Scripture: Matthew 28:18–19; Romans 10:13–14; Mark 16:15
There’s Nothing Like Seeing Someone Discover the Love of God
Most Christians who are in the house today and those of you watching at home, I think would agree that when we share our faith and someone we love listens, there’s nothing like it. I don’t know if this makes you feel awkward if you’re a first-time guest here today, you’re still thinking about Jesus, but you should know that what Jesus said is what we feel too. That when a person turns from their way of life to the love of God, when they discover what God is actually like, that God sent his Son, that Jesus died on the cross, that heaven is a gift, if you’re one of our family members or friends and you discover that like we have discovered that, there’s no greater joy. Jesus literally said that angels in heaven throw celebrations when just one person has that experience.
Isn’t that true when you come to church? Like if I told you, “Hey, everyone, I read my Bible and prayed yesterday.” You’d be like, “Nice. Good job, man.” But if I say, “Hey, everyone, we’re going to have a baptism today. I got to share my faith with one of my friends, and today he is confessing the name of Jesus Christ.” Even if my friend was a total stranger to you, it would bring a tear to some of your eyes. There’s nothing like seeing souls saved, real men and women, our friends and family discovering the forgiveness of sins. There is nothing like it.
Can you think of someone you know and love who’s not in church today because they’re not really into church, and they didn’t pray to Jesus before they ate their breakfast because they don’t really have a relationship with Jesus like that? Can you imagine if next Sunday that person you just thought about was here with you? If that person that you care so deeply about was, you know, at home, next to the couch, in the same space, like listening, taking notes, being moved by the message of God?
Some of you know I was raised by a Christian mom, but my dad didn’t go to church for my entire childhood. As a Christian kid, in our church, before we’d pray the Lord’s Prayer, the pastor would always give you, like, twenty-two seconds to pray in your head for whatever you wanted, and every Sunday for decades, I prayed for my dad. It’s a long story I can’t tell you today, but God, through an amazing series of events, reached my father and changed my father. My dad is now a member of our church, and do you want to know what I feel when I’m standing right there and he comes walking up that aisle to take Holy Communion? And I say, “Dad, this is for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.” There is nothing, nothing like evangelism. Seeing someone say that you love that deeply, there’s nothing that will ever happen to you in your Christian life that is better. Turtles are boring. The bright fish of the Caribbean Sea are lame compared to seeing someone discover the love of God.
Why Sharing Your Faith Feels So Hard
And, the process will make you sweat, almost unlike anything else. It will not spike your anxiety, likely, if you open your Bible or talk quietly to Jesus or step into a church building, but bringing up your faith with a family member or friend, wondering in your head, is this the right time? Am I the right person? Am I saying the right thing and in the right way? Like, are you really the right person to say something when you’re kind of new to church or you got a lot of stuff that you need to work on in your life? If you’re not a super extrovert, if you get awkward in social situations, how do you make sure you’re not cramming, like, your personal beliefs down someone’s throat but winsomely sharing? When do you bring it up and how do you bring it up and how often do you bring it up? What do you say? How do you not seem super judgmental? All of these questions are paralyzing for people.
And maybe you have some evangelism scars from your past. You tried to talk to your boyfriend about faith. You invited your little sister to come join you at a service and the reaction was anything but enthusiastic. And now you’re nervous about the next time around. I picture so many of us here at our church, like me, putting on the goggles, sitting on the back of the boat, wondering what will happen if I jump into this water? It could be beautiful, life-changing, a memory that you’ll never forget, or it could be terrifying.
I think that’s why so many people, if you look at surveys, and as I’ve talked to many of the members of our church family would say, even though they want to share their faith, they haven’t shared their faith in a long, long time. Not just every day or every week, but sometimes weeks and then months. For some people, years go by without having an open conversation about Jesus, with someone who doesn’t yet believe in Jesus. It could seem, I don’t know, just easier to leave it to the pastors and to the professionals and to the ultra-extroverted evangelists.
The Big Question: Why Evangelize?
And that’s why today, I want to wrestle with a big question. Why would you evangelize? Why would you, with all of your questions, with all of your flaws, with all the things that could go wrong, with no guarantees and no certainties, why would you pray for God to open a door to talk about Jesus with someone who’s on your heart and your mind today? That’s the big question. Why evangelize? And today, I want to grab a Bible and I’m going to give you three compelling biblical answers to that question. So, if you’re at home, you want to grab a pen, got a bulletin in your hand here in the house, let’s look at three good answers why every follower of Jesus should share their faith in Jesus with those they love.
