Are You An Inviter?

Introduction

Closing in on Easter, just two weeks away.

How’s it coming with praying for your one?

Keep it up

Prayerfully, we’ll see God move and answer our prayers for them to come to church on Easter.

We’ve been in a series entitled “Who’s Your One?”

The goal of the series was to show us, and I include myself, the importance of one person praying for another to bring them to church and the gospel.

Thus far we have learned that our duty is to share the gospel with those we know out of obedience or to help them avoid hell.

Think back to when you accepted Jesus as your Savior, where was that?

Sparkman, AR for me.

Who led you to Christ? Ruffin Snow in granddaddy’s living room.

I attending a revival when I felt God tugging on my heart for me to make that commitment to Christ.

Why was I at the revival? Because my mother took me.

She invited me or drug me along with her and my grandmother.

I would say that each of us has someone we can look to that invited us to say yes to Jesus.

It may have a family member that took you to church

Or someone shared the gospel and invited you to say yes to Jesus.

For some, you may have someone on TV who invited you to say yes to Jesus.

The bottom line someone invited you.

In a study from 2019, in answering the question “Who led you to Christ?”

67% said someone they knew personally - family, friend, neighbor, or colleague.

The rest said a pastor, worship service, small group, or an event.

I would go as far to say that for the “rest” someone had to invite them most likely

Why Are We Silent?

Most Americans are interested in conversations about Christianity, but few Christians seem willing to talk about their faith, according to a recent Evangelism Explosion study conducted by Lifeway Research.

Let me share with you 3 reasons Christians are silent.

Christians stay silent because of a desire to be friendly.

Evangelism is a loving act of telling someone why you have hope in a broken world.

It’s talking about something (or someone) important to you.

However, for too many, evangelism conjures a negative image; it feels unkind.

We have no problem talking about our kids, grandkids, new cars, or even a television series we’re watching.

But when it comes to talking about Jesus and the difference our faith makes in our lives, we freeze.

We’ve accepted the idea that evangelism is unfriendly, so we remain silent.

Research shows 51% of Americans say they’re curious and wanted to know why faith is important to others.

Evangelism practiced in love and with a winsome personality would be a welcome part of most conversations and friendships.

Christians stay silent because of fear.

It’s human nature to avoid uncomfortable things.

In fact, it keeps us alive.

For many, evangelism is a frightening prospect.

Three forms of fear

Fear of failure.

One pollster found, “Fear of failure is the number one reason people don’t set goals or try new things.”

An article in the LA Times noted fear of failure plagues 31% of adults.

This is greater than the fear of spiders (30%), being home alone (9%), or even ghosts (15%).

Instinctively, we know most of our conversations about Jesus will not end with someone confessing faith in Christ.

If we define a successful evangelistic conversation as one that ends in new birth, we’re setting ourselves up for failure, something most of us would rather avoid.

What if we understood that successful evangelism is a cooperative effort with multiple people and multiple encounters—sowing and watering, then reaping when God gives the growth? —

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor” (CSB). 1 Corinthians 3:6-8

With this new definition, failure is almost impossible.

Fear of not knowing enough.

We usually couch this fear in a sentence like, “I am afraid someone will ask me a question I don’t know the answer to.”

This is a legitimate concern.

The Bible is a big book, and there are so many complicated theological and ethical questions that no one can really know it all.

However, we can’t let this fear keep us silent.

According to Romans 1, it’s the gospel, not our well-thought-out answers, that is God’s power for salvation.

“I don’t know,” is an acceptable answer.

In fact, it’s a great answer because it communicates honesty and provides a reason for a follow-up conversation when you find the answer.

Unanswered questions rarely, if ever, keep someone from becoming a Christian.

After all, you’re a Christian, and not knowing the answer didn’t stop you from trusting Christ.

Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing.

Have you ever gave someone the wrong directions by mistake?

What a terrible reality to discover you’ve given someone bad directions.

However, as with the other fears, this one is often exaggerated in our minds.

I’m not suggesting that content is not important in evangelism.

However, God uses our efforts to accomplish his purposes.

Christians stay silent because of a tendency toward forgetfulness.

Possibly the number one reason Christians don’t talk about Jesus is we’re just too busy or too distracted to remember to do so.

A 2019 study from Lifeway Research discovered 55% of those who attend church at least monthly say they haven’t shared Christ with anyone in the past six months.

Although nearly the same percentage (56%) say they pray for opportunities to share at least once a week.

And 23% say they pray daily for evangelistic opportunities.

What’s happening here?

My guess–through personal experience–is most of these folks started their day with good intentions, but then, as events unfolded, they simply forgot.

What can you do to remember to share Christ?

Make a list of names and pray specifically for them.

What’s the Answer: Be An Andrew!

John 1:40–42 CSB

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).

Peter’s brother, Andrew, is the least known of the four disciples in the inner circle.

Andrew ordinarily is left very much in the background.

We learn he was used by our Lord to touch one who touched thousands.

One pastor referred to Andrew as the inviter, or I see him as the bringer or introducer.

Had Andrew never been born, the New Testament could have changed significantly.

Peter may have never been saved.

Someone else would have preached the famous Pentecost sermon.

We would have to eliminate two books of the New Testament, 1 and 2 Peter.

Only heaven knows what else would have been left out of the Bible and church history.

Andrew was the first of all the disciples to be called (John 1:35-40).

His eagerness to follow Christ, combined with his zeal for introducing others to Christ, fairly typifies Andrew’s character.

Think: Peter, James, John and Andrew. Certainly, Andrew was the least conspicuous.

Scripture doesn’t tell us a lot about him.

He appears in the New Testament only nine times and most references simply mention him in passing.

Andrew lived his life in the shadows of his better-known brother, Peter.

He is even mentioned in the text as Simon Peter’s brother.

However, lest we forget, Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus.

Andrew shows that he had the right heart for effective ministry in the background.

Andrew’s name means manly.

He was a strong fisherman.

His life proved him to be bold, decisive and deliberate.

He was driven by a hearty passion for the truth, and he was willing to subject himself to the most extreme kinds of hardship.

Andrew’s personal encounter with Jesus took place a few months after Jesus’ baptism (John 1:29-34).

Andrew and John were standing next to John the Baptist when Jesus walked by, and John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

“The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.” (John 1:37-39)

Andrew and John became Jesus’ first disciples.

Just imagine what Jesus taught them as they walked that afternoon.

The news Andrew heard was too good to keep to himself, so he went and found the one person in the world he most loved, whom he most wanted to know Jesus, and led him to Christ.

Simon

HE SAW THE VALUE OF INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE.

Andrew appreciated the value of a single soul.

He was known for bringing individuals, not crowds, to Jesus.

Three times we see him in John bringing someone to Jesus

He brought Peter to Jesus: Just one

He brought the boy with his lunch to Jesus: Just one

Andrew has been referred to as the first home missionary because of the Jewish people he brought to Jesus.

Andrew has also been referred to as the first foreign missionary because of the Greeks he brought to Jesus

John 12:20–22 CSB

20 Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Most people do not come to Christ as an immediate response to a sermon they hear in a crowded setting.

They come to Christ because of the influence of an individual.

Andrew brought one—Peter.

Peter then brought thousands.

All the fruit of Peter’s ministry is ultimately also the fruit of Andrew’s faithful individual witness.

Few have ever heard of Edward Kimball.

He was a Sunday School teacher who led D.L. Moody to Christ.

Moody went to lead thousands to Christ including eventually down a line Billy Graham.

HE SAW THE VALUE OF INSIGNIFICANT GIFTS.

Some people see the big picture more clearly just because they appreciate the value of small things.

In the feeding of the 5,000 story, Philip’s vision was overwhelmed by the size of the need.

His response is to send the away since we don’t have enough money

Andrew speaks up and says, “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish —but what are they for so many?” (John 6:8-9, CSB)

No gift is insignificant in the hands of Jesus.

