Go!

I love Basketball. It is my favorite sport. To me basketball is the perfect mix of individual ability, team chemistry and skill, and coaching and preparation. I think that basketball takes more blending of all these components than any other sport. I love it.

I think of the Great Commission of Matt 18 as the Basketball passage of the Bible. There is a major transition here- as Jesus hands off the Earthly ministry to the Disciples- he passes them the rock. He is much like a good coach who has spent all week teaching drills and plays, showing techniques and concepts to the players; and then game day comes and the coach stands in the huddle and passes the ball to his PG and says- fellas, I can’t go play the game for you. But I can be here- we are a team and we need all of us.

Jesus leaves for his disciples a command to be followed- GO!

Our faith is a faith on the move. Yes, Jesus calls to us and says “Come to me all you who are broken and weary.” But Jesus then looks at us and says “Go!” tell someone, share your faith, give testimony to others!

Sharing our faith with those who do not know about Jesus is called evangelism, and evangelism is not optional for those of us who are Christ followers. In the same way that Jesus commands us to love our neighbors, repent from our sins, care for widows and orphans, Jesus calls us to go and spread his word.

Some people think that evangelism is like sales and marketing, or trying to coerce someone into belief, but that is not the case at all. A rough working definition of evangelism is “the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.”

You see, evangelism is not sales and marketing, evangelism is truth telling. It is telling the good news and giving testimony to the truth of Jesus in your life.

But then, Jesus establishes our priorities in evangelism. He not only tells us what to do; he gives us our priorities to think about- our goals to reach for.

Back to BBall. In basketball the king of all stat lines is the triple double. A triple double is when a player gets more than 10 points, more than 10 assists, and more than 10 rebounds. When a player has a triple double it is easy to see their impact on a game. At this moment Russell Westbrook holds the record for most triple doubles in NBA history with 184.

So, in some ways Jesus establishes the church’s stat line in Matt 18. Our priorities, our goals- preaching, teaching, baptising.

What is the job of the church? It probably depends on who you ask, right?

Some people might think the job of the church is to be community center. To offer playgrounds, preschools, and workshops that empower the community to be a better and safer place- noble goal, but not in the Great Commission.

Some people might think the job of the church is to help people. To hold soup kitchens and clothes closets; to pay bills for those in financial need, and help do repairs for those who cannot do them themselves- noble goal, but not in the Great Commission.

But the bottom line is the job of the church is to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ and offer the transformative power of God’s love to people. We do this, primarily through preaching, teaching, and baptism.

Having a church that has a great playground, a soup kitchen, and a preschool is great! But if that church is not preaching the Gospel, teaching the ways of Jesus, and baptising people into faith- then it is all in vain.

Imagine you had a car that had the best stereo, it had all the options- heated seats, power everything, sunroof- maybe even a convertible- but it had no motor, no transmission, and no wheels. Is that a good car? It can’t go anywhere, right? Which is the primary reason for a car, right? So a church that has all the fancy programs, but is not engaging in preaching, teaching, and baptising has really missed the boat.

But this is always a tension the church finds itself in, isn’t it? I will be transparent and tell you that is always a matter of conversation we have in board meetings, in deacon meetings, I have internal discussions about these things in my own head- if we do this for this person, maybe they will come to church and hear the Gospel, or maybe they will see Jesus in me.

So, what do we do about this tension? I think the easiest thing to do is remove the maybe. Let’s make sure the Gospel message is open and apparent in everything we do!

For example, this is one of the things I love about OCC; every box that they send out comes with a copy of a Gospel tract inviting the person to know Jesus. We need to model that in our lives and in our ministries, that everything we do comes with a presentation of the Gospel.

Remember, friends, no one reaps a harvest by accident. A harvest in planned for and invested in.

So, we preach.

A middle-aged farmer wanted to be a preacher for years, but wasn't sure if it was God's will. One day, while he was working in the field, he decided to rest under a tree. As he looked up into the sky he saw that the clouds seemed to form into the letters P and C. As he thought about it, he realized that PC stood for Preach Christ! Immediately, he jumped up, sold his farm and went out to preach Christ. He was convinced that this was what God was leading him to do. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a horrible preacher. After one of his sermons, a neighbor turned to his wife and whispered in her ear, "I'm not so sure that God wasn't just trying to tell him to Plant Corn

I guess that is specifically my task on days like today, right? As your pastor I put time and energy into preaching- every week I spend hours studying this book called “the Bible” and preparing sermons. I do not get up in this pulpit without preparation. Why? Because people’s eternity is at risk. Preaching is not just something that preachers do- it has eternal weight and value, so every week I prepare to sow seed for the harvest. Just like a farmer who prepares to sow seed in his field for a harvest in the fall.

But let’s be honest, not everyone who stands in a pulpit preaches. Because preaching is based on 2 thing— the Gospel, and the Bible. It is not about entertainment, or self help; it is not about making people feel good or empowering some kind of emotional response. No, preaching is about teaching the Bible and telling the story of Jesus for the salvation and edification of the church of Christ.

