Good afternoon. It is good to be back at Rockport. Always good to be at Rockport. It's like being at home. Heritage of Grace Church, which I am the pastor of, for any who don't know, was born out of Rockport. We were sent by this church. It was a rather strange birth as we came here looking to be sent, but it was a birth nonetheless. And we love our sister church, Rockport. We are going to, this afternoon, if the Lord will allow us, rethink evangelism. I think, anyway, that's what many of us will be doing as we open up the scriptures together. I once heard a pastor say, preaching on a Sunday morning, that it's rather dangerous to allow a man in the pulpit who has a plane ticket in his pocket Yeah, nervous chuckles. I don't have a plane ticket, but by the time I finish putting this together, this afternoon actually, I wish that I did. There's a certain discomfort that comes knowing that you're going to challenge people's paradigms. They're going to challenge people's conceptions. I hope I'm going to take us to the Word, and it's not me that is challenging the paradigm. In fact, if it is, just discard it. It doesn't matter. But if indeed what we have here is God's Word rightly divided and hopefully in a moment, bear with me, delivered, and it challenges your paradigm, then that's actually a really good thing. Right? So, if you will, please open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter two. We will begin there. I will read Ephesians chapter two verses, where do I wanna start? I'm gonna read verses 11 through 17, verses 11 through 17. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the laws of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man. in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near." This is the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Please pray with me. Gracious Father, we submit ourselves to you and to your word. We desire to have our minds renewed according to it. We know this is a lifelong endeavor. So Father, would you deal with us this afternoon if indeed any of us have missed conceived notions of what evangelism is or how we are to engage in it? Father, would you, according to your word, renew our minds and help us, Father, to understand our parts and our part collectively as the church in proclaiming and promulgating the gospel of your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. All right, so. The big idea up front is Christ evangelizes the nations through the church by equipping the saints, and I'm going to add a caveat, with various or diverse graces or gifts. So Christ evangelizes the nations through His church by equipping the members or the saints. And we start in Ephesians chapter two, though we won't stay here for the very first part of that big idea. It is Christ indeed who is evangelizing the nations. It is Christ who evangelizes the nations. He purchased our peace as we have seen in this passage. He proclaimed that peace to those far and near. And I will argue that he continues to promulgate the gospel of peace, even to this very day. So first, Christ purchased peace. Look at Ephesians 2, verses 11 through 17 again. The starting place, by the way, for this passage, as you look down at it, is that there was a need for those who were far off to be brought near. There's also another important word in this passage repeated multiple times. There is hostility or enmity that had to be overcome. So the starting place is to understand that that is the necessary backdrop. There was enmity between two parties. There was a party that was far off and a party that was near, a group that was far off and a group that was Now we need to pay close attention to what Paul is saying here. Gentiles are the you. So that would be most of us. The you plural here is Gentiles. Look at verse 11. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at the time, what? Separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope. without God in this world. You were far off. We were far off. Jews, on the other hand, in this passage, were not. far off, they were near. They had been brought near through the covenants made with the fathers. They had access to God. Now, to be sure, it was limited access, and I don't have time to unpack all of that, but there is a group that is near and a group that is far, Gentiles being the group that is far, Jews being those who were near. So, Israel was near and everyone else was far off. Why? Well, there was this wall of hostility. Look at chapter 2, verse 14. The covenant and law that brought Israel near to God at Mount Sinai also brought them away from the nations. Not geographically, of course, but spiritually and morally. The law itself limited the relationships and required Israel to do things that would mark them as separate from the nations, like circumcision and food regulations and Sabbath keeping. There were commandments about intermarriage with the nations. In fact, I mean, you just think about that, the food regulations and regulations about who your sons can marry, not their daughters. I mean, you tell me that I can't have dinner with you and your son's too good for my daughter. And those are fighting words. That's hostility. Interestingly, it was God himself who put the wall of hostility up. It was God himself who actually put the enmity