BEAR FRUIT BY EVANGELISM

Introduction

A missionary to Africa told the story of an elderly woman who was reached with the gospel. Though she was blind and couldn’t read or write, she wanted to share her new-found faith with others. She went to the missionary and asked for a copy of the Bible in French. When she got it, she asked the missionary to underline John 3:16 in red and mark the page it was on so she could find it. The missionary wanted to see what she would do, so one day he followed her.

In the afternoon, just before school let out, she made her way to the front door of a local boys school. As the boys came out when school was dismissed, she would stop one and ask if he knew how to read French. When he said “Yes” she would ask him to read the verse that was marked in red. Then she would ask, “Do you know what this means?” and tell him about Christ.

The missionary said that this lady led hundreds of those boys to Christ, and out of them, twenty-four of the school boys that lady led to the Lord became pastors.

-She was blind, she could not read, she was not trained—all she had was Jesus and faith. It makes me wonder what is our excuse for not sharing our faith?

-For most of us it is fear—fear of rejection, fear of being made fun of, fear of reprisals, fear of getting out of our comfort zones

-And yet we know that this is the calling placed on all our lives—evangelism isn’t just for the pastor or the professional evangelist—it is the privilege of the Christian----But it will only come to us as a lifestyle when we are spiritually mature

-The past few weeks I’ve been doing a short series on spiritual disciplines that I’ve called GROW In to GROW Out, when we as individuals grow into spiritual maturity, then we as a church are more effective in growing out into the community

-I’ve used the picture of a plant that grows as a metaphor for the spiritual disciplines growing us—we are seeded by the Word of God, we are watered by prayer, and we are nourished by our service to others

-And today is the culmination—we Bear Fruit by Evangelism

~In one sense, our spiritual maturity will lead us then to share our faith with others, and so we bear spiritual fruit in our lives—but we could also say that we bear fruit as we multiply ourselves in leading others to Christ

-So, my prayer is that we seek continual spiritual growth in ourselves so that we mature to the point of bearing the fruit of bringing spiritual life to others in Jesus Christ

-I want to look at Mark’s version of the Great Commission today:

Mark 16:15–16 ESV

15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

-I want to look at four quick aspects of evangelism:

I) The extent of evangelism

-Who, exactly, is it that we are to evangelize?

-Jesus says that we are to go out into all the world and share the gospel with all of creation

-The point that Jesus is trying to make is that our sharing of the gospel is not limited by geography and it is not limited by people groups

-This is picked up in Acts 1:8 where Jesus tells His disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth—we do local evangelization and regional evangelization, but it doesn’t stop there—our commission goes to everywhere in the world

-No, not everyone has the time, the means, the money, or the calling to pick up and go to Africa—but there are some who do have the time, means, and money to go somewhere that needs the gospel message—so we are not to neglect one area for another

-And it is not limited by people group—for Jesus’ day that meant they didn’t just share the gospel with Jews, but they went out and reached the Gentiles and the Samaritans and everybody.

-Just like in our day, there were many prejudices about other people groups, but Jesus did not just come to save people “JUST LIKE US” (whatever that may entail)

-Red and yellow, black and white, Jesus came to save their life—so we don’t limit our evangelism to one race or one political party or one economic status

In the 1840s, John Geddie left the pastorate of a church in Canada to take his wife and two small children to the South Sea Islands to begin a mission work there. After a voyage of more than 20,000 miles, they arrived in the New Hebrides Islands. The island chain was filled with cannibals, and more than 20 crew members of a British ship had been killed and eaten just months before the Geddies arrived.

They faced the difficulty of learning a language that had no written form and the constant threat of being killed. Slowly at first, a few converts came, and then soon many more received the Gospel. Geddie continued his ministry faithfully, including translating the entire Bible into the native language and planting twenty-five churches. For many of those years, Geddie labored with little help and little word from home, but God was faithful to His servant.

-Would you think of going to some far off island to save cannibals? John Geddie did, knowing Jesus came to save everyone, everwhere!

II) The essence of evangelism

-When we talk about the ESSENCE of something, we are talking about an indispensable quality—without this quality it would not be what it is

-And there is an indispensable quality to evangelism, meaning that evangelism would not be evangelism without it—and the essence is the message of what it is that we share

-Jesus says that we are to go out and proclaim the GOSPEL—the death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Jesus Christ—the need for faith and repentance—that is the essence of evangelism

-Jesus did not say to go out and proclaim that God has a great plan for everyone’s life; Jesus did not say to tell people how wonderful they are; Jesus did not say to tell people that He wants them to have their best life now

-Jesus said to go out and proclaim the gospel—tell people that they are sinners headed to hell and that Jesus loved them enough to save them

-There’s a story that one late night John Wesley was riding along, when someone grabbed his horse's bridle and shouted, "Halt!". The man then demanded, "Your money or your life." Wesley emptied his pockets of the small amount of money he had, then showed the robber his saddlebags which were filled with books.

