Tag: evangelism

Changed & Charged by Christ

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(2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been referring to it as the “new” year, just we do every January when we switch out our completed calendars for new ones. But really, there is nothing intrinsically different between 2024 and 2023 other than the change of the last number. Just to prove my point, I went back and looked at my old calendar from last year and sure enough, there was also a January 21 in that year as well. On the last day of December, we celebrate the final hours of one year as we roll into a new year, but if you’ve ever noticed, there is no magical change that happens between 11:59 p.m. on December 31 and 12:00 a.m. on January 1. Often times the way we use the word “new” may not be in the strictest sense of the word at all, but may refer to something used that is just “new” to us. But even when something is genuinely new, the novelty of newness wears off rather quickly.

But as it’s used in our verses from 2 Corinthians, “new” represents that most dramatic change anyone could ever experience. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (v.17). The newness a person undergoes in Christ is the most radical change that can happen! It starts with trading in self-made notions and narratives of who we are and who God is for reality. Like a magician’s disappearing act, the old “pretty good” or “better than others” version we perceived of ourselves has suddenly vanished. And as it turns out, the depiction of God we had constructed who is just tickled as long as everyone is trying their best and doesn’t bother getting bent out of shape over sin – such a god doesn’t actually exist.

No, the change we’ve experienced started with the revelation of who we really are and who God really is: real sinners absolutely repugnant to a righteous God. Only then, though, is the full picture able to be seen, as the gospel reveals God’s real love that makes us righteous saints. Who we were is not who we are. Condemned sinners have become confirmed saints. The old has gone, the new is here! It’s true! In place of the damnation we deserved is the salvation that God has secured! Praise God, we have been changed in the most profound way possible – and that for eternity!

That change changes how we look at other people. “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (v.16). We see people differently because what Christ has done for us makes us different! We don’t see people the same way we used to. And it’s true. People who used to make our blood boil are souls for whom Jesus died. People who are polar opposites of us politically are souls for whom Jesus died. People who have no filter almost every time they open their mouths are souls for whom Jesus died. People we would otherwise want absolutely nothing to do with in life are souls for whom Jesus died. I see all of them differently now because I am different. I have changed. And I attach to them a value not that the world does (or doesn’t!), but the value of priceless worth that God attaches to each soul. This changed view we have of others also happens to line up very well with one of the reasons God changes us in Christ: we’re charged. 

When we’re changed, it leads us to see that we’re also charged; we are entrusted with a task. But before we further explore what that means, we must recognize that the sequence of these two things – being changed and charged – matters. The order in which they happen matters.

If we jump right to Jesus’ charge before we’re changed, everything is backwards. We then view Jesus’ charge and our ability to carry it out as the prerequisite to God changing how he feels about us. If we do a good job, then he favors us; if we don’t, then he doesn’t. We see his charge to us as an obligation to be fulfilled so that our status before God changes. We cling to Christ’s charge in hopes that our accomplishment of it might cause him to think and feel differently about us. But that’s backwards.

And it is this confusion that turns off many to Christianity – and understandably so! Their perception is that God lays out his demands and prohibitions for us to abide by, favoring only those who follow through with them. Christianity is viewed as a restrictive form of religious oppression or enslavement that only the weak, the disenfranchised, or the brainwashed are sucked into. Then, led blindly by a cult-like commitment, Christians try to satisfy a domineering God in the hope of achieving a better status in the life to come, a hope that is based on how well they adhere to his charge of unquestioning obedience.

So it is instrumental that we understand the proper order: changed first, then charged. Paul stated what initiated that change in verse 15: “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” First, Jesus died, and he died for all – not just for those who made his list. Not just for the obedient. Not just for the religious. Not just for Christians. He died… for all. That death changed our lives so that we live for the one who died for us. And living for the one who died for us means desiring to conduct our lives according to his will. 

What is his will? What has Jesus charged us, his believers to do? “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (v.18-20).

The word Paul uses – reconciliation – isn’t used as much outside of the Bible, so maybe it helps us to think of the word “restore” instead, even if it isn’t an exact synonym. We are familiar with the need for old, uncared for, or broken items or pieces of furniture to be restored, or made like new again.

That restoration (reconciliation) is exactly what we need. God’s creation, including mankind, was perfect right from the beginning, just as it was when he created it by the power of his spoken word. But sin changed that and brought everything, including mankind, into ruin and destruction. Our sin separated us from God, cutting us off from him forever.

But Paul is saying that God changed our eternity by reconciling – restoring – us through Jesus Christ. If it was our sin that separated us from God, and at the cross Jesus rendered full payment for our sin, every last one, then there is no longer any sin remaining to separate us from God. We have been reconciled – restored – into a perfectly lovely relationship with him.

Now, having discovered this lifeline of grace for ourselves, and fully believing it, God charges us to make it known to everyone else, to be, as he calls us, “Christ’s ambassadors.” We have been restored – but so have all people; now we – you and me, those who know it – are called to go out and make it known to those who don’t.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that God would charge us with such a task because anyone in sales knows that the absolute best way to sell a product is through personal testimony or word-of-mouth. A person who has experienced the benefits of a product or service is much more likely to lead someone else to purchase that product or service because they are the proof that it works. An infomercial including the science and the data validating the effectiveness of a product or service might be fascinating, but that alone will not typically generate sales. A humorous commercial might garner some attention about the product or service, but it doesn’t generally drive significant sales, either. But get someone personally talking about and demonstrating all the ways the product or service works for them, and people will buy it. 

You are the proof that Jesus Christ does what he says he will, that he works, that Christianity “works” (to use a term that appeals to our pragmatic culture)!

Others see it in your thoughtfulness expressed to them and your kind words of support. They notice it in how calm you are in stressful, anxious moments. They get wind of it by how quick you are to forgive, how loving you are even toward those unloving toward you. It stands out as you relay the joy and privilege of getting to be a parent raising kids, rather than the complaining and the burdens they hear from other parents.

And, lest we all overlook the signature characteristic of Christianity, they hear genuine apologies and a willingness to say sorry and own up to our mistakes and our sins. We confess to others when we have done wrong or wronged them personally. Who better to serve as ambassadors than those who know first hand the joy of living in reconciliation with God?!? Who better to carry out this important charge than those who have so clearly been changed?!?

Paul is even modeling what it looks like for those who have been changed to then carry out this charge. As an ambassador, He addresses his readers in the same way he is encouraging them to address others: “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (v.20-21).

Paul is not just talking the talk, but walking the walk by demonstrating exactly what he’s calling us to do. He is teaching his hearers about reconciliation and as one who has himself been changed – reconciled – he is carrying out his charge of encouraging the Corinthians to be reconciled. He invites them to believe that what God did for Paul in Christ Jesus, he also did for them (“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ…”).

Changed, Paul carries out his charge. Let us follow suit, always making certain that grace – and not guilt – is what compels us to carry out that charge.

As we carry out this charge, remember the driving force behind it. Read the first five words of verse fourteen again: “For Christ’s love compels us.” We could imagine a lot of other words or phrases in place of “Christ’s love,” that could prompt us. But Paul didn’t write that “guilt” compels us. It isn’t “the hope that we’re good enough for God” that compels us. It isn’t the impossible desire to please everyone else that compels us. It isn’t even that we love God so so so so much that compels us.

Nope. It’s Christ’s love – his love for us – that compels us. He loves you. That’s all I need to hear for me to want to change the world for Christ, just as he has changed me with his love. 

Making the Unknown Known

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(Acts 17:22-31)

We love being “in the know.” It sets us apart from those around us who aren’t. When we’re in the know, suddenly others are more interested in us, possibly even impressed by us, because we have some coveted knowledge or information that interests them. It makes us feel good to be the center of attention like that.

The other reason we like being in the know is that we don’t enjoy the feeling of being out of the loop. We don’t like feeling inferior or dumb because we don’t have that insider information. We fear being looked down on or teased for not knowing something that it seems everyone else but us knows. 

Either view exposes the underlying problem when it comes to having insider information or being “in the know”: it reveals how self-centered we are. It reveals how inherently we want everything to revolve around us.

It’s really essential for us to acknowledge our self-centeredness when discussing the topic of evangelism, witnessing, sharing our faith, or telling others about Jesus – whichever phrase you prefer. If we refuse to acknowledge our self-centeredness, here’s what ends up happening: we construct our own castles and comfortably hide out inside them until someone calls us out.

Why do we hide there? Because we want to avoid hearing the stinging conclusion about our self-centeredness as it pertains to evangelism: we are naturally more concerned about our own reputation than we are about others’ salvation. While we proudly display the He > I stickers for all to see on the back of our cars, but wouldn’t dare display the sticker that says My reputation > your salvation.

If it wasn’t true that we care more about our reputation than others’ salvation, then we would identify our fears or weaknesses when it comes to witnessing AND make progress in working through them. We’d face the fear of possible rejection. We’d learn more instead of “not knowing how.” We’d connect with more people if “all our friends are Christians.” These – and every other castle we could construct – could actually be overcome with effort, but that effort won’t be exerted until we come to grips with the truth that we are more concerned about our own reputation than others’ salvation.

