Life Style Evangelism 2

Intro

We are in a time when many people, despite what the radical left would have you believe, are looking for spiritual answers. It’s a great time to lead people into faith in Jesus Christ.

There are basically two ways to do this. One is the “Come and see” method where we invite people to church to hear the Gospel. We do this but it’s more difficult during the Covid19 virus. Another problem with this method alone… is that if every church in our area were full, we would still only reach a small portion of the population.

The other is personal evangelism. This is where we go and share what Jesus is doing in our lives.

The world wants us to practice come ands see only. They will say they will come, but then they don’t. They will say when you try to talk to them, that you should keep your religion to yourself.

No where in the Bible do you read any command for lost people to come to church… But there are lots of commands for the church to go after lost people. God and Gospel begin with GO

ILL - A little boy got a little toy car for Christmas one year and it wouldn’t work. His daddy said, what’s wrong with it? The little boy said, I think the GO is broken. … That’s whats wrong with most of our churches today. We have simply failed to go.

Matthew 28:19 GW

19 So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Wherever you go… or as you go… making disciples is a lifestyle. You do it wherever you do… grocery store… taco bell… work… ball games … walking … cold stone creamery…

NT Evangelism was not done just on Sundays. It was an every day thing. That’s really what the difference is between the NT church and today… in the NT church, everyone was telling people about Jesus.

Imagine what would happen if we all got to it… if we all began sharing our faith.

Luke 10:25–37 NLT

25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” 29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ 36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Let’s look at this passage. The man that came up to Jesus was basically a lawyer… He knew the Law. And he comes to Jesus to ask him how to have eternal life… but he didn’t come with good intentions… these guys were always trying to trick and trap Jesus. When ever they would do this, Jesus would come right back with a question…

Luke 10:26–28 NLT

26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

He knew the Law… and he quoted it here.

Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT

5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

Leviticus 19:18 NLT

18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

He basically summed up the entire 10 commandments. He simplified it. Then Jesus told him that he was exactly right… then told him to do just that and he would live.

Let’s look at this answer.

1. We are to love God with everything we have.

Luke 10:27 NLT

27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

What kind of love is he talking about.

We love Jesus with our emotions.

We love Jesus from the heart… with emotion… with affection and fondness.

We love God with a selfless love.

The soul contains our minds and our will… our ego… It’s who we are. We are to love him with our souls… our means I give it to the Lord… It’s a selfless love.

We love God with a strong love

We are to love him with all of our strength. He’s not just talking about physical strength. He is talking about strength from within. Inner strength that comes to the outside. We can love him with our physical strength, our financial strength, intellectual strength…

We are to love him with all of our strength.

We love God with a Sensible Love

We love him with all of our minds. We don’’t walk in blind faith. He tells us to love him with our minds… to study ...

Get in the Word and your love for Jesus will grow and grow…

2. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Luke 10:27 NLT

27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Notice, the scripture say love your neighbor as you love yourself. We are supposed to love ourselves. Not in an arrogant selfish way, but if you do not love yourself, you cannot love someone else.

The LAW demands love.

If you sum up the entire law, it’s about love.

Love God with everything in you… Love your neighbor as yourself.

The LAW requires life.

It’s one thing to have the right answer… but it’s another thing to have the right actions. You can know plenty and still miss heaven.

The scribes knew all they needed to know. When Herod heard about the Messiah, he asked the scribes about it and they told him when and where the baby would be born. They knew, but they were lost. They did not know God.

This man wanted to know how to have eternal life, but Jesus knew he needed to know that it was not something he could earn. Remember the lawyer asked...

Luke 10:25 NLT

25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

What should I do… There was nothing that he or you and I can do to earn eternal life.

James 2:10 NLT

10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.

No one but Jesus is perfect. we have all broken the law.

You may say, well, I never killed anyone. Have you ever been angry with someone? Jesus said that when you are, you are guilty of murder. Have you ever stolen anything? a pencil from somewhere… magazine… You may say that you have never committed adultery or fornication. Have you ever looked at someone and gone… um…um… You are guilty.

The Law can’t save any of us.

Galatians 2:16 NLT

16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

The law does not make us right with God. Faith in Jesus does.

Galatians 3:24 NLT

24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.

The law showed us that we need a Savior.

Romans 8:3–4 NLT

3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Remember the law requires life…

Life requires the Lord

The young lawyer was trying to justify himself so he asked Jesus

Luke 10:29 NLT

29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

He wanted to know who his neighbor was because he didn’t want to love anyone he didn’t need to love. So Jesus told him a story.

