Holy Trinity

May 18, 2008

 

WHY WE EVANGELIZE

by John Christianson

 

Matthew 28:16-20

 

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

           

It was November, about two weeks before Thanksgiving.  Evelyn telephoned me.  She scraped by on Social Security but a couple of unexpected expenses had totally exhausted her resources.  We had helped her before.  We had included her in our seasonal distribution of funds at Christmas time.  Could we possibly do it again?  I came to her trailer house in a couple of days with an envelope in my suit coat pocket.  A couple of clean-cut happy faced young men were sitting there in suits and ties.  The scene looked familiar.  We greeted each other.  I said, “I would guess that you are LDS – Mormons.”  “Yes, we are!  You know about our work!”  Small talk followed.  They kept pretending that, of course, I had great admiration for them and their cause, which I didn’t.  Far from it, of course!  Finally it seemed time for candor.  I said, “Fellows, I couldn’t be more critical of you and your church!  You have serious disagreements with Christianity, beginning with your denial of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And your evangelism efforts are deplorable.  We Christians also call on people to invite them to church, but NOT if they already have a church home.  You try to get people to leave their congregations and become Mormons.  To me, that’s acting more like sheep thieves than shepherds.

 

            Their eyes flashed.  I knew it was a charge they had heard many times before, and hated.  The leader said, “You call us sheep thieves.  That must mean you want to shear people so you can get their money to pay your salary.”  I said, “I suppose you’ve come to GIVE her money.”  “No, of course not,” he said.   “Well, I have,” I said.  I took the envelope out of my pocket and gave it to her.  “I came up with $50 for you.  I hope it takes some of the pinch out of thanksgiving.”  Then I turned to the missionaries.  “By the way,” I said, “she’s not a member of our church.  She belongs to another fine church in our community – a different denomination from mine.  She has never visited our congregation, and I’ve never invited her to do it.  She Has a church.  And I would suggest to you men that THAT’S how Christians behave.  Not the way you’re behaving!”  I said goodbye to Evelyn and left. 

 

            I was uncomfortable for my in lack of hospitality.  I called Evelyn the next day and apologized.   “Oh, no,” she said, “I’m glad you did it.  They got very quiet after you left and they didn’t stay much longer.”

 

            I guess I’m glad too.  I hope it gave them something to think about and they have become Catholics or Baptists or Pentecostals.

 

Their theology is miserable, their methods are deplorable, but one thing we have to hand them.  They have the kind of zeal we would all have if we realized the impact of what Jesus said in the middle of today’s lesson.  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [Matthew 28:18]  “All authority.”  He doesn’t share it with Molech or Baal, with Zarathustra or Mohammed, with Siva or Buddha with Martin Luther or Pope Leo X, with Joseph Smith or Mary Baker Eddy, with Oprah Winfrey or her latest New Age guru.  Eckhart Tolle.  She says, “I just can’t believe that Jesus is the only Way to the Father!” In other words, he may have SOME authority, but definitely not ALL authority.  At least, not according to Oprah.

 

And that introduces ALL of us to a real dilemma.  We feel torn in two opposite directions by our patriotism and by our faith.

 

First, let’s look at our patriotism.  We are all Americans.  We live in a pluralistic society where everybody has an equal right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  White, black, brown, or GREEN!  We get one vote apiece.  Christian, Jew, Moslem, New Age, Atheist!  We all have the right to worship as we choose.  Men, women, and anything else, we all have the same right to work and pay taxes.  That’s speaking politically, from the heart.

 

And that’s one of the things that makes New Age attractive to an American.  Just buy into it, and it allows us to be pluralistic in our religion too, just like people are in the far east.  Ask them what religion they are and they’re likely to list two or three faiths.

 

But we are Christians!  We are part of a very particularistic faith.  Jesus isn’t A Way; he’s “THE Way the truth and the life” [John 14:6]; he isn’t A light; he’s THE light of the world.”  He doesn’t have a share in the authority.  He has the whole loaf! It’s so different from that other way to think, that the authority is sort of spread all around; that there are many paths up the mountain and if all religions aren’t equal, at least they’re all beneficial.  If so, we need no evangelism.  Then we wouldn’t “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”  We would just “go therefore and give all nations a pat on the back,” until we close down Christianity and shut off the lights on the way out.

 

But we are not like that.  Jesus has “all authority in heaven and earth!”  He is the only way to the Father.  Now, on Judgement Day when “all the nations will be gathered before him,” [Matthew 25;32] personally I would be tickled pink if he said, “I have all the authority – there isn’t any authority in Islam or Buddhism or any other man-made religion; I have all of it, like I said, but I’ve decided to save everybody!  Hurray!  What a celebration that would be.

 

But he never said any such thing.  He just said, “All authority in heaven and earth is given to me.  All of it!”  And then there follows a big THEREFORE.  What are the consequences if “All authority in heaven and earth is given to me?”  Well, obviously, the consequences are that you’d better bring “all people” to where “all the authority” is.

 

When I was in Sunday School, missionaries used to come back from distant mission fields, and they brought pith helmets and the skins of animals and snakes, and thrilling stories of the excitement people felt when they learned about Jesus for the first time – from them.  It stirred a boy to want to grow up and be a missionary. 

 

Later, I remember reading the inspiring book, “Through Gates of Splendor” about five missionaries who were compelled by the love of Christ to carry the Gospel to Ecuador, where they were killed by the very Auca Indians they were trying to reach.

 

The Great Commission hasn’t changed.  It’s still to go to all nations to make disciples and teach them everything about Jesus.  The methods have changed greatly.  Today, instead of going and working to reach a hundred people with the gospel, we send specialized teacher missionaries to train a hundred indigenous evangelists to reach ten thousand people.  The Holy Spirit is blessing this work more than it was ever blessed in the old days.  Last Sunday we heard the story of the first Pentecost.  It was incredible.  Five thousand converts in a single day!  And last Sunday, while we were listening to that, there were nearly six times as many converts as that!  Not in the world, but just in China!  Twenty-eight thousand new Chinese Christians every day! 

 

Instead of missionaries, we hear about Chinese CEOs preaching Christ to their employees and setting up Bible studies on company time. House churches have gotten too big.  Police tell them to split in two and in no time they’re splitting again. Bibles are available in every city.

 

Similar stories are coming out of Africa.  Folks, it’s Pentecost season, not just in American churches with red paraments, but around the world with explosive growth.  We’re just not in charge any more.  We’re the servants – the helpers.  We’re digging wells, planting hospitals, fighting disease, distributing food, and giving credibility to the preachers from the local community, and they are having greater success than we ever did.  It works, because it’s the biblical model.  It’s the way Paul did it.  He would start a grass fire of faith, put some local person in charge, and then move on, and he started the world on fire.

 

And God is doing it again in our time.  When I was in the Seminary, Europe was the center of Christianity.  No more!  Now it’s Africa.  Some predict that before long it will move to Asia.  Do you have any idea where to find the largest Christian congregation in the world?  It’s Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea.  Eight hundred and thirty thousand members!  Before long, it’s predicted that the country with the largest number of Christians will not be the U.S.A, but it will be China. 

 

Of course Jesus knew what he was talking about.  ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  We did it, as best we  could – we taught them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  Now they’re doing it.  But it’s imperative that we don’t stop.  It has the authority from the Father, the command from the Son and the blessing of the Holy Spirit.  Pentecost Sunday really does lead to Trinity Sunday.

 

Amen.

 

(Comments to John at john.christianson@stjohnsofmound.org )