Reason One: Because Jesus Said So
All right, grab a pen. Here’s reason number one. Because Jesus said so. Amen. Because Jesus, who loves you, who always wants what’s best for you, didn’t suggest it, he commanded it. Look at the words of Matthew 28, what some call the Great Commission of Jesus. Speaking to his disciples, he said:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.” — Matthew 28:18–19
He had all the authority in the universe. Angels literally bow the knee to King Jesus, risen from the dead, and what did he do with all that authority? He told you and me and Peter and James and John, don’t sit, don’t stay, don’t play it safe. Go. Make more disciples.
If you read more of the Bible, you would find out this was not a one-off side comment from Jesus. This was the gospel of Matthew, but in the gospel of Mark 16, Jesus also said, “Go and preach the gospel.” In the gospel of Luke, Jesus said, “You’re going to go and be my witnesses as you preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” In the gospel of John 17, Jesus prayed, “Father, I’m not asking you to take the Christians out of the world, I’m sending them into the world with the truth of your word so that they might make more disciples.” In the book of Acts, right before he bounced and went back to the right hand of the Father in heaven, Jesus Christ said, “You will be my witnesses here and then there and then to the ends of the earth.” Throughout early Christianity, there was a clear and compelling message that Christ commanded Christians to go. So, if you put me on the spot and said, “Pastor Mike, give me a simple answer why I evangelize,” I would say this. Christians go because Jesus said so.
And he had to. Show of hands, where are the parents in the house today? Parents, as you’re raising your kids, teaching them to eat their vegetables, say their prayers, would you agree with me that if something is difficult, you cannot make it optional or kids will opt out? What good parents ever sat their son down and said, “Hey, if you want to be nice to your brother and not punch him in the face today, great, but that’s your choice. You do you. Hey, sweetie, I know broccoli is good for you, but if you don’t want to eat it, just go straight for the ice cream.” Like, no, you don’t make it optional because if it’s difficult, people will opt out. And I think that’s why Jesus commanded it. If he would have said, you know, just share your faith if you want to, if you’re a certain kind of Christian, I think the anxiety and the uncertainty would keep most of us on the boat instead of jumping into the water of deep conversations. And so, he has to, in love, push us, nudge us, command us. No, just like I said, don’t steal, don’t lie, love God, say your prayers. I’m putting this same thing, evangelism, in the commandments list. I want you to go preach, witness, and share your faith. Don’t opt out. This isn’t extra credit Christianity. This isn’t some AP class you don’t have to take. This is part of following Jesus, who just like he shared good news with you, wants you to share good news with them. Don’t opt out and give yourself an excuse never to talk about your faith because the Christ who saved us said so.
Reason Two: Because They Need You To
Which brings us to reason number two. I’d love for you to write this down as well. Why evangelize? Not just because Jesus said so, but because they need you to. Can I give you three seconds to think of someone you love that maybe doesn’t know the love of God just yet? If you don’t say a word to that person, I have a hunch that your friend or family member will be able to figure out about half of the things that we believe. You see, the person you’re thinking about, because God gave them a conscience, can kind of get right what we call the law of God or the lifestyle that God wants us to lead. You don’t have to open a Bible or share your faith and your brother or your best friend or the person you’re dating would probably be able to figure it out. It’s better to love than to hate. Better to tell the truth than to lie. Better to be generous than stingy like Scrooge was. They could probably figure out some of the do’s and don’ts, the good, the bad, the you shalls and you shall nots.
In fact, if they’re kind of a sensitive, reflective person, they might actually come to the realization that they have a problem with God. My conscience told me I should do this, but I ignored my conscience and I did that. “Yeah, I kind of know that this is the standard of how I want to live, but I fell short in the moment and gave in to temptation. I wonder what’s going to happen to me when I stand before the God who will judge the living and the dead.” Your friends and family, the person you’re thinking of, can probably get that part right, but what they will not figure out without you, what they will never just like guess or come to of their own conclusion and own rational thinking is the other half of Christianity, what I would say is by far the best part of Christianity, not the law and the rules of what to do, but the gospel of what Jesus has done.
