Equipped to Proclaim

Friends Make Friends Read Mark

I was sitting in a class at the Seminary and the professor was making a point about how powerful the Gospel is. He was sharing with us how unnecessary so many of the gimmicks that churches use to get people in the door are and told us that all we really need is to put the message of the Gospel in front of them. That really caught my attention, and I happened to have a friend from undergrad who was living in St. Louis at the time. So sitting there in the back of the classroom, I texted her and asked for a favor. I asked if she’d be willing to read the book of Mark for me, I picked Mark because it’s the shortest of the four Gospels, and I sent her a link to a Bible app where she could read it for free. She agreed to do it and a few weeks later we sat down for lunch at Seamus McDaniel’s - which is a great restaurant if you’re ever in St. Louis - and we talked about Christianity and what she had read for like two hours. And her biggest takeaway and biggest hangup? The fact that you don’t have to do anything to earn it, the fact that you get to go to heaven just for having faith - that was really hard for her.

Don’t Overthink It

It really is as easy as that folks. And maybe you’re sitting there thinking “it can’t possibly be that straightforward?”

Well, it really is. And I think that professor was on to something. Over the years people have written books and developed systems and scripted conversations to try and witness to people. Churches will have all sorts of gimmicks to try and bring people in the doors from flashy shows to hot takes. People will use all sorts of things to beat around the bush and subtly show their faith like wearing crosses or having a fish magnet on their car or being really nice to people. And it’s not really that any of those are bad things, but we might be overthinking it. If we look at our reading for the day, we’re definitely overthinking it.

Jesus sent out the disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and He told them “take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.” They didn’t have some perfectly strategic approach, they didn’t have a flashy show, they didn’t have anything that marked them as disciples - they just served people and talked to them and told them about Jesus.

In-Breaking Kingdom

You see, the importance and gravity of what they were proclaiming was so much bigger than how they were saying it. When Jesus tells them to proclaim the Kingdom of God, He was telling them to let people know that the Kingdom of God is breaking into our miserable reality. The Kingdom of God is a place where God rules and reigns, a place where His will is done perfectly, a place with no pain and no suffering and no death. In Jesus ministry, the disciples were given little windows into that Kingdom as Jesus made it a reality right there in front of them when He healed the sick, when He lifted up people who were suffering and broken, when He did the impossible. He showed them all of that and then told them “go and tell other people about this.” The disciples weren’t perfect people, they weren’t great debaters or phenomenal speakers, they didn’t have power or influence or wealth, they were just regular people like you and I. But Jesus showed them a glimpse of the Kingdom of God, so they were saved, they were sanctified, and they were sent.

So Do You

And in that regard, you are not much different from those first apostles. We stand on their shoulders and understand that their mission sets the example for our mission.

You might not be a great speaker or have all of the knowledge about faith or the Bible - but neither did they.

You might not have power or influence or wealth or whatever flashy thing people want to see - but neither did they.

You might not have the perfect strategy, or have taken a class on evangelism, or have read the latest book, or experienced the newest training - but neither did they.

They were saved - and so are you.

They knew who Jesus was - and so do you.

They knew what Jesus did for them - and so do you.

An Image of Heaven

Maybe we feel like we aren’t ready to share the Gospel with the people around us. Maybe we feel like we don’t have the knowledge or the right words or the right approach or the right timing. But in this text we see reassurance that we don’t need it. We proclaim one of the most simple messages in the world, that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. And that is a message you have to open your mouth and say out loud, no article of clothing or good deed is going to do it for you. But we know that God is at work when we proclaim that truth, we know that the Holy Spirit can use us - as broken and imperfect as we might be - to bring people to faith.

Close your eyes for a second but keep picturing this room in your mind. Now I want you to think of a friend or a family member or a co-worker, someone close to you, who doesn’t believe. Picture them sitting in the chair next to you. Now I want you to picture a space bigger than you’ve ever seen, picture a place in heaven. Now picture that person standing next to you, along with all of the Christians you’ve ever met, along with anyone you love who has died in the faith, along with anyone who comes after us. And remember that for all those people, the Holy Spirit worked through imperfect people to bring them there, imperfect people just like us. Amen.