One doesn’t need to question which was the greater concern for the apostle Paul. He was on a missionary journey sowing the seeds of the gospel to bring salvation to as many as possible. Having previously been in Thessalonica for a matter of weeks until he was forced out, he then went to Berea until he was tracked down yet again by those opposing his message, and then found himself ushered by the believers into Athens. While he was waiting to be rejoined by his travel companions, he noticed the sea of idols throughout the city and was compelled to say something. 

There were a number of ways he typically would carry out his mission work, often including going to the local synagogue and preaching. Additionally, he spent time daily discussing Jesus’ resurrection with any who would listen. Not surprisingly, in a city like Athens, known for its pastime of robust philosophical discussions, Paul was eventually invited to the Areopagus, the “Hill of Aries,” or Mars Hill.

This was the primary location for such discussions and where the political council met in ages past. Ironically, on a hill named after a mythological god in a city rife with idols to false gods, Paul seized the opportunity to proclaim the true God. Because Paul was more concerned about others’ salvation than his own reputation. 

Paul’s concern for others’ salvation is abundantly clear in his writings, too. “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court” (1 Corinthians 4:2-3). In fact, Paul cared so desperately about the salvation of his fellow Jewish people that considered the possibility of giving up his own salvation for their sake, if that were somehow possible. “I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel” (Romans 9:1-4a). Wow!

So how does it make you feel when you see Paul held up on a pedestal for his impassioned zeal to save hell-bound souls? Does it leave you feeling enamored and in awe of him to such a degree that you are convinced more than ever that Paul is in a league of his own? Does he inspire you to want to be more like him, to be so focused on soul-saving that you cast aside any concern for what people might think of you and give everything you can to reaching the lost? Or does mention of Paul’s mission zeal leave you rolling your eyes and tuning out because “good for Paul, but I’m not Paul” after all? Regardless of how you feel about Paul, we need to consider why Paul was so driven to put so much energy into reaching the lost.  

It wasn’t his natural public speaking ability or his knack for influencing or some specialized training he had received. No, it wasn’t any of these. What was it that made Paul such a powerful evangelist? He knew how much he was forgiven.

Paul expressed this powerfully in his first letter to Timothy: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life” (1:15-16). Paul didn’t consider himself great; he considered himself the worst! It’s because he thought so little of himself that he thought so highly of Christ! Paul knew he was exactly the type of sinner Jesus came into the world for – the type who needed forgiving.

Remember the sinful woman washing Jesus’ feet? When the self-righteous religious crowd witnessing it balked at 1) Jesus allowing a sinner to touch him and 2) someone wasting such expensive perfume for washing feet, Jesus gave a rather simple explanation. “She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal” (Luke 7:47, The Message). Her meek modeling of generosity flowed from having been personally flooded with forgiveness!

Do you know how forgiven you are? When it comes to being in awe of forgiveness, it is usually in connection with the “big” sins that we tend to think are in their own class. And indeed, such instances do showcase how amazing forgiveness is.

But you know when else we need to be reminded of how forgiven we are? When we consider the sins that hardly register a blip on our radar. The ones that come so easily to us. The ones we commit so effortlessly. The ones that we think so little of as to not even really need to acknowledge them.

We’re such experts at swiping through video shorts with expert speed and precision to filter out the ones that don’t entertain us, that we fail to turn on our faith filter and imagine if Jesus would be laughing if he was sitting with me soaking it up.

A witty rip escapes my lips and its lack of love is lost amidst all the laughs it gets.

Since violence and gore so easily ooze into nearly every show or game produced nowadays, their prevalence prevents us from reflecting on whether or not graphic depictions honor God in any way.

The offensive language in our music doesn’t count in our minds so long as we make it clear to others that we are aware it’s offensive and inappropriate… as we keep on listening to it.

See how quickly and effortlessly sin stacks up in our lives without hardly registering in our minds as such? And it’s precisely the sheer quantity of those forgiven sins alone that ought to dizzy us with the depth of forgiveness that Jesus extends to us. Paul thought he was the worst of sinners? The crowds thought the woman at Jesus’ feet was despicable? They haven’t seen anything yet! I put them to shame. You put them to shame. We’re able to sin in ways that weren’t even around yet at their times! Do you know what that means?

It means we’re forgiven in more ways, too.

Do you know how forgiven you are? We do not so easily brush aside our sins as trivial, and make so little of the precious blood your Savior spilled for us. His whole time on earth crescendoed to his crucifixion, the greatest act of injustice in the history of the world, endured for our sin – sin that demanded nothing less. Sin that we welcome and embrace so easily and openly. Sin that has been forgiven so fully and completely. And at such a dear price. 

And… that has been made known to you. Not only do we know that it happened, what Jesus did for us, but we also believe it! How many souls on this planet right now are going about their lives without knowing their sin has been forgiven? How many are indifferent to, ignorant of, ashamed of, guilt-ridden by, or self-medicating because of the sins they don’t know have already been fully and completely forgiven?

Many have never heard the name of Jesus. Others know the name but not the significance. Either way, their Savior is unknown to them.

But that same Savior is not unknown to you. He is known by you, loved by you, and gave himself for you. Can we now give ourselves to him by making him known to others? 

Make the World Better & Brighter

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(Matthew 5:13-20)

While the most frequent use of salt you’re likely to see is sprinkling it on food to enhance the flavor, salt actually has quite a few uses outside of making food taste better. In addition to using it to preserve food, salt is also necessary for curing food – so if you appreciate bacon, salt deserves a huge shout-out! Salt is also what your body uses when muscles expand and contract. That’s why it’s wise to bring salty food on hikes so that when you lose salt through your sweat, you can replenish it with a salty snack that helps avoid muscle cramps. And, for those of us who have spent any time in the midwest, salt has another popular use during the cold months of winter: it is spread on sidewalks and roads to melt the snow. 

So salt has a number of valuable uses. However, there is a time when salt isn’t very helpful. When it isn’t used! Have you ever experienced wrapping up a meal and then remembering a spice or seasoning afterward and thought to yourself, “I bet this would have tasted really good on that”? But by then it’s too late. By that time you’ve already finished your meal. You can’t go back and season what you’ve already eaten. So what good is salt that is unused? It isn’t! We could actually list a lot more ways that salt is helpful in our day-to-day lives, but if we wouldn’t actually use it, then it wouldn’t be very helpful.

As I age, I appreciate brightness for a number of reasons. It is easier to see a bright screen than squinting at a dark one. The right lighting around the exterior of a house or inside a room can also make all the difference between something that is dark and dreary or warm, cozy, and inviting. Lighting matters.

But what good is light that is hidden? Like walking into an unfamiliar room and not knowing where the switch is. It happens in hotel rooms. You walk in and see any number of lamps and spend more time than you care to admit trying to figure out if a wall switch turns this light or that light on, or if the lamp itself has its own switch. The lights are there in the room, but they’re only of use after you figure out how to turn them on. Once you do, the room brightens up.

What salt does for us in our daily lives and what the right lighting can do in a home, Jesus wants you to be in the world. He wants to use you to make the world better and brighter. Think of all the ways the Bible calls us to love and serve our neighbors – and even our enemies! Does it not stand to reason that if everyone in the world cared less about serving themselves and more about serving others, we’d all actually be better off?

But pay attention to the Savior’s sermon, for in it he has an end goal in mind for his salt and light as you make the world better and brighter: “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (v.16). If you thought the end goal of making the world better and brighter was to draw attention to yourself, you should know that Jesus had something much more significant in mind. He wants your salt and light to win others over. No, they won’t come to faith in Jesus through your sacrificial service to them, but God has in mind that such service would attract them to its source: Jesus. After all, what is the greatest glory that can be given to the Father in heaven? It’s when the lost are found, when even one unbelieving sinner repents and is forgiven and restored. There is no greater glory that can be given to the Father than for a soul to be snatched from Satan. And you are the salt and the light that helps to make that happen. 

And pay closer attention to the Savior’s sermon for a foundational understanding of how Jesus has chosen to partner with you in this important mission: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (v.17). See that – Jesus has already done all of the heavy lifting! When he calls us to be salt and light, he isn’t laying out a law-list of requirements that must be met in hopes of attaining saltiness and brightness. He fulfilled the law so that we might love living in it! Jesus was the epitome of salt and light. He seasoned everything perfectly. He lit everything up beautifully. What he has fulfilled, we are no longer enslaved by. He’s freed us to love making the world better and brighter!

But neither is Jesus’ fulfillment of the law an excuse to disregard his calling to be his salt and light. He warns against that, too! Note the point Jesus is making in verses 17 and following. He sets the tone by pointing out that he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. So what does that say about our understanding of his fulfillment of the law if we carelessly cast it aside? If we disregard it or lead others to do the same? If we do that, what are we saying about Jesus’ fulfillment of the law – that it didn’t matter? That we didn’t need it? That God was not really being serious when he gave his law? Instead, his fulfillment of the law leads us all the more to practice it and teach others to do the same, because we’ve been freed from its burden and can now be blessed by its wisdom and love, and through it we see a means to make the world better & brighter – and we’re completely free to do so!

Don’t we see more than enough examples of how not to be in life? As parents, do you find yourselves pointing out all the positive examples and role models for your kids to imitate, or are your conversations more frequently centered around the behavior of a classmate of the headline of a celebrity, followed by, “If I ever catching you doing that…”? The world does not need more examples of what not to do. It doesn’t need more people to fit into its corrupt ways. It needs you to be different. It needs you to stand out.

