The Purpose of the Church 4: Evangelism

Ever heard the story about the King’s Chessboard? As a reward for some deed, a king offered a man whatever he would like. The man asked that the king take a chessboard and on the first square put a grain of rice, then double it on the second square, and then again on the third and so on and so forth.

Of course within a short time the amount of rice was so astronomical that it could barely be counted. This story of course illustrates the power of exponential growth!

The Church started with 11 disciples and some miscellaneous followers hiding in an upper room waiting for the Holy Spirit. Now some estimates believe there are more than 1 billion Christians (200 million in China alone)

How did so many come from so few? A great marketing campaign? Lots of TV ads (send for a free Bible)? Dropping pamphlets from the sky?

Of course not – God’s plan for church growth numerically is the plan where each person reaches another and another and another…

Christ’s last command – Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

A little grammar lesson; Finite verbs tell us what to do, whereas participles tell us how to do it. The only finite verb in this passage is “make disciples.” The other verbs are participles that tell us how to do this.

“Go” is literally “while going” – in the course of everyday life, as we are going about our business – we often see this as the command because of our English translations, but it modifies “make disciples” – no matter where we are going we are to make disciples.

“Baptizing” has to do with helping people to identify with Christ publicly through the symbol He left for us.

“Teaching them to obey” has to do with increasing the level of discipleship of someone. Repentance and salvation are the beginning, but then the equipping process must take place.

Now God has already put you into a position to spread the news because he has already appointed you as an ambassador from Christ!

We are Ambassadors for Jesus

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In vs.17-18 – “in Christ” refers to you believer. You are a new creation – that means what you were prior to coming to Christ has passed on and now you a new person with a new mission – you are an ambassador

Whatever your old life contained or whatever struggles you faced or are facing, God has recreated you from your sinful fallen state to a new creature so you can among other things serve in His diplomatic corps.

What does an ambassador do? He represents the interests of his country to a foreign people. According to State Dept. website we currently have about 175 active ambassadors from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe!

As God’s ambassadors for Christ, He has not left us to the work alone (just like in Matt 28:20) but He is actively working to reconcile people to Himself, and in that process he has sent us to bring that message of reconciliation to people. Reconciliation is the restoring of relationship between two estranged parties

Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

At the Fall, when Adam sinned, all people became estranged and alienated from God through sin. However, because of Christ a way was made for us to be reconciled to God – through faith in Christ.

However, faith in Christ does not happen by accident:

Romans 10:13-17 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" ¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Faith comes by hearing the word of God and people cannot hear unless someone tells them! BUT because He is active in the process, our proclamation is not in vain!

2 Corinthians 5:20 states that as His ambassadors, God is making His appeal through us to those who have not heard the proclamation that He sent His Son so His enemies could be reconciled to Him and be freed from sin and death!

Now realize this is not always easy – people can be hostile, people can think we are weird or fanatics, and the climate toward any sort of Christian religious expression in the US is getting more hostile. So I have some pointers:

Some simple faith discussion tips:

Talking about God can be scary – what if they ask me something I cannot answer or point out they knew some Christian who was a hypocrite or what if they claim the Bible is untrue?

· Keep them focused on the Word ( Heb 4:12).

· Tell what Christ has done for you not only at salvation but today – pretty tough for them to argue with your personal experience even if they are skeptical about the Bible – use this to lead back to the Word!

· Patience and prayer – some people take many years to come to Christ – don’t get ballistic with them – plant a seed and water it with prayer – you are the ambassador, Christ is the King and conquering hearts is His job not yours.

· When they question the truth of the Bible, ask if they have read it. Some people claim that science has disproven the Bible or it is old fashioned – yet they have never read it – ask how come they have rejected something they have never even investigated, especially considering that every few decades science rejects half its own claims on the basis of “new evidence” – theories I learned as fact in college have been overturned!

· Don’t get discouraged by rejection, because the person rejecting is not rejecting you but the hope of eternal life in Jesus. Remember you are on the winning team!

From time to time we hear statistics about how people first came to be connected to a church. These figures I have trace back to the Institute for American Church Growth, which asked 10,000 people about their pilgrimage. What led them in? Answers were: Special need, 2 percent; Walk-in, 3 percent; Pastor, 6 percent; Visitation, 1 percent; Sunday school, 5 percent; Evangelistic crusade, 5 percent; Friend/relative, 79 percent.

Over ¾ of people came to where they are spiritually because of a friend or relative!

YOU are a key player in God’s plan to reach to world with the message of the gospel and He has promised His presence with His ambassadors who are proclaiming the Good News of the Son of God who died and rose again so those who were strangers and aliens could be come friends and family of the God who loves them!