In today’s gospel reading from
Matthew, Jesus gives his disciples what is known as the Great Commission.
He delegates his authority to them
and sends them out into the world to make disciples of all nations.
And of course this Great Commission
hasn’t changed. The Church must still, using Jesus’ authority, reach out and
proclaim the gospel to all people in every nation.
And that means that we, as Jesus
representatives here in Brenchley, also have a role to play in spreading and
sharing the gospel - both to our community and to our families, friends,
neighbours and work colleagues.
No Christian is exempt from the
Great Commission.
The trouble is though, that lots
of us find it quite hard to share the gospel. We may have our own faith but we
don’t find it easy to try and talk about it with others.
We may feel a bit embarrassed or
perhaps we feel a bit theologically inadequate.
So what can we do?
Well I’ve got a couple of thoughts
and suggestions about sharing our faith and this is what I’d like to talk about
this morning.
Initially we are going to find it
very difficult to tell others that they need God in their lives unless He has
made a difference to our lives.
If for instance we have a hobby or
interest which we really enjoy, we can talk about it enthusiastically and sell
its benefits to others - because we’ve experienced it and genuinely derive
pleasure from it.
Christianity is the same. If we are
going to share our faith effectively, we need to truly believe that having a
relationship with God is a good thing, and we need to have experienced something
of God’s love ourselves.
I say love, because love is the
central theme of Christianity. God’s whole kingdom is based on love. Everything
Jesus said and did was motivated first and foremost by love.
He healed people because he had
compassion on them. The prostitutes and sinners flocked to him because he
didn’t judge or condemn them. He sought to show them a better way.
When people met with Jesus they
experienced God’s love. Even sometimes when he had to warn people that they
were heading in the wrong direction and needed to repent, he was saddened by
the hardness of their hearts, because he still loved them.
And of course when Jesus went to
the cross he showed us the full extent of God’s love for us.
God is love, and his greatest
desire for each individual is know his love, to be filled with his love, and
then to share that love with others.
When we make the decision that we
want to become Christians we invite God into our hearts and lives and he comes
in the person of the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit fills our
hearts with God’s love. So when we become Christians there should be a new
depth of love in us – a tender hearted mercy and compassion for people, that
wasn’t there before.
A compassion that sometimes moves
us to really want to reach out and help people, – particularly those who are
hurting or sad or lost or unloved.
Of course we don’t feel this love all
the time, but on occasion, compassion and mercy should flow out of lives
towards others and motivate us to want to show them and tell them that God
loves them and wants a relationship with them.
I remember when I first became a
Christian that I didn’t really know or understand what had happened to me. All
I knew was, that a new love – that hadn’t been there before - was living in me,
and if you’re a Christian that same love is living in you – and it should be
motivating you to reach out to and pray and care for others.
And as you do this you may be
surprised to find that sometimes people will see something of God’s love in
you.
And if you do have an opportunity
to share your faith just tell others in simple words the basics of the gospel
and what God means to you personally.
Just be honest and tell them what
you truly think and believe. You don’t have to pretend that you have all the
answers to life’s big questions. It’s OK to say “I really don’t know the answer
to that.”
Nicky Gumble who does the Alpha
course has written a very useful book called Searching Issues which deals with
the main questions he’s found that people ask on Alpha courses. I’d recommend
reading this as it gives some very useful pointers on how you can respond if
people do ask you difficult questions about suffering for instance.
The next thing that we need to
motivate us to share the gospel is I believe a clear understanding of the
judgement that is coming.
Now this may sound a bit odd to
you when I’ve just spoken about love – but the fact is that Jesus came to save
us because we needed saving.
And if judgement wasn’t coming,
there would be no need for the Great Commission and no need to evangelise.
The problem is that we don’t
really like to talk or think about judgment so we avoid it. We may even avoid
reading bible passages that speak about judgment and kid ourselves that in the
end everyone will be OK.
But this is untrue. Not everyone
will be OK. Those who reject or ignore Jesus sacrifice of himself on the cross
will one day have to face God’s judgement.
We really need to accept and take
this on board – as the knowledge of impending judgement should motivate us to
do all that we can to encourage others to make their peace with God - and to be
reconciled to Him.
