in our genetic make up to want to, in a sense, self-replicate in order to perpetuate all that is good and wholesome about the gospel, and about the Body of Christ that results from the gospel.
It’s also true that once we share our faith the first time, there is often a wonderful sense of joy and an increased desire to share more often.
But sharing the gospel terrifies others likely for a variety of reasons. Some of us have a deep sense of the weight and importance of the gospel, and we just don’t feel worthy to share it,
or we don’t have confidence that we will share it rightly or effectively. Maybe we’re unclear on the language.
Malcolm Muggeridge was a famous author, philosopher and commentator. When he came to Christ, he chose to not go public for 11 years because he realized that he needed to sort out a number of issues in his life.
He likely waited longer than necessary, but when he did find his voice, he was a powerful advocate for the gospel, particularly among his former intellectual friends.
So sometimes we might not feel that we have our lives sufficiently put together,
or we might feel a bit unclear on what the gospel is, or how to clearly articulate that.
Maybe we’re a little confused about some aspect of the theology surrounding the gospel. There are an endless amount of confusing perspectives, especially online, that can make us scratch our heads. Right?
There are voices that talk about Jesus+. Jesus+ something. Some say it’s about believing the gospel, but you also have to speak in tongues.
Some say it’s believing the gospel but you also have to belong to a certain church, or be of a certain theological perspective - Arminianism, Calvinism, Dispensationalism to name a few.
Or you have to be Anglican or Catholic or Pentecostal or Baptist or whichever denomination. Whenever you hear “It’s Jesus+ something else, be very wary. It could be...it likely is...at trap.
There’s also an endless number of fringe perspectives on what it means to be a true Christian. All of them say that you have to believe what they believe in order to be truly saved.
If any of that interests you, it’s fine to look into it just to broaden your understanding of just how confusing the church can be.
Or not...you can just stick with the Bible and trust that God is at work in you, in the church and in our leaders here at CATM.
Another reason some of us find it hard to even imagine sharing our faith is that we are super self-aware of how we, in our own eyes, fall short of the glory of God.
And so we don’t feel worthy to discuss it even when we’re asked. It’s always good to remember that God says this: “ “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
But, excited or terrified as you may be, we’re going to talk about how to share your faith today.
We are going to talk about the heart behind sharing the gospel. And we’re going to talk about some general approaches to sharing your faith.
The Heart Behind Sharing the Gospel
When we see that the gospel is God's way to redeem all of humanity, that as a Pastor Jonathan expressed a few weeks ago,“The Gospel: The loving creator God is restoring his creation through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. And we can be part of it!”
If we understand the gospel, if we understand being a Christian as central to our identity, if we, to the best of our ability, fully embrace the gospel,
we will want to, at the very least, have something to say when people on occasion might probe as to why we are a Christian, or why they see us being involved in Christian activities, like going to church or going to Bible study.
Enough about that. I wanna focus on three important things that are more to do with our attitude and our posture to life in general, but also when we have opportunity to share our faith.
I want to talk about Engagement, Empathy and Explanation. The writer Anthony English is helpful here.
Engagement
What do you think of when you see that word, engagement?
Do you think of going up to random people in a confrontational or obnoxious manner? Do you think of being loud or aggressive?
Of course that’s not what engagement in evangelism means. Engagement is first being present to people. Being there.
Showing up. Caring about folks. Caring enough to listen to them, to get to know them, to start developing a rapport, and hopefully some kind of connection with them.
It’s showing those who don’t follow Christ that you welcome them and their opinions and you value their presence and their opinions. You do this how? By listening to them.
When it comes to evangelism, we often think we have to be the ones speaking or even leading the conversation, and that can be quite a burden. But it’s not true.
Folks appreciate it when they feel that we truly care for them as fellow human beings.
When speaking about evangelism, there are 2 main points to remember.
The first is to “Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…[and to] love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39).
It’s essential that evangelism, sharing your faith, must come from a heart OF love and a heart IN love. In love with God and neighbor.
If our evangelism doesn’t flow out of love for God and neighbor, then we are nothing more than a “…noisy gong…[and] are nothing” (1 Corinthian 13:1-3).
In other words, we need to be at some point in the journey of growing in our relationship with God. Love is less just a feeling and more of how we conduct our lives.
How’s it going making time in your day where you just ARE in God’s presence? Praying. Reading His holy Word. Interceding for others. Worshiping Him, and all of this in your own prayer closet, so to speak.
How’s it going confessing your faults and sins to God...
keeping short accounts with Him so you don’t make yourself feel like you’re in a desert with God being a million miles away?
We need to be continually growing in this: “Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…[and to] love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). That’s the Shema (Sha-MA))
When thinking about evangelism that’s the first and most important thing.
The second point is similar: James 1:19, “…let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…” If we are truly operating out of a love for God and the neighbor with whom we are sharing the message of eternal life, then we will engage by eagerly and actively listening.
By doing this, we demonstrate our genuine love for people who don’t know God by treating them as fellow valuable image bearers of God instead of debating opponents against whom we’ve won an argument.
Debates accomplish very little. I’ve known of Christians who lost debates to Muslims. A former member here was really thrown when he saw this happen.
Some people are really good with words and can create a cloud of confusion or misunderstanding with their arguments. Satan did that in the garden with Adam and Eve.
Be careful about being swayed by debates. And be careful about getting into debates. What we’re about is loving people, because God loves us first.
Empathy
Empathy is defined as “The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”
That means we have to listen deeply and get close enough to risk getting impacted, maybe even hurt, by the stories and experiebnces of others.
