Good morning church!
I wanted to start by saying how thankful I am to be a part of this church community. If you weren’t able to catch Dr. Paul Boatman’s message from last week, I invite you to check it out online because the kind of community he talked about is what I have found here.
If we haven’t met, my name is Samuel and I’m on staff with an organization called Christian Student Fellowship at the University of Illinois – Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College but to abbreviate all that, we just call it CSF. This month I’ll be celebrating my five year anniversary with my wife Renee who has been up here leading us in worship this morning and yes, we are expecting our little girl this July.
Not only am I thankful to be a part of this church as a member of the community, but I’m thankful for Lakeside’s generosity and support for what I do. Campus ministry is my full time job where our salaries and ministry expenses are support raised. Lakeside as a church and even individual members I see now support what we do through prayer and financial gifts.
Some of you may be wondering...what do you do? And that’s a great question! To be totally honest, I didn’t know what campus ministry was until my second year of college.
Personally, I am the outreach minister and men’s minister. So I lead our men’s ministry which mainly involves small groups and discipleship and as the outreach minister, I’m in charge of our events and our Gospel sharing training.
On a wider scale of what CSF does, it’s simplest told as our mission. The mission of CSF is to help students find their way back to God. Practically, we do this through things like Monday Night Worship, Small Groups, One on One discipleships.
But a main way to we help students find their way back to God, is through what we call Gospel appointments. We train students on how to share the Gospel with their friends, classmates, or someone they’ve just met in a short conversation. Everything we do, we do so we can share the gospel and help students find their way back to God. When we have Ultimate Nacho Night or Jello Olympics, it’s so we can meet students and help them find their way back to God. When we give away free chocolate on valentine’s day, it’s so we can meet students and help them find their way back to God.
Everything we do. Everything we do, is so that we can help students find their way back to God.
As a staff, this week, we are taking time to review, celebrate, critique what we’ve done, and plan for what is coming in the next school year. In other words, we are taking a moment to “reset”
And I’m glad that this sermon series that Lakeside is walking through is called reset because resetting is how we get the best out of ourselves. It doesn’t always mean there is going to be a big change, but resetting allows us to look over what we’ve done and move forward in the best way possible.
Think of it this way – any time that something with technology isn’t working right, what’s the first thing we do?....reset it. For me, I feel like most of the time, that works! Or if you’re a Cubs fan like me, you’re still hoping that hitting the reset button on our roster will bring the best out of this team. But some things take longer than others.
And through this series, we’ve talked about resetting our FAITH, WORSHIP, HEART, CHARACTER, FAMILY, and CHURCH. Today we’ll be talking through resetting our view of the world through our words – or in other words, sharing the Gospel with the world.
This topic is so near to my heart and something I’ve very passionate about because I think that in our culture it’s easy to think that if we are at church on Sunday, small group on Wednesday, and read the Bible sometimes in between we’re nailing this Christian thing. But if you can’t remember the last time you shared the Gospel with someone who doesn’t know Jesus, then I think we’re missing something.
Before we dive in any further, would you bow with me as I pray?
Prayer
I think to start this conversation, it makes the most sense to open scripture and to look at what Jesus has to say. So would you turn to Matthew 28:18-20 and follow along as I read this.
18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Some of you may know this as what we call “The Great Commission.” It’s Jesus’ big command that he gave his disciples and is the last thing recorded in the book of Matthew. And when we look at the beginning of this small section, we really see how much Jesus really didn’t want the disciples to miss this.
“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” – WOW
If you don’t know, Authority is a major theme in the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter seven Jesus teaches with an authority unlike any earthly scribe and it astonishes a crowd. His miracles he performs shows he has authority over earth. In chapter 9 he reveals that He has authority to forgive sins. He even has the authority to grant authority! We see this in chapter 10 as he gives his disciples authority over unclean spirits to drive them out. And even now, we see Jesus’ authority over death as he is speaking with his disciples shortly after the resurrection. In this moment in the great commission, we see Jesus saying, “What I’m about to tell you is really important!”
What is really important? “Go, and make disciples.”
I like how Francis Chan talks about this verse. He compares it in this way – If I told my daughter to go clean her room. She would know what that means. However, if it would be quite disappointing to have her come back and tell me, “Hey dad, I really liked what you told me, so I memorized it.” Or “Hey dad, I formed a group of friends and we really meditated and asked questions about what you said.” Or, “Hey dad, I learned how to say “go and clean your room in Greek and Hebrew!”
