One great way to communicate the Gospel is through the printed page. It's not at all confrontational, for anyone who wishes to read it may do so and anyone who is not ready to receive the truth of the Good News may leave it lay for some other person to find. Some Christians claim that Gospel tracts don't work, that they're a waste of time, money and paper. But are they? Today I read about a missionary couple in Kenya, J.T. and Kayse Strong, who have distributed many tens of thousands of tracts among the people of that nation. J.T. said, "We have our ministry contact information printed on the back of the tracts and receive thousands of call and text messages of people desiring to be saved, to know more about Jesus, or to receive a Bible." The Strongs have a shipment of another 20,000 tracts en route to them. Some will be handed directly to people, and others may be left in places where folks may conveniently find them. Many people, even many in the United States, have said their lives were changed when God worked on their hearts through a tract they'd found somewhere. Not everyone is prepared to preach the Gospel directly (sadly this is true, for we disciples of Jesus Christ should have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, Eph. 6:15), but just about anyone can drop a little booklet tract on a countertop, a table, or any place where it may be found and read. Nowadays, effective Gospel tracts can even be downloaded for free and printed at home on an ordinary sheet of paper. Or a well-versed Christian could write one up himself. Evangelism doesn't get any easier than scattering printed 'little witnesses.'
Everybody makes fun of Chick Tracts, but everybody's also read at least one of them.... To add to this - one of my most treasured possessions was a little New Testament I got as a kid for memorizing all the names of the books of the Bible. It probably cost a dollar or so (maybe less; this was the 1970's) but it was one of my treasures. I was genuinely grieved when it finally fell apart. If you can spare a few bucks for the Gideons, it's a great ministry. Or just help your church fund the purchase of inexpensive Bibles and hand them out. You'd be amazed at what effect such a simple thing can have in the community.
The Gideons handed out New Testaments at the Junior High I went to once a year. I recieved one with orange covers one year. We had a member of that organization at my previous parish. I have often been glad for their placements in hotels. I keep a stack of gift Bibles in my office. NKJVs that cost around $6. One might be dismayed by the number of adults who enter confirmation class these days without their own Bible.
Today's Gospel reading was John 17:11b-19 -- Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.Today's homily centered upon these words of Jesus'. He prayed to the Father for us. He noted that, like Himself, we are not of this natural world (and so the world hates us as it hated Him). He asked that we be sanctified in the truth, and then He said, "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." This statement reveals without question that the disciples were being sent or dispatched into the world. For what purpose? To do the same as Jesus did, to "speak into the world, that they may have My (Jesus') joy fulfilled in themselves," a joy that comes from spiritual rebirth via the cognizance and reception by faith of God's redemptive gift. One might say (as our rector stated) that they had been 'drafted.' Did this sending into the world, and the duty to proclaim the Gospel which goes with that sending, cease with the death of those particular disciples? Not at all; observe what Jesus said with His next breath: John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word..." The purpose and the task were not just for those who did believe during the Apostolic age; rather they extend to "those who will believe" in the coming days and throughout the days of mankind, until He returns bodily to earth. We have been drafted, too. Consider for a moment the content of verse 19, which is translated in the ESV in this way: "And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth." The word that has been translated as "consecrate" is the Greek hagiazō. And the word "sanctified" stands in for the exact same Greek word, hagiazō. It would do no violence to that verse to use "consecrate" in both places. The point is this: by the manner in which our Lord Jesus was consecrated and set apart (He's "not of the world, remember?) to spread the Gospel, in like manner we who have believed are also consecrated and set apart (we are "not of the world" either) to spread the Gospel, so "that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe..." (verse 21). Brethren, you and I are consecrated to spread the message of God's love and redemption, so that all in the world may come to believe and receive 'joy unspeakable.' We have been drafted and given our marching orders to fulfill a sacred duty. The question each of us must answer to God is, Am I on duty? Or am I currently AWOL?
What do people need to know about their future? What do they need to hear about what happens after this life? 1. God created everything... the universe, the sun, the earth and moon, the plants, and the animals. God created the first people. He gave them just one rule to keep, and they couldn't keep it. They sinned against God. When sin came into the world, it was no longer perfect and became corrupted. 2. Since that time, every human being has committed sins against God. God gave mankind the Ten Commandments to show us how far short we come to His standard of perfection. Gal. 3:24 says that God gave the law as a "schoolmaster" to teach us how disobedient we are. Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken anything that did not belong to you? Have you ever wished you had the things which someone else possesses? Have you ever looked at another person with lust? (Jesus said if you look at someone lustfully, you have committed adultery with the person in your heart.) If you have done these things, what does that make you? Doesn't it make you a lying, thieving, covetous adulterer? 3. What do sinners deserve from God? The Bible says, "the wages of sin is death." Death, eternal separation from God and from all that is good, is the payment (wages) we sinners have earned by our deeds. Every one of us deserves to be put to death, to be dead to God and to be separated from Him for all eternity. Even for those who have tried to "live a good life" and have done many good things in an attempt to please God, the just payment they have coming to them if they die in their sins is death, because he who breaks one commandment is as guilty as he who breaks them all (James 2:10). 4. It looks pretty hopeless, doesn't it? But God loves us so much, He made a way out of our dilemma. He came to earth as a human, lived a perfect life without sin, and let himself be put to death in a horribly painful and embarrassing manner as the penalty we deserve for our sins. And to prove that He had the power to pay that penalty for others, a penalty He Himself did not deserve in the least, Jesus rose from the tomb and showed off the nail prints in His hands and feet. Jesus said that if we would repent of our sins and believe in Him, the risen Savior who bore our own punishment on the cross, we would be forgiven and rescued from the terrible fate we so richly deserve. Jesus said that if we would turn away in sorrow from our past disobedience and trust in Him, the precious gifts of forgiveness and eternal life would be bestowed on us. 5. When we realize how tremendous and precious this gift from God really is, how can we show our love and appreciation for the One who has given His own life for us? We can show our love by trying to avoid sin in the future, by praising and thanking Him, and by telling others what a wonderful thing Jesus has done for us all. If we have an opportunity to share these truths with someone, we will be doing them a tremendous favor.
The University of Oklahoma women's softball team is playing Florida's team in the WCWS championship series; I think they've won 3 division championships in a row. Several of the OU team members sat down for an interview, and it is worth a watch. The reporter asks them how they maintained their joy throughout the season in the face of anxiety and pressures. it's 3.4 minutes short, have a look: