Two by Two

It’s been an interesting week. I don’t know about you, but I stayed in the house most of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because I don’t like 95 degree heat. But Thursday evening was a great time, with our one-night Vacation Bible School. We met some new children, and hope to have more back when we do Part II late this month.

Today is July 4th, Independence Day. We celebrate our independence being declared from Britain almost two hundred fifty years ago. And today can become a day of personal independence, declaring our independence from bad habits, the slavery to sins, the worry about what happens when we die. Following Jesus Christ can set you free from all of that. And leading people to Jesus Christ can give you the joy that comes from completing a task Jesus has assigned to each one of us on earth – to set others free to live abundant lives and to have eternal life.

Did you hear the first reading this week, the one from Ezekiel 2?

2 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”

“Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

The Israelites 500 years before Christ. America today. The Lord has always sent people to speak to a rebellious nation. Will you, like Ezekiel, speak to those around you? For with God’s help – and the Holy Spirit speaking through you – you can lead many people to God’s saving love. How many people, how many adults have you led to the Lord in your life? How many souls will come to you in Heaven and speak to you of the time when you sat down with them, had a talk about Jesus Christ, and they accepted Christ? How many have you led to Christ over the last year, the last five years, the last decade?

In Matthew 28, at the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew writes:

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

Let me ask you, people of God, do you believe this statement? Do you believe that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus Christ?

If so, then listen to His command to all who consider themselves disciples, students, and followers of Christ:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

And then, Jesus gives us this promise: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Consider His command again: ”Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Make disciples – students, followers of Christ.

Of all nations – the Greek says ethnui, “All people groups”. Whites, blacks, Americans, Mexicans, Asians, Arabs, rich, poor, veterans, Indians, Native Americans, drug users, drug dealers, straight, gay, clean, dirty, old, young, children, alcoholics, pagans, Buddhists, Moslems, Hindus, the intelligent, the mentally disabled, your friendly neighbors, your hateful neighbors, your brother-in-law, your distant cousin, the woman at the Dollar General, the man at the Go-Mart, all means all, you see.

They are to be baptized. Lead them to the point they want to be baptized and we’ll get them wet here or at the river.

Then, teach them to obey all of Jesus’ commands – including this very command to “Go and make disciples of all nations…” Our job is finished when those we have led to Jesus lead others to Jesus.

Did you hear the part where we invite people to church? NO! We don’t get off that easy! We are each to lead and teach.

That can be a scary task. But Jesus has asked each of us to do this. Also, our society improves when each person around us is a follower of Jesus, rather than a follower of their own desires. Additionally, leading people to Jesus is the best way to grow to understand what Jesus asks of us, what Jesus taught, and how to be an excellent Christian.

But what if we don’t know enough?

Come to Sunday School, Come to workshops, Come to mid-week Bible study. Come to me and ask for help filling in the gaps where you don’t know.

But you know much more than you think. Do you realize that if you have faithfully attended church for ten years, you’ve heard 500 sermons? You know so much more about God and Jesus and Christianity than most people in our world around us.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with a 24-year-old girl with a biochemistry degree, a very bright young woman, and I mentioned that the bishop had said such-and-such. The woman said, “Wait. What is a bishop?” She understood the bishop as a piece from the chessboard, but did not have any idea what or who a bishop was in the original sense of the word. Years ago, I was talking to another student who asked me, what is a pastor? Is he the government official in charge of the church?

We have grown up in a Christian society, but it is changing rapidly. Each of you who sits on these pews is an expert in Christian thought compared to much of the world. You have the wisdom of hundreds of sermons about the Word of God bouncing around in your brains – and in your hearts.

And if you are one of those people listening or watching who wonders what the big deal is about following Christ – we are here to teach and show you the difference between the Christianity Hollywood puts down – and the real Christianity that keeps so many people coming to church every week.

Some of you sitting here actively look for people to lead to Christ – others will speak of Christ when asked. I’m here today to remind you that Jesus has commanded you become active, seeking people to lead to Christ – for these people who do not know Christ are dying every day, and will not spend eternity with Jesus and God in Heaven. You have the knowledge to lead them to a good, eternal life. If you hoard that knowledge, it is like withholding food from a starving man, holding back water from a thirsty person in the desert. Worse, for Jesus has commanded you, each of us to find people and lead them to Him.

And so how do we do this?

