Meeting Jesus | Sermon on Evangelism for January 15, 2023

Who introduced you to Jesus? How did you come to faith? This week in worship, we’ll hear a couple great examples of evangelism. Sometimes that word “evangelism” can be scary, but at its heart, all it means is introducing people to Jesus. We introduce people to Jesus by inviting them to come and see what God is doing. God is at work in your life, and you have a story to share.

Today’s Scripture readings are 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, Psalm 40:1-11, and John 1:29-42. Here’s the podcast audio from Christ the King and the worship livestream video from Living Hope.

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Come Holy Spirit, and light our hearts with the fire and the joy of your love. Amen

How did you learn about Jesus?

Some people have dramatic conversion stories, maybe a voice from heaven, or going to a church service by mistake and responding to an altar call. I read this week about a gang leader in solitary confinement who had a vision of Jesus dying for him on a cross and addressing him by name. Sometimes God works that way, through direct revelation to people.

Certainly, that was true for John the Baptist. In today’s Gospel reading, we hear John’s dramatic testimony. We don’t know how he got into the career of baptizing people—he doesn’t tell us how it was God called him to be a prophet, although if you remember his father Zechariah’s story, he probably didn’t have much choice—but he does have at least one incredible moment in his life when he heard God’s voice speaking to him.

When he baptized Jesus, he saw the Holy Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and as Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record, God’s voice from heaven announced Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience. Maybe you’re here today or watching online because you’ve had a direct encounter with God—God can do that.

But most of us don’t get that kind of clear evidence, the direct message. Instead, most of us learn about Jesus—we meet our Savior—because someone tells us about him. The Holy Spirit is always responsible for drawing us to faith, but usually the Spirit works through other people.

For me, it was growing up in a family of faith, hearing the good news week after week in church. I can point to my baptism as an infant as a moment when God claimed me, but I don’t ever remember not knowing who Jesus is.

I suspect many of you have similar stories, maybe moments you can point to when you grew in faith, times when you learned more, but not necessarily a particular conversion story. That’s ok. There were still people, maybe even people don’t remember, who taught you about Jesus, who watered and fertilized your faith so you could grow in faith, grow closer to God.

And of course, some of you do have a particular person you can point to who introduced you to Jesus. Wonderful!

I think there are a lot of advantages to growing up as a Christian, and I’m incredibly grateful for the faith I learned from my parents and pastor and in Sunday School, but sometimes I think it’d be easier to share my faith—to help others learn about Jesus—if I had that dramatic testimony story. Maybe you’ve felt that way too.

We have a word for that idea of sharing our testimony with other people, inviting people into faith, right?

It’s called evangelism. And Lutherans in general and many other Christians today tend to be a little afraid of the word evangelism. When I hear “Evangelism” I tend to picture one of two things.

First, I picture someone like Billy Graham in front of a huge crowd, preaching to a stadium full of people and everybody streams down to the altar to give their lives to Jesus and leave sin behind. Very few if any of us will ever have that opportunity.

Or, there’s another picture I have of evangelism: Going door to door, ringing doorbells and handing people pamphlets. This is a stock photo you get when you search for evangelism.

That one’s an option. Some of you are here today because a previous pastor did that; it’s part of the story of how this congregation started. I’ve worried that maybe I’m not doing a good job as a pastor because I don’t go door to door.

But the culture has changed, especially in these last few years. Most people don’t want a stranger knocking on their door. There was a salesman in our neighborhood on Wednesday for a window company going door to door, and if you look in local Facebook groups, there are dozens of people complaining.

And yet, as followers of Jesus, we are trusted with the greatest story ever told, the story of God’s love for the world, the story of Jesus, and we aren’t supposed to keep this story to ourselves. We are called to evangelism, to share the good news.

And not having a dramatic conversion story doesn’t let you off the hook. You and I still have a testimony to share, an experience of God’s work in your life. We’re going to be talking a lot this year about how we share the good news, share the story we’re entrusted with. I talked about it quite a bit in my annual report.

I think today’s Scriptures give us some great examples, because evangelism doesn’t need to be complicated. We don’t need tracts or five point outlines or something; all we are called to do is to share our own testimony of what God has done for us, and invite others to experience what we’ve experienced.

John has an incredible experience, but his witness is simple: I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. He tells the people around him about his own experience.

Psalm 40 is another great example. “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” This is what God did for me. I was at this low point in my life, and God rescued me. God gave me hope. I don’t know if this is about one particular moment, or if it’s just about purpose in general, but at some point, we’ve all be there, right?

