Let God do God's Work

Let God do God’s Work

1 Corinthians 3:6-8

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship on this amazing day the Lord has made.  It is truly a joy to welcome Emily here as a part of First Methodist, I know you will want to be here next week for the official formal welcome and celebration during the fellowship time, and don’t forget to drop a card in one of the baskets for her.

I am so excited for the team we have here at First.  Dustin has already been doing great things in our Youth Program and with the College Ministry. Jerod is doing some great young adult ministry and working to grow The Current…

Now, with the addition of Emily as our new Children’s Director, I can’t wait to see what God does in that area of ministry.

Sermon Slide

God is doing some great things here at First Corsicana.  God has God’s work, and we have ours.  You, and I, are God’s hands and feet.  It is through you and me that God is doing much of this work… so, it’s time to roll up our sleeves, keep the momentum going, and get to work for God’s Kingdom!

A part of that work is sharing the goodness of God with the world around us.  Do you know what that’s called? Evangelism!

So, as we begin, let us pause and invite the Holy Spirit to move in and through us as we dive into this week’s sermon.

<Prayer>

What do you think about that word? “Evangelism.”

Some people have made Evangelism a bad word - you know what I mean?

At a previous church, we were talking about Evangelism and looking at some opportunities for evangelism.  When I asked our worship leader to make an announcement about it during worship, he gave me this confused look and said, “Is there another word we can use… evangelism just makes me think of those door-to-door evangelists that try to pressure you into a decision with questions like ‘If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity.’”

The meaning of words does change over time, but we can never change the origin of the word and the original meaning.

I do understand where people are coming from with the word, Evangelism.  It has been ruined for some because of the actions of others.  And, I’ve actually been a part of some of those evangelistic efforts that ruined it for some.  One of those trips was a Spring Break Mission trip to Daytona Beach, FL.  Our job was to strike up conversations with random people and introduce them to Jesus.  We had different methods for that, my assignment was the survey.  I would walk up to random people on the beach and ask if they would take part in a survey.  I would ask a series of questions like:

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

 What was the last movie you saw?

They seemed like legitimate questions from a legitimate survey… I don’t know, maybe they were for some research group like Barna or Pew, but the end of the survey started asking questions like:

When was the last time you attended church? 

What do you think about the person of Jesus?

And the final question…

If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity? 

If they said they would spend it in heaven with Jesus, we would invite them to our worship event that evening, but if they said they weren’t sure, we would ask, “Would you like to be sure?” and share the ‘4-Spiritual Laws.’

1) God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life

2) We are all sinful and separated from God

3) Jesus came to be our bridge to reunite us with God

4) We must each accept Jesus as our personal Savior.

The problem with this method of evangelism is that there is no real relationship, no trust, between the two individuals.

In fact, it has at times driven people farther from Jesus than it has drawn people to Jesus.

Evangelism

We have wandered far from the Greek root of the word, Eungelion – a word that meant glad tidings or good news.  Today, we must reclaim the original use of that word.  You and I are evangelists, we are those who bear the good news of Jesus.

The root of the problem with evangelistic efforts like the one I described is the expectation.  On our mission trip, we were challenged, we were expected, to introduce people to the idea of Jesus, convict them of the truth of Jesus, and convince them to accept Jesus all in one conversation.

We were sent out to save souls; that was our declared job on the mission trip.  To do that, sometimes we had to be pushy, and soon what we were peddling was sounding less and less like good news and more and more like something they wanted to get away from.

Sermon Slide

Now for the truth. We don’t save souls.  Your job is not to make anyone a Christian. 

You are not called to save a single soul, and neither am I.

God is the only one who can save a soul.  It is only through Jesus Christ that anyone can become a “Christian.”  After all, to become “Christian” means to “become like Christ.”

And, if you look at Jesus’ life, the only people Jesus was pushy with were the ones who claimed to already be religious but were missing the point.  Instead, Jesus was humble, patient, kind, compassionate, and loving with those who were far from God… and he still is!

We have to let God do God’s Job.  God is the one who saves souls…

Our job isn’t to save souls.  It is to work with God in God’s soul-saving mission.

Our job is to plant and water… at the right time; maybe we get to participate in the harvest… but the harvest belongs to God. It is God who has already done all the work.

Just like Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God has been making it grow.”

So, I want to take a few minutes today to paint a picture of what it looks like to plant, water, and harvest.

Plant

So, any good harvest begins with planting.

For me, planting is simply introducing the idea of God into someone's life. One effective way to do that is to simply ask, “How can I pray for you?”

At a previous church, I challenged the leadership team to do this.  Most use it when they are at a restaurant.  The waiter brings the meal, and before they leave the table, you say, “We are about to pray; is there any way I can pray for you while we bless our meal?”  You will be shocked at the responses.  Last week at OMI, it was obvious that the waitress was a believer by the way she answered, and we prayed for her. 

Another time, I was with some other pastors, and I asked the waiter how I could pray for him.  He said, “No, I’m good” and almost stepped away, then came back and said, “Actually, I could use some prayer.  My girlfriend and I don’t have a church, but we want to.  We want to get married…. We just found out that she’s pregnant, and I’m kinda scared, I don’t want to be the kinda dad I had, I want to be better…”  He just started pouring his life out to us.  We had a chance to talk with him and encourage him and pray with him.

When I challenged my leadership team in that previous church, one member named Wiley took me seriously.  He was at Wal-Mart near the pharmacy and there was a person having trouble with their insurance and trying to get their medicine.  When they stepped away from the counter, Wiley walked over to them and said, “I just had this urge to ask you, can I pray for you?”  The person broke down.  Wiley talked to them, assured them of the truth of Jesus and prayed for them and their situation.  After their conversation, he walked away and went about his shopping, but a few aisles over, someone stopped him and said, “I saw you pray for that person in the pharmacy; would you pray for me?”  A couple of aisles later someone else stopped him and said, “Are you the guy that prays for people?”  And he told them about the Love of Jesus and why he prays, and then he prayed for them. 