Our Reading from Mark 6 shows us a bit. In the first part, Jesus goes to His hometown, Nazareth, and He taught at the synagogue, His home “church”, if you will. He had probably been gone from town for about a year or so.

The people at the synagogue were amazed – but apparently not impressed. The asked where He had received the wisdom He spoke of – and they asked where it all came from? And then they began to say, “Isn’t this the carpenter, Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him – a local boy who was lecturing them about the things of God. They would not listen to His teaching because they remembered Him as a child and a teen and a young man. To them, He was a carpenter – not a great rabbi!

It has been said that an expert is a man from out-of-town with a briefcase. For some reason, we give honor to the visiting expert rather than accept the local man or woman. Why is that? Is it because when a local person shows us exceptional wisdom and knowledge about a subject, we feel attacked because it bring home to us that, after all, we could have found that wisdom and knowledge also. The farmer who doubles his crop yield is not really a welcome speaker at the local farm bureau dinner – but would be welcomed halfway across the state. The local pianist who suddenly plays exceptionally well may be admired, but she will never locally receive the $3000 she can make for a night on the stage across the country. Albert Einstein had to leave Switzerland for America before he could make a substantial living as a scientist. We don’t really appreciate those who suddenly do well if we knew them when they were simply nerds in high school.

Many times, when a church is failing, having failed to listen to a succession of pastors over five or six years, the congregation asks the Conference to simply appoint their lay leader as their pastor. It isn’t done because it rarely works. The local leader has too much baggage developed over the years. He can’t tell the congregation the hard things – or he is branded a traitor. And it all goes back to this biblical episode, a situation that is grounded in a real truth, as Jesus says, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”

Mark tells us that Jesus could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith – but that lack of faith was because the people of Nazareth had watched Him grow up, they had run beside Him in games, they all knew His family – and they simply preferred to keep Him as a carpenter rather than a great teacher – and they KNEW He wasn’t the Son of God or the Messiah, for, after all, He was from Nazareth. He was from their hometown, and nothing good can come from our hometown.

And we do that, too. We look for our Messiah to come from out of town, even out of state. Not only for our religious issues, but for our everyday issues. We inherently believe that great ideas must come from elsewhere, not here, because we live here. And so Jesus sent the disciples out two by two into the villages. They were the experts from out of town. They were strangers – talking to strangers.

And so this happens to us when we begin to speak to friends, relatives, and neighbors about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For thirty, forty, even sixty years, those people close to us have looked at us through a certain, predictable lens. They know us, they know our past, they know what is important to us. And so when we begin to speak to people of Christ, there is a certain way we must speak to those who are close to us if we ever hope to break through with the Gospel.

They remember the fact that Mountaineer football has dominated our lives during the fall. So if we have decided to let Christ take the place of football, we need to acknowledge that fact, we need to expressly talk about the why we’ve changed before they will listen to the Gospel from us.

And it is very important that we talk about the Gospel – that we don’t spend our time talking to others about the behavior changes they need to make. We cannot lecture our friends, neighbors, and family about behavior changes they should make before they have noticed behavior changes we’ve made, before they’ve commented upon those changes, and we’ve explained why we made those changes – because Christ asked me to make those changes. Otherwise, we are simply branded as hypocrites by our friend – “you, the man who has always had five beers with me every football Sunday, you have the guts to tell me I should stop drinking just because you stopped drinking?” It doesn’t work – and that’s because those behavior changes are not the Gospel. They happen because of the Gospel.

No, talking about the Gospel is something like this. Try saying: "A few months ago I realized that Jesus had made a terrible sacrifice, He had died on the cross for me. For me! And because of that, I realized I was more important than I had ever thought I was. So I looked at myself and realized that I needed to change some things in my life and make my life mean something. I realized MY drinking was out of control, so I cut back, and then about a month ago I stopped completely, because I realized it was wasting time and money. That’s got nothing to do with you and how much you drink or don’t drink. And now, I’ve started making a difference with the kids at church where before I couldn’t wait to get home to the game."

We talk about what Jesus did, and how that hits us in our lives. We admit a change we’ve made from the old way to the new way, and let it explain the changes they’re seeing in us.

This little talk, explaining our old weakness and how Jesus made a difference FOR US, begins to open up a chance to talk a bit about church, about Jesus, about what we continue to learn about God. We can now talk about Christ a little bit every time we talk together. And if we continue to advance along the path of holiness, following the guidance of Scripture and the Holy Spirit, our character will gradually grow stronger and the Spirit will guide our speech with our friends until one day they will engage us in a deep conversation about Jesus. And at that point, we will be very close to leading them to baptism.

