The Empty Invitation: Why Evangelism is More Than a Better Lifestyle

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:05:01] Open our lips and we shall declare your praise. Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed be God forever. Let us pray.
[00:05:17] Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.
[00:05:25] Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, worthily magnify your holy name.
[00:05:36] Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:05:39] A reading from the Gospel of Matthew, the fourth chapter, beginning with the twelfth verse.

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[00:08:11] Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.
[00:08:17] He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.
[00:08:28] Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
[00:08:36] The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
[00:08:40] And for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.
[00:08:46] From that time, Jesus began to proclaim, repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
[00:08:52] As he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting their nets into the sea.
[00:09:03] For they were fishermen.
[00:09:05] And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.
[00:09:09] Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
[00:09:13] And he went from there, saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
[00:09:23] And he called to them.
[00:09:25] Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
[00:09:30] Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, curing every disease and sickness among the people.
[00:09:43] This is the gospel of our Lord.
[00:09:46] Praise to you, O Christ.
[00:09:48] The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
[00:09:55] And for those who sat in the region in shadow of death, light has dawned here in the season of epiphany we remember that in jesus we encounter the light the light that first pierced the darkness of creation the the light that inspires and consoles
[00:10:11] those for whom life has become bleak and dark the the light that unmasks and reveals the powers of evil and justice and depression the light that brings hope to the hopeless and and the light that illumines our path and shows us the way word has come to jesus that his cousin
[00:10:29] john the baptist has been arrested so jesus withdraws to the region of capernaum around the galilee where he took up john's ministry of announcing the kingdom's presence and inviting others to turn around and embrace the kingdom of righteousness justice and peace walking along the
[00:10:47] the shore of the Galilee, Jesus sees two brothers, Simon, later called Peter, and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the sea, doing their regular work. And Jesus says to them, come and follow me, and I'll make you a different kind of fisherman. And so they drop their nets and
[00:11:05] they follow. Short distance down the beach, they come upon other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They're in their boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their nets, and Jesus invites them as well, come, follow me. And immediately they leave the nets and the boat
[00:11:23] and their father, and they follow. Now, this image seems natural when Jesus is doing the inviting, but what about us? What if we put ourselves in his place? What does it mean for us to answer that call, to be people who fish for others, who invite, who offer Christ, who extend
[00:11:44] the invitation to come and follow, who call people into the light, asking them to come and follow.
[00:11:52] Or, as we often think, are matters of faith private. None of our business, not our concern.
[00:11:59] The truth is, when many of us hear talk of fishing for people or offering Christ or, God forbid, the word evangelism, we recoil. And for good reason, given a horrible history of how it's often been done. We think of how whole communities and cultures were violently colonized
[00:12:18] and Christianized in the name of offering Christ, in the name of evangelism, or we've all met that street preacher with a megaphone and a sign, or that pushy acquaintance or family member trying to corner us into a conversion. And so rightly, when we hear stories like this about
[00:12:35] the invitation to follow, about inviting others, fishing for people. We maybe know we don't want to be that kind of Christian, and yet the call is there. The invitation to invite others into the light remains. But if we look at the ministry of Jesus more closely, what we see is a different
[00:12:55] kind of rhythm than those horrible examples of invitation and offering Christ and evangelism.
[00:13:02] When we see Jesus walking along the shore of the Galilee, he didn't present a 10-point theological contract to James and Andrew and Peter and to John.
[00:13:12] He didn't argue them into submission.
[00:13:14] He didn't attempt to demonstrate why he was right and they were wrong.
[00:13:18] He simply invited them into a new reality.
[00:13:22] Call them into the light.
[00:13:24] Follow me, and I'll make you a different kind of fisherman.
[00:13:29] I'll show you a better way.
[00:13:31] and their response was immediate and i think they they left their nets their boat their families behind not because they were forced to or they felt guilty or manipulated they they followed because they recognized in jesus invitation the call to a more compelling life than the ones they
[00:13:55] were living the fact of the matter is friends everybody has a point of view christian non-christian alike. Everyone stands somewhere. Everybody has been baptized into some culture with a set of beliefs and practices. As Bob Dylan used to say, everybody serves somebody. There's no such
[00:14:16] thing as being neutral. We are all evangelized into some culture, a particular way of life.
[00:14:27] Maybe it's the culture of capitalism that tells us our worth is tied to what we accumulate, what we possess, our productivity.
[00:14:36] Or maybe we've been evangelized, converted into the culture of entertainment that tells us that distraction is the cure for our pain or isolation or loneliness.
[00:14:46] Or maybe it's into the culture of fear and toxic politics that tells us we're right, they're wrong, and our neighbor is our enemy.
[00:14:57] The question isn't whether we're being called and converted into a culture, into a way of life.
[00:15:04] The question is, which way of life, which culture will have its way with us?
[00:15:10] Jesus simply offers an alternative.
[00:15:14] His light points to the coming kingdom, which is defined by the politics of love and forgiveness and mercy and compassion and justice in contrast often to the kingdoms of this world defined by politics of greed and suspicion and
[00:15:33] power and self-interest. And evangelism then is simply the way we talk about how we join Jesus in inviting others into the light of this very different way of life.
[00:15:48] I can't recall where I heard it, but someone once said to a group of us to imagine that we lived in a neighborhood that was a food desert.
[00:15:58] And the only things available were processed snacks and expensive wilted produce.
[00:16:07] Life is functional, but people are malnourished and they're tired.
[00:16:11] and one day you you stumble upon a hidden gate behind a brick wall and and you go in and and behind the wall is a lush beautiful community garden there's there's fresh bread baking in an
[00:16:27] outdoor oven there are plentiful beautiful vegetables and most importantly there are plenty of empty seats at the table. Now, you don't go back to your neighbors and coerce them or manipulate them into the garden. You don't shame them for eating processed snacks. You simply go
[00:16:49] to them and say, I found something incredible. I was hungry and now I'm fed. And the best part is there are plenty of empty seats at the table. That's evangelism. There's a seat there for you
[00:17:09] too. That's inviting folks into the light. That is sharing the gospel of God's love. That's the invitation to experience a more compelling, more abundant life. As E. Stanley Jones would put it, evangelism is nothing more than one hungry beggar telling another hungry beggar where to find bread.
[00:17:32] It's inviting people to come and be fed, to experience life in a new and more abundant way.
[00:17:39] Now, to follow Jesus and reclaim this practice of inviting others into the light, one writer notes that we have to be clear about some boundaries.
[00:17:51] Evangelism, inviting others to experience the joy of life in Christ, Inviting others into the light isn't about coercing or using, God forbid, violence or fear or shame.
[00:18:04] It's not about using guilt or entertainment to pad the pews in the church.
[00:18:11] And it's certainly not about proving that we're right, forcing our opinion on others, or imposing a narrow worldview on them so that they become like us.
[00:18:20] Following Jesus' example of inviting others into a new way of life does involve, however, speaking the truth in love.
[00:18:29] It's about how we share a gift that we don't deserve and haven't earned and have freely received.
[00:18:37] It entails humility, being willing to acknowledge our own doubts, our shortcomings, and that we don't have all the answers.
[00:18:45] It's about inviting others to experience the freedom that comes from knowing that God is with us and for us all.
[00:18:54] And as one commentator points out about this morning's reading from Matthew, Jesus does a couple of things as he begins his ministry.
[00:19:02] First, he announces the kingdom is near.
[00:19:07] A different way of life is on the horizon.
[00:19:11] There is a different political order, a different way of being human.
[00:19:15] characterized by peace kindness mercy love and you're invited to come and be a part he extends the invitation the good news that we invite others into that good news comes from it begins in the heart of God in God's determination to have a family and to not
[00:19:43] leave us to our own devices. We might think of the Bible as the ongoing story of God's relentless refusal to leave us to ourselves. God loves us too much for that. For us, Jesus is the supreme
[00:19:58] act of God's self-communication. He not only proclaims the good news, Jesus is the good news.
[00:20:05] He is a love letter written from the heart of God in flesh and blood. As Bishop Williman suggests, the good news is good because it comes to us from outside ourselves, from beyond ourselves. It comes
[00:20:19] from God as a gift. And then once we receive that gift, like those first disciples, we reach out to others in the name of Christ to extend that gift to them. That's evangelism. That's inviting
[00:20:35] others into the light. And it is the natural overflow of a life that is changed. Friends, when we do this, we listen first, understanding what hunger our neighbors are feeling before we assume what they need. We live differently. We show that the values of the kingdom, compassion,
[00:21:03] mercy, justice, righteousness, peace, that those actually have the capacity to make a difference and change the world. And we invite simply, not to a religion, but to a seat at the table, where the bread is abundant and free and the greatest tragedy would be is that we
[00:21:21] find the garden we taste the bread we see all the empty seats and we keep the location to ourselves there's room here for everyone friends so who is that one who is the one that you can invite to come and be fed amen where the Spirit of