Look how the apostle Paul teaches this in Romans 10:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” — Romans 10:13–14
Do you sense Paul’s logical flow? How do you get saved? Most people would think, well, you try hard. You be a good person. You have good karma. You balance the scales. You messed it up. You learn from your mistakes. But no, Christianity says that would never work. God is way too good. Heaven is way too perfect. No, here’s how you get saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, everyone who turns from their sin in repentance and just looks to Jesus, who did everything, who paid for every sin, who washes us clean, that’s the person who will be saved. That news, the unconditional love of God, is actually so good that the Bible itself admits no one would ever guess it. They need an outside source, an extra-them Savior. How are they going to believe it if they never hear it? And how can they hear it unless someone just like you preaches it to them so that they can be saved?
Why “Evangelizing by Example” Isn’t Enough
Now, I want you to know this because I’ve heard more than one Christian around these parts say, “You know, Pastor, I get so anxious about evangelism. What I’m going to do at work with my family is evangelize by example.” You ever heard that? “I’m not going to push my religion on anyone, I’m just going to live the best, I’m going to let my light shine, I’m going to be the best example of a Christian that I can be, I’m going to be kind, and maybe that will change their hearts.” Can I give you a short biblical answer to that kind of thinking? Nope! Nope! No, no, no. Watching you will save zero people’s souls. Can we be clear about that? The good news of Christianity is not what a great person you are. No offense. You making good choices and letting your light shine has a place. We’re actually going to talk about that in a few weeks. But zero souls will make it to heaven because they stood at a distance to watch you.
The good news of Christianity is not you, and it’s not me, it’s Jesus. And so, unless we speak what Jesus has done, unless we proclaim and preach the good news—man, your life might be an amazing example. But get this, there are people you love, if you live the best kind of life, might come to the conclusion that they don’t belong in the church. You ever think about that, how the devil could flip it? If they think, “Man, he goes to church and his relationship is so strong and he’s so self-controlled and he never gives in to temptation. Then there’s me, I’m not like that, so maybe I don’t belong in that place.” Your good example might just expose the gap and increase their guilt and convince them they can’t come until they clean themselves up first. I’m not saying you shouldn’t make good choices. I am saying the gospel needs to be preached. Paul says they can only be saved if they hear and how can they hear unless we speak?
Faith Comes From Hearing the Message About Jesus
Maybe we can envision it like this. Let’s imagine that this candle is you and that the Holy Spirit, at some time in your life, has put the flame of true faith within you. Let’s imagine by the grace of God, like there’s this real faith that like if it was just me and you at a coffee shop and I said, “Are you going to heaven?” You’d say, “For sure, Jesus.” “Are you terrified to die?” You’d say, “Surely not. My Jesus conquered death.” If I said, “What about your sins? What about your struggles?” You’d say, “Those are real but the mercy of God is new and I woke up to it every—” If you have like true Christian faith in your heart, this is you. Now, let’s imagine this is your friend who doesn’t know Jesus just yet. What if we just give it a little while that he can observe your Christian faith from a distance? What if it’s a really close friend though? You get the point? The fire of your faith is a beautiful thing but the only way that that faith will make it from here to there is not if we are in proximity to people but if we preach to people. It’s only if we actually open our mouth and speak because faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word about Jesus Christ. Man, I want nothing more in my life than my family and friends to discover what I’ve discovered in Jesus. He is light and he is life and there is no one like him, but they’re never going to figure it out unless I tell them.
Reason Three: Because the Gospel Is Really Good News
Now, why would you evangelize? Because Jesus said so. Because they need you to. But I saved the best reason for last. Write this down too. Because the gospel, the heart of the Christian faith, is good news. It is—what we’re asking you to talk about, what Jesus is commanding you to talk about, is not like the fine print of like a mortgage paper you’re going to sign. It’s not boring, lame, obligatory, or necessary. It is the best possible news in the universe. In fact, in Mark 16, Jesus said this:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” — Mark 16:15
Now, that might seem like a fancy Bible word to you, the gospel, but here’s what it means. In the original Greek that the New Testament was written in, the word gospel is the word euangelion. Could you repeat that after me? Euangelion. One more time. Euangelion. Euangelion is where we get words like evangelism or evangelical. It was just a compound word. Angelion meant news and eu, E-U, meant good. So, if you’ve ever heard of a eulogy at a funeral, E-U, that’s when you say something good about someone who’s passed. If you’ve ever felt euphoria, E-U, that’s a feeling that’s really, really, really good, what Jesus told us to preach was the euangelion, not just any news or religious news or biblical news, but really good news.