We don’t do this as Christians with any illusion that we are better than anyone else.
You can say that Christians are holy unto the Lord because of the work of Christ, but we are not superior to unbelievers, nor do we have any innate quality of holiness over against them.
We can’t forget that all that we have, especially our salvation is a free gift of God’s sovereign grace and that we have absolutely nothing to boast about.
We too were once “…dead in the trespasses and sins…” and “…were by nature children of wrath…” (Ephesians 2:1, 3).
When we forget that we were once enemies of God and assume any sort of self-righteous superiority, we make our evangelism more about our ‘kind willingness’ to let ‘these people’ join our special club, and less about a good desire to see all tribes, tongues, and nations praising God for his salvation.
Empathy allows for a better way to relate to our neighbours in a way that pleases God.
Pastor Leon Brown of Montage Church in Los Angeles, CA writes in his book, Words in Season: On Sharing the Hope that is Within Us, he writes this:
To various degrees, both believers and unbelievers know what is right and wrong. When confronted by the law, we must admit we’ve all broken it. Since this is commonplace, we have another ally: compassion. We know what it’s like to fight against our true identity and follow after the course of this world; to be constantly drawn away from the Lord to fulfill the lusts of the flesh…God in Christ had compassion on us…Can we have compassion on others in a similar way (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)? Can we relate to others since we know the struggle that sin brings-the temptations, the guilt, the shame…because Christ had compassion on us, that Christlike compassion should flow from us to others.
When I’ve shared my faith, I’ve seen that my willingness to admit that I have sinned against God and deserve His wrath frees others to admit that as well.
When I’m honest and admit that as a Christian, I’ve wrestled with doubts and questions and still do at times, it frees the unbeliever to admit his own doubts and questions and opens up an avenue for discussion.
When I admit that I still wrestle and struggle with sin, it frees them to open up about what sin(s) they’re trapped in and how it is affecting their lives. We know what it is to be “…separated from Christ…having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
When we stop pretending that we have it all together and are honest about our struggles in life and the hope of Christ we have in the midst of it all, it shows that we aren’t holier-than-thou, but struggling pilgrims going through some of the same issues they are and yet, have hope.
Wise transparency, compassion, and empathy are far more becoming to God’s chosen people, the Church, than compelling arguments and sophisticated rhetoric.
In the end, the ultimate goal of evangelism to what: discipleship. Jesus said in Matthew 28: “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.”
His interest is making disciples and teaching people to love God by obeying the teachings of Jesus. Evangelism, which can lead to a person’s conversion, is a critical step on the way to this; it’s a critical step to what Jesus wants for all: to be His disciples, to be His students.
Finally, in the process of sharing the gospel, we come to
Explanation
This is where we seek to explain the truth of the gospel. In other words, we have to actually break down for the non-believer how they can be reconciled to God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
There’s no 100%-of-the-time-it-works-every-time method, there are certain biblical principles that can help us navigate the waters of evangelism.
When we’re having a conversation with people who don’t identify as Christian, we need to be mindful of the fact that most people in our world don’t understand Christian concepts, and those that do profess a form of spiritual beliefs will use similar words with very different meanings.
We must seek to make Christian truth understandable by explaining our terms and clearing up any misconceptions about our message.
There are some methods of explaining the gospel that try to make understanding it easier. Not one of them is the perfect way or complete way to explain the gospel, but illustrations can be helpful.
There is the “Imagine a Chasm” approach:
Or there’s the Prodigal Son Approach
The plot centers around the younger son who, impatient and greedy, asks his father for his inheritance.
The father agrees, but the son wastes his money, eventually becoming homeless and destitute. In the end, to the son's great surprise, he is welcomed back into the family by his father.
Or there’s this description of the gospel, by the late Tim Keller:
“We’re not saved by what we do, but by what God has done completely and wholly and fully by what God has done. We do not contribute to salvation at all.
How could that be? The answer is that when Jesus Christ came he came to live a life we should’ve lived and died the death we should die.
He lived a life, a perfect life - the only human being who lived a perfect life, and therefore earned God‘s blessing. But then at the end of his life he went to the cross and took the curse that we deserve.
He earned the blessing of a fully obedient human being. but then he took the curse and punishment of imperfect, disobedient human beings, which means that when you become a Christian, when you put your faith in him, all of your sins and what you deserve fall on him but then all of his blessing - what he deserves comes to you. And God treats you as if you’ve done everything that Jesus Christ has done. That’s radical.
Now, because we have this complete salvation, this complete gift all accomplished by him, (we contribute nothing to it, and now we have received this) there’s a freedom.
First of all we’re free from any sense of condemnation, Romans 8:1. “Now there’s no more condemnation for those are in Christ Jesus.
Do not fear ever coming into condemnation from God. And now we’re also free not just from condemnation but from, you might say, compulsion.
That is - we now want to obey God, we want to please Him. We no longer are obeying the law of God out of a sense of duty or a sense of being forced or compelled. Instead we want to please the One who did this for us. We want to resemble the one who did this for us”.
However we choose to explain the gospel, it has to first make sense to us, of course. And there’s nothing wrong with practicing how you would share the gospel, or asking your friends to listen and give constructive feedback about how you share the gospel.
May we, as the people of God, grow to always be ready to share the reason for the hope that we have. May we study the Scriptures to show ourselves approved.
May we grow in our relationship with our loving heavenly Father. And may we rejoice that God has called us to share our faith, that He may use our stories, our testimonies and the gospel to bring many to Him.