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:21:42] the Lord is there is the one true church apostolic and universal whose holy faith let us now declare we believe in god the father infinite in wisdom power and love whose mercy is over all his works and whose will is ever directed to his children's good
[00:22:02] we believe in jesus christ son of god and son of man the gift of the father's unfailing grace the ground of our hope and the promise of our deliverance from sin and death we believe in
[00:22:14] the holy spirit as the divine presence in our lives whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance of the truth of christ and find strength and help in time of need we believe that this faith
[00:22:26] should manifest itself in the service of love as set forth in the example of our blessed lord to the end that the kingdom of god may come upon the earth amen let us join together in prayer
[00:22:39] almighty god you sent your son to proclaim your kingdom and to shine your light in the dark places of our world so we pray first for your church here and throughout the world that we will hear
[00:23:00] your call to repent to leave behind whatever keeps us from faithfully following you lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. We pray for the nations and people of the world, especially those living in darkness because of violence or injustice or despair. God, as our bishops remind us this week,
[00:23:30] guide us as a people to be those who deplore the use of violence and fear, separation or intimidation as a means of creating social order. Help us, God, to know that when one part of the
[00:23:48] body suffers, we all suffer with them, and to see the sacred worth of every person. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord, as Jesus called ordinary people to extraordinary faithfulness, hear our prayer our prayer for workers in offices and farm fields in hospitals and schools
[00:24:17] for laborers and caregivers and all who serve the common good god may each of our vocations be opportunities to bear witness to your love lord in your mercy hear our prayer hear our prayer for all who are sick and hurting, troubled in body, mind, and spirit, for the people of
[00:24:43] Minneapolis and other cities who mourn the violence in our nation and in our own church community, for those who grieve the passing of those they love. We remember especially this week Marcella Greer and the death of her sister, the Higgins family and the passing of Jack's brother,
[00:25:06] the young family and the death of nancy's brother and margaret boggs and blair's passing god bring your healing your hope and empower us to be your presence for others lord in your mercy hear our prayer lord jesus you call us to follow you and to share in your work of healing and
[00:25:35] reconciliation and peace. Give us grace and courage, God, to respond without delay that our lives reflect the light of your kingdom. All in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
[00:26:02] as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is
[00:26:17] the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen we welcome you to davidson united methodist church today it is the fourth sunday after epiphany we are so grateful for your presence wherever you may be worshiping with us this morning or this afternoon just a couple of of announcements to
[00:26:39] share with you about some activities we have going on this week assuming that the weather cooperates with us we have a couple of things happening on wednesday the first one is our compliment at candlemas service that will be wednesday the 4th of february
[00:26:57] at seven o'clock it'll be happening over in the chapel across the street it's a beautiful service of prayer and music led by our youth candlemas is the remembrance of the presentation of christ in the temple also the halfway point between christmas and easter if you can believe it we
[00:27:19] were there already and that will be this coming wednesday at seven o'clock in the chapel while you're here that evening we hope you'll you'll take a moment and come across the street and join us upstairs in the seymour building while our dumc creation care team in cooperation with our friends
[00:27:38] over at dcpc davidson college presbyterian church are going to be presenting a program called myth and facts about recycling and waste reduction that'll be in the seymour building upstairs from six o'clock to eight o'clock and so you can check that out maybe before you head over
[00:27:57] to the Compline at Candlemass service. Ways that we can learn about the things that we do and how they can impact positively and negatively God's creation. So we hope you can join us on Wednesday. Thank you for all the ways that you give of yourself, ways that help us worship well
[00:28:19] and learn and fellowship and serve God well in the community. We're grateful

