June 1, 2024
Beloved in Christ,
Last month in worship we began an extended, careful sermon series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. On the last Sunday of May, we reflected on Jesus’ saying that His followers are “the light of the world” and “the salt of the earth”. We came to understand that this means that we who follow Jesus are to bring the warm brightness of His love and the delicious flavor of His life to those not yet a part of His family of faith. This then led us to consider how we cannot be His light for others if we hide under a bushel basket; or His salt, if we don’t let His Spirit get us out of His salt shaker.
In other words, we fulfill our identity as Jesus’ light and Jesus’ salt by engaging in the world and with its people beyond the church.
We do this work of evangelism in two ways: 1) We reach out and invite folks in, and 2) We go out to where folks are and there represent Jesus’ loving concern for them.
Andrew is the biblical model of the first approach. According to John 1:35-42, once he met Jesus and sensed who He is, Andrew found his brother Simon Peter, told Peter he thought Him the Messiah, and took Peter with him into Jesus’ presence to see for himself.
We can follow Andrew’s approach to evangelism whenever we ask someone to join us in some activity of the church and accompany them in that activity as they see for themselves.
This month provides a particularly promising opportunity to imitate Andrew. Thursday evening, June 20th, we have the first of two Summer Courtyard Picnic and Worship events. (The second one takes place on July 18th.) The Courtyard gates open at 5:45; we eat from 6:00 to 6:45; and we worship from 6:45 to 7:30. Because of the informal, casual nature of this affair, some people, not used to church, might be comfortable to give it a try, and check things out, when they might not yet be comfortable coming to other activities.
Won’t you then try the “reach out and invite in” approach to evangelism?
The second approach, that of going out to where folks are and there representing Jesus and His good news, is modeled by all the disciples as they obeyed Jesus call, in Matthew 28:19, to “go…and make disciples of all nations.”
We may not go outside the nation of the America, or even outside the city of Long Beach. But Jesus wants us to serve Him outside the church by meeting folks on their own turf and giving them a sight and/or a taste of His presence. This may happen with our immediate neighbors where we live, with those who participate in the same community or shared interest groups as we, in our workplace, in the stores we frequent, anywhere!
We may not know how to spark a conversation with some spiritual dimension to it, but we can pray that the Lord would cause such opportune moments to arise on their own. If we keep praying and keep an eye peeled for God’s answering such praying, we might be surprised at how often God answers such prayer. As the former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, used to say with a twinkle in his eye, “I am not saying miracles still happen; but I notice that, when I pray, there are a lot of strange coincidences that come about!”
Won’t you also try the “go out and represent” approach to evangelism?
Won’t you become more and more the light and salt Jesus means for us all to be?
Warmly in His love,
Rob & Adele