Luke 10:30–36 NLT

30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ 36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

Notice several things. The man was going to Jericho FROM Jerusalem. He was going away from God. Jericho, a heathen city, is down by the Dead Sea which is four thousand feet below Jerusalem. He was going down.

We know many people today who are traveling away from God and their life is spiraling downward. What he didn’t know was that he and we have an enemy…

John 10:10 NLT

10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

These robbers beat the man and leave him half dead… away from God… hurting. The devil will try to bring all sorts of things into your life to destroy your life in some way.

In this story

3. There are three types of people

As Jesus tells the story, he tells about 3 types of people that came by. First, there was a priest. The priest looked at him and passed by him on the other side of the road. Next a Levite came by. He studied him and went on about his business. Then a Samaritan came by. He gave him first aid and got help for him in town. I believe that all three of these types of people are listening today. Let’s look at them.

Some people are Attackers

There are plenty of them… bars, prejudiced people, gambling … news media...

We have people all around us and who are listening who have been attacked in one way or another. People say mean things… do mean things.

Some people are the rubber necks

These are the people that just pass right on by.

This lawyer was one of these. He didn’t want to have to help anyone he didn’t have to so he asked who is my neighbor.

Rubber-neckers are divided into 2 sub groups.

One is represented by the priest.

The religious

Luke 10:31 NLT

31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.

The priest represents religion. This guy was religious but he did not know Jesus… if he did, he would have helped. As it was, he just passed on by. Paul was religious before his conversion… he religiously persecuted Christians.

Religion without Jesus is useless.

Jesus even told some of the religious crowd that prostitutes and tax collectors would get to heaven before they did. (Mt 21:31)

story of the revival preacher at the ladies house… she was going to missions meeting… her maid received Christ… but she had never told her maid about Jesus… the preacher told her to go and study, but she wasn’t real...

It doesn’t do us any good to be religious and know all the answers if you don’t know Jesus.

The Legalist

The Levite, a temple worker) came, looked at the man… determined he was going to die… probably deserved to die and walked on.

Luke 10:32 NLT

32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

That’s all the law can do… condemn. It cannot lift us up… it cannot save us.

Galatians 3:10 NLT

10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”

Galatians 3:21 NLT

21 Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it.

Legalism and religion are not the answers. If you think that religion, legalism or moralistic teachings are enough, you are wrong. You have to have a relationship with Jesus.

The rescuer

Luke 10:33 NLT

33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.

He had compassion on him… means he suffered with him… he felt his pain.

Luke 10:34 NLT

34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.

The Samaritan did what Jesus would do… he helped him. Actually, in this story, the Samaritan represents Jesus. You have to love the fact that Jesus used the despised race of Samaritans to represent himself in this story.

This guy must have been a boy scout… he was prepared. He had bandages with him. He was looking for someone to help. He had oil and wine with him. He was ready.

Luke 19:10 NLT

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

That’s what the Samaritan and Jesus did and do… seek and save the lost. Through His body, the church is in the business of seeking and saving lost people. Jesus comes to us when we are beaten, tired, injured and about to die and he says for us to give him our burdens. He binds up our wounds and heals us.

This despised Samaritan binds up this mans wounds, takes him for help and pays for it. Then he says whatever is owed, I’ll pay you on my next trip. Jesus is going to reward us when he comes again for what we do in this life for him. Whatever you give to Jesus, he will reward you.

God has given us, the church, the job of going… then nurturing and loving them until Jesus comes again. The church, this church, is not a museum for the saints, it’s a hospital for sinners.

The church is a hospital for sinners

This lawyer had met his match. He learned the lesson.

Galatians 2:16 NLT

16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

He knew that all of his religion was not enough… that all of his good works would not be enough…

He knew that Life requires Jesus. Without Jesus, there is no life.

Notice that not only is Jesus the source of this life; but when that life is in us, it is going to reproduce itself.

Luke 10:36–37 NLT

36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Jesus is telling us … you and me … to go out and do the same things he did.

The proof that a person has met Jesus is that he does what Jesus did

John 20:21 NLT

21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Listen, Jesus is sending us. I believe that people hearing my voice are in one of these three categories… attackers… rubberneckers… or rescuers…

Most people are rubber-neckers. We see and pass on by. But some will be rescuers like Jesus. If we claim to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, we have to do what he says…

Luke 6:46 NLT

46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?

Listen to me. We won’t all reach people the same way. That’s why Jesus made us all different, so we could reach different people with the Gospel.

Let’s ask God to make us like the Good Samaritan… to help us to see people the way he sees them and to help them to Jesus.

Prayer

Salvation prayer

Pray for lost friends and family