in place. just as He had promised He would do in Genesis 3.15, to put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, between His offspring and her offspring. Of course, this is only typological at this point, but there's enmity nonetheless, a wall of hostility. Therefore, there was, according to the law, enmity between Israel and Gentiles, but it wasn't simply between Jews and Gentiles, was it? And here, again, we must pay careful attention to the text. Paul is explaining how Gentiles, who were once separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, how they, if I can just refer to them as the far-off ones, have been brought near. But in the course of doing so, Paul points to another enmity that had to be overcome. another distance that had to be overcome. Look at verses 15 through 17, by abolishing the law of commandments, expressing the ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and we read, might reconcile us both to God. Now, just pause for just a second. If both the far-off ones and the near ones had to be reconciled to God, then both were actually at enmity with God. Paul is explaining how Gentiles who were once far off and Jews who were near had a need to have peace established between them and God. In Jesus, Gentiles who were far off had been brought near by breaking down the wall of hostility, by abolishing those commandments that put enmity between the two typological seeds. But then in verse 16, Paul slips this in, and might reconcile us both to God and screech, stop the press. Why would both groups need to be reconciled? Again, I don't have time to completely unpack that this evening, but I would just send you to Romans chapter 1 or chapter 2, verses 25 through chapter 3, verse 20. You'll find the story told there. If you back up and you read all of Romans 1 and 2, you'll find that indeed everyone is under the curse of God, because according to the law, none have lived up to His glory. None have failed to... None have not transgressed the law. And so it is that there is enmity with God. The very covenant that brought Israel near is also the very ministry of death that demands their exile, for them to be cast far away as well. But praise be to God, indeed, Christ purchased our peace. He died in our place. Verse 14, he himself is our peace. Verse 13, now in Jesus Christ, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, that very same blood that had brought Jewish believers near to God as well, granting all in the one new man, both Jew and Gentile, access through Christ by the one Spirit to God the Father. peace, reconciliation purchased by the blood of Christ. Interestingly though, it is also Christ who actually proclaimed that peace. So Paul says, in verse 17, and he came, that is Jesus came and preached peace to you who are far off and peace to those who were near. This is actually an allusion to Isaiah chapter 57, verse 19. And in Isaiah 57, after indicting Israel for their idolatry, We read this in verses 18 and 19, the Lord speaking says, I have seen his ways, but I will heal him. I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips, peace, peace. to the far and to the near, says the Lord, and I will heal him. Jesus, of course, is the fulfillment of those words, that promise of healing in him. All people, Jew and Gentile, young and old, rich and poor, male and female, all people have reconciliation with God through his blood. That is, through His substitutionary atoning sacrifice on the cross, He took our place. Upon Him was placed the penalty for our sin. So Jesus Christ preached to those who were near, Israel or the Jews, and He preached to those who were far, that is to the Gentiles in Ephesus. But if you're paying attention, you're reading along and you've read your Bible, you may be asking, when did Jesus preach in Ephesus? I didn't see that in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, but that's what Paul says. He came and preached to you. You, saints in Ephesus, He came and preached to you. Do you not recall?" And most of them would have responded, no, I guess we don't. So how is it that Jesus came and preached to those at Ephesus? When did Jesus come and preach? Well, through the apostles and prophets and evangelists that he gifted and sent to speak on his behalf. Look at chapter four of Ephesians, verse seven and verse 11, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Verse 11, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherd teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Matthew 10, verse 19, Jesus tells the apostles, don't worry about what you will say in that day and hour. That is when you are brought before the elders and chief priests, when you're brought before kings, when you are maligned and indicted, your words will be given to you. It'll be the spirit. who works through you to bring the words of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18-21, a passage most of us are familiar with in regards to the gospel of reconciliation, a similar way to look at the gospel as we find here in regards to peace and being reconciled to God. There it says that God is making His appeal through them. It's God who makes His appeal. They are merely ambassadors on behalf of Christ, proclaiming Christ's Word. And where Christ is proclaimed, He speaks. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13 says a similar thing, where Paul commends the Thessalonians for not responding to their message as though it's just a word of man, but they actually responded to it as though it is God's Word, which Paul says, which it is! The message of reconciliation is not the word of man. It is the word of God. It is the proclamation of Christ. Peace, peace. God makes his appeal through his people, but the appeal is his. The message is his. The word is his. As Jesus said in John chapter 10 verses 14 through 16, I am the good shepherd. I know my own, my own know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And he says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. He has those who he's speaking to are near, but there are also those who are far off. And then he says this, I must bring them also. and they will listen to my voice." Church, you are those sheep. You are the sheep that are far off. And Jesus says, there was a point in time at which you heard His voice, you heard Him proclaiming, peace, peace, and you believed. So according to the testimony of the scripture, it was Christ who proclaimed peace, peace to those who were near and to those who were far off. In Ephesus' example or here as well. Christ promulgates that peace to this very day. It is no different today, April 12th, 2019, almost 2,000 years after Jesus ascended into heaven. And still He is promulgating that gospel of peace among the nations, calling His sheep. His voice is still heard wherever His gospel is preached. His good news of His victory over sin and death, He declares from heaven. Make peace, accept the terms while there is still time. And the terms are a full and unqualified surrender, by the way. Laying down and letting go of every former trust and every former love, only picking it up as Christ leads us. This afternoon, if I proclaim accurately the message of peace and goodwill towards men through the name of Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven by which men may be saved, then Christ is promulgating the terms of peace here and now. For those who have already surrendered, we are reminded. Praise be to God for the peace that is now ours through the cross of Jesus Christ, through the shedding of his blood. We who were once separated from Christ and alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, we've been brought near by that blood. We are no longer strangers, but members of God's household being built into the temple of God in which God himself by his spirit dwells. You can't get closer than that. For those who remain at enmity, and there are almost certainly some who do, for those who remain at enmity, Christ proclaims peace to you now. He offers terms of peace. You are in a battle that you cannot win, sinning against the God who created you in His image, to honor and glorify Him, which should be your greatest desire and your greatest delight. But your heart has been darkened. But today Christ speaks. He says, peace, peace, trust in Him. Indeed, in Him is every spiritual blessing, as Paul says in Ephesians 1. In Him and by Him, we are able to draw near to God. We are sealed with God's own Spirit. There is, as we sang, far more mercy in Christ than there is sin in you. Please hear, trust, and follow. Let me, before we move on to the second point, offer an application for the church. It is this. If indeed it is Christ who promulgates the gospel of peace, we should be a people who proclaim that message with utter confidence. If it is Christ who speaks, and if Christ says that my sheep will hear my voice and they will come to me, Who shall we fear? If we believe and do not doubt, we know it is Christ who speaks. Not because we believe and do not doubt, because it is Christ who speaks. It's His message. He is the message and the one proclaiming it. We should be a people who have great confidence. And the second point is closely related to that. It is Christ who proclaims the message. When you are rejected, you're not rejected. There's no place for us to take the rejection of the gospel personally like someone rejected the gospel because they don't like you. It's not about you. It's not about me. Christ calls all men to surrender and to believe, to accept the terms of peace while there is still time. If they reject that message, they reject Christ. So we can continue to love without offense. All right, the second, not only does Christ evangelize the nations, it is also equally true, obviously, that the church evangelizes the nations. I imagine we will hear much of this this weekend. I won't spend a lot of time on this point. But I will offer these three. The church calls people to follow Christ, the church confirms people who are following Christ, and the church conforms people to the image of Christ. The first, the church calls people to follow Christ. And for this, we have left Ephesians chapter two, and though we could have stayed in Ephesians, I felt like the text I had to deal with on this was Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. This commandment comes directly to the 11 apostles. If we backed up to verse 16, we would read just that, and we do well to read it like that. Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee. This is a reference to the 11, 11 now, because Judas has betrayed Jesus and taken his own life. He will be replaced by Matthias. The apostles here are commanded to make disciples, and they are commanded to make disciples by doing three things, by going, and it is assumed proclaiming the gospel of peace, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then baptizing believers into the church. and then teaching them to observe all that Christ had instructed them. That is the commission given to the eleven here, eleven apostles, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, of course, what was given directly to the Apostles is passed on to the household of God, which is the pillar and the buttress of the truth. The Church carries on the work initiated by the Apostles by safeguarding, proclaiming, and promulgating the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. So my assertion is, the point I'm trying to make, or going to make, is that we must see this task, that is, the Great Commission, as a commandment not given to individual Christians, but given directly to the apostles, who are the foundation of the temple of God, which Christ Jesus, or with Christ Jesus being the chief cornerstone. The temple of God, the church, collectively carries on the work of obeying the command of our King, making disciples by taking the gospel to those who have not heard it, baptizing those who believe on Christ and teaching them to obey King Jesus. That is what the church does. That's its task, its charge, that it fulfills as individuals are equipped to do a diverse work within it. We'll get to that in the next point. So let me be clear. Though some of you may disagree, and I once did as well, I do not find any support anywhere really to read this individually. Now, before you throw tomatoes at me, you got to hear the whole sermon. All right. Little patience, a little grace, a little mercy. There's a reason, there's a reason that this was given to the apostles and passed on to the church collectively. There is, there's a really good reason. We'll see it in a second. Listen, the problem is that the idolatry of individualism taints, I think, to some extent, our exegesis of a lot of passages in the New Testament. I mean, we just pick up our Bibles and we just read the U singular all over the place. It's just our natural tendency. And then you sprinkle in a little bit of egalitarianism so that everyone's got to be able to do the same things or else you're saying that somebody's better than someone else. And we just hate that in America. Problem is, I think sometimes it causes us to be a little less biblical in our understanding of what the Bible is actually calling us to. And that shows up in our understanding of evangelism. We in the West in general, I think, have a low view of the collective and have an unhealthy, unbiblical, enlarged view of the individual. The self reigns supreme in our culture and has spilled into the way we read our Bible. But it is the church, or more precisely churches, concrete, local manifestations of the universal church that has or bears the responsibility for this charge. And again, this will become important in a moment. The second point under the setting, the church not only calls in various ways, the church calls people to repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And actually, I'm encouraged, I don't have to unpack that. I think that that's going to be unpacked at various times in various ways as we move through this weekend. But the church also confirms those who believe on Christ. Baptizing people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit is, at the same time, baptizing them into the household of God the Father. or into the body of the Son, or into the temple that is being built and filled by the Spirit. You can't be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and have nothing to do with Christ's body. through baptism and church membership, local concrete manifestations of this universal body, the church, I mean the church, capital C, bears witness to and confirms that an individual belongs to Christ. And so, as the church both administers the sacrament and bears witness to it, that is the sacrament of baptism, the church confirms the individual's confession of faith, bringing them in, saying yes and amen. As we say, whenever we practice church membership at Heritage of Grace, what we are doing is affirming that a person belongs to Christ, and because they belong to Christ, they belong to us, and we belong to them because we belong to Christ, and that's what we're doing. That's what baptism and church membership is about. In other words, it is the prerogative and responsibility of the Church to not only call all people to repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ, but it's also the prerogative and responsibility of the Church to confirm new believers in their faith. Third, the Church conforms those who follow Christ into the image of Christ. Since the emphasis is on evangelism this weekend, again, I won't spend much time on this either. Jesus commanded the apostles to make disciples by teaching people to observe all that Jesus commanded. Therefore, the church may never divorce. And this is really, this is the point. This is the take-home point, if you will. The church may