STUDY THEME: THE CHURCH: GOD’S COMMUNITY OF GRACE. 6-01-03.
"EVANGELIZING THE LOST."
MATT. 9:35-38; 2 COR. 5:14-15, 16-17, 18-21; ROM. 10:14-15.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO MATTHEW 9.
The five lessons in June are designed to help us understand the five basic functions of the church. These are, "Evangelizing the Lost," "Growing Disciples," "Ministering to Needs," "Fellowshipping Together," and "Worshipping God." We will be challenged to help our church accomplish those functions. The five functions show the church to be "God’s Community of Grace." The first lesson is designed to help us tell others about Christ by words and deeds.
The New Hampshire Confession of Faith gives a definition of a Gospel Church: "We believe that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by consent in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word; that its only Scriptural officers are Bishops or Pastors, and Deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus."
Some may ask, "Why should I witness when we have a paid staff that will be taking care of that?" In Acts 1: 8 Jesus said to those who surrender their lives to Him: "Ye shall be My witnesses--;" and the Devil says to those who yield their lives to him; "ye shall be my witnesses." The Devil has more witnesses in the world than the Lord, and many times they are far more zealous than the witnesses of Christ.
We live in a time when the attitude toward sin is to tone it down so it does not appear to be so bad. 1 John 3:4 says,
"Sin is the transgression of the Law." The Apostle Paul could find no word that he considered strong enough to describe the terrible nature of sin. After searching for such a word through the vocabulary, the only thing he could say about it was that "sin was exceedingly sinful." Paul was trying to emphasize the truth that all sin is terrible in nature. All sin is against God. The Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 18:4, speaking for God, said, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." In Romans 8:23 Paul sums it up in these words, ‘The wages of sin is death." The wages of sin have never been reduced.When Adam sinned, and thus brought ruin on himself, and upon the whole human race, three options were open to God—to condemn all mankind without mercy, to save all mankind, or to offer a way of salvation to those who would repent and turn to God. Let’s see which course our just and living God chose.
1. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 9: 35-38.
Jesus took His 12 disciples and went through all the towns and villages in Galilee where He ministered to people. A village might have 20 to 30 one-room houses with no village wall. Vs. 35 summarizes three aspects of Jesus’ ministry. First, He was teaching. Some of this was done in the synagogues, but he also taught wherever he had the opportunity---by the sea, on mountains, in homes, and elsewhere. He was preaching the gospel of he kingdom, both privately and publicly. Matt. 10:7 says the good news was that
"the kingdom of God is near. Repent (turn back to God) and believe the good news." Jesus was also "healing every sickness and every disease among the people." The miracles of healing were signs of the spiritual healing He had come to bring…His ministry was threefold: teaching, preaching and healing.In Vs. 36 the crowds of people throughout Galilee and elsewhere moved Jesus to compassion. His heart ached and yearned for them as He saw their needs. People wee harassed, helpless, and like sheep without a shepherd. Nothing is so helpless as sheep without a shepherd. They fainted and were scattered abroad. Jesus saw people through the eyes of he Shepherd from whom they had gone astray. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one, to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Jesus was moved with compassion. He wanted to be the Great Shepherd.Some people today see others as sheep, but they look at the helpless sheep through the eyes of wolves, which prey on sheep. They see the sheep as easy victims. Others see the sheep through the eyes of thieves, who see the lost sheep as easy pickings. These groups are moved with greed, not compassion. So they seek to fleece the sheep or even to kill them. Many people view others with indifference. As Christians we should share the Lord’s compassion for lost and needy people. (TEACHER READ JOHN 4: 35-37.)
These words may well be taken to our own hearts. Jesus would have us look on the fields in Shawnee, Oklahoma, across our nation and around the world. Jesus would have us go forth to sow and reap and to pray; that many more may be raised up to carry on the great work of world evangelization.
The analogy of people as shepherdless sheep in Vs. 36 is followed by a second analogy—a vast field of crops. The harvest refers to the spiritual hunger and openness Jesus saw in the crowds. The problem was that only a few workers were at work in the field. The tragic irony of this was that the land was filled with people who professed to be religious. Few of them, however, saw the multitudes as Jesus did. At least they did nothing to win them. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Because of this reality, Jesus told the disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest. They were to ask God to send forth laborers into his harvest.