While memorizing, studying, and asking questions about scripture can be good things, I think it’s really important that we actually live out the words of Jesus.
I hope that we don’t just hear the great commission and think, “I’ve heard that before! It’s a good one!” But I hope that we would act upon Jesus’ words.
But here’s the thing about sharing the Gospel. I think it’s something we commonly talk about in the church, but maybe don’t teach the how. So I want to give you 3 simple steps in sharing the Gospel. These three steps are very broad and are my effort in laying out a path for all of you in your Gospel sharing.
The first step, meet and build relationships with non-Christians.
If we don’t know people who aren’t Christians, how can we share the Gospel with them? Seriously! This is something I used to struggle with for a long time! Going to a Christian college and not stepping outside of my Christian circles, being overly involved with too many small groups. And while these things are important and we really need Christian community, we need to know people who don’t know Jesus.
I would imagine most of you work with non-Christians, but if this is something you struggle with, here are some tips.
1. Do your hobby in public
a. For me, I joined an ultimate frisbee group that I found on Facebook.
b. I play chess with students and all the time people will ask us about our game
2. Have a cookout with your neighbors.
a. Hot dogs and chips are an inexpensive cookout food that can feed many!
3. Be active in your community.
a. Go to garage sales. Stop at lemonade stands. Help your neighbors shovel their driveways or rake their leaves.
After we’ve met people who are not Christians, we need to love them. Build a relationship with them. Sharing the Gospel and making disciples is not just a one time thing, but a lifestyle. I think the old parenting adage is true – People wont care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
I say this for two reasons.
1. It’s a lot easier to share the gospel with someone you’re familiar with instead of a complete stranger.
2. According to a study done by lifeway, nearly 90 percent of unchurched people would be open to a religious conversation with a Christian friend. Now, some of those conversations may be uncomfortable and some of the unchurched may even be opposed to the religious views being shared, but the stat remains that people seem to be open to a conversation...with their Christian friends.
The second step in sharing the Gospel is to Share the Gospel
At some point along the journey of sharing the Gospel and making disciples, we must actually share the Gospel. This conversation could start in a few different ways. The two most common ways are
1. Unchurched person asking a question to a Church person about faith.
2. Churched person asking to share the Gospel.
While I’d prefer and encourage the second way to happen, we know that when we live a Christian life with those who don’t know Jesus, questions will come up. And we ought to be prepared.
Look at 1 Peter 3:15–But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
In my opinion, this is the biggest hang up in sharing the Gospel.
We can give excuses like fear, not wanting to lose a friend, or so many other things. But at the end of the day, we will NEVER share the Gospel, if we are not prepared to do so. Like I said earlier, we talk often about sharing the Gospel with the unchurched, but maybe not the how. So let me lay out to you a simple way that I use to share the Gospel.
After building a relationship with someone, I will usually ask them if I can buy them a drink at a coffee shop and if I can share with them what I believe and what I’m all about. I do this for two reasons. First, meeting for coffee is unintimidating, especially with a friend. Secondly, my goal is to not blindside them with the Gospel. I want them to know going into the conversation that I will be sharing my faith with them.
Once we meet for coffee, I’ll ask them their story. How did they get to where they are? And I will usually ask some questions afterwards. I will then share my story. I try to shoot for less than 5 minutes of sharing how I got to where I am, especially my faith journey.
After sharing my story, I’ll share the Gospel using what CSF call’s the Gospel Tool. It’s a resource we use to share the Gospel in about 3 minutes that walks through Creation, The Fall, Jesus, New Life, and our Hope.
I will then ask a follow up question, like, what do you think? Or What’s this mean for you?
Here’s the thing – this has become very natural for me because I have practiced this time and time again. I have practiced sharing my story and I have practiced sharing the Gospel. IF we want to be good at doing something, it’s worth practicing.
So I want to pause here and give you a challenge. I want you to practice sharing the Gospel this week.
First, Learn how to share your story in five minutes or less, so that if someone asks about it, you don’t start with “well where do I start”
Second, Find a Gospel sharing tool that you’re comfortable with and memorize it. The tool I use may not be the one you use and that’s okay! If you’re interested in the tool we use, reach out to me and I can pass it on.