Don’t Take the “Good” Out of the Good News
And I have a hunch, if you haven’t talked about Jesus with someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus in a bit, if it’s been a minute or a few months or maybe a year or more, I have a hunch it’s because your life has been so rushed and busy, you haven’t paused and just meditated on the goodness of the gospel. You’ve taken the “eu” out of euangelion. But if you’d stop for just a second today and think, how sweet, how good is it to know what you know? How bad must it be to not know this, to go through life without this? I have a hunch the Holy Spirit will do something within you from the inside out. I can tell you, if I had to choose one thing to thank God for today, it is the gospel. It is the key that opens the door to the mansion of God’s blessings. And if you know it, I just want to remind you today, there is nothing like it. You are loved by God forever. You don’t have to make it up because of your past. There’s this free forgiveness that’s yours in Jesus and there’s people that you know that have never heard it. They’ve never had just someone tell them flat out what God is like. And they might reject it and they might be uninterested and they might say, “Don’t push your religion on me.” But what if you are the person who gets to say the thing they’ve never heard or grasped and their eyes are open and their hearts are changed and the Spirit lights the flame of faith in their heart too?
Why would you evangelize? Friends, I’ll give you three reasons. Because Jesus said so, because they need you to, because the gospel is really good news. Because he gave us this great commandment with a great commission, because the gospel is a mystery so good they’re never going to figure it out, and because the gospel truly is the best news that a human could ever hear.
D.L. Moody and His List of One Hundred Names
Before I leave you today, let me tell you the story about this guy. That’s a depiction of one of America’s most famous evangelists, Dwight Lyman Moody. D.L. Moody was born in 1837. He was one of nine children born to a poor single mother and he never even made it to middle school. A fifth-grade education is where he tapped out and became a shoe salesman just to pay the bills. But God had a big plan for this man. He didn’t let the messiness of his family situation stop him. God didn’t let his lack of education hold him back. When he saved D.L. Moody late in his teenage years, he caught a fire to share the flame of his faith, and he did. He had almost an unparalleled impact in American evangelism. He spoke not just to one or two, but to crowds of tens of thousands. But despite the big success and the fame that he achieved as a preacher, he never ever forgot about his people.
There’s an old story that might be part legendary that says that D.L. Moody always traveled with a handwritten piece of paper that had the one hundred names of his family members and friends who didn’t know Jesus. Constantly, daily, he would pray for them, name by name by name. “God, open a door. God, change their heart. God, give me a chance.” And as years went by, God heard those prayers and God opened those doors and he preached the gospel, and name, by name, by name, by name, he saw people saved, repent, believe in the good news of the gospel. In fact, when D.L. Moody died in 1899, ninety-six of his one hundred names had become Christians. The other four, the story says, came to the funeral and as the pastor stood up next to D.L. Moody’s dead body, like a good Christian pastor, he preached Christ instead of the man who was dead. Not the good works of the man in the casket, but the best works of the man who left the cross. And what happened at the funeral service? The last four bent the knee and praised the name that is above every name.
Pray for Open Doors — Let’s Go and Make Disciples
Now, I can’t guarantee that 100 percent of your friends will come to love and believe in Jesus, and I know God gave D.L. Moody a very unique generational gift. But listen, the same God who heard that man’s prayers, hears yours. The same God who opened doors for him to talk Jesus can open doors for you. The same God who cared about the souls of his people cares about your people. And if God could use a former shoe salesman with a fifth-grade education to connect people to Jesus, just think of what he might do through you. Friends, let’s pray for the people we love. Let’s ask God to open doors. Let’s go, and let’s make some disciples.
Let’s pray.
O God, thank you so much for the goodness of the gospel. It’s hard for me to believe after all these years that you feel about me the way you feel, that your face is shining upon me despite forty-five years of sinfulness. God, but if your love is unconditional, that’s exactly what that means. Thank you, Jesus, that you did everything that we could have everything in heaven. Every spiritual gift is ours and that is truly good news.
We are asking boldly, God, that you would open doors. Maybe some people who are here right now in this moment, maybe some people we’re going to see tomorrow at work or at school, maybe someone in our family that we’ll connect with during the holidays. God, just give us a chance. We can’t change anyone’s hearts, but we’re asking you to just give us a chance. Let your Spirit nudge us. Let the conversation somehow turn to an open door that we could proclaim the message they need the most.
God, there’s nothing like seeing people saved. There’s no greater joy than the salvation that we have found in Jesus. Help us to not sit and stay. Help us to go and preach that more will be saved. We pray this, God, because we need your help and we’re so grateful for your Son. It’s in his name that we ask all these things. And all God’s people said, amen.