In many ways this is a dangerous prayer. In Matt 10:5 we read
"These twelve Jesus sent forth." The twelve dared to ask God to send more workers, and they were sent into the field. If Christians pray this payer, they must be willing to hear the Lord’s call to go into the field themselves. Some who pray for missions find themselves being called to missionary work. Those who pray for lost neighbors or friends hear God’s call to go and be witnesses in the name of the Lord. Some Christians are unable to go to the lost. Some are sick and shut in. Yet they can always pray this payer. Often God leads people to them and they have opportunities to share their faith. The harvest field is as large as this world. It includes places on the other side of the globe, and it also includes your house and your block.One implication of this passage is that the church is to go forth to seek the lost. God is the God who seeks sinners. Jesus said in Luke 19:10 "
He had come to seek and to save that which was lost." The sheep are lost and helpless. The Good Shepherd does not wait for the lost sheep to come home on their own, for they never will. Those who represent Christ must go and seek the lost where they are. Brother John Yates evangelistic sermons will be effective only if lost people hear them. The analogy of the field ripe for harvest also calls for workers to go forth into the field. This prayer for workers is sometimes referred to as "calling out the called." This call is designed to help each person find his or her place it the missionary task of telling the good news to all people.PLEASE TURN TO 2 COR. 5 AS WE ARE MOTIVATED TO WITNESS.
2. PLEASE READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5: 14-15.
It is generally believed that Jesus, in Acts 1:8, was talking to preachers only when he said,
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utmost part of the earth." It is not true here and it is not true elsewhere in the commissions of Jesus. God does call men and women into special fields of service. God does call men to preach the Gospel. But he nowhere limits the winning of lost souls to these who are called to such special service. Because of this popular notion many people have interpreted the Lord’s message as follows: "If you can’t go, send someone in your place." The Lord, however, never says go or send. He always says go. Recognizing that they cannot go everywhere and spread the gospel, Christians can share in its propagation throughout the world by supporting the world missionary program of International Missions, but the Lord’s command to be soul winners can never be satisfied by proxy.In 2 Cor. 5:14 Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that his motivation was not financial or pride or popularity. He said Christ’s love compels us. He probably meant Christ’s love for him and the lost, not his love for Christ (though this was also true). Christ’s love motivated Paul to go forth with the gospel and also motivated him to continue going. The rest of Vs. 14-15 show how the love of Christ motivates Christians.
Christ’s love was revealed when He died for all. Calvary is Christ’s love in action. His death was on behalf of all people. In a vital and eternal way the cross was for us. The cross is the highest expression of divine love for sinners. The fact that He died for our sins is the basis of our salvation and the strongest motive for living for Him. What Jesus did there, He did for us and in our place. Therefore, Paul could declare that in Christ’s death all died. This seems to mean that the death of Christ not only saves us from sin, but also enables us to die to sin. Romans 3:23 declares that "The wages of sin is death." 1 Peter 2:24 says "Jesus bore our sins in His own body at Calvary." As our substitute, He died in our place and for us. Therefore, in Him all died. Jesus’ death is potentially for everyone but must be appropriated or received by faith in Jesus Christ. That truth motivated Paul to tell everyone about the Lord.
Christ’s substitutionary death and victorious resurrection for all should inspire those who live to do so for Him and not for themselves. The words who live refer not to all people who are alive but to those who have eternal life through faith in Christ. Christ’s death makes salvation possible for all but not automatic for any. Christ died for our benefit; we should not live for our own benefit but for His. This is the biblical motivation.
The death of Jesus results in a self-giving life, not a self-serving one. He died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves. Living for self is the way of the world. Christians no longer live only for themselves. They live unto Him who died for them, and rose again. The cross and resurrection of Jesus provide both the door to the Christian life and also the way of the Christian life. The One who died and rose from the dead comes into our lives to enable us to die to self and sin and to live for God and others.
There are many motives for serving God. Some are false. Others (such as pride) are unworthy of Christians. Some (such as duty) are valid. But one motive stands out as superior and preeminent--the love of Christ.
3. PLEASE READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5: 16-17.
After declaring that Christ died for all and that believers should not live unto themselves, Paul came to an important conclusion. He believed he should regard no one from a worldly point of view. He did not even regard Christ in this way, though he once did. A worldly point of view means to look at others just as mere human beings with no regard for the status of their relationship with the Lord.
To regard people in a normal fleshly way is to make judgments based on human concerns--family, money, racial and ethnic background, shared values, and outlooks. Thinking according to the flesh leads to value judgments based on who we are, rather than who God is and what He wants. Regarding people from a fleshly standard, causes cliques, clubs, exclusivism, pride, and prejudice. Nothing kills an evangelistic spirit more, yet it characterizes many churches today—as it did the Corinthian congregation.
The flesh affected Paul’s spiritual perspective as well. He once regarded Christ in this way. As a leader in the Jewish nation, Paul had made up his mind about Jesus according to the fleshly standard of Judaism, concluding that Jesus was a blasphemer and a fraud. He attempted to eradicate the Christian faith and to destroy every trace of Jesus. At conversion, however, Paul experienced the most radical change possible. He could not longer evaluate Jesus in such ways. Now he knew Him to be God’s Messiah, the hope of Israel. The contrast to viewing Jesus and the world "according to the flesh" is to be able to see people and Jesus the way God sees them.
Vs. 16 reflects only one aspect of a totally new life. Vs. 17 describes the new life as that of a new creation.
When someone is received by God through repentance and faith in Christ, God creates a new person. New refers to something of a new kind and of a different quality. One who is in Christ, is more than just a human being: that person is also a child of God. This was one of the facts Paul regarded when he though about others
4. PLEASE READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5: 18-21.
Believers do not make themselves new creatures. None of this is based on human initiative or worthiness. It is all by the grace and power of God. God initiates and performs everything that has to do with salvation. He even works to call forth a sinner’s repentance and faith in Christ. God is able to save sinners because He reconciled sinners unto Himself through Christ’s death and resurrection.
Reconciliation is a key concept regarding salvation. God is a reconciler. He and humanity are at odds with one another. God is not the one at fault; sinful and rebellious people are. But God provided the means of reconciliation. God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. In order to restore a right relationship, God sent Christ as a substitute for our sins. God graciously provided the way for fallen humanity to establish a right relationship with Him. Although not everyone is reconciled to Christ, God has done His part. Christ’s death and resurrection removed the effects of sin that caused people to be separated from God.
In Vs. 18 God not only reconciled believers to Himself, but he also gave us the ministry of reconciliation, which infers the "office and duty of announcing this reconciliation." God gave or called Paul to become involved with Him in the ministry of reconciliation. The us can refer to you and me and all believers of all times. God reconciles but we must pray and teach and witness to others about the good news of salvation. Paul accepted that responsibility and witnessed to the lost everywhere he went.
Vs. 19 repeats some of Vs. 18 and elaborates on the meaning of reconciliation. To be reconciled, means that God is not counting our sins against us. The Greek word for counting is a bookkeeping term that means, "to place to one’s account." Sin means, "miss the mark" and involved deviation from truth and uprightness. In Christ on the cross God placed all of our sins of trespassing and breaking His laws and falling short of His will. Since Christ paid the penalty of our sins, God does not hold our sins against us. He can forgive and cleanse us when we come in faith to Christ. That is the message of reconciliation God has committed to us. This is the second time in this passage that Paul declared our responsibility to share the gospel with others.
In the statement God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, the phrase in Christ is different from the same words in Vs. 17. There the picture was of believers’ relationship with Christ. Here the phrase refers to God’s reconciling work in the incarnate Son and in His atoning death for sinners. Paul taught in Romans 5:8 that the cross reveals not only the love of Jesus but also the love of God the Father. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." By the death of Jesus, God was not counting their trespasses against them. The atoning death of Jesus enabled God to forgive the sin that separated people from Him and thus to reconcile alienated sinners into His family as His children.
In Vs. 20 Christians are called Christ’s Ambassadors. Each person is responsible for making his or her own decision to follow Christ. When we find that pardon that leads to peace with God and new life, we become ambassadors for Christ. We don’t have a choice in this. We are ambassadors for Christ. We do have a choice in deciding what kind of ambassador we will be. Some believers are poor representatives of the Lord. Others determine to be the best representatives possible. They accept the responsibility of calling others to be reconciled to God.