not ever for any reason divorce calling people and confirming people and conforming people if they want to make disciples. You are not making disciples if you merely call people, nor if you merely confirm people, nor if you merely conform people. must do all three, going, calling them, proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, bringing them into the church body, and then teaching them all that Jesus taught the disciples to observe. That is the fulfillment of the Great Commission. The church that claims to be committed to being a mile wide and only an inch deep is not interested in fulfilling the Great Commission. They are committed to a man-centered goal of filling churches. The church that denies any responsibility to guard the front door of its church by acknowledging the link between baptism and church membership have no hope of fulfilling the Great Commission. The Great Commission is not a list of commissions or commands. It is a commission, singular, to be accomplished by three tasks, going and baptizing and teaching. So if any attempt to tie, or I'm sorry, Let's move to the third point. Christians evangelize the nations. If at any point the previous two points have served to rework your paradigm just a little bit, praise be to God. But actually we're just getting to the point I was referring to at the beginning, so brace yourself. So Christ is the one who evangelizes the nations. Praise be to God. He has appointed the church to evangelize the nations. Praise be to God. But also Christians. Obviously, as members of this body evangelize the nations, everyone participates in evangelism in some way, shape or form. Interestingly, if you really look through your New Testament, you look for specific commands in regards to evangelism, you're not going to find a lot that comes down to the individual Christian in regards to their responsibility or a direct command to go over there and evangelize to this person. But you know what you will find all over the place? You'll find this commandment to love one another because it bears witness to the gospel. It's closely linked to what Paul says in Titus. do good works. Why? Because each one of us are responsible to adorn the gospel. Our lives together are supposed to bear witness to the proclamation of the gospel that happens both within and without the church, that is, outside the church. We are supposed to, our lives together, to my brother's point earlier, It must start with a recognition of how we are loved and a response to that love by loving one another. But of course, that love spills outside the walls of this church, doesn't it? In fact, in those very passages, Titus, for instance, Paul makes that point. He calls them to live a godly life, and he makes this specific connection between that godly life and the inability of someone who would contradict or combat the gospel being unable to because of the life of the Christian. It's actually the same point that Peter makes in 1 Peter 3. So we are to adorn the gospel with our lives, in word and deed. We are to be a people who actually do not defame the name of our Savior, nor live in such a way that it contradicts that which is being proclaimed. We are also to be able to articulate the gospel. So if you turn to first Peter chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 or Colossians chapter 4 to maybe a lesser extent But I think it also works verses 5 and 6 you find this call to to be prepared to give an answer I'm actually going to say a little more about 1 Peter 3 in a moment, so I will only say here, every one of us, each one of us, are responsible to be able to give a reason for the hope that we have, to defend that reason, to point people to the shepherd and overseer of our souls, to say that the reason, and in that context, it's a Christian who's being persecuted, and yet they're not returning reviling for reviling or evil for evil, but instead they're overcoming evil with good. And when the person says, how can you do this? How can you respond like that? You are to be ready to give a defense of the reason for the hope that you have. We are also collectively responsible, every one of us, to advance the gospel through prayer and I have prayer and pay, just because it's two Ps. Prayer and giving. Prayer and giving. All right. Everyone edifies, or I'm sorry, everyone participates in evangelism. Secondly, the elders equip the saints for the work of ministry, which includes evangelism. Inside the church, it is the elders and teachers who are equipped and empowered to evangelize the body of Christ. Even this afternoon, you have been evangelized from the pulpit. I pray that you continue to be evangelized. equipping saints who are saints specifically because of the work of evangelism at some point in their lives. These same saints are built up as they hear the same gospel expounded from every page of the Bible and applied to every area of life. And as the gospel reverberates throughout the body of Christ from member to member, a church grows in maturity. That is actually a work of evangelism, though we often don't see it that way. An elder is not an evangelist in the sense that we often use it. Let me say this. He may be. I know a brother who is a pastor. He's definitely an evangelist. He spends a lot of time evangelizing. He