Inviting someone to church with you is another way to plant a seed.  Remember, there are 26,000 around us in Navarro County who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  There are 26,000 that could need a seed of Jesus planted in their life. What’s the worst that could happen, they say, “No.”  That’s fine.  Even in that “no”, they know that you cared enough to ask.  Even if someone rejects your offer to pray for them, they know you cared enough to offer… and a seed is planted.

But, sometimes we think we are planting a seed, but actually, we are watering the seed that someone else has planted.

Water

In my book on evangelism, I tell a story about myself.  I’m telling you, I wrote that as much for me as I did for anyone else.  I’m still working on all this.  The fact that God inspired me to write on evangelism like some expert is hilarious to me.

Anyway, I had gone to Costa Rica on a trip with Conference Leadership to scout out some potential locations for mission trips.  We had a great trip, but I had prayed on the way home that God might put someone in my path that I could share my faith with.  Now, usually when you pray that prayer, you better watch out because God is going to put people in your path.  This time was different.  In the airport I didn’t find anyone that would even look up.  I got on the plane and the people on either side of me made it clear that they did not want to converse… headphones on, head turned away, book open… eyes closed.  I mean, unless I’m rude, there was no way to start a conversation with anyone.

The shuttle ride from the terminal to my car was the same thing.  So, here I am driving out of the airport in Austin saying, “God, I thought you wanted me to talk about my faith with someone.

Maybe I just need to be bolder next time.”

I headed North back to Brownwood, but I was getting a little hungry, and I felt that I needed to stop and eat. Then, when I saw the Whataburger in Lampasas, I was called to pull through the drive-thru… I know, Whataburger is the calling of any good Texan, but this was different.  I had to… that was my divine appointment.

I pulled in, ordered my Wataburger with bacon and cheese, mayo, no mustard, no pickles, no onions.  When I pulled up to pay I noticed the young lady at the window was wearing a bracelet with “33AD” on it.  I heard in my spirit, “Ask her about her bracelet.”  So, when she came with my change -  she handed it to me, told me to pull up and wait for my food, and closed the window.  I never had a chance to say a word.

As I was waiting, I saw a young man coming out to deliver everyone’s food. Figuring he would bring my food, I prayed, “I’m sorry God, I wasn’t bold enough again.  I’ll do better.”

Then it happened, the young lady brought me my “heart attack in a sack.”  I didn’t let her leave until I asked, “What does your bracelet mean to you?” she was a little confused, and I pointed at the bracelet and said, “What does that mean?”  She said, “I don’t know, my sister gave it to me so I wear it.”

I asked, “Do you know what 33AD means?”  She said, “No.”

“Well, that’s the year Jesus died for your sins and mine and rose again so we can have a new life with him.”  She said, “Oh, I didn’t know that.”  About that time they called for her to come back to pick up another order and our conversation was over.  But I trust that God was working in that 30 second interaction.  Her sister planted a seed when she gave her that bracelet and I watered that seed.  Every time I think of her I say a prayer that the seed germinates into a beautiful harvest.

So, sometimes we get to plant a seed and sometimes we get to water that seed… but every now and then we get to be the one that God uses as the harvester… we get to be present when God saves a soul.

Participate in the Harvest

I had a young children’s director.  She was only with my church for about 18 months before she went back to teaching, but she did a great job for us.  The summer she was with us, she took the kids to church camp in Rock Springs.  They had a great time, and during worship one of the young ladies professed her faith in Jesus for the first time.  She came back to church and the young lady announced to the church about her decision.  She, her parents, and the Associate pastor made plans for the Baptism and everything was going great.

What was odd for my children’s director was how people came to her and thanked her for leading the young lady to Jesus.  Her parents thanked her with tears in their eyes.  The girl’s grandparents gave her a thank you note with a gift in it.

She came to me and said, “Jay, I didn’t do anything.  It was the previous children’s director that had been pouring into her for years… it was her parents who prayed with her and for her… it was her grandparents that brought her when the parents couldn’t come.  I didn’t do anything except drive her to camp and listen to her pray a prayer to accept Jesus. They did all the work.”

I told my children’s director that she was right where God needed her.  They planted and watered, but she got to be the one present for the harvest.

Sermon Slide

Friends, We need to let God do God’s work, and we need to do ours.

I have seen and been a part of every step in this process.  I have had people show up in my office before, everything else was done, all they showed up for was to accept Jesus as their savior.  I’ve had people tell me they aren’t interested in that Jesus stuff.  And I’ve seen hard hearts begin to soften as the hard soil is broken by the Holy Spirit and the seed receives the water.

Every step is important.  We don’t have to do it all by ourselves. God is already working in the lives of the people you are to talk to… and that is your homework. 

This week, your homework is to make a list of 5 people who don’t seem to know Jesus.  Then pray for those 5 people.

Yes, I know we talked about planting, watering, and harvesting… but sometimes the soil needs to be tended before the seeds are planted. 

Prayer is soil preparation.

Who are the 5 people that you will be praying for this week? 

Who around you needs to know Jesus?

Who’s soil needs to be prepared?

Who is on your heart this week?

That’s your homework… your assignment for the week.  We should already have our verse memorized:

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and all Samaria and the ends of the earth.  Acts 1:8

 Tending the soil is the next step in being His witnesses… praying for the power of God to come upon us, and those He wants us to reach.

So, put your list together… and it’s time to go and do.

Oh, and if you want extra-credit… Ask your waiter if you can pray for them at lunch today… and just see what God can do in and through that.

Let’s pray.