Scripture: 1 Peter 3:1–2; John 1:43–46; Luke 24:47–48
The Bad News About Christianity in America
When it comes to Christianity here in this country, I have some really, really bad news and some really, really great news. Let’s start with the bad news. Did you know in America’s approximate 250-year history, this country has never been less Christian than right now? Not everyone in America’s history always went to church or followed Jesus as faithfully as they should, but demographically, statistically, fewer people even claim to have any kind of connection with Jesus in this country than ever before. In just a generation or two, the faith of grandparents has been lost. The baton of blessings in Jesus has been dropped, and now the average teenager or twenty-something in America that you know doesn’t claim to pray, doesn’t claim to believe, has little to no interest in organized religion, even if it’s the faithful teaching of Jesus.
Now, maybe I’m biased, but as a guy who believes that Jesus is the best, that news feels like the worst. It means that more and more of my friends and family and neighbors and teammates are facing the same struggles that I do in life, both within and without, except they don’t have the Jesus that I have. They’re battling sickness and depression and anxiety and cancer. They’re facing death, but there’s no God to love them through it, no rock-solid foundation of faith that they can depend on, no promises of a good shepherd who’s going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. They’re going to suffer, struggle, and die just like the rest of us, but there’s no Jesus by their side to defend them, advocate for them, save them when their final moment comes. That is the worst news. In 250 years, it has never been worse than right now.
The Surprising Good News: A Renewed Interest in Jesus
But here’s the surprising good news. Just when it seemed that the writing was on the wall for Christianity in this country, something very recently, almost inexplicably, changed. In 2024, just when it felt like the numbers, especially with Gen Z, teenagers, and twenty-somethings, were falling off a cliff, it leveled out, and some people think it has even started to shift. In 2024, for example, Bible sales in America spiked by 22 percent, driven mostly by younger people who wanted to get their hands on this book that had changed billions of lives over the past two thousand years.
The narrative for all of my eighteen years of being a pastor was that women liked to go to church more than men, and that the only hope you had was that she was charming enough and cute enough and could drag her boyfriend or her husband with her. But now, now things have shifted. Do you know young American men are outpacing young American women with their interest in not just some, like, sappy, watered-down version of church, but with a historic, orthodox, challenging, deny-yourself, bring-your-Bible, pick-up-your-cross, punch-Satan-in-the-face, and walk-faithfully-with-Jesus kind of faith? Like, that, inexplicably, has changed. We’ve seen it at our church. If you’re watching at home, maybe you’ve seen it at yours. There’s a renewed, not revival, but a renewed interest in these things that so many of us have known and loved for so long. Just when the door seemed to close, God seemed to put his foot in it and is swinging it back open.
And because of that news, both bad and good, those of you here today who are followers of Jesus have an amazing opportunity, what we call evangelism, to talk about your faith in Jesus with people you know and love who don’t yet have faith in Jesus. Because Jesus, if you were here last week, told us that we don’t have to wait until we’re more intelligent, educated, or extroverted. Even if it’s your first day discovering his forgiveness and the salvation of the cross, this is the day when Jesus is saying to you, “Let’s go. Let’s make more disciples. Let’s share the little or the lot that we know with our family, friends, neighbors, even enemies.” God is opening doors for you and for me right here in this culture and in this country, which begs a really big question: How do you do that?
How Do You Actually Share Your Faith?
I don’t know about you, but when I go to my indoor soccer league on a Wednesday evening, my teammates are not sitting crisscross applesauce with their notebooks and pens ready for me to educate them on the historic Christian faith. No one’s throwing me, like, a slow pitch saying, “Mike, would you please tell us more about this Jesus that you follow?” No, they’re talking about sports, they’re talking about work, they’re talking about how many inches of snow fell here in Wisconsin, they’re talking about NFL playoffs, they’re talking about life. So how exactly do you and I get from those conversations on the frontage road and find some on-ramp to talk about higher and more important conversations that have to do with Jesus? How do you do it? How do the best evangelists do it?
Friends, that’s the question I want to answer for you today. Why evangelize? Because Jesus told us so. Who’s supposed to evangelize? Everyone who’s a follower of Jesus. But how do you evangelize? That’s today’s big question. And that’s why today I’m so happy you’re here, because I brought my evangelism toolbox. Now, some of you thought a guy like me didn’t own a toolbox, but I do. It took me a while to find it, to be honest, but inside this toolbox, I have put three of the things that I’ve seen in all my years of being a Christian be incredibly effective at sharing my faith. Honestly, I don’t consider myself a natural evangelist. I’ve had to learn how to do this. But in here, I put what I think are the three most foundational things so that you can get onto the field and become a person who shares their faith with the people that you love. So if you’re taking notes here or watching at home, I want you to get a pen.