has the gift of evangelism. He's equipped by God's grace to evangelize. And indeed, he serves as a pastor as well. It is possible to be an elder, a pastor, and not be an evangelist in the sense of serving, gifted with that specific gift and giving one's primary time and energy to that work. A pastor is an overseer. He's responsible for overseeing the flock of Christ. That's his responsibility. That is what he's called to do. And if you're a pastor and you have a flock of more than like five people, you have more than the full-time job. I mean, unless your sheep are different than mine. I love you guys. You know that. So the elders equip the saints for the work of ministry which includes, but is not limited to, evangelism. Here's the one, I saved the best for last, this is it. It is the evangelist who engages the nations. The point of this entire message is to rethink evangelism in light of what scriptures actually say. Not my opinion, not someone else's opinion, not what we've just kind of picked up and what we perceive evangelism to be because of that. So again, Ephesians chapter 4, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Each one of us received grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. Verse 11, And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherd teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. The Bible teaches that Christ is the one who purchased, proclaimed, and promulgates the gospel of peace. And the Bible also teaches that Christ does so through his body, the church, by calling, confirming, and conforming his people in and through the work of local concrete manifestations of the universal church. We must keep these two in view as we consider this last point. because it is this one that I think is most challenging. Now, most of us are aware that this is not the only place that the Bible talks about how grace is given in different or to different people for different functions within the body, right? I could have went to Romans chapter three, I'm sorry, chapter 12 verses three through eight could have went to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, probably one of the first passages that would pop into your minds. It could have went there to open up the same idea. We are prone, though, I think, to ignore this teaching. I'm actually convinced that we all suffer from the distortion that disrupted the church at Corinth, the very same distortion. We don't see it because it's not the same thing. For most of us, it isn't some aberrant view of people speaking in tongues. So we think, oh, yeah, well, that's silly. We would never do that. We appreciate the diversity of function within the body completely. But is it possible that that we actually do a very similar thing with a much more subtle gift or much more subtle perspective. You look at Ephesians 4 and consider what Paul says there. I mean, you look at the focus of Ephesians 4, it's actually very similar to 1 Corinthians 12, verses 1 through 6, focus on unity, the unity of the body. And so in verse 7, Paul means the first part to be a contrast to the second. He focuses on the unity of this one body, the one spirit. in the bond of peace, one body, one spirit, just as you were called. And then in verse seven, but grace was given, not like that unity, but in diversity. That's the point. There's this unity, but the grace is actually given in diversity, unity and diversity, unity and diversity. So, Christ gave apostles, he gave prophets, he gave evangelists, he gave shepherd teachers, he gave those who are gifted in hospitality, those who are gifted in administering, those who are gifted in encouraging. Those who are ungifted in all sorts of ways. Why? For the work of ministry, to build up the body so that when all the parts are working together as they should, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Think about it this way. Let me preface this. I know we should all be ready to give a defense for the reason, for the hope that we have, right? We should all be able to articulate the gospel and any opportunity we have, point people to Jesus, right? So nothing that I'm about to say contradicts that. Yet, think about it this way. Where would you take someone, what scripture, what passage would you take someone to show them that they need to move to Uganda and serve in missions, or that they even need to be involved in a street preaching ministry or any other specific evangelistic ministry. Again, we've already looked at Matthew 28, 19 through 20 And I think we do need to carefully read the text in light of who is speaking to who and find our place, our rightful place in the story. It is the apostles and that baton passes to the church collectively. Maybe you would take me, I've already mentioned it, maybe 1 Peter 3, verses 15 through 16, but that's not really the work of evangelists as we perceive it. I agree, I mean, we need to read that, understand it, we need to apply it to our lives, we all need to, one, the context there is we need to imitate Christ and his suffering, and then when people see us imitating Christ and our suffering, and they ask us, and we need to be ready to respond. If I could put it like this, this is not what most of us, that is like 1 Peter chapter 3, that's really not what most of us have