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:28:24] for your generosity gracious god your generosity overflows accept our gifts so that with your

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:32:51] blessing we may use them to proclaim christ in our community and beyond amen friends thank you

[00:32:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:32:58] for being in worship today it's good to be together even if we're not together in person at least we can be together in this way i pray that you stay safe and well and warm over the
[00:33:09] the next few days and look forward to being in worship again with each other very soon hopefully next Sunday watch our social media channels the weekly email updates will keep you informed as to any schedule changes for this week but it's good to be together and good to be with you as we
[00:33:27] remember this beautiful story of Jesus by the sea calling inviting his disciples and and then And instructing them, inviting them to invite others to extend the invitation beyond themselves, almost like ripples on a pond as it flows outward.
[00:33:45] The gospel has that capacity to just multiply and touch life after life after life.
[00:33:51] So I invite you this week to think about who is the one, perhaps, that God might be sending you to to share the gift of God's love, to listen, to be a friend, a companion, to invite them to come and be a part of our life together here at DUMC and to experience for themselves the joy of life in Christ.
[00:34:16] Know that God is with you in the midst of that work.
[00:34:20] Christ goes before you to prepare the way, is with you so that you'll know what to say and when to say it and how to say it, and goes behind you to nurture and encourage you on in this work of calling others into the light of Christ.
[00:34:39] Friends, have a wonderful week.
[00:34:41] May the blessings of God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be upon you.
[00:34:46] now and always, until we are together again. Amen.