Tool One: Invest and Let Your Light Shine
Here’s the first tool I want to share with you. It’s what I sometimes call invest. To invest means simply to invest your time, your energy, and your love into someone else’s life. It’s to live and behave in a way that stands out in a dark, selfish, self-centered world. It’s to be a little bit, or hopefully a lot bit, more patient and compassionate, and courageous and kind, and hospitable and generous than a person who has not met the courageous, kind, compassionate, forgiving love of Jesus. What does that look like? Well, I think it looks like this. Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew to let your light shine, to let your faith be so bright that it would stand out in this world and hopefully draw people through curiosity to ask you questions about what makes you different than the average person.
It’s actually the kind of light that Peter is talking about in a great passage from 1 Peter 3. Peter was writing to Christian wives whose husbands didn’t yet believe in Jesus, and here’s what he said:
“If any of [your husbands] do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” — 1 Peter 3:1–2
Some people, maybe you’re dating someone like this, or your dad is someone like this, or your best friend is a little bit like this, they have walls up when it comes to faith, religion, Jesus, Bible, and sometimes words, an invitation to church, you sharing your faith is just met with immediate pushback. So, how do you win someone over that’s so antagonistic or has such assumptions about Christianity? Well, Peter’s advice is you invest in them. You win them over not with your words but with your works. And when they see your behavior, the purity and reverence of your life, when they see your light shining, they might soften just a bit. They might trust you just enough that God opens the door for you to have a conversation that might change their eternity.
Now, what exactly does this look like in your life? It could be anything. Any work that makes you stand out, any character quality, whether it’s how you listen, how you love, how you give, how you serve. But I would propose to you today that the darker the culture gets, the more brightly a light can shine. If there’s anything about your workplace culture, the school that you attend, or American culture that just isn’t Jesus-like, it’s not good, it’s not loving, that actually gives you an amazing opportunity to stand out by basic Christian morality and ethics. Now, for the sake of time, let me give you just two really concrete examples. I want to talk to you about hospitality and generosity.
Standing Out Through Christian Hospitality
You might not know this, but America, compared to other cultures and countries, is almost the worst at hospitality. You ever been in the home of someone from the Middle East? It will expose your Americanness in an instant. We are a culture of big backyards and no front porches, where we close the garage door after work and run to our isolated, secluded hideaways to recharge. We go years without knowing the names of our next-door neighbors or the guy who just moved into the other side of the wall in the apartment complex. And this means that if you become a hospitable Christian, you have an amazing opportunity to connect with people. It’s just not normal in our culture. So, what does that mean? It means if you’re a high school student and you have your lunch table with your group of friends, if you crack the clique and open the circle for a single new kid to sit, you will stand out in the most Jesus-like way. Your light will shine brightly.
Standing Out Through Generosity
Or how about generosity? In America, no one ever has enough time or money. We’re busy, busy, busy, and we’re always behind in our budget, which is why if you can become an extraordinarily generous person, you will draw people to the light of Jesus. I bet this holiday season, there’s going to be a college student who comes home after semester exams, and a $50 Starbucks gift card with a kind word about your faith would blow their minds. I bet some of you, God has financially blessed, that you could drop on your next server or hair stylist a triple-digit tip that they would tell every one of their friends about. And guys, I’m not talking about the digits after the decimal point, okay? A hundred bucks, a hundred dollars, a Ben Franklin smiling back at their shocked eyes would be a story that they would tell, I bet, for weeks to come.
In a world where people take, hoard, save, invest in themselves, you investing in other people through hospitality and generosity could change someone’s story and open doors to talk about Jesus. It’s not manipulation. If they never come to church, if they never want to talk, it’s still okay. It’s the right thing to do because this is the way that God has loved us. Friends, who could you give extravagantly to over the holiday season? You give, love, and serve in uncommon ways, and you wait for God to do the rest. The best evangelists invest.