in mind when we think of evangelism, is it? I mean, that type of evangelism would look like this, like step one, get persecuted. That's the first thing you gotta do, you gotta go out and get persecuted. And then once you get persecuted, endure it in a Christ-like way, returning good to the one who does evil towards you. Step three, wait patiently for someone to say, why? How? Step four, point to Jesus who bore our sins on the tree and explain that you are simply following the shepherd and overseer of your soul. Likewise, Colossians 4, verses 5-6 is a call to conduct yourself in a way that adorns the gospel and to speak in a way that is keeping with the gospel. Romans 10, verses 14-15, Paul's specific point is that someone's got to be sent. I mean, his point is, and it won't be everyone, not everyone is going, but someone's got to go, someone has got to tell them. In fact, Paul writes Romans because he wants to be the guide. I know he's not the only one, but he's writing to Romans saying, hey, listen, I'm coming to you. And when I get there, I'm really hoping you guys will help send me on my way so I can continue to proclaim the gospel among those who have not heard it. Some need to be sent. Absolutely. Praise be to God. Pray that the Lord raises them up, that they get equipped, the church supports and sends them out. Ephesians 6, verses 19-20, Paul asks for prayer for everyone to have words given to them in opening up their mouths boldly. I'm sorry, I misread that. Paul didn't. He could have. I really wasn't trying to be snarky there. I really misread that. Paul doesn't ask for prayer for words to be given to everyone, and opening up their mouths boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel as they ought, Paul asked, pray for me. Why? Well, he says, he actually says in Ephesians chapter three why. I was given grace for this ministry of the gospel. I was called to it, and I was given a grace to do it, and in order to discharge this work, I desperately need your prayer. Pray that I would be bold in opening up my mouth and proclaiming the gospel as I must, as I ought. I think, I think, I think, and this probably isn't, okay, sometimes you fight with people who aren't in the room, and this person's probably not in the room, so, but I think sometimes we don't trust God enough. So what I mean by that is I think we're tempted to pray for laborers and then end our prayer and say, okay, everyone's a laborer, go, everyone. That's what Jesus meant, pray for laborers, and now we're all laborers, and go. But I think Jesus is pointing to the divine prerogative in granting grace to specifically equip those who are called to take that message to those who must hear it. In fact, Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, turns around and does just that when he sends out his disciples into Israel to preach him, or the kingdom of heaven at that point. Or we are sometimes tempted to think that the laborers that are sent aren't getting the job done, at least not as quickly as we'd like. We want more churches, bigger churches, so we adopt the method of Babel and start making our own bricks and start building our own tower. Meanwhile, we neglect the gifts of the Spirit that are actually given among us for the building up of the body. The reason I'm hammering this is first, many who have been given a specific burden for the loss and a grace to proclaim the gospel, are tempted, at least it seems, to despise brothers and sisters who don't share that same burden or don't seem to be as zealous about going out and doing the work that they've been called to do. And so instead of discharging their calling, if I can put it like that, they get kind of busy looking to their left and right and being like, well, this church doesn't even love Jesus. I mean, there's only like four or five people who are really committed to evangelism here. I mean, this church obviously doesn't love Jesus enough, because if they did, everyone would be an evangelist. Everyone would be given that grace. But of course, then it wouldn't be grace, would it? It's not how grace works. Grace is a gift that is not merited or deserved, given freely according to divine prerogative in order to accomplish a divine mission. That's how grace works. The second reason that I'm spending the time on this that I am is I desperately want to see the church freed to do what the church has been gifted and called to do. Everyone here who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of Christ working within them. And they've been given specific gifts, given by the Spirit, not for them, but for the body. Not for you, but for your brothers and sisters. And one of the things that tends to quench the work of the Spirit very, very quickly is looking to the left and the right and envying other gifts or looking to the left and right and despising other gifts. I want my brothers and sisters to be free to recognize that there will be some, and we should pray for many who are actually equipped and called, equipped by God's grace to go and proclaim the gospel in this community, in this city, in this state, in this nation, and around the world. We should actively pray for that. We should certainly be ready to share the gospel as opportunities present themselves, even praying that the Lord would