Third, Practice sharing the Gospel with trusted Christian friends and family. Practice it until you don’t stumble through it, it feels natural, and so you can be given feedback and know how to share the Gospel even better! If you don’t have someone you feel like you can practice with, please reach out to the Lakeside staff or myself. Because if we want to be good at sharing the Gospel, we ought to practice it.
So back to the message and our roadmap for how to share the Gospel. After you’ve met and built relationships with the unchurched and you’ve shared the Gospel, our third step is to Pray and discern next steps.
You see, every response to hearing the Gospel isn’t going to look the same. But every response deserves to be prayed for and acted on. What’s important to remember is that you shared the Gospel and there is a response.
If the person you just shared the Gospel with wants to instantly get baptized and turn their life to Christ, praise God, you get to see a life changed! If they are still struggling with some questions and doubts, Praise God, you get to be there for them as they ask! If they ask you a question you don’t know the answer to, Praise God, you get to show humility and search for the answer with them!
God is with us and he is moving when we share the gospel. How do we know? Jesus told us in the great commission – “Surely I am with you always”
And that’s a simplified version of sharing the Gospel. This may take course over a few weeks, it may happen in a matter of days. There is no set timeline for what is right and what is not, but I’d urge you to be active in making this happen.
One question that I think we need to ask is, “How do we share the Gospel in a culture that is so sensitive to being offended?”
My answer is simple. The beauty of the Gospel is that it is the good news. It’s joy, it’s love, it’s peace. It’s hope. You don’t have to change someone’s mind about every little thing to start. Let’s just introduce them to Jesus and allow them to fall in love with him.
Let me give you an example.
This past school year I shared the Gospel several times with students. All of whom had different responses. There were two responses that really stuck out to me though.
The first student was someone we met early in the year. His response to was mostly silent after I shared the gospel, but he mentioned that he was just kind of looking for community after COVID isolation. He’d come to all of our fun events and most of our spiritual events. He joined our small group and even this past semester was willing to meet weekly with me for discipleship. Over time it has been cool to see his acceptance more and more. I asked him very early on why he stuck around with CSF and his response was, “Everyone’s so nice to me” How cool is that!
At the end of the first semester I asked him again why he sticks around and he said that he really likes the community of Friends he’s made and likes coming to worship. Another step in the right direction! This past semester near the end, I asked him a third time why he sticks around, and his answer, “I really like learning about Scripture.” Over the course of a school year, we got to see this student continue to make steps in the direction of Jesus. How cool.
The other student that stuck out to me came to one of our Monday Night Worships searching for community because of an invite through a friend. Per usual, I asked him if I could buy him coffee and tell him what we believe and what we’re all about. And when I got done sharing the Gospel, I asked him what he thought or if he had a next step for himself. His response, “there is a big cross in Texas that I think you’d like. They have a gift shop for super spiritual people like yourself.” Ooof. Not the response I was hoping for after sharing the Gospel. It’s not the – I want to get baptized now, or I want to change everything about me! But it’s a response. And God was moving when I didn’t even notice it. This student became a regular attender to our worship service, albeit he’d do his best to sneak in and out and talk to just a few people. He joined our men’s small group and attended infrequently. Through a multitude of conversations, I could tell he still had yet to accept a Biblical Worldview. But he kept coming back. He graduated this semester and I assumed I may never see him again. Even though I’ve done my best to love him well and pray for him. But a couple of weeks ago I received this text from him. “I thought you should know that I decided to do my grad school at UIS. So I’ll be able to worship with you.” Isn’t it cool to see how God is working in this young man’s life? Isn’t it cool to know that God is with us always, even to the ends of the age.
You know, I hate feet. They’re gross. They stink. They look weird. I just hate them. And I think there was a similar view of feet in biblical times. I mean, that’s why it was so astonishing when Jesus washed his disciples feet. Because they are so gross and dirty.
So it’s interesting that in Romans, Paul writes this.
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”–Romans 10:14-15
How beautiful are the feet. How beautiful is the most disgusting thing about someone, when they share the good news. How beautiful are all of you, when you share the Gospel.
Near the end of the semester, I asked both of those students individually who I shared about what their favorite song was. The student who I shared about first said, “praise the father...” referring to the song king of kings. When I asked him why, he said, I like the words. What an obvious and beautiful answer!
The second student actually talked about the same song. He said he didn’t know why, but it just always stuck out to him and he liked it. I believe that this song – King of Kings – is a beautiful telling of the gospel. It’s our story and God’s story colliding in victory of sin and death. This is the beautiful story we get to tell.