We’ve all had times of wondering why we’re here, what we’re doing. Jesus gives us purpose in life, pulls us out of whatever pit we’re in. Maybe you feel like you’re in that pit right now, stuck in the miry bog. Well then this testimony is for you – God is the one who can rescue you.

And when you’ve had that experience of being rescued, once God has helped you regain your footing, made your steps secure, then the Psalmist continues, “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” Our response to God’s action is to give thanks, to praise God—remember, that’s why we’ve gathered here today—and when we share the stories of what God has done, others see and believe.

Verse 9: “I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.” That’s evangelism: Sharing your story of God’s faithfulness, sharing your story of the grace and forgiveness you’ve found in Jesus Christ.

Back in the Gospel reading, Andrew might be the single best example of an evangelist in the Bible. Later in the story, Paul and Peter and others will preach to large crowds and there will be tons of conversions, but I prefer Andrew’s example. Look what he does.

John 1, verse 40: “One of the two who heard John speak and followed him (that is, Jesus) was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.” Now, the people reading this book written by John know who Simon Peter is. Some of them were in those huge crowds that Peter preached to. They came to faith through Peter’s testimony. But who’s Andrew? Oh, you know, Peter’s brother.

“One of the two who heard John speak and followed [Jesus] was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).”

This is our example of evangelism. When he heard the good news, as soon as he realized who Jesus was, Andrew goes to find his brother and share it with him.

And his testimony isn’t anything special. This is right at the beginning of the story. Andrew knows basically nothing at this point. He hasn’t seen Jesus teach or heal people; he certainly hasn’t seen him rise from the dead.

But someone has told him the good news that this Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed, the savior from God, and Andrew can’t keep it to himself. He finds his brother, tells him what he knows, and then, verse 42, read it with me: “He brought Simon to Jesus.”

That’s evangelism. That’s what you and I are called to do. Our job, the reason we exist as churches, is to bring people to Jesus. Invite people to come and meet Jesus. From there, it’s up to the Holy Spirit. It’s up to God to work on people’s hearts.

Here, when Simon meets Jesus, Jesus looks at him and gives him a new name, “Cephas” which is translated “Peter” which means rock. Andrew is the way Peter learned about Jesus.




How many of you have heard of Albert McMakin? He’s not well-known; I couldn’t find a picture of him, but I heard about him from Nicky Gumbel, and in 1934, Albert McMakin was a 24 year old farmer outside Charlotte, North Carolina.

He was not a professional Christian or a pastor; he’d never taken a systematic theology class, in fact at that point he’d only recently become a Christian, and he was excited to take some friends to hear a traveling evangelist speak. The evangelist was named Mordecai Ham, and you probably haven’t heard of him either. Anyway, there was a farmer’s son nearby whom Albert particularly wanted to convince to come along, but he wasn’t particularly interested in Christianity.

Eventually, Albert managed to persuade him to come along with the group by asking him to drive the truck. When they arrived, Albert’s guest decided as long as he was here, he might as well go in. By his own account, the guest was “spellbound” listening to the evangelist, and he came back night after night, until one night he went forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ.

That man, you have heard of, because during his life, Billy Graham led hundreds of thousands of people to faith.

We cannot all be like Billy Graham, but we can all be like Albert McMakin. We can’t all be like Peter, but we can all be like Andrew and invite someone. You can be the one through whom someone meets Jesus. If you’re listening this morning, you have a testimony of what God has done for you.

And you know someone who needs to hear that testimony. In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul says you and I are ambassadors for Christ, that God is making his appeal through us. There’s a friend, maybe a family member, there’s someone you know who needs to meet Jesus.

And today, I’m going to ask you to do something. Would you think of that person, and would you commit to praying for them?

Take a card and write their name on it as a reminder for yourself. If you’re at home and don’t have a card, that’s fine, use a sticky note or something. Then put this card somewhere where you’ll see it, and of course, actually pray for them.

If the Holy Spirit moves and gives you an opportunity, then invite them. Introduce them to Jesus, or invite them back to faith. Maybe that means inviting them to this church, or maybe somewhere else.

Growing this congregation and trying to fill our pews is not the point; the point is to lift them up in prayer, and ask for the Holy Spirit to move in their life so that they may know God’s love for them, that they may know Jesus. The point is for them to know the good news.

Please join me in prayer.

Gracious God, thank you for all the people who have passed on the story of your love. Thank you especially for those who have introduced us to your Son Jesus. Give us the courage to tell others about you, to invite our friends, family, and neighbors to come and see. Work in the lives of those whose names we’ve written down, that they may come to know you. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.