~The robber was about to leave when Wesley said, "Stop! I have something more to give you." The highwayman turned back towards Wesley and Wesley said, "My friend, you may live to regret this sinful sort of a life in which you are engaged. If you ever do, I beg you to remember this, 'The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin.'" The robber hurried away.

~Many years later, people were gathered round to greet the aged Wesley who had just preached at their evening church service. One man in particular wanted to speak with him. Wesley discovered that it was the robber from many years before. He had become a Christian and was now a successful tradesman. He raised Wesley's hand to his lips, kissed it, and said, "To you, dear sir, I owe it all." "No, no, my friend," replied Wesley. "Not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ which cleanses us from all sin."

-Wesley didn’t give the guy general morals, pop psychology, a pep talk, or an ego-stroke—he gave the robber the gospel and because of it he was saved. And this is important because of:

III) The eternal consequences of evangelism

-Jesus says that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life, but those who do not believe in Him will be condemned—The consequences and importance of telling people of Christ and for believing in Christ could not be put more plainly—people’s eternal destinies are at stake

-The Bible makes it clear that because of sin, everyone is set for eternal punishment—but Jesus Christ offers forgiveness of sin and entrance into His eternal kingdom based on His death and resurrection

-No matter what modern skeptics may tell you, heaven and hell are very real, and unlike the teachings of other religions, those are your only two choices—there is nowhere else after death

-God is just and must punish sin—hell is not some place where the devil is in charge and he has the run of the place—hell is God’s perfect justice being given to those who have broken His law and standard (which is everyone)

-And heaven is not some place where all your dreams come true, it is where you are made completely whole and are able to fulfill the eternal destiny God has created you for—heaven is not merely sitting around a cloud playing a harp, it is worship and service to God in joy

-But how will people know that there is any danger of condemnation to hell or that there is a heaven that is available to them if we do not tell them

- One night, a man was out for stroll. As he walked down the street a few blocks away, he saw through a house window a family in their front room watching TV. They were laughing, relaxed, having good time. But what he saw, and they couldn't see, was that the back half of their house was on fire.

~He knew how quickly house fires spread and it would be no time at all till the fire reached the TV room. His first impulse was, "I should warn them, bang on their front door, let them know what's happening." But then he had second thoughts. "What if they don't believe me? What if they're angry with me? What if they're annoyed that I've interrupted their family time?" Then he thought, "But this is serious. If I don't do anything, they'll lose their lives. They'll die." Back and forth he went in his mind about what he should do.

-As you hear that story, you probably think that the choice is obvious—of course you’d warn the family in order to save their lives. We might even say it is the only ethical thing to do.

~But hell is a lot more dangerous than a house fire—do you feel that same kind of ethical impulse then? There’s consequences to us keeping our mouth shut as much as there are consequences to whether someone believes or not.

IV) The equipment for evangelism

-As a pastor, I would be neglectful if I did not equip you on how to share the gospel, so you can leave here today and share the good news with others

~Although there are several ways to share the gospel, I want to give you one of the simplest—the Romans Road. Here is what you can share with others:

Step 1) All have sinned

As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one”

~Romans 3:10 ESV

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

~Romans 3:23 ESV

Step 2) Consequences of sin

For the wages of sin is death

~Romans 6:23a ESV

Step 3) Christ died for us

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

~Romans 5:8 ESV

The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

~Romans 6:23 ESV

Step 4) Confess and believe to be saved

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

~Romans 10:9-10 ESV

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

~Romans 10:13 ESV

Step 5) Results of Salvation

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

~Romans 5:1 ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

~Romans 8:1 ESV

Conclusion

-I want to conclude with this thought:

Several centuries ago a man who was a robber and murderer had been caught and was convicted of his crime. Waiting to be hanged, he was told by a preacher that he was going to go to hell but that it was still not too late to repent.

~The murderer looked at him and replied, "You live such comfortable lives, you couldn’t possibly believe what you say you believe. If I believed in the hell that you preach, I would crawl the length of England on broken glass just to make one convert and save them from the horrors that you describe."

-You see, since the Christian lived like there was no urgency to the message, living like there really was no hell, the man didn’t want to believe. Because, surely, if there is a place of such terrible, eternal punishment then all Christians would do what they could to keep people from going there.

~But since most Christians just want to live their nice comfortable lives in their nice comfortable homes and go to church sitting in their nice comfortable pews and don’t care that every second someone goes to that eternal death, why should anyone believe?

-Christian, come to the altar and pray that God would give you boldness in sharing your faith

~Come and pray that God would save souls through you

~Come and pray for a divine appointment to share the Good News

~Come and pray for a lost person that you know that needs salvation

-But maybe today you learned that there is a judgment waiting for you because you have sinned against God, and the only way that His justice will pass from you is believing that He placed His wrath on Christ…