Jesus was at the temple one day and He looked up and saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:1-4, CSB).

God’s ability to use a gift is in no way hindered or enhanced by the size of that gift.

It is the sacrificial faithfulness of the giver, not the size of the gift, that is the true measure of the gift’s significance.

It’s not the greatness of the gift that counts, but rather the greatness of the God to whom it is given.

The miracle of feeding the 5,000 illustrates the way God works.

He takes the sacrificial and often seemingly insignificant gifts of people who give faithfully, and He multiplies them to accomplish monumental things.

Something in Andrew seemed to understand that no gift is insignificant in the hand of Jesus.

So little could be used to accomplish so much, it was a testimony to the power of God.

No gift is really insignificant in His hand.

Some of you think, I could never go witness to my neighbor.

God can take your little weakness, and it’s only when you acknowledge your weakness that the power of Christ can become your strength, and He can take your insignificant abilities and accomplish extraordinary things.

HE SAW THE VALUE OF INCONSPICUOUS SERVICE.

Andrew is the picture of all those who labor quietly in humble places.

We see that a life of inconspicuous service is God honoring.

Andrew is a picture of all those that labor quietly in humble places.

“Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart (Ephesians 6:6, CSB).

He did not mind being hidden as long as the work was being done.

He was a leader with a servant’s heart.

Andrew never preached to multitudes or founded any churches.

His ministry was a place of support.

He didn’t mind being hidden as long as the work of God was being done.

Church tradition gives insight into Andrew’s life and how it ended.

Tradition has it that Andrew took the gospel north into Russia, possibly Scotland.

He was ultimately crucified in Achaia, which is in southern Greece, near Athens.

One account says witnessing to a provincial Roman leader’s wife.

And she came to faith in Christ, was radically saved is the testimony.

Her husband was infuriated, as she had trusted in the Christian faith, demanded that she denounce Jesus, to which she would not.

So he said, “Well, if you won’t denounce it, he won’t tell anyone else.”

So he ordered Andrew crucified.

They crucified him on a cross that was an X, the Saint Andrew’s Cross.

He said, “I want him to suffer, don’t nail him. Lash him to the cross.”

Tradition has it that he lasted two days before he perished.

And they say that all that came by with his last breaths, he was pleading with individuals to turn from their sins and give their life to Jesus.

Are You An Inviter?

Andrew is an example of what God can do with one insignificant life that sees the significant value of one soul.

Do know the old song, “Must I Go Home Empty Handed?”

“Must I go, and empty-handed,” Thus my dear Redeemer meet? Not one day of service give Him, Lay no trophy at His feet? “Must I go, and empty-handed?”   Must I meet my Savior so? Not one soul with which to greet Him:     Must I empty-handed go?

It’s about facing the King Jesus with no one with you.

Listen to this, when this life is over, will there be someone there that came because of your witness.

It’s one thing if you tried and they wouldn’t come, but to not try?

Who is this you’re not willing to introduce, your best friend, family, neighbor?

In the first year of our marriage, Raetta and I decided to get certified as a lifeguard.

In our training we spent a significant amount of time learning first aid and CPR.

We knew there was a strong possibility that at some point as a lifeguard we would scan the water and see a person frantically trying to swim.

We were prepared to leap from a seat, dive in the water, swim to him, bring him back to shore, and begin medical treatment immediately.

As a lifeguard, when you see a person begin to struggle, you didn’t sit there in your chair and wonder if he would make fun of your swimming stroke or if he’d reject your attempt to save him.

No, you see his helpless condition, and you do something immediately.

All around us are men and women drowning in their own sin.

They are frantically waving, hoping for someone to notice them and help them.

How often do we sit in our shaded chairs and refuse to help them because we’re concerned about what they might say or how they might respond?

People are dying.

Will we get out of our chairs and help them?

Andrew did.

Philip did.

And they started with those closest to them—a brother and a close friend.

Who’s Your One?

Pray