Consider your viewing of a valuable piece of art. You would most likely view that piece of art in an art gallery, accompanied by many other works of art, all of which are beautiful in their own way. However, what if you viewed that same art piece shuffled in together with a pile of kindergarten coloring pages? We’re talking about the same piece of art, but if you were to view it in each of those two settings, the art gallery or the pile of kindergarten coloring pages, in which setting is that work of art more likely to stand out? Wouldn’t it make a much more memorable impact on each of us as it stood out brilliantly among the best efforts of a classroom of kindergarten colorings? Of course!

The world that God created was a beautiful art gallery. Sin, however, ruined it with its random scribbling and coloring outside the lines. Yet realize what that means! When you are the salt and light that Jesus made you to be, you stand out like a work of art in a bland and dark world. You make it better and brighter!

How do you do this? By being what Jesus has made you to be – salt and light that are his hands and feet to serve the world. Does that mean Jesus needs your service to your neighbor to rival Mother Theresa? No, for he has not made you Mother Theresa; he has made you you. Just be the you that he created you to be, with your unique gifts, abilities, interests, and circle of souls to serve.

So when you’re at your table at the restaurant, give thought to the ideal type of customer a server would be eager to wait on – then be that customer. At your child’s game, consider the kind of parent that coaches and refs and umps want to have in the stands cheering on their favorite kid players – then be those parents. When you’re at work, put yourself in your boss’s shoes and imagine what a blessing the ideal employee would be to him – then be that employee. Spouse, classmate, neighbor, airline passenger, customer waiting in the grocery checkout line – we could go on all day long! Think of the ideal in whatever situation you find yourself in throughout the day – then be that person. Do you know what that’s called when you do that? That’s called being salt and light. And it is the very stuff that makes the world better and brighter. Be that.

Then try to pretend your efforts would never yield any eternal fruit. You may pretend, but Jesus has already clearly stated your potential impact. When you stand out by making things better and brighter, you become very attractive to people. They want whatever you’re on. They want to spend time with people like you because, well, who doesn’t want better and brighter? Of course they do! And over time, the Lord will open up doors to a much greater purpose: an audience for the gospel; ears to hear Jesus.

Pause for a moment and put yourself in the shoes of an outsider. Someone who has perhaps heard the name Jesus, and maybe recognizes the Bible is a religious book, but is either indifferent or disinterested in Christianity. If a person like that is ever going to be open to hearing more about Jesus or learning anything about the Bible, where do you suppose they’ll turn? Will it be to the Karen she’s waiting on who hasn’t stopped complaining and doesn’t leave a tip? Will it be to the livid parent incessantly heckling the ump after each pitch? To the bitter employee who badmouths the company and gossips endlessly? Not likely – so don’t be them! 

We convince ourselves that we’re so afraid of having to witness to other people that we forget to be the kind of people they’d want to learn from in the first place! We presume that not having the words to say when it comes to evangelism is our biggest problem when maybe the bigger problem is that no one else is interested in our words in the first place because we blend in too well in this bland and dark world. If more of our conversations are going to eventually lead to Jesus, then perhaps we should be more attractive and approachable in the first place so that people even want to converse with us!

That will happen more often when salt and light make the world better and brighter. So get after it. Be what Jesus has made you to be. Set the stage for God to use your good deeds as the onramp that eventually leads others to glorify our Father in heaven.

Jesus Appears As the Lamb of God

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(John 1:29-41)

We care quite a bit about our appearances in a number of different ways. Some care about how they look physically. They eat well and work out because body fitness and physique matter to them. Fashion and style matter more to others as far as appearance is concerned. They stay on top of who is wearing what and what’s in style and what’s not. But even those less concerned with how they look physically still care about how they appear to others. Social media also provides a platform that allows people to portray themselves as they want to appear to others. It doesn’t take very long to swipe through a person’s account to be able to determine how they want to appear – “car guy,” “dog lover,” or “sports nut” are just a few examples of appearances we see.

But we also know that how a person appears may not actually line up with who they are. Christians are not immune to this. In fact, it can be an extremely damaging thing to Christianity’s reputation. When Christians are more concerned with how they appear to others than who they actually are, there can even be eternal consequences. When the churchgoer mask or makeup comes off at home and who we are around other Christians ends up being a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde difference at home, that’s a significant spiritual matter. 

Yet if there is one individual for whom it is essential that reality matches appearance, it is the Savior. It is Jesus. It would not matter how Jesus would appear if he had not ended up being who he appeared to be. And that’s why this season of Epiphany is so important. At Christmas, the Savior appears, and during Epiphany, he is revealed to be the Savior that he appeared to be. The account recorded for us in John 1 reveals Jesus appearing as the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist pointed it out on back-to-back days: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (v.29).  With this one sentence, John was making a monumental revelation about who Jesus was. To appreciate the significance of a lamb, consider every thought and feeling that immediately fills your mind whenever you see the image of a cross worn or displayed. There is so much meaning packed into just that one symbol that for us summarizes the basis of our relationship with God.

Now imagine the lamb carrying that same significance for Jewish people in John the Baptist’s day. Instead of a cross, people would have worn necklaces with lambs on them. A lamb would have been the picture on the T-shirt of believers. The lamb was the centerpiece of what we’d call their church services. The lamb represented sacrifice for sins that was absolutely essential for fallen man to have a relationship with a holy God. John, pointing to Jesus, revealed that he was that lamb, that sacrifice, that means to a relationship with God.

To make that matter even more certain, John emphasizes that he is “of God.” John hadn’t hatched some hair-brained idea to fleece his followers and deceive them into thinking Jesus was something that he wasn’t. This Lamb was “of God.” Jesus wasn’t some charismatic cult leader who paid John to promote him and start his own movement. This Lamb was “of God.” Sometimes believers describe an experience or event in their lives that was above and beyond chance or coincidence as being “a God thing.” They are demonstrating that things tend to carry more weight when God divinely intervenes. John was emphasizing the clout Jesus carried by describing him as the Lamb “of God.”

Finally, in John’s power-packed proclamation, he highlighted that this Lamb, Jesus, would do what no lamb before him ever could: take away the sin of the world. Of all the daily lambs sacrificed by the priests throughout Israel’s history, of all the lambs served up in the Passover meals of countless Jewish families for generations and generations, not a single one of them, nor the whole vast quantity of all of them taken together, could take away so much as the smallest sin. They could only symbolize. They could only foreshadow. They could only point ahead to the perfect Lamb who would be revealed. And on this day, with this simple statement, John declared the fulfillment of all of it. The Lamb appeared, the only Lamb who could take away the sin of the world – all sin of all people of all time. 

Notice what John did next. After making a profound theological statement, proclaiming the good news of the gospel for others to hear, he shared his own personal experience. He gave a testimony of why this all mattered so much to him. “Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One’” (v.32-34). 

John had just shared the most powerful message that any ear can ever hear – the good news of the gospel that Jesus, the Lamb of God, Jesus, the Savior, takes away the sin of the world. That message and that message alone is what brings life from death, light from darkness, faith from unbelief. We cannot in any way improve or upgrade that message!

But, we can personally validate its significance and impact in our own personal lives for others to see. In our skeptical, truth-seeking, fact-checking world today, your personal experience is starting to carry more clout.

We have been in the progress of moving beyond the foolishness of postmodernism’s “everyone’s truth is valid” as a license to provide permission for anyone to live and do as they see fit. We’re recognizing the collateral damage that has come with believing the lie that associated permissiveness with personal happiness. That deceptive connection between the two continues to become unstuck like a house held together with scotch tape. People pursuing “their own truth” continue to arrive at a dead end. The result is an increasing openness on the part of people to pay more attention to the truth of others. So when your truth, your testimony, matches and verifies the powerful message of the gospel, there is potential for great kingdom impact. Look at what happened after John shared his testimony!

“When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ)” (v.38, 40-41). Note the two things that happened: they followed Jesus and they invited others to do the same. John proclaimed the good news and shared his testimony and it resulted in people following Jesus. Then, those people who followed Jesus invited others to do the same. 

Do you see the kingdom building going on and how it was taking place? It happened exponentially, like compound interest. As some of John the Baptist’s listeners heard the good news, that good news took root and faith sprouted. Then, as that faith sprouted, it spread to others. Followers of Jesus were implementing a key quality of disciples of Jesus: disciples disciple. When we were called to faith in Jesus, we weren’t called to perform a solo act; sorry to say it, but he didn’t want just you. But not sorry to say it, because he doesn’t just want you, he wants others to join in the party!

We were called to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Get it? The process doesn’t end. God’s design for your discipleship was not that it would stop with you, but would continue through you. That is to say, if there there is no element in your life of discipling others, then you are missing out on a notable chunk of what your own discipleship truly involves. And that doesn’t just affect you; it affects others who are missing out on Jesus because you have too narrow a view of your own discipleship. Yours is a tunnel vision discipleship if you mistakenly think that your discipleship is only about you.

Does all of this terrify you? Does it make you feel inadequate? Does it make you feel guilty for making so much of your discipleship about yourself and not making disciples? Good, then you’re where you need to be, right back at square one, which is realizing how important the primary calling of a disciple is: to follow Jesus.