If we don’t understand the reality
or terrible seriousness of judgement, it will smother and deaden our desire to
reach out to others.
God takes no pleasure in judging
anybody, and he’d much rather welcome us into his kingdom. However, the fact is
that a lot of people live their lives without reference to God and these people
are heading for disaster – unless they come to their senses and repent and it
is our job to warn them.
I remember a few years ago a
picture coming into my mind. It was somewhere like Beachy Head and I saw a long
line of people – 6 or 8 abreast just walking along the cliff top and chatting
quite happily.
This long line of people tailed
back into the distance but when I looked up, I saw that the people at the front
were all walking straight over the edge of the cliff and the ones behind them
seemed to be oblivious to it, and were following them over.
In fact all the walkers were
heading for the cliff.
And then I looked to the left and
there was a huge cross with Jesus on it and I could see that he was desperate
for these people to change direction and to come to Him.
As I looked more closely at the
crowd of walking people I could see that there were some other people who were
walking beside the crowd and encouraging them to come to the cross.
And a few people were leaving the
crowd and heading towards the cross with the help of these people.
And then I noticed that there were
quite a few other people just sitting and chatting at the foot of the cross.
I could sense that Jesus didn’t
want these people – who’d found the cross themselves – just sitting there while
this great throng was heading for destruction.
He wanted them to join those who
were actively trying to lead some of the crowd to him.
Where are you in this picture I
wonder?
Perhaps you’re in the great crowd
of walkers and you know a little bit about Jesus, but you’re not really that
fussed. You’re quite content as you are and you can’t really see a need for God
in your life.
Well if that’s you – you’re
heading for disaster. There’s a cliff up ahead and one day – if you don’t
change direction and start taking Jesus seriously – you’ll find yourself
falling off the cliff and facing God’s judgement.
Perhaps you’re one of those people
who have left the crowd and you are journeying towards the cross. You may not
have reached it yet – but at least you’re heading in the right direction and
you have found people to help you get there.
Perhaps you are one of those
people who is actively trying to help those in the crowd towards the cross. You
may not feel you’re a great evangelist - but you care and you’re doing what you
feel you can to reach out to others and help them find God.
If that’s you, God bless you –
because you are helping to fulfil the Great Commission – and God is pleased
with you.
Perhaps you’re one of those people
who is sitting at the foot of the cross. As far as you’re concerned you’ve
found God but at the moment you’re making very little effort to help others
find him too.
If that’s you there is something
very wrong in your relationship with God.
Jesus called you into a
relationship with him in order to bear fruit and if you’re making no effort to
reach out to others in his name – you’re missing the main purpose that God has
for you.
I heard a story about a young man
from Manchester with a good job and a nice house who decided he’d move onto a
rough council estate to help plant a church among single parent families, teenage
mums, drug addicts, and prostitutes.
Someone asked him why on earth
he’d want to move from his nice house into such a deprived area.
He said that if he’d found a cure
for AIDS and didn’t share it with others – he’d be worse that Hitler.
However he said as far as he was
concerned he’d found something much better than a cure for AIDS. He’d found a
relationship with a God who loved him and who’d saved him for eternity.
How could he not try and share
this with so many people who desperately needed God themselves?
I think it’s interesting that Jesus
commands the disciples to make disciples of all nations. He doesn’t tell them just
to make converts.
God wants us to grow in our faith
and to put time and effort into our relationship with Him. To set aside time
regularly, to pray and read and study our bibles.
And to do this we need to be
disciplined. A disciple is one who is disciplined in their relationship with
God.
And the more we grow in our
understanding of Christianity, of who we are in Christ and the authority that
God has given us, the more effective we will be in helping to fulfil the Great
Commission.
So to conclude, if we’re
Christians the Great Commission is spoken to us.
All around us are dozens of people
who haven’t yet been reconciled to God, and as the Church, Christ’s
ambassadors, it is our job to try and help as many as we can to realise the
error of their ways and to find a relationship with a God who loves them so
much He died for them.
If we know anything of God’s love
we need to wake up to the reality of judgement and with God’s help, start to
try and lead at least some of those around us towards a relationship with Him.
In the name of the living God. Amen
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