But that is for friends, neighbors, and family. Praising God and the works of Jesus will gradually lead them to Christ. For the measure of an effective church is not the attendance, it is not the finances, it is not even the excitement of the weekly service – the measure of an effective church is the number and length of the God-centered conversations the members have every week, particularly with others. A poor church rarely talks about God outside its doors; a rich church has members who are always talking about God and Christ to all sorts of people in the church and outside the church. We have several people here who are like that! So make your contribution this week; speak of God and Christ to everyone you meet this week. It doesn’t cost a dime and doesn’t require a strong back – just a passion to speak of the Savior who has given you eternal life.

Jesus also wanted His movement to grow. So Jesus did not stay in one place – Mark tells us Jesus went around teaching from village to village. We can get stagnate when we only talk to people from our church. Years ago, I had a woman tell me she didn’t know anyone who wasn’t a Christian; I told her she needed to make more friends.

Jesus called the Twelve core disciples to him and sent them out two by two with authority over impure spirits.

He told them to "take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

Put in today’s language, Jesus wanted people to go out to meet people, walking around the neighborhood or to the shopping mall or Walmart. Dress plainly. Don’t worry about people who won’t listen to you.

The disciples went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Today, just as in Jesus’ day, we would engage people in conversation, praise God, and speak with them about Jesus. We should listen to them, pray with them right then and there, and possibly anoint the hurting and suffering with oil – you can get the oil at any Christian shop or online. Simply make the sign of the cross on their forehead with a bit of oil, and pray. We might want to carry a Gideon testament or two and give them away freely to our new friends. Need testaments to give away - talk to a Gideon.

How do I engage people in conversation? I praise God. "Hasn’t God given us wonderfully warm weather today? Hasn’t God given us wonderful rain today? Isn’t the wind from God wonderful today?" At the supermarket: "These rolls are wonderful. God really gave someone at that company a blessing when He taught them how to make these rolls." When I get the chance, I ask them what church they attend. Most honestly respond that they used to attend church A, but haven’t in years. (If you are like that, you'll be welcome here at Cedar Grove Church.)

I remember that, as Paul tells us, this is a marathon, not a sprint. I assume that I’ll see the person again – and this takes off the pressure. My goal at a first meeting is to be a pleasant person, to help the other in some minor way, to find out something that will help me remember the person. Remember – our goal is to lead someone to Christ – not necessarily to this church, although that would be nice. Of course, I usually mention our radio broadcast – Sundays at 9 AM on V96.9 – and our live, in-person service at 10:30 am here on Rt 47 across from WVU-Parkersburg.

So what can we do to better follow Jesus’ command to make disciples?

First of all, genuinely adopt a philosophy that meeting new people is a good thing. Stretch yourself to speak to strangers, for you never know when a stranger needs a new friend who will care for them. And always remember that the oddest people are usually most in need of friends.

Second, praise God to everyone you speak with. Praising God draws the attention of the Holy Spirit – and begins to build the idea with the other person that you know something about God. And remember that you DO know something about God, simply because you have been attending here for years. In fact, I’ll bet you know a simple song that praises God. Sing with me, #95 Praise God, from Whom All Blessing Flow.

Third, let the wonderful Holy Spirit flow through you and speak through you. Let the fruits of the Spirit show - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. A soul’s eternal destiny may rely upon your faithfulness.

If you are not already a baptized Christian, if you don’t have a current church home, we invite you to visit us at our weekly 10:30 am live service on Rt 47 near WVU-Parkersburg. It’s a good time to meet new friends who you can count on in time of trouble – and times of joy! Plus, our children’s program is currently relaunching, giving them an opportunity to learn about God and Jesus Christ.

Now that COVID is fading away, at least temporarily, this is the time to reconnect with the God who protected you through the pandemic. We’ll be holding tent revival services at the church on July 25 through 28th with several fantastic guest speakers and plenty of music.

Until then, practice explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is that Christ came to earth, not to condemn the earth but to save the people of the earth. He died in our place so we could live forever – and He proved He was Son of God by coming back to life. Amen!

Post-Sermon Song: To God be the Glory 98

Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit fill you and guide you this week, that you may do the will of God. Be blessed!

5 Closing Song – I will call upon the Lord 2202

Go and Praise God all week long!