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The Dreaded E Word
by The Rev. Canon Heidi E. Kinner
Year C, Proper 9, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
July 4, 2010
unedited
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Yes, today's sermon is about the dreaded “E” word: evangelism. Now I know that this word makes many of us break out in a cold sweat, and you're afraid that I am going to ask you to stand on a street corner with a floppy Bible.
Well, don't worry – I won't do that this morning, although one day God might send you out to do just that – you never know. However, I do want to talk about evangelism. We'll look at through three questions:
What is evangelism?
How do we do it?
Why do we do it? So, what is evangelism? The word evangelism comes from a Greek word that means to “proclaim good news.” More specifically, it was used in the context of an official herald proclaiming good news about a king, emperor, or national victory. This is the word that the early Christians choose to describe the sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ. So, evangelism is to share the good news, the gospel, about God the Son, Jesus, and the victory that He won over sin and death on the Cross and at the Resurrection. It is a magnificent proclamation about God and His Kingdom.
This moves us to the second question, “How do we evangelize? How do we share the good news?” Well, first and foremost we articulate the gospel verbally or in writing. This of course presupposes that we have a clear understanding of what the good news is.
I think that we Christians are often a bit muddled about this. Sometimes we are not sure of the facts, and sometimes we just don't know why Jesus' death and resurrection are important. Fortunately, the Bible provides us with some very succinct accounts of the gospel.
For example, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says: "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved… For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me."
This passage gives us the facts and the rest of the chapter tells us why these facts matter to us. We learn that Jesus died for our sins. Paul explains in more detail elsewhere that this means that our sins are forgiven and that we are therefore saved from slavery to sin and death. We also learn that Jesus rose again from the dead on the third day, and was seen by hundreds of people.
Paul goes on in this same chapter of Corinthians to tell us why the fact of the resurrection matters to us, and he tells us that Jesus' resurrection opens the way to new and eternal life that makes us heirs and inheritors of God's kingdom. The Bible gives us all the information we need to share the truth about God's mighty victory. So, the core of evangelism is this message. But as with all good national news, this victory impacts the citizens, we the believers.
Thus, we can also share the gospel by telling how Jesus has impacted us personally.
We had a great example of this in the gospel passage two weeks ago, when we read the account of Jesus healing the man possessed by the demons, Legion. After the man is healed and in his right mind, Jesus says, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” The man does just that, “…proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.” Jesus doesn't ask the man to conduct a debate, write a theological tome or even convert five people by lunch – Jesus simply tells the man to share the good news of his healing. The man quite rightly does this, connecting the dots and proclaiming that somehow Jesus is God and that He has power over the forces of evil and sickness. He shares his story, beginning with the truth of who Jesus is.
Evangelism can take other forms as well, such as praying for people and reaching out in Jesus' name to those in need. But fundamentally, evangelism is rooted in the good news of God's Kingdom and of the victory won by His Son, Jesus. Now, let's turn to the final question about evangelism was, “Why do it? Why share the gospel about Jesus?” The answer to this is the key that unlocks our willingness to share the Gospel. Why help spread the good news? Well, simply because it is good news.
As a comparison, think of the various pieces of good news that you have shared in the past week or month. Perhaps news of a new job, or the success of a grandchild, or having found a great doctor.
We all share such things, and we want people to rejoice with us. Often we share good news because we hope that others can benefit from the information and share in the joy. Well how much more wonderful is the good news about Jesus – for it's not just some good news, but it is THE good news, the ultimate good news. No news is better than the fact that God the Son loved us so much that He came to dwell with us, to fight for us, to rescue us from death by dying for us so that our sins could be forgiven. No news is better than the truth that Jesus rose again from the dead on the third day in order to ensure that we would have everlasting life in heaven.
This ultimate proclamation of God's grace and love brings comfort, peace, joy, and hope. It simply doesn't get any better than that. That's why we share the gospel - because it is too good not to share. So, you see, the dreaded “E” word is not really dreadful at all. However, I do know that sharing our faith is often difficult. We are afraid of looking like religious nuts. We are afraid of being rejected or ridiculed. We are afraid of not having the right answers.
Well, Jesus tells us that some people will reject the message and mock us for our faith. When that happens we just keep right on moving. We don't worry about it or dwell on it, God has it under control. But He also tells us that some people are desperately waiting to hear the good news, and what a joy it is to share the story of Jesus with someone who is longing for salvation. As for not having all the right answers, well we will never have all the answers, but we do have the truth of the Bible and the facts of the Gospel. So, we proclaim what we know and leave the rest to God.
And that is good news for all of us in our various harvest fields, because we are freed from having to meet a quota for the harvest, and from thinking that it depends upon our eloquence or diligence. It doesn't – God is the one in charge.
That means that we can go into the harvest and share the good news of Jesus without any performance anxiety. We can instead simply rejoice in Jesus' great victory over sin and death, rejoice in the fact that we are saved and freed because of it, and then just share the truth and wonder of the “Greatest Story Ever Told.”
Jesus said, “Behold, I am sending you….”
Amen.
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