Crown of Life Sermon -- 27 January 2008

EVANGELISM -- JANUARY 27, 2008

Sermon Text -- I Corinthians 1:10-17

Evangelism is the work Jesus has given us to do. How exciting and what a privilege it is that one way we can serve our Lord is by sharing the truth of the Savior and His work with others. But for many when they hear that word -- Evangelism -- it strikes fear and terror into their heart, mostly because when they hear the word evangelism they get this picture of having to go knocking on doors, or handing out flyers, or being called upon to do all this work in preparation for some big event the church wants to do.

Others hear the word evangelism and quickly become discouraged as they reflect back on past experiences in which they faced one obstacle after another, and it appeared their efforts were for nothing. Guilt and inadequacy can also be a common feeling when evangelism is mentioned, as a person is convinced they just don’t know what to say, or are afraid they are going to say the wrong thing, or fail to share their faith with someone.And then there is that perception that Evangelism is what the pastor is supposed to do.

Whatever thoughts, feelings, ideas come to your mind when you hear the word Evangelism, I hope you see from God’s Word this morning that Evangelism is the work God has unified each of us to do and Evangelism is work that involves preaching the gospel.

United we stand, divided we fall. The congregation in Corinth it appeared was on the verge of falling because of division. The situation for the congregation had become so dire that a woman by the name of Chloe had some members of her household appeal to Paul for help. Paul responds by urging them to be perfectly united in mind and thought because instead of the members of this congregation focusing on being of the same mind as to what it is they believed, and in whom they have their hope, and how they should live.

Instead of thinking alike as what to what God’s Word said and looking to God’s Word to unify them, separate groups developed within this congregation based on loyalties to a certain pastor each group believing they were better than the next. Some said, “I follow Paul, this great missionary,” “Oh, yeah? Well, I follow Apollos, this learned man.” “Oh that’s nothing. I follow Peter (Cephas) one of Jesus' inner circle of disciples.”

Even those who said they were following Christ appeared to be causing division by being less concerned about bring back unity and more concerned about proving they were the best group to follow. Loyalties to a pastor and a particular style, and not to Jesus, were dividing this congregation.

We may have a special place in our heart for a particular pastor who baptized or confirmed or married us. Loyalty to a pastor is fine as long as it does not cause division, and our attention is not on the pastor, but on the Savior and what He tells us in His word. Pastors come and go, but the Savior never leaves us. Our loyalty needs to be with the message, not the messenger. Look at Pastor Tetzlaff and myself. We have different personalities and styles. You may prefer one style over another, relate to one personality more than another, but we don’t preach a different Christ. I wasn’t crucified for you. None of you were baptized into the name of Pastor Tetzlaff.

There are many pastors, but there is only one Christ. There is only one salvation. There is only one Word. And we are to look to that one Word, that one Christ, that one salvation to unite us. God has unified us; He has made us perfectly united in mind and thought by leading us to believe and know and trust only the work and life of His Son Jesus for salvation. Our loyalty must rest with the one who was crucified for our sins and who earned heaven for us by His perfect life. We must be perfectly united and on the same page in the hope we have.

Our hope for eternal life is not based on what we do, but entirely on what our Savior has done. God has unified us, but if our loyalty is with our likes and dislikes with someone or something else other than the Savior, we will fall. For a kingdom that is divided against itself cannot stand. And a house divided against itself cannot stand. And Evangelism the work that God has unified us to do will suffer because we will be so busy bickering with one another and trying to outdo one another that we won’t have the time or energy or resources or interest to evangelize to those around us. Without being perfectly united in mind and thought concerning what the Bible says and the hope we have, the message we evangelize to others will leave the person at a loss to what it is we believe. God has made us of one mind, unified us to Evangelize. That is to be our focus.

God has unified us to do Evangelism, which is nothing more than preaching the gospel. Today, as back in Paul’s day, preachers tried to create a following for themselves using wise words, words of human wisdom. The largest church in America has an average weekly attendance of 32,500 people. We might think, what are they doing? They must have a great evangelism program.

But in this church you will not find a cross, you will find two waterfalls. You will not hear of Jesus, you will hear the church’s long-standing slogan “Discover the Champion in you.” Waterfalls and catchy slogans and technology do not make church members. Having programs and events is not Evangelism. Evangelism involves preaching foolishness, the foolishness of the Gospel. The Gospel -- that is a stumbling block to the Jews because the Gospel says Jesus is the Savior, the only Savior. And foolishness to the Gentiles because the Gospel declares that because of the death of the one born in Bethlehem all sins of all people have been forgiven.

The foolishness of the gospel which declares Jesus has earned heaven entirely on His own by his perfect life. The works we do count for nothing. How foolish it is to our ears to hear one man’s death has paid for the sins of all. How foolish it is that one perfect life has earned heaven for all. For human wisdom says, “I must make amends for my own sins.” “I must lead a good life if I want to be in heaven.” But it is the message of “foolishness.” the Gospel God has given for us to do evangelism.

When we hear of 32,500 in weekly attendance at a congregation, when we see the success of other churches packed to the gills with people, the temptation will be to evangelize with wise words. To turn the focus away from what our God has done for us and the life we have in store with our God in heaven to words that are wise to our ears. Such as preaching, “Have God in your life, and your life on earth will be free from poverty and pain. You will experience the American dream.” Or “if you are sincere in your faith, whatever that faith is, you will be saved.” And “try to lead a good life and show God how sorry you are for the things you do wrong, and you will be in heaven.” If this is the direction we want to go, we may be able to pack more people in, but we will not be doing what God has called us to do -- Evangelism, preach the gospel.

The gospel is what makes an evangelism program successful. The Gospel that declares Jesus is the only Savior; there is no Savior apart from Him. Who is True God and Man and as God and Man made the ultimate sacrifice, Himself, to free us from not from earthly pain or poverty or sickness, but from our sin of causing divisions in the church because of our own likes and dislikes. The Gospel that declares, Jesus never sinned once, never caused division in the church, because His loyalty was ever with His father in heaven.

Because of Jesus' perfection we have been credited with his holiness and perfection. The gospel sounds foolish to human wisdom. It doesn’t make sense that one death has paid for the sin of all. It sounds foolish that the perfect life of one has won heaven for all, but that is the message of the gospel. That is the message God has given us to use as we Evangelize. That is the message that God uses to make His church grow. Evangelism involves preaching the gospel

Princeton University conducted a study comparing Evangelical and mainline denominations. The study concluded the following were evangelical denominations: “Assemblies of God, Southern Baptists, Independent Baptists, black Protestants, African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Church of Christ, Churches of God in Christ, Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod, National Baptist Church, National Progressive Baptist Church, Nondenominational, Pentecostal denominations, and the Presbyterian Church in America.

"The names of a few American mainline or liberal denominations contain the word 'Evangelical.' These include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCC). However, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which as a similar name, is a very conservative Protestant group."

If we are evangelical in name only, as the study would suggest, than we do not do evangelism. For a true evangelical church is one that preaches the foolishness of the gospel. May we ever be true to our name of Evangelical which we have include in our title as a synod and congregation and do the work which God has unified us to do, preach the gospel –Evangelism. Amen.

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