An Ambassador fulfills a political function. Since a nation’s leader cannot be present every where, the Ambassador is authorized to speak for the nation. He represents that nation in an official way. Using that analogy, Paul asked his readers to understand their high calling. God authorized Paul to represent Him officially. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He entrusted to us His message and His ministry. All Christians should realize the high and holy calling of sharing God’s message with an alien world. We have the privilege of representing God on earth.
This ministry of reconciliation should be done with conviction. Paul said we implore you on Christ’s behalf. The word implore, means "to beg." Those of us who know the goodness of salvation—and what it cost God to provide for it---cannot be passive about the lost condition of the world. Paul begged people to accept Christ. It was his responsibility as an ambassador.
Vs. 21 says reconciliation involves a deep and basic truth: Jesus had no sin. If Jesus were sinful, He could not be the agent of reconciliation. He would need reconciliation. Further, though He was completely human, the separation of the world from God was not Jesus’ fault. Thus, Jesus was an innocent party whom God chose to use for the benefit of the guilty. God made Him to be sin. This is a positional statement. When Jesus died for our sins, God considered him to be sinful for the purposes of reconciliation. Through Christ we can become the righteousness of God. This is also a positional statement. We are not righteous; yet because of Jesus’ death, God can consider us righteous. In reconciliation, God considers Jesus as sinful since He bore our sins, and He considers us righteous since we have the perfect life of Jesus. Christ takes our sin and we take His righteousness. Paul accepted the responsibility of sharing the gospel and so must we. As Christ’s ambassadors, our primary concern is to offer peace to those who are hostile to God and separated from Him.
PLEASE TURN NOW TO ROMANS 10.
5. PLEASE READ ROMANS 10: 14-15.
Romans 10: 1-8 stresses the nearness of the Word of God. Vs. 9-10 summarize how to be saved: faith in the heart is confession in the mouth. Vs. 10-13 lead us to another way of describing how one is saved. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Then Paul wrote of the four steps that culminate in calling on the name of the Lord. He used four questions to identify the four steps. He began with calling on the name of the Lord and worked backward to prior steps.
First, How then shall they call on him in show they have not believed? Paul distinguished between believing in the heart and calling on the Lord for salvation. Believing in one’s mind and heart must lead to prayers of repentance and commitment.
The second question is; how shall they believe in him of who they have not heard? The answer is that they cannot believe until they have heard the good news of salvation in Christ.
The third question is; how shall they hear without a preacher? Someone must declare the good news in order for it to be heard. The preacher is anyone who tells the good news.
The fourth question is; how shall they preach, except they be sent? Paul probably was thinking of God as the ultimate sender, but the principle applies to those through whom God does the sending.
These are the four links in the chain of actions in order of their occurrence. God sends people to preach the good news. As these preachers declare the good news, people hear the message. Having heard, some believe. Those who truly believe call on the name of the Lord for salvation.
These four steps have made Romans 10:14-15, a popular missionary passage. All people have not heard the good news. We need to send forth and go forth as witnesses of the good news in order that all people might hear the message and have an opportunity to believe and call on the name of the Lord. We are not responsible for their responses, but we are responsible for seeing that they hear.
In Vs. 15 Paul closed as he quoted Isaiah 52: 7 to illustrate the blessing of being or of hearing one of those who deliver the message of God’s love and salvation. Those who have been saved on a mission field can identify with these words "The feet of the messengers are beautiful or welcome." "They preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" These words refer to telling the good news.
Such evangelism is an essential function of the church. Without it a church will wither and die—even though the organization may continue to function. A beautiful harvest awaits an obedient church that will go all out to evangelize the lost. We must put feet to our prayers.
Today’s Bible study began with Jesus asking believers to pray and ends with the Bible describing the feet of Christian messengers who carry the Good News.
NEXT SUNDAY FROM LUKE 9:23-24, EPH. 4:29-5:10 THE THEME IS THAT DISCIPLESHIP IS THE PROCESS OF BECOMING MORE LIKE CHRIST AND LIVING FOR HIM IN ALL AREAS OF OUR LIFE. A.V. DAUGHERTY 6-01-03