The whole process of discipleship and making disciples hinges on John’s seismic proclamation that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That includes your sin, your guilt, your inadequacies, your shortcomings – all of it. Jesus appeared as the Lamb of God to take all of that away and in its place provide you with everything you would need to point others to him in some way or another. But you will have neither the interest nor the ability to disciple others if you yourself aren’t closely following the Lamb of God as his dearly loved disciple.

Have you ever been on a group hike and found yourself somewhere in the middle of the pack? In that spot, two things are going on. One, you are making sure the hiker in front of you doesn’t get so far ahead of you that you can no longer see him. If he does, you might end up losing the trail. Not only that, though, you also risk leading astray those who are following behind you. See how it all starts with making sure you are closely following the person in front of you?

So it is with Jesus. The closer we are to him, the less risk that we will be lost, and the closer we are to him, the better position we are in to lead those following us. That is how discipleship works. 

That is how it has worked ever since that first day John pointed others to the Lamb of God. His disciples made other disciples who made other disciples all the way down the line like links in a continuous chain until you became a disciple. Now you get to continue that same process of discipling, and you get to do it the same way John did: let others know that the Lamb of God who has appeared is their Lamb of God who takes away their sin of the world. And he longs for them to follow him and make disciples, too.

The Found are Left; the Lost are Found

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(Luke 15:1-10)

They gathered around Jesus for two very different reasons. One group came to Jesus to hear him; the other came to hate on him. And when you consider which groups it is, it should be rather surprising. We would expect the “tax collectors and sinners” to be the ones hating and the “Pharisees and the teachers of the law” to be hearing. If Jesus’ message was all fire and brimstone and a call to shape up our lives, the first crowd would rightly resent Jesus and his message. After all, they weren’t naive to the fact that they were the black sheep of society. 

And the Pharisees, the ones who delight in doing right – and getting noticed for it – should have clamored to hear Jesus’ message if it was all fire and brimstone and a call to shape up our lives. That would have been right up their alley! It would have reinforced their self-righteousness and puffed up their pride.

But it’s exactly the opposite. Luke describes it for us. “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v.1-2). The black sheep want to hear Jesus and the self-righteous religious want to hate on him! You know what that says about Jesus? His message stood out. There was something different about it. His message must have been radical if it appealed to those it should have turned off while turning off those to whom it should have appealed. And that is exactly what his message does today. Today’s teaching is a hard truth because it forces us to face that The Found are Left while The Lost are Found. 

If the typical Christian congregation did an assessment of which category of folks received more attention – the found or the lost – which group do you suppose would come out ahead? It’s no contest. It isn’t even close. But I don’t raise that point to shame or indicate that it’s wrong to give attention to each other or to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. It isn’t! Not at all. In fact, it’s one of the “selling points” of trying to bring others into the family of Christianity – we care for and about each other. 

But there is a need for balance in the mission Jesus has given us. Because he hasn’t only called us to care for each other, the found. He has also called us to seek the lost. If, rather than trying to pit one against the other, we instead strive to see the importance of and need for each, then we are ready and willing for Jesus to draw our attention to finding the lost. What does Jesus wish to teach us about his feelings toward the lost? His mission is personal and persistent. 

The personal concern of Jesus in going after the lost is clear in each parable. After losing one sheep, the owner of the hundred sheep doesn’t conclude, “One sheep is no big deal – I’ve still got 99, after all.” The woman doesn’t blow off her one lost coin just because she still has the nine others.

God does not write off countless lost souls just because there are many who are saved. Neither does he attach different values to different people like we so often do, based on different criteria, deeming some more worthy of saving than others. Every soul matters to Jesus. Every soul. 

It’s like the little boy walking along the sandy beach after a storm. The beach was blanketed by starfish as far as the eye could see that had washed up after the storm. He knew that if they had any chance of surviving, they would somehow have to get back into the water, so the boy started picking the starfish up. One by one, he slung them back into the safety of the ocean. An onlooker commented that the boy’s efforts would hardly make a difference, as there were far too many starfish on the beach. After bending over to pick up one more and flinging it into the ocean, the boy responded, “It just made a difference for that one.”

So personally does Jesus care about every lost soul that he will go after each and every last one!

And he’ll do it with persistence. Jesus presumes the woman will look tirelessly for the lost coin. “Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?” (v.8). Neither did the owners just take a quick peek here or there and then call it a day! The same phrase is used of both the lost sheep and the coin: the owner searches “until s/he finds it.” (v.4,8). There was no room for half-hearted effort in either case; the search would persist until the sheep and the coin was found. 

Now we can talk about Jesus’ mission being personal and persistent, but you know what that must mean, don’t you? Consider how Jesus carries out his mission of seeking the lost. He does it through you and me. He does it through believers – his church.

So Jesus doesn’t have one approach he takes on his mission while his church takes some different approach. If his mission is personal and persistent, then so is the church’s mission. So is ours. So is yours. And if your mission isn’t personal or persistent… whose mission in life are you really more interested in carrying out – Jesus’, or your own?

When Jesus’ mission is our mission, we also want to ask who are those represented by the lost sheep and the lost coin. Often this chapter of Luke 15 is limited to the areas of outreach and evangelism. While that is natural, we don’t want to limit it to that. The lost sheep and the lost coin, after all, were at one time numbered among the found. So there is also a call here to seek out those who once belonged to the found, but are either wandering toward lostness or lost already.

It’s a call to repentance. It’s a call to care about those who used to be actively among us. It’s a call to care about our friends, our spouses, our sons, and daughters, who at one time fed in the pasture of God’s Word and sacrament right alongside us, but who now are nowhere to be found. While those who have only known unbelief their whole lives are always on our radar, also on our radar should be those who previously were won to faith, but have since wandered. How do we do that?

The first step: identify them. Stop pretending they aren’t lost. Stop lying to yourself that, even though they haven’t been hearing the Good Shepherd’s voice, perhaps in years, they are still interested in following him. Stop pretending that having no involvement or engagement with their congregation and no spiritual shepherding from their elder or pastor is permissible. Also… stop pretending that they should know better and it is 100% their responsibility for being rescued again.  Instead, let’s acknowledge they’re lost and put together a search party. And let’s do it with the kind of personal and persistent passion Jesus emphasized in these parables.

Suppose a large building in your community became engulfed in flame. How would you feel about a group of firefighters who decided to ignore the alarm sounding and instead hung around the fire station snacking and glued to their screens rather than throwing on their gear and high-tailing it out of the station?

Would their actions make more sense though, if they explained to you that the building on fire was one that just earlier that week they had made a presentation on fire safety and prevention, so they weren’t worried about it? Of course not! You’d expect them to go rescue anyone in the burning building no matter how much fire safety and prevention training the occupants had had!

In the same way, who are we to sit back and leave the lost on their own because they went to our school, finished the membership class, or were previously active in the congregation? Absurd! Let’s get out there and rescue them, whether they’re merely backsliding into the darkness or were always lost in it – Jesus wants both kinds. Jesus wants them all.

And so do we. Because we rejoice daily that he has rescued us, too. We gather regularly to sing and speak words of rejoicing over knowing that he has found us and rescued us. We rejoice in the confidence of knowing that every confessed sin has already been canceled. We rejoice in knowing that every Christian soul who has departed the pasture of this world for the pasture of heaven is with Jesus, the Good Shepherd. We rejoice with the angels in heaven each and every time even just one soul is turned around in repentance and rescued for eternity. We celebrate… and then we round up the search party again and get back out to work.

Scattering & Gathering

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(Genesis 11:1-9)

Ever since man has worked the ground to grow food and live off the land, scattering and gathering have been a part of life. First, the seed for crops is sown – spread out and scattered. That scattered seed is then watered, either by means of rain from the sky or different types of irrigation that have been designed or developed over time. The crop is cared for and tended to, and finally, when the time is right, what is grown is harvested. The seed that was first scattered is then finally gathered at the harvest. 

Scattering and gathering is also a picture of what God has been doing with his people throughout history.

From the very beginning, God called his people to scatter. God’s instructions to the world’s first family was this: “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Following the Flood, God called for his people to scatter again. “Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1). We might notice also that each time God called for man to scatter over all the earth and fill it, it had the promise of his blessing attached to it. It was therefore a good thing God was calling man to do. Scattering was sanctified!  

Whereas scattering took place from the beginning, gathering will take place on the last day. In reference to his return on the Last Day, Jesus explained, “And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” (Mark 13:27). In the very first days, God called for man to spread out and scatter, but on the last day, those who are his will be gathered together. Paul, who teaches about what that Last Day will be like in 2 Thessalonians, introduces his teaching with the words, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him,…” (2:1). At that point, there will be no more need to scatter, for after all things have been carried out as the Lord said they would be, all that will remain is for Jesus to return to gather his believers together to be with him in the new heaven and earth at his designated time. 

This morning, we see a smaller scale picture of the scattering & gathering in two major events that are sandwiched in the timeline of history. And we see it being carried out whether mankind initially desires to oblige or not. If God desires to scatter, and man rebels, God will make a way to ensure that his desire is carried out. Furthermore, where it would appear from a human perspective that there are far too many obstacles or hindrances in the way of the gathering of people of all tribes, nations, and languages all over the world, God will make a way, as he did on the Day of Pentecost. 

Some might write off the account of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11 as a man-made story to explain the origin of multiple languages. If the Bible is viewed like any other normal book, this account might conveniently suit such an interpretation. But the Bible isn’t like any other book.

