EPHESIANS 4: 11-16
HIKING THE HILL
Climbing a hill is an apt metaphor for our discipleship. Our walk of faith usually feels like we’re climbing up hill and sometimes it leaves us short of breath. Doing evangelism is a climb for most congregations. We have all seen it done well and badly, but we tend to think of the worst examples when we are told to “go out and evangelize the world for Christ.”
The Church’s marching orders are clear in the Great Commission:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. —Matthew 28: 19-20a
We seek to become a disciple-making congregation. We are growing into Christ and making him known as our mission and while we spend lots of time and energy growing, we struggle in high climes with little oxygen when it comes to making him known.
Good evangelism will include those whom God calls into our fellowship as we make our way up the hill, in the words of our text, as we grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
What is more, we battle those bad ideas about evangelism, by which America is utterly saturated. In order to avoid cursing the darkness, let me lay out some of the things we should not do, chiefly because they are the work of God and God alone. I call them evangelimitations.
EVANGELIMITATIONS
1.We cannot make others see the desperation of their situation
The futility and vanity of the fallen life cannot be seen as fallen unless the Holy Spirit acts upon one’s mind or heart. We might sit someone down and explain to them endlessly that death throws a pall over everything they consider valuable, but unless God acts, they—like millions in the world self-numbed by shallowness, alcohol, or the love of money—will never perceive that they are lost.
2.We cannot convince others that God exists
All the arguments in the world are fruitless without God opening the eyes. The field of Christian apologetics seeks to make the walk to faith a rational endeavor, which it is not. Apologetics, in hundreds of popular volumes published over the years, are consumed by Christians seeking to bolster their own faith. Yes, we need gentle arguments for correcting others’ misconceptions about Christianity (no shortage there), but we acknowledge that faith is a gift given by God to those whom he chooses.
3.We cannot convince others of their sin or sinfulness
Though we may point to sin and call it sin, though we may wag our fingers at sinners calling them sinners, and though we may rant with outrage over immoral behavior—all of these get nowhere unless the Holy Spirit convinces and convicts them of their sin. This is God’s job, not ours.
4.We cannot convince others that they need Jesus Christ
Again, no matter how much we repeat it or harp on it, unless the Spirit acts upon one’s heart a person will never arrive at the awareness of their need for Christ. God does the convincing, not us.
5.We cannot produce repentance
As we cannot make others aware of their sinfulness, we cannot make them feel sorrowful for offending God’s holiness. We shouldn’t try.
6.We cannot produce faith
Those who think they can invariably create idols. God is the author, initiator, giver, and perfecter of faith.
While evangelimitations define important boundaries on our evangelizing, there are certainly things we can and must do.
WHAT WE CAN AND MUST DO
1.Pray for the lost
By “lost” we mean, as in scripture, those who are wandering and do not know the way to life. The very word Sin comes from the Hebrew word meaning wandering or lost. To be a sinner, simply put, is to be wandering and not knowing the way to go. We can point the way, but we must be in diligent prayer asking God to do all of that necessary work that only he can do.
2.Show them our faith
Emphasis on show. This doesn’t mean blathering doctrine or 4-point formulas in their face whenever you have their ear, but let them see some Christlikeness. Let them see some selfless, sacrificial love. I don’t think we can do any better than this to open clogged ears.
3.Share our faith
We can and should tell people our own story. It can be as simple as “Can I tell you what has worked for me?” or “I feel hope and peace deeply in my heart. Can I tell you why?” Again, this doesn’t work with strangers on street corners. Share with those God brings into your personal, relational orbit.
4.Extend invitations
Yes, we make invitations to faith—the more the better—as long as they are presented in the kind of love willing to walk the high hill with others.
My question tends to be “Invitation to what?” This is a good place to begin, because it is more important that we focus on what we are inviting people to than how we invite them. Too many books on “how to do evangelism” have exhausted their pages on technique, running short on the central, crucial, critical matter.
INVITATION TO WHAT?
1. Trust in God’s Promises
We invite people to trust in God and his promises. That is the faith. We do not invite people to trust in themselves, go with the flow, or trust their hearts—at least not regarding salvation. We do not invite people to trust in a church or even The Church, nor do we hold up a particular doctrine as a worthy source of trust. The Church can save no one, no matter how friendly, warm, holy, or Spirit-filled the experience. Nor do we suggest that people rejoice over momentary sinners’ prayers. We put our trust neither in 4-step conversions nor 12-step spiritualities. We take no comfort from human promises of certainty or salvation, for the centuries are jam-packed with popular evangelists who sell empty guarantees, or guarantees of product they can neither support nor provide.
Our calling is to live by faith, not manmade guarantees exploiting our love of certainty. We rely on God, not ourselves, our good deeds, or well-intentioned religiosities. we trust in God’s promises and providence. That is enough; we don’t offer or make invitations to anything more.
2. Long-term Discipleship
We invite others to trust in God for life. We are not interested in one-night-stand “decisions” which cheapen the call by making it sound very simple.
We do not offer a trial-run or demo of Christianity. We wouldn’t say “Try it out for a few weeks and see if it works for you!”
Too much of popular evangelism is designed to meet the needs of the evangelists more than the lost. The evangelists need to feel successful, that they’re truly doing the Lord’s work (catch the irony there?), so they creates means by which they can count themselves successful. Their contrived need to feel that they are “sealing the deal” leads to dumbed-down conversions, like “decisions” that can be counted and rewarded.