2 Tim 3:16 sums it up pretty well. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

Preaching turns to the Word of God and allows it to transform people. It is not merely based on helping people feel better, or helping people act better- it is based on helping people BE BETTER because they have been transferred by the Gospel.

And we teach.

A good church teaches, and it teaches the entire story of faith.

We are so blessed to have some amazing teachers in our congregation. Teachers who do not teach just for a career, but they teach because they care about kids. It is evident that you all love the kids in your care- you are involved in their lives, your pour your best our to them every single day. I know you all, and I know it is safe to say that the amount of time, care, and energy you put into teaching your class is directly related to the amount of love, care, and concern you have for your students. You teach well because you want them to learn well- you want them to grow to their full potential- at least that is my guess.

I believe that one of the reasons Jesus asked us to teach people was because when you teach someone- you learn to love them.

Teaching in the church should be the same way. Our congregation works hard to offer Christian education opportunities. We have Sunday School, Kidz Night, Youth Group; we offer different formats of midweek Bible studies; COVID has put a hiatus on some things, but we often to trips to mens and women’s retreats and events; we host workshops here on special subjects- all kinds of things. We have money in the budget to buy educational materials and books, and send our leaders to trainings and workshops- why? Because we love you- because we love our people and we want them to grow to their full potential in Christ! We want you to serve Christ well!

Can I tell you that some of my favorite conversations are when people ask me about things they are pondering in their spiritual life, or when people ask me for books or resources for their growth. Those conversations are so energizing. Every now and them someone asks me what I have been reading or studying and I am like a kid in a candy store!

And we baptize.

I had an awesome conversation about baptism with some church folks at their kitchen table this week. There are a lot of nuances and parts to baptism- we could do a ton of sermons just on that one topic, but for today it is important in the GC commission because baptism is our public declaration of relationship with Jesus.

Think of baptism like a wedding ceremony. When you get married- you have made the commitment, you have taken the plunge. There is not an audience at the first date, but there is one at the wedding. Why? Because your commitment to one another just got real.

I think of baptisms like that- its your spiritual wedding day. I think that Jesus attached baptisms to the GC because he is looking for long lasting, life altering commitments and transformation. Jesus asks the church to be concerned about baptisms because he wants us to be thinking about empowering that kind of transformation.

So, as a church and as people of faith we need to talk about baptism, and we need to make it a priority for our people. On of the things that gives me a great deal of joy in ministry is that in the 11 years I have been pastor here at Mt Zion we have had baptisms every year. In fact, I am not the best record keeper, but if my notes are right we have baptized ovear 70 people in my 11 years of ministry here. So, somebody needs to be getting baptized in 2022 to keep the streak alive!

Seriously, though. Baptism needs to be a big part of what we do. I know, some will say “Baptism does not save you” and it does not. The thief on the cross was not baptized and Jesus promised him Heaven. But I do believe that if you accept Jesus as your Savior and you come to church and call yourself a Christian you need to be baptized- and I believe if you don‘t Jesus might ask you about that in Heaven one day- why did you not publicly acknowledge me?

Let me tell you, I see those FB posts that say “if you believe in Jesus share this.” if you believe in Jesus skip the FB sharing- get baptized!

So, let‘s go church. Let’s not just sit here. Let’s go preach teach and baptize. And I challenge all of you today to evaluate how you are contributing to each of these ministries in our church and in the Kingdom of God.

Listen to the words of 1 Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

The word calls us to be prepared to make a defense for our hope. In 1907 Robert Baden-Powell first recited the Boy Scout motto of “be prepared”. In an interview he was asked “be prepared for what?” “Why for any old thing!” he replied.

As followers of Christ we too are to be prepared, prepared to talk about Jesus.

Anyone here have a set of jumper cables in their car? A set of jumper cables are handy to have in case of emergency, aren’t they? If you are like me you have been caught more than once without jumper cables and found yourself swearing you are going to put a set in the car! My whole day gets upended, and I commit that I am never going to let that happen again- and somehow I do...

Have you ever had that same experience with sharing Jesus? You have an opportunity to share Jesus with someone and you just freeze- like you have nothing to say? What a crummy feeling; you head back to your desk, or your car, or where ever you are coming from feeling disappointed that you missed an opportunity to tell someone about Christ. Anyone else ever been there?

Why do most people miss those chances? Well, I hear from a lot of people that they feel under-qualified or intimidated to share about Jesus. Many people think that unless they are a preacher or some overly qualified theologian, they cannot share their faith in the right way. But that simply is not true.

Elton Trueblood said “Evangelism is not a professional job for a few trained men, but is instead the unrelenting responsibility of every person who belongs to the company of Jesus

Did you ever notice who Jesus is charging in this passage? It isn’t the Rabbis, or the church leaders, it isn’t the pharisees or the Sadducee- it is the disciples. It is a group of fishermen, tax collectors, and other seemingly unqualified people- they are the one’s that Jesus charges to preach, teach, and baptize. Evangelism is not the charge of the pastor- it is the charge of the church. We are all to do the work of evangelism.