However, even if it did read like any other book, then what would the context tell us? So far in Genesis, we have had only narrative accounts, including historical events with historical people and places named. From where would we suddenly be justified in writing off this event as a made-up tale to explain the origin of languages? What this account shows instead is the sad reality that even after the Flood, mankind was still naturally egotistical and rebellious against God. He continued to disregard God’s clear command to scatter, the command given both at creation and repeated again after the Flood.

But why should God be so bothered by this tower building? Why did this matter? Wouldn’t it be a good thing for people to band together? Why would God be opposed to that? Was he just salty that they disregarded his command?

The answer, in part, is found in the purpose behind the plan to build: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves” (v.4). “So that we may make a name for ourselves.” Where were their hearts? Where was their concern? What does it mean to desire to “make a name for oneself?”

It means to make it about me. That was their concern. It has been and continues to be one of the greatest fears we face: insignificance. Irrelevance. The result is insecurity. Why else was there such a concern about making a name for themselves?

Doesn’t this reflect something rather telling about human nature? We know something is off. We’re naturally like the individual in the relationship who cannot trust, who has a paranoid fear that the other is either ready to move on or is cheating or it’s only a matter of time before they will.

That insecurity comes from the fear of insignificance, and it’s normal for us because it’s justified. We are so well aware of our offenses against a holy God that we rightly sense insignificance. We might mask it behind bravado or brash confidence, but even that is to go out of our way to make sure others don’t sense our insecurity. We posture and puff ourselves up to hide any scent of insecurity that others may pick up. We are terrified of our worst fear being realized: that we don’t matter. 

And while we are so focused on our fear of not mattering, of not being significant, our attention is not on the compassionate God who loves with an everlasting love and longs for everyone to know that love. We’re so preoccupied with worry over being insignificant that we fail to turn our attention to the God who assures us that we aren’t! So we build, we achieve, we produce, we create, we… do whatever we can to make a name for ourselves, to be significant – the whole while overlooking the God who made us significant by redeeming us in the first place!

When we are so enamored with significance, we will resort to anything for attention. Even disobedience. Children disobey, yes, because they are sinners and disobedience comes naturally. But it is often more than that. As the competition for mom or dad’s attention intensifies (due to busy schedules and attachment to screens, for example), even the negative attention due to disobedience is still attention. And attention = significance in their minds. 

By default then, it isn’t about God, which the people at Babel make abundantly clear in seeking to avoid the very thing God commanded them to do! They stated, “otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (v.4). There it is, plain as day – direct defiance to what God commanded them to do, and so casually, at that, as if it made perfect sense for them to want to avoid being scattered, to avoid doing the very thing God commanded them to do.

How relatable! Christian congregations have always reflected this same challenge. When a mission congregation is established, it starts with not only a genuine desire but also a need to reach out, to scatter, to carry out the mission Jesus gave his Church at Ascension. If they don’t grow, they won’t be around very long!

But, as God blesses those efforts and the mission congregation grows, its focus slowly starts to shift to internal priorities. Property is purchased. Buildings are constructed. Various ministries are established to meet the members’ needs. And the spirit of scattering to reach the lost becomes overshadowed by the preference to gather with the saints. Ministry becomes about maintaining and sustaining what has been built; scattering becomes work for others to do. 

But the scattering and gathering are an ongoing cycle that will repeat until Jesus returns. It wasn’t only at Babel that the Lord scattered; he did the same thing after he gathered his Church at Pentecost! Those believers who had gathered from “every nation under heaven” (Acts 2) would be scattered back to their respective homes. The good news – the same news that had converted 3,000 souls on Pentecost – would be scattered to the ends of the earth. 

That is the same cycle God calls us to today. Gather, as we do each week, so that the Spirit may continue in us the same work he poured out on his church on Pentecost – filling and fueling us with Word and Sacrament, to equip and stir us up to be scattered out again for his work each week.

It never stops and it will always be necessary. As long as we look to all of the wrong places for significance, it will leave a trail of sin, which calls for the ongoing pattern of confession and absolution. Again and again we turn away from God and to the world in so many little ways, looking for what only God can give. Instead of allowing us to stumble away in such selfish pursuits, he gathers us again and again to show us how much we matter to him by directing us to his cross.

And we are renewed. We are restored. We are refreshed to carry out the work of scattering once again to go gather in other souls to become saints as the Holy Spirit works the same work in their hearts. 

It isn’t just on Sundays that God comes down to his people personally in Word and Sacrament; he has come down to his people personally throughout history. He did that very thing at Babel, too: “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building” (Gen. 11:5). The Lord came down – don’t miss this! If God doesn’t come down to intervene, our situation is hopeless! God does this repeatedly in the OT, paying visits to mankind (pre-incarnate Christ), and thank goodness he does! (Gen. 18; Ex. 3:8 burning bush).

Yet the greatest “coming down” of the Lord was at the incarnation. When God-in-the-flesh was born into this world on Christmas, he did more than simply stop in for a visit; he lived and dwelled among those he came to save! What does that say about a personal God and how much he cares about his fallen creation?

This really gets at the other reason God was concerned about the building going on at Babel. In addition to the self-centered desire for significance, God’s name was at risk of being left on the back burner. God knows what happens when people make it a goal to make a name for themselves. When concern for our own name and reputation is what fills our hearts and drives us, then there is no more space in our hearts for the LORD. And that is the greatest tragedy imaginable. 

The reason God wanted them to scatter? So that his name would reach the ends of the earth! So that no one would fail to be able to hear of the salvation promised only through him. The importance of this cannot be understated. Just recently in Bible Information Class, the question came up, as it often does: What about those in such and such places/countries who never had the chance to hear about Jesus? Well, this very lesson underscores why it was so important for God’s people to scatter and take God’s name with them. Because when that doesn’t happen, false religions and all forms of idolatry will fill the vacuum left in man’s heart. 

So, for the sake of souls, God took matters into his own hands at Babel and forced his people to spread out. On Pentecost, God again took matters into his own hands and miraculously equipped the gospel to be scattered, removing any language barrier that might have hindered it. Still today God will take matters into his own hands to see that his Word is scattered. Where believers are reluctant to do so, he is not above taking matters into his own hands to see that this important work is carried out. After all, he desires that when he returns, it will be to gather a large harvest of souls for eternity. Let us then be a part of his scattering and gathering so that he returns on the Last Day to find the large harvest of souls for which he longs.

Messengers Uncovered

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(Luke 5:1-11)

The Super Bowl is next Sunday. To make it to that level, your team has to have a pretty solid quarterback. It would be pretty big news then, if one of the teams’ starting QBs was not going to be playing. It would be even bigger news if none of the backups were going to be replacing him because the coach made a last-minute decision to someone else in that position: the janitor. Not only would he not know how to pull off the plays; he likely wouldn’t even know how to put on the pads! It’s not just another football player in a different position, but someone totally lacking any of the skills necessary to even fake it. Let’s just say that running a sweep would take on a whole new meaning with a janitor taking the snaps!

Is it any less absurd that Jesus chose who he did to be his messengers? He didn’t hit up the religious experts. He didn’t tap the experienced public speakers. In fact, if you want to search for what was likely the bottom of the barrel when it came to necessary communication skills, you might just find fishermen about as low as you can go. They didn’t need people skills – they were out on boats half the time fetching fish, not striking up a conversation with locals. But fishermen were exactly the ones Jesus called to spread the word! Yet if you find that shocking, try this on for size: it’s not just fishermen he called his messengers; it’s also you and me.

There was definitely something different about the crowds this time around in our verses from Luke. Two weeks ago the crowds rejected the message (Lk. 4). Last week they wanted more of Jesus – not necessarily because of the message, but because of the miracles. Today we finally see it: the people are “crowding around him and listening to the word of God” (v.1). Let’s start there. People were listening to the word of God! Good things happen when we listen to the word of God. Actually, maybe that needs clarification, as have a tendency to interpret the word “good” according to our own definition of good. Maybe we should say it a little bit differently: “God” things happen when we listen to the word of God. Simon Peter would find that out. 

Simon was patient. Fishing was not easy work and he had just been up all night busting his tail for nothing. Now he’s cleaning everything up at the end of his shift, and along comes Jesus to tell him how to do his job. Peter must have been physically drained from a night of hard work. He undoubtedly was emotionally drained by the frustration of coming up empty-handed. That makes his response to Jesus all the more remarkable. “Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets’” (v.5). 

“Because you say so…” How different would our lives be if that was the only change we made? How blessed would we be if we let those words guide our lives more? Trust the Lord your God… give generously… love your enemies… forgive one another… pray for your president and leaders… stay married, etc., and all “because [Jesus] says so.” 

Of course we would let Jesus’ “because I said so” guide our lives; it’s just that we happen to know better than he does. Now that may come across as a little extreme for me to state it that way, but isn’t that really the simplest conclusion we can draw? When a parent tells a child to do this or that and the child doesn’t (isn’t the child’s least favorite explanation “because I said so”???), or when the superior directs an employee to take care of something and he doesn’t, what does that say if not, “I know better than you do, so I am not going to bother doing what you told me to do?” So when we ignore the many exhortations in Scripture to do this or that, what are we saying to God but that we know better than he does? 