provide those opportunities. But a brother and sister who has not been granted that specific grace nor called to that specific task need not feel a burden of conscience that they are somehow not obeying the Lord Jesus Christ because, well, they're just too busy mothering 1,800 kids. Listen, I know, we all know that, well, that's evangelism too, Jeff. So, okay, we can argue over a definition for evangelism. But my point is, when we talk evangelism, that's not usually what we mean. It's not usually what we mean. Okay? Listen, we each have been called to a unique position and place and time in life, given a specific, unique personality with life experience, a very unique and specific set of abilities given by God. And then Jesus' grace is poured into us and His Spirit works in us, bringing those under His influence for the good of the church. And it may not look like the gift that you think you should have or that someone else should have. But what if we all just submitted that to the Lord and used it for the building up of his church? Maybe more evangelists would actually just go and evangelize, not looking to the left and the right saying, why isn't anyone going with me? I do recommend bringing one at least with you. But that's a whole nother sermon. Be freed up to do that. Don't despise a church that doesn't have 50% of its congregation active in some specific evangelism ministry. Praise God that Jesus has equipped and called any. Praise God that there are others doing all sorts of things that you don't even recognize, that you don't even notice. Little things like encouraging the saints, little things like sending texts. communicating their love for one another, checking on brothers and sisters, stopping by houses, and all sorts of things that, again, we just, we tend to diminish, we tend to think little of. Okay. I do want to offer one qualification. I'll move quickly to the conclusion. It's just like two steps away. That is this. I know that this might, it could possibly be used as an excuse to let fear or doubt cause you to deny Christ. What I mean by that is, I'm not in any way insinuating that we shouldn't all be committed to the task of evangelization. I am. Please don't hear me saying otherwise. I am saying that some are going to be specifically equipped and gifted, given grace for that task, and that all of us are to be prepared to give a response, to give an answer, to point people to Christ as opportunities present themselves. If one of two scenarios, you actually have that grace and that gift, but fear is stopping you from going and doing as Christ has called you to do and gifted you to do, please remember that it is Christ ultimately who evangelizes the nation. Go. Speak. the gospel of peace, trust that He is sovereign and good, and that His voice will be heard by His sheep. If, on the other hand, you are not called to that specific task, and yet when opportunities present themselves, you don't give a defense for the reason, for the hope that you have, you need to repent of fear and doubt that has caused you to deny Christ. If you belong to Christ, His Spirit is in you, and so is His grace. If you have a burden, no matter what it is, if you have a burden for the broken outside these walls or inside these walls, for evangelization, for various other things, it's from the Lord. If you have a gift, it is from the Lord, and all of it is for His glory and the edification of the church. Okay, to conclude, Christ evangelizes the nations from heaven. He purchased, proclaimed, and promulgates the gospel of peace with God. The church evangelizes the nations on the earth. Corporately, that is, we call, confirm, and conform the sheep of Christ unto the glory of God. The Christian evangelizes the nations in their community. Some are equipped and called to a ministry of evangelization. We usually refer to these as evangelists or as a Christian who has the gift of evangelism. Some elders are equipped and called to confirm and conform the sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd through the ministry of the evangelist. Everyone, all of us, every Christian has a responsibility to adorn the gospel with our good works, be prepared to make a defense when we are asked for a reason for the hope that is in us, and we all, as the church, are to pray and support those who bring good tidings to the end of the earth. That is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of peace. Please pray with me. Gracious Father, Lord, we know and acknowledge together that we belong to those who were once far off. And Father, we also acknowledge together that by your grace, by the gift that is in accordance with the gift of Christ by the Spirit who works according to His will, that evangelists were equipped and sent. We heard the gospel of peace. We believed and we have been brought near. Thank you, Father. Thank you for the life, death, and resurrection of your son. Thank you for the church that he has and continues to build. Thank you for the gifts that are poured out in the church, for the advocation of the church. And Father, we thank you for evangelists. We thank you for those called to that ministry. Father, would you help us, would you help us, Lord, to be faithful participants in that mission we ask in Jesus' precious name, amen.