Tool Two: Invite People to “Come and See”
Here’s what else they do, if you’re taking notes: they invite. They offer simple invitations for people who aren’t so sure about Jesus to come into contact with the message of Jesus. So, I brought one of these. A brand-new invitation card that our church has for our upcoming Christmas services. One of, historically, the most effective ways to connect people to Jesus is not to go out and to answer every question. It’s to invite them to come here where, in time, most of our questions get answered. Let me show you John 1, the story of how one of the twelve apostles became an apostle:
“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip.” — John 1:43–46
The Messiah has arrived, the one that Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament prepared us for. He’s come; he’s Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael didn’t say, “Wow, that’s interesting.” He said, “Are you kidding? Are you stupid? Dinky Nazareth up in the hills of—you think God lives in Nazareth?” He’s skeptical. He is not at all convinced, and I love Philip’s response. He didn’t need the perfect answer to his friend’s question; he just had a simple invitation: Why don’t you come and see? He got his friend with all his doubts and questions into the presence of the message of Jesus, and Jesus did the rest.
This is so clutch for you. If you think that you need the answer to every difficult question about the Christian faith, you will never open your mouth and share your faith. If you’re waiting, like they can’t come to church until they’ve figured this all out, they’re never going to come to church. One of the best things that you can do is just say, “That’s a great question. Why don’t you come and see if we can find an answer?” “That’s a great question. Can I invite you to watch this link? My pastor talked about that a couple months ago.” “That’s great, I’ve had that same question, but I found an answer at my church. Do you want to come join me sometime?”
Never Assume a No
I want to encourage you, really practically today, to never, ever, ever assume a no. Never think that because you have a mom or a sister or a best friend or a boyfriend who’s like Nathanael, who claps back at your simple attempts of sharing your faith with their objection, never assume that they wouldn’t be interested if you just asked them. I mean, never assume, because your neighbor has, you know, those kinds of political yard signs, that they would never want to come to our church. Never assume, because the family in the apartment next door is Orthodox Jewish or the mother wears a head scarf, that they would never consider the claims of Jesus Christ. Never think that your cousin that you’re going to see this Christmas, because of those social media posts, would never change their mind, change the direction of their life, and follow Jesus. Never assume because of the way a person looks, the religion that they were raised in, because they’re young and probably too busy, because they’re old and probably already know. Never assume that the people in your family or friend group already know or aren’t interested. Instead, just do this very basic thing: I’m never going to assume a no until I hear it from their very lips.
Tool Three: Evangelize—Share Repentance and Forgiveness
Which brings us to the last thing that all great evangelists do. Yes, they invest; they let their light shine. Yes, they invite: come and see. Write this down. They also, get this, evangelize. You’re thinking, duh. Of course, evangelists evangelize. That’s the fancy Bible way of saying they share the good news of Jesus. Here’s the fact. There’s some people you know and love that have such assumptions about church, such bad experiences in their past that you can invite, invite, invite, invite, invite, and they perhaps are never going to come and see what we have seen in Jesus. Sometimes for one or ten different reasons, people are not and will not be interested in a place like this. So, do we throw up our hands and give up? No. We bring the message of Jesus to them. Sometimes we don’t say come and see. Sometimes we put it on ourselves to go and tell.
So, Jesus was talking about this in Luke 24, where he said this:
“Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” — Luke 24:47–48
So, that’s the heart of it. If you’re going to share the true Christian faith with someone, you’re trying to check two basic boxes. Jesus mentions them: repentance and forgiveness. You know, repentance over sin and forgiveness at the cross. We’re going to somehow, in our own words—there’s no script—talk about the problem that all humans have and the solution that Jesus gives to all humans. We’re going to help open people’s eyes that there is a spiritual sickness in every human heart that we cannot cure, but there is a cure and his name is Jesus Christ.
The Bad News and the Good News of the Gospel
Here’s the bad news. You’re worse than you think. If we would put video clips of some of the things you’ve said or thought or done on a screen, you would instantly be judged even by other humans. So, what happens when you have to stand before God who is sinless, flawless, holy, good, and true? How will you stand before him? Will you tell him you’ve learned from your mistakes? Have you learned enough? Here’s the bad news. You and I are sinners. We are worse than we think. The problem is bigger than us to solve.
But here’s the good news. God in amazing mercy has solved it. He didn’t give us a list of commandments so that we could fix it. That would never work. Instead, he gave us the best gift he had, his only Son named Jesus. Jesus lived for you and he died for you and he conquered the grave to prove that it’s all true. Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. As the Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen so far short of the glory of God, but all of us are justified, made right in God’s sight in the name of Jesus Christ.” This is what it means to evangelize: somehow, someway to share the bad news and the good news, the problem, the solution, repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The SALT Method: Say, Ask, Listen, Take It Deeper
And so, you’re going to ask me the question, “Okay, Pastor Mike, I think I could kind of do that, but how do I get there? Like, what’s the hack? What’s the technique to get from, like, the things I am talking about with my friends and family to these things, repentance for the forgiveness of sins?” That’s why I have one more thing to share with you today. Salt. Back when I was in school, I was taught how to share my faith with the SALT method, S-A-L-T. Have you ever heard of it? You might want to write this down.
The S in SALT stands for say. You’ve got to say something. It’s hard to talk about Jesus if you don’t talk. Oftentimes when you meet someone new, it’s hard to find the words. So, when you’re working out with someone, when you’re working with someone, when your locker’s next to someone, where does it start? It starts with you saying something. I was at the gym yesterday. I was working out with a guy set after set after set. We barely said a word to each other until I said something, and then suddenly we were talking about the Bible within sixty seconds, much to my surprise. So, say something.
The A and the L of SALT kind of go together; they stand for ask and listen. You’re going to ask a whole bunch of questions, and you’re going to try to listen as best you can to the answers. So, I’m talking to this guy, I introduce myself. I say, “Where are you from? What do you do? Got family in the area? Were you raised here?” Asking questions about family members, friendships, occupations, dreams, hobbies. I’m listening very carefully to the answers, because here’s what I’ve learned over all these years: If you’re selfless enough to focus on another person, to ask them enough questions, and to really listen to the answers, very, very often God will open a door and his Holy Spirit will give you the words to take it deeper.
And that’s what the T stands for: take it deeper. I’ve said something. I’m asking questions. I’m listening to answers. And now, here’s a chance for me to talk about spiritual and eternal things. For me, here’s what this looks like. Someone’s telling me about their family, about their friends. I’m asking questions, and I gently ask, “Is faith at all a part of your life?” Maybe as I’m saying something, asking, and listening, I find out a really difficult thing that someone has been through. A battle with cancer, a loss of a job, a breakup, or a divorce. And I can respectfully say, “Hey, this is kind of personal, but how do you get through stuff like that?” And now, we’re getting to the level of the heart, and I can talk about how I get through stuff like that because I know Jesus, and he’s a good shepherd and he’s a great king and he loves me and he forgives my sins. Once again, there’s no script, but as a guy told me after the last service, once you start talking and take it deeper, you will be shocked at the words the Holy Spirit will give you. So, Jesus said to the first evangelists, “Don’t worry when the moment comes. It won’t be you. God himself will be in that moment and will give you the words to say.”
Reframing Your Expectations for Evangelism
Here’s what you need to know. If you practice the SALT method or any evangelistic method, some people will be instantly interested. They’ve been curious, eager to talk about spiritual things, and God will do more than you expected or imagined. Some people will definitely not be interested. You will know that the door is closed. They’ve locked it and put on the chain, and that’s okay. And most of the people will be in the middle. They won’t be offended, they won’t be super intrigued, but you will have planted a little seed that they know that you’re a follower of Jesus, that you have a church that you love. And sometime, maybe next month, maybe next year, maybe next decade, when they have spiritual questions, they’re going to know to whom they can go.
Let me reframe your expectations. If you invest and invite and evangelize and one out of ten people is interested in having the conversation, you are doing a fantastic job. Don’t let the devil mess with your expectations of your evangelistic batting average. If you strike out, if your brother has no interest in believing in Jesus, just know this: the same thing happened to Jesus. He was raising people from the dead and turning a Lunchable into a feast for five thousand people, and do you know how many people followed him? Like a third of who are in the room right now. So, if people in your world aren’t unanimously interested in Jesus, that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you failed. In fact, if you’ve invested and invited and evangelized, you have been a great success in the eyes of Jesus, who said go and make disciples.
Let’s Go and Make Disciples
Here’s the bad news. A shocking number of people claim no connection to Jesus. Here’s the good news. God put you in their life to love them like no one loves them, to invite them into an environment like this, and to go, and in your own words and in your own way, to tell them the news that’s changed your heart, your life, and your forever. Let’s go, and let’s pray.
Oh God, thank you so much for doing more than we imagined. We think it’s just going to be a conversation, and little do we know it’s the first domino that will change multiple family trees. God, help us to be patient and kind. Help us never to see anyone in this world as some project, but instead as a precious soul that Jesus was thinking about when he gave his life on the cross. Give us courage. When the moment comes and you’ve opened that door, God, help us not to be silent, but instead to share the good news that has changed everything about everything.
Thank you, God, for putting so many evangelists in this church. It is a joy for me as a pastor to see so many people being rooted in Christ, saved from their sins, and having the hope of eternal life. Raise up more, God. Let more and more people come into contact with this good news of the gospel. We pray this all, not just for the good of our church, but especially for the glory of your sacred and amazing name. It’s in Jesus’s name that we pray all these things, and all God’s people said, amen.