When this is our natural rebellious attitude, should it surprise us that we excel at ignoring Jesus’ commands “just because he said so?” Today though, our verses key us in on one specific area that Jesus tells us so: “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people” (v.10). We are pretty good at dismissing Jesus’ double directive there, aren’t we? Not only do we know better than he does, resulting in our contentment to leave the fishing up to other people, but we also fail to take to heart his initial words, “Don’t be afraid.” In fact, that is probably the most common excuse given for not fishing for men – we’re too afraid. While we use it to justify our aversion to evangelism, what we really end up doing when we extend such an excuse is incriminating ourselves! Not only are we ignoring the second part, but we’re also failing to live out the first! We let fear cripple us when Jesus says not to!

How quickly we forget what Jesus is able to do, as he had just demonstrated to Peter. “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break” (vv.4, 6). No fish all night, then one net cast and the boats almost sink because of such a large haul of fish! Look what Jesus is able to do!

Do you really doubt that he can haul in as big a catch of people if you get over yourself and your fear? Do you really doubt that the One who just humbled a bunch of experienced fisherman with as big a catch as they probably had ever had could also do the same through you?

Imagine that you were required to fill out an application to be one of God’s messengers. On that application, there were two sections, one for listing all of the qualifications that makes you ideal for serving as one of God’s messengers, and another section that listed shortcomings that would not provide evidence for why you would not make a good messenger. On which of those two sections do you think most of us would have more to write? Based on what I have heard most from others, not too many would be listing much of anything in the “qualification” section, but just about everyone would probably need more space for the “shortcomings” section. You’d include things like “I don’t know the Bible well enough,” “I’m not a strong enough Christian,” “I am not good with words,” “I don’t have any non-Christian friends,” “I’m too afraid,” etc. For those really willing to be honest, we might also include, “I am too busy” or “I just don’t care that much” to the list. Now those things may or may not be true, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter because any application you would fill out and turn in to Jesus, he would return it back to you stamped in large letters with the word, “QUALIFIED.” 

Why? Because the ability to be Jesus’ messengers is not based on your ability to be Jesus’ messengers; rather, it is based entirely on the fact that he is the One who sends you to be his messengers. And the One who sends you doubles as the One who saved you. Remember the whole cross thing, the very foundation of the message he is sending you to communicate? Don’t forget that that cross is just as much for you as it is for anyone else. Don’t forget that you need that cross just as much as anyone else. That cross was necessary to cancel out every instance in which your actions revealed your rebellious “I know best” directed at God. That cross was necessary to cancel out the prideful control you insist on having in your life instead of the humble submission God calls you to. That cross was necessary to qualify you to be God’s messenger. And it has, for at the cross God’s righteous justice and his undeserved mercy collide and we are the beneficiaries. Jesus paid the price of our rebellion and arrogance against God, and only because of that grace and forgiveness are we qualified to be his messengers.

If the Lord chose us to be his messengers on the basis of our qualifications, he’d have a total of zero messengers. Go back to Simon. Remember how much success he had fishing all night? Zero. So why would Jesus send a fisherman who caught zero fish for something as important as fishing for people. It wasn’t because of Simons’s success, but because of the Savior’s sending. Jesus qualified him. Jesus sent him. And follow Peter’s ministry in the book of Acts after Jesus’ resurrection – Jesus gave him success.

What stood out in Peter’s case was not his expertise, but his obedience. Wasn’t Jesus illustrating something extremely powerful – and confidence-boosting – in this account? He was foreshadowing that Peter’s success on the lake that day had absolutely nothing to do with his own ability or qualifications and everything to do with the simple fact that he did what Jesus told him to do. That is exactly how God grants success to his messengers – not because we are superb evangelists, but because we have a superb Savior who can bless our obedience a thousand times over and far more than we could ever expect or imagine! 

Don’t hold your breath waiting for either team next on Super Bowl Sunday to start a janitor as their quarterback. But as crazy as something like that sounds, God has actually determined to do something far crazier – he chose you and me to be his messengers!

Will you go? Will you go for no other reason than that the Lord says to each one of us, “because I said so?” Will you give him some effort to bless? Will you throw your nets out again and again, even after one unsuccessful try after another, just because he said so? Will you give him nothing but your faith-filled obedience? Will you be his messenger?

Apologize

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(1 Peter 3:13-16)

If this morning’s word is not familiar to you in the context of evangelism, then it might be necessary to clarify that we aren’t talking about saying we’re sorry for believing in Jesus. Though apologies in that sense may have their place if we need to come clean before somebody else we may have wronged, the word apologize this morning carries with it a different meaning than “I’m sorry.” Apologetics refers to the field of defending the Christian faith. One of our Confessions in the Book of Concord is called the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, which is not Lutherans saying we’re sorry for ever confessing our faith as expressed in the Augsburg Confession, but rather a defense of what that Confession states. So while we are never sorry for our Christian faith, there is great benefit in being able to defend it. 

One important caveat when it comes to apologizing, or defending, our Christian faith: strictly speaking, defending our faith is not evangelism. No single soul was ever ushered into heaven because of a convincing or compelling defense of the Christian faith. Only the gospel awakens faith in the human heart. So what role, what place does defending the Christian faith have? 

If you’ve ever gardened, you know there is value in tilling the soil. Doing so prepares the soil for the seeds that will be planted. It removes the stones or pebbles or debris in the dirt that might otherwise impede growth and never give the seed a chance to take root. Growing in our ability to defend the faith can serve the same purpose – it doesn’t convert souls, but it may help to jar loose some of the other debris in someone’s heart or mind that could decrease the likelihood of the gospel being clearly heard or understood.

Some of that opposition to Christianity is based on the perception that the Christian faith is unreasonable. Now on a side note, what a perfect time for Christianity – our world is completely unreasonable right now! We see a lack of reason all around us. So in a world in which so few people actually make any sense and seem to be acting unreasonably, then Christianity ought to fit right in – an unreasonable religion for an unreasonable world! 

While I say that tongue-in-cheek, the reality is that Christianity is actually quite reasonable. Jesus thought so, as Luke recorded in our First Reading from Acts. “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (1:3). Note that Luke referred to Jesus providing “convincing proofs.” That is, the evidence that Jesus displayed after his resurrection was apparently very reasonable. If something is truly unreasonable, then we would presume there would be no amount of evidence that would ever appeal to someone’s reason. Yet, people had seen enough from Jesus over the forty days after his resurrection to conclude that his rising from the dead was not so unreasonable after all. Their reason was in fact convinced by the proof.

So apologetics matter – appealing to people’s reason can make a difference. In one case it may serve merely to pique someone’s curiosity who is then open to hearing more of God’s Word, regardless of whether or not that results in saving faith. In another case appealing to one’s reason may serve as the very compelling and convincing element they needed to put them on the path to faith in Jesus. If we can then help people be open to the possibility that perhaps Christianity isn’t so unreasonable after all, we may have removed just enough obstacles in the way that previously kept that person from being open to the power of the Holy Spirit to work through the Word.

If the thought of being an apologist, of having to defend your faith, terrifies you, or if you don’t feel confident in that arena, you live at a good time. Because there is something else that others may be willing to listen to than the truth of the Bible, which doesn’t carry the same authority in many people’s minds today as in the past; they’re more than willing to listen to your truth. Much as we might cringe at such a statement, it might be an extraordinary time for us to take advantage of it. Here are two reasons why this is true.

One, our culture is anti-institution, so inviting someone to church may not be received as warmly as in the past. For some who seem disinterested or even turned off by Christianity, the real issue may not be Christianity itself, but the organized church they’ve come to associate with it. Some of those reasons are understandable; others perhaps not. When a pastor or religious leader associated with a certain church has fallen from grace, or when someone has been personally burned by a bad experience in a church in the past, we can understand why they may want nothing to do with the church as an institution. Those scenarios can be more challenging for us to help them navigate through. Then there are the general ones like “the church just wants your money” or “the church is full of hypocrites” that have always been around. Regardless, where people today may not trust the church as an institution, you are most likely the best thing we’ve got going. For that reason, we need to shift our perspective a bit to seeing ourselves – not necessarily our church – as an instrumental stepping stone to connecting others to Jesus. 

Two, if you’ve ever had doubts about your own faith, if you’ve ever had questions, guess what? That makes you 100% relatable. While many Christians wish they were as well-equipped as a pastor or a professor at a theological college or seminary, let me ask you something. Do you think the average unchurched person relates better to the theologically trained expert, or to you, someone much more like them who has real struggles and an imperfect faith that is a work in progress? The answer should be quite clear, shouldn’t it? So chances are, the individual who seeks out a pastor or trained spiritual leader is someone who may be curious or just be interested in seeking out an answer to a specific question. However, to whom do you think the person genuinely interested in Christianity and the possibility of pursuing the Christian faith is going to go? You. Someone just like them. Someone to whom they can relate. In this regard, that makes you uniquely equipped to defend your faith and expand on it for others. 

Now if you see the sense in these two reasons, perhaps your next question is why aren’t people coming to you with their questions? Why might others not approach us? One possible reason: they think Christians are unintelligent dim-wits. Is this justified? On the one hand – nope; we embrace the role of fools that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians. On the other hand, are we? When is the last time you read a book? When is the last time you educated yourself on how to talk to skeptics and defend your faith. Maybe they think we’re dim-wits because… we are? Simple evangelism doesn’t have to mean shallow evangelism. Have I been avoiding personal spiritual growth for too long? Then it’s time for us to make a change. 