I’m coming to believe that all church metrics are a form of idolatry serving our prove ourselves evangelical rather than serving the gospel in simple humility.
We seek to do what we can to plant seeds deeply into good soil. This requires our best efforts and best attention, but HOW can the invitation to faith cannot be sweetened up when it’s content is essentially “Come and die”?
We invite people to a life-commitment, not a “this week” commitment that we can pat ourselves on the back over at brunch following worship.
3. A Perpetually Incomplete Journey
It should be no secret that what we invite people to is a perpetually incomplete journey, for the work of conversion is never finished in this world. We will be growing in—and growing into—Christ until the day we die. We do not—and should not—expect to “arrive” here.
We will be growing not only every day of this life journey, but we will be growing in eternity. Once we have been with the Lord for 10 trillion years, we will still not comprehend God’s mind or essence. We will be growing eternally. We do well to acknowledge this here and now.
As such, we have no “know-it-alls” when it comes to faith’s knowledge and practice. We are free to be “learn-it-alls” for our whole lives, doing what we can to remain hungry for insights into God’s love, nature, and character. And though the journey is incomplete here, it is nonetheless characterized by joy and purpose.
4. A Community of Faith
We invite people into a community of faith. Becoming a Christian means becoming part of the body of Christ. Every understanding of baptism which ignores our being—as Paul says—“grafted in” to the people and promises of God is incomplete.
We invite people to become part of a covenant people—the people of God—and we ought never to talk about coming to Christ as an overly individualized experience.
Faith necessarily connects us to others; there is no “solo” Christianity. What is more, we become more than friends or colleagues in Christ’ body, but rather an eternal family—brothers and sisters who will spend eternity in fellowship with one another and with Christ.
Any invitation to faith that fails to include entrance into Christ’s Body is a false gospel.
I’ll remind you that Paul did not “save souls.” Not once. Nor did he train the Church to save souls. He served by creating new worshiping communities. Where two or three are gathered, there can be Christ’s body.
By the way, let’s be clear: no one is “saved” already, strictly speaking. For everyone who speaks that way—“I got saved,” “She ain’t saved,” etc.—they are doing so in a way Scripture does not. The New Testament always speaks of our “being saved” in the ongoing or future tense. It is right to say, “we are being saved” or “we shall be saved,” but to make it a past tense declaration isn’t good. Granted, it is poetically acceptable, but we must remember that Christ’s salvation is still at work int he world and in us, and it can be quite reckless to talk about it blithely as though it is finished and over with.
5. Love all, serve all.
We invite people to share in the life of witness to Christ’s goodness, love, and mercy that we have experienced for ourselves. It’s pretty simple: love all, serve all. We invite people to love as Christ calls us to love, which is to love as he loved us.
Remember the Good Samaritan, who loved in a costly way across the lines of hatred. That is always an excellent witness!
“THE GREATEST AMONG YOU MUST BE YOUR SERVANT” —MATTHEW 23:11
We are to seek a servile status in the world, not a ruling one. That is fairly terrifying! It is also an effective antidote to pridefulness and self-service. In seeking to serve, we are rescued (saved) from our natural and sinful inclinations to remain self-absorbed.
We also do well to remember that we are to suspend judgment of others. Jesus says,[paraphrased]: “Let the wheat and weeds grow together, so that you don’t yank out good stalks with the weeds in the process.” God sorts out the true from the false, the authentic from the phony—it’s God’s work, and thank God that we don’t have to do it. Avoid those who try.
OUR INVITATIONS
Interesting, isn’t it, how these invitation points look amazingly like our vision statement:
Trusting in God’s Promises
Long-term Discipleship = Deeply Committed
Perpetually Incomplete Journey = Ever Growing
A Community of Faith = Deeply Connected
Love all, Serve all = Ever Sharing
We are evangelical. We take personal responsibility for sharing Christ with all who have not heard the good news of his loving grace.
Our invitations are equally simple. Any time you invite a friend or neighbor to attend a meal or event at this church, you are fulfilling your evangelical call.
Is it really so hard to say, when the teachable moment occurs:
- •“I can tell that you’re going through a rough time. Would you like to talk?”
- •“Would you allow me to pray for you? How about right now?”
- •“I feel for you deeply. I have found an endless source of peace, joy, and purpose for my life; could I tell you about it?”
- •“I can barely guess the depth of your grief! Can I offer you a little comfort that helps me?”
It’s not complicated; it’s easy. If you have a great auto mechanic and you hear a friend griping about feeling constantly ripped-off, aren’t you quick and enthusiastic to recommend your mechanic?
When friends, neighbors, or co-workers are tasting a bit of Hell through the ravages of this fallen world, are you someone they might trust to offer a positive direction forward?
We are right to earn the right to be heard and trusted by others. Love and service do that. We are also right to speak comfortably and authentically about what we believe. It should never be formulaic or prescribed. The Holy Spirit promises to give you the words. You and I can lighten up because we do not have to succeed—we cannot succeed; only God can do that—all we have to do is serve. And love.
God will work through you, believe it. Trust.
May we all grow into excellent inviters as we trust in God’s promises and grow into Christ’s image. †