The other reason people don’t ask us about the reason for the hope that we have? They don’t see hope in us. Why would they ask about what is absent in our lives? If they don’t see the hope in how you speak, live, and engage with others, don’t be surprised when no one asks you about it. If you put Debbie downer to shame with your constant gloom and doom, you might be waiting a while before anyone asks you for the reason for a hope they don’t see in you.

If it isn’t obvious to others, where do we find that hope? Don’t forget the name of this series: “simple evangelism.” At its center, the message of the gospel is profoundly simple, so much so that a child could explain it: we are sinners who have in Jesus the Savior from sin that we all need. That makes heaven ours. It really does not need to be any more complicated than that. 

Question: are you able to apply the hope of that gospel of forgiveness to yourself? Peter wrote, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). Do you need to revisit that hope? Do you have it? Do you embrace it every day and live in it, breathe it? Does it smother you, cover you, envelope you… or do you allow your own guilt or the crud of this world to pin you down while hope seems out of reach, like an inflated balloon, drifting out of sight high up in the sky? 

Hope is here! Right now! We live under the shadow of the cross. We live in the reality of a vacant tomb. We live in the certainty of a hope-filled home in heaven. That is your lot in this life, your hope. And the reason behind that hope? Jesus. No more. No less. Jesus is your hope. So when your situation feels hopeless or your hope seems distant, chances are, so is Jesus. Keep him near and hope will also be close by. 

It would seem Peter knew that, as he encourages us, “in your hearts revere Christ as Lord” (v.15a). Imagine your reaction if you showed up today and looked to the front of the church and saw the cross had been removed from behind me. In its place was a very nice tasteful painting. Or a floral arrangement. Or a decorative light. I think no matter how nice any of those things might look, you’d be quite shocked and probably downright disgusted to see something replace the cross. That’s what goes on in our hearts when Christ is not revered as Lord, when he is set aside or replaced by some other love in our lives. Let him alone rule. When he alone rules in your heart, so does hope. When that happens, look at what else happens. 

We’re eager to do good, and to do it with gentleness and respect (cf. 1 Peter 3:13-16). These things alone would do wonders for our witness, as they are such a rarity in our day and age. Doing good with gentleness and respect for others is radical; it’s other-worldly. It’s attractive. It’s craved. It’s appealing. And the icing on the cake? When you live this way, even when you suffer certain consequences because of it, that’s when the questions come. That’s when people want to know why you put up with it and what hope you cling to in order to get through it. It’s like the opportunity to shine the spotlight on Jesus is being served up to you on a silver platter! When those times come, listen. Witness. Always. Apologize. Keep it simple. Let Jesus do the work. 

Always

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(Psalm 34:1-18)

Why does she order the same entree every time at this restaurant? Why is that the same beverage I see in his hand every time I see him? Why does he always want the same type of cake for his birthday every year? The answer to all of these is the same: they’ve tasted something that’s good, they like it, and so they don’t waver from it. 

That also explains where David was coming from. Why would he write, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (v.1)? The answer is in the final verse: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (v.8). David had acquired a taste for the Lord. He knew from firsthand experience how good the Lord was, he liked it, and so he didn’t waver from him. He extolled him and praised him… always.

I will state it plainly: there will be no “always” to your witness without first acquiring a taste for the Lord, as David did. Until that happens, evangelism will be anything but simple. It will be infrequent – if it even takes place at all – and it will be perceived as something we are required to do rather than something that flows from our lips at all times, always. 

After all, it is possible to know a lot about the Bible without ever having tasted how good the Lord is. Many an academic, a scholar, and a skeptic know the Bible quite well – without ever having tasted how good the Lord is. Sadly, the same can be said of many Christians. We can know the Bible quite well – without really tasting how good the Lord is. 

The story has been told some time ago a dinner social gathering brought a number of people together. Among them were an actor and a pastor. The host invited the actor to recite the well-known psalm 23. He agreed. As was expected, he read it beautifully, with clear articulation and at the perfect pace, raising and lowering his tone to properly reflect all the meaningful words and phrases. When he finished, many felt it may have been the finest reading of the psalm they had ever heard. 

After the actor had finished, the pastor was also invited to read the psalm. At first, he declined, knowing himself well enough to realize that his recitation of the psalm would not be on nearly the same level as the actor’s. Somewhat reluctantly, however, he did finally agree to read through it, on the condition that he was permitted to provide some commentary on the beloved psalm. After he had finished, the guests agreed that they had been treated to quite a gift to be able not only to hear the psalm, but to hear it explained in such a profound way. Later, as the guests discussed the unique characteristics that the actor and the pastor each brought to the psalm, they finally agreed on this noticeable distinction: the actor showed how well he knew the psalm; the pastor how well he knew the Shepherd.

That’s the secret to simple evangelism: knowing the Good Shepherd well, knowing Jesus. What does that look like? It looks a lot like what David describes in Psalm 34 for us this morning. “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (v.1). David writes that he will extol the Lord “at all times” and his praise for the Lord would “always” be on his lips. Those phrases indicate a full-time thing. Exalting the Lord was not a part-time job for David. It wasn’t a hobby he putzed with on the weekends. It was an all-the-time thing. It was always.

And the introductory description at the beginning of the psalm provides the backdrop for us to believe that was true for David – all times, good and bad. At the time described, David was not at a high point in his life. He was not only on the run from Saul, who was trying to hunt him down and kill him, but he was also seeking refuge in enemy territory – the territory of the Philistines. Remember them – the ones David had embarrassed when he, the little shepherd boy, took down their mighty towering giant, Goliath? Not only was David willing to hide out in enemy territory, but he had to play the part of a man who had lost his marbles, an insane man drooling on himself and marking up doors and gates. Yet even during this time – not his finest moment by a long shot! – David penned the words of this psalm that expressed the ongoing confidence he had in the Lord.

Christian friends, as you picture a person who fits the descriptions given in this psalm, do you imagine that many in the world might just be attracted to that type? What’s more, if the world notices this consistent upbeat optimism at all times – in both good and bad – isn’t it even more likely to make an impression on others? It is surely one thing for a person to have a cheerful disposition when everything is going his way, but others really take note when that cheerful disposition is still there even when the wheels have come off and everything in life is falling apart. That’s why it always matters that we’re always radiating God’s radical grace! Doing so in the tough times is when it comes across as something real to others.

And we all appreciate when others are real with us. Unless you are someone who appreciates the craft of sales, most of us don’t really like being marketed to and can tell when someone is pitching something or trying to sell us some good or service. In sales and network marketing, the distinction is made between selling and sharing. We can tell the difference, can’t we? We’re pretty good at being able to tell when someone just sees potential dollar signs when they look at us and when someone shares something that they not only feel passionately about but also genuinely feel could benefit us. There’s a big difference between the two approaches.

The same is true of simple evangelism. If you’re trying to “pitch” Jesus, others will see right through you. So how do you avoid coming across as “salesy” when it comes to evangelism? It has to be genuine, and it’s genuine for them when it’s genuine for you. And it’s genuine for you when the words before us from Psalm 34 are not just nice-sounding platitudes, but personal experience. So are they descriptive of your personal experience? Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good (v.8)?

If you have to think about the answer to that question, that’s probably not a great sign. If you answer yes right away, but can’t describe or explain what it means that you’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good, that’s probably not a great sign, either. When getting up for church on Sunday morning is routinely a drag rather than a delight, not a good sign. When Bible reading and devotions are deferred daily in favor of every other important task and then subsequently forgotten, not a good sign. When I am disinterested in Bible study opportunities that are offered, not a good sign. 

Because think of it, when you experience something good, no one has to coax you to experience it again. You don’t find a great show to stream and then watch just one episode. You don’t find a good place to eat and then never dine there again. You don’t drink a great cup of coffee one time. You don’t find a great outfit and wear it just once. When you experience something good, you want to return to it again and again. If that isn’t the case when it comes to your relationship with God, one has to ask if you’ve really tasted and seen how good he is, if you’ve really acquired a taste for the Lord.

David shared a number of different ways we taste and see how good the Lord is. There are many! The Lord provides the afflicted with reason to rejoice (v.2). Exalting his name provides a reason to gather together with others (v.3). The Lord delivers from fears (v.4). The ones looking to the Lord are radiant because he has removed their shame (v.5). He saves those who are down and out (v.6). He protects those who are his and delivers them (v.7). Any who take refuge in him are blessed – they need only try him out and they’ll find it to be the case (v.8)! See all the reasons David had to always praise the Lord? See all the reasons you have to always praise the Lord?

If simple evangelism is to be an “always” thing, then my time with Jesus will first be an “always” thing. When that isn’t the case, we are more likely to view evangelism as a program or an event rather than a lifestyle if we don’t regularly taste and see how good the Lord is. But the more of Jesus we have in our own lives, the more we want more Jesus in the lives of others.

So do you get it yet? The key to being an exceptional evangelist is not making sure you’re thinking about evangelism all the time, that every time you leave the house or every time you’re engaging online your thoughts are 100% focused on telling others about Jesus. No, the key to being an exceptional evangelist is making sure that you yourself are always filled up with Jesus and his forgiveness, always tasting and seeing how good the Lord is. When that happens, we acquire a taste for the Lord, and the first verse of this psalm will be descriptive of each of us as well: “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (v.1). When that happens, evangelism will naturally follow. It’s that simple. Always. 

Witness

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(Acts 1:1-8)

You’ve been accused of a serious crime. You didn’t do it, but while you know that, your situation doesn’t look good right now. The opposing counsel has put together a pretty compelling case against you that, as it stands, could easily be enough to compel the jury to find you guilty. Yet as dire as your situation may appear to look at the moment, you are not worried because you know there is still another witness to be called on to testify. The weighty testimony of this witness alone will be more than enough to prove your innocence. You are understandably shocked and terrified then, when this witness is called on to provide testimony and while on the stand, under oath… remains completely silent. The witness refuses to provide the information necessary to prove your innocence. Without the testimony of that key witness, the jury unsurprisingly reaches its verdict: you are found guilty.

The slight difference between that hypothetical scenario for you and the very real reality of a guilty verdict for many unbelievers right at this moment is that the unbelievers don’t know that you are the witness able to provide the key testimony that could set them free. Your testimony is enough to secure the “not guilty” verdict in their trial before God the Father. Their sin is piled up against them, ready to condemn them to hell. All that needs to happen is for them to hear and believe your testimony that they’ve already been freed because Jesus has paid for their sin. But when the witness – you, me, all of us – remains silent, then the only testimony, the good news of the gospel that can so easily acquit them, is not heard or believed, and a soul is lost for eternity. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not naively presume that it makes little difference whether or not we tell others what Jesus has done for them. It makes all the difference. In fact, it is the only difference that matters eternally. The stakes are much too high for us to carry on our busy lives going this way and that, occupied with this rather trivial concern and that unimportant matter that takes up far too much of our time and energy. Souls die while we concern ourselves with worthless debates online, never-ending streaming of one show after another, and hour upon hour of gaming. We entertain ourselves to death while remaining blissfully ignorant of the eternal death facing so many of the very people in our lives – people we see every single day. 

We heard last week how important it is for us to listen to them. Today we add another word that is essential to their eternity: witness. We stressed the importance of listening for a purpose: it allows us to be able to determine the kind of response our neighbor needs. Listening provides the context we need to know how to witness. But finally, if we say nothing, if there is no testimony about the good news of life and forgiveness through Jesus, then all the listening in the world won’t have mattered. So we witness. 

Let’s take a moment to simplify what it means to witness. After hearing from several dozen witnesses in a recent courtroom trial, I got a refresher on what a witness is: someone who speaks about what they know from personal experience, someone who simply speaks about what they’ve seen or heard. And, while it’s true that a couple of the witnesses were experts in their respective fields, the majority were not. The majority were average, ordinary people like you and me who were in a certain location at a certain time. All they did was testify about their experience. The attorneys did not ask the witnesses to report on every detail of their lives, nor did they ask about other unrelated events, but only what was pertinent to the trial. That’s what you are called to do as a witness.

Dear friends, Jesus doesn’t just call you a witness by name; it is also what he calls you to do. What he said to the disciples before his ascension applies every bit as much to you: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts. 1:8). Jesus did not single out “some of you” to be witnesses or leave it as a possibility by saying you “might” be a witness. Five unmistakable words: you. will. be. my. witnesses.

Unless you won’t. If Jesus calls you his witness and commissions you to be his witness, but witnessing has never been a part of your Christian life, are you still at a point in your life of faith where you’re comfortable disregarding Jesus? I don’t imagine any parents would be too thrilled to have children defy them and fail to do the chores they’ve been told to do. There aren’t many employers who would continue to employ workers who refused to do what their job required. Yet, when Jesus says to us, “you will be my witnesses,” are we OK with saying, “Nah, I won’t be doing that” with our actions? If you are OK with continuing on that path, I would just point out that you’re long past due for a serious spiritual health check-up.

But if you’re ready to ditch the defiant attitude when it comes to witnessing, if you’re ready to work toward change – which for some of us might actually be the first time in our entire Christian lives that we’re getting serious about this – and that’s OK, then let’s address what the underlying problem is. Let’s rule out right away the excuses that we’ve sold ourselves on for years and years, because excuses don’t expose the real problem; like a bandaid, they merely cover it up. Let’s peel away the bandaid and see what’s really going in our hearts or minds that is preventing our witness.

What’s really going on? Do not care that Jesus has purchased you for a purpose? If heaven was his only purpose, you’d already be there. But you’re not. You’re still here… to take others there with you. Or maybe you don’t believe there’s an actual hell where people really go. Or maybe the gospel you’re supposed to be sharing is still only information for you and not real transformation yet. It’s something you know, but little more to you than that. Or maybe you’re just more important to you than Jesus is, which is what we’re really saying when we entertain excuses that are more worried about what others will think of us than whether or not they even get a chance to think about Jesus. Here is a truth about evangelism: when it’s about me, it won’t be about Jesus. Stop making it about you so that it can be about Jesus. Of all these, which one(s) do you need to break down for you to become the witness Jesus calls you to be? 

Let’s revisit Acts. It’s too easy for us to skim past the first several verses from chapter 1 – to treat the details of what Luke records about the Savior as merely being the substance of the content we are called on to testify as witnesses. But don’t rush past those words as mere details to be shared with others; those words are the reality of your standing before God right at this very moment. His “suffering” and the “many convincing proofs that he was alive” are the stuff not just of your neighbor’s salvation, but of yours! Those words are for you, and they are life! They are and they must always be not just information that we pass along to others, but also salvation that we process for ourselves. Jesus suffered and rose again to forgive weak-kneed witnesses like us. He is not only interested in us insofar as we are effective witnesses or not; he is interested in our own forgiveness and salvation first and foremost. He came to bear the guilt of our sin of indifference toward evangelism. He longs to empower us as his witnesses not with threat or fear or coercion, but with the peace of forgiveness that wells up into passion for the lost. He knows that grace makes the best witnesses, and so he suffered, died, and rose again so that we could see what grace looks like. And then he sends us to go to others with that same grace.

So we take the time to listen to others to inform our witness. What types of things are we listening for? What might we expect to hear that can guide us in our witness? Listen for pain points, which are struggles or hardships that are bringing about some level of hardship or suffering in a person’s life. Listen for times of transition, which are seasons of change in life. And even if everything is going well in a person’s life, they may feel a sense of gratitude, but aren’t really sure who to thank or where to direct it. These are open doors to witness how Jesus is a part of the solution to whatever they are dealing with. There are two great ways to carry out this witness.

First: the “Feel, Felt, Found” approach. As you listen and then restate (remember the “R” from listening with your EAR last Sunday), chances are, you have had some similar experiences. Affirm that you understand how they feel, then share a time or an experience in which you felt the same way. Then, as you relate to them they are reassured that they aren’t the only ones to go through what they’re dealing with, then bring in Jesus as you point to what you found in him when you went through a similar experience. “I know how you feel. I’ve felt that way, too. What I’ve found is…” 

The second approach to witnessing is to relate the situation to a Bible narrative. Simply put, tell a story. Admittedly, this approach does require more familiarity with the Bible, as it keys off of Biblical narratives that relate to a person’s situation or skepticism. As you listen to your neighbor’s story, consider a relatable Bible account that could be shared that would bring Jesus into the picture. When a person is expressing discouragement over being disappointed or let down by friends, can you think of any times in which Jesus was disappointed or let down by his disciples? His story relates! A loved one or dear friend passes away and you’re listening to how saddened this person is by it – Jesus’ story relates! He broke down and cried at the grave of his friend Lazarus, making him all the more determined to carry out his work so that death wouldn’t have the last word. When you’re listening to someone lament over uncertainty about the future, the disciples in the upper room after Jesus’ crucifixion could relate – Jesus addressed their uncertainty with peace and promises for their futures! Listen to their story and tie it to His story and let the Holy Spirit make the connections through similar stories. 

Note the word choices Luke uses in the verses from Acts – they have to do with Jesus making himself visibly known – giving people something to witness! (v.3 – “presented himself” “appeared” v.4 – “eating with them”). If the necessary qualification for someone to serve as a witness is simply that they have seen or heard something, then Jesus made sure to provide ample opportunity for others to witness by appearing to all kinds of people after his death. So when we look at the biblical witnesses, we’re not getting a second-hand story or an “I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend,” but we’re getting first-hand accounts – eyewitnesses. Jesus didn’t just appear to them to fortify their faith, but also to qualify them to serve as witnesses. They saw him, heard him, touched him, ate with him, which then qualified them to tell others about their experience. 

Also, note that Luke is modeling exactly how witnessing works as he writes Acts – he was on the receiving end of what witnesses told him about Jesus, and in his Gospel and here in Acts, Luke is then passing along exactly what the witnesses told him they saw and heard. So Luke shows us what happens when God’s people witness: the good news continues to get passed on. Why is Luke passing it on? So that his audience would do the same.

“You will be my witnesses” to the ends of the earth. That’s us. That’s now. You are the next link in the chain. Since the time of Jesus, witness after witness has testified about the news of forgiveness and salvation and their experience with it. When you witness, you continue to extend that chain that connects others to Jesus. You extend the reach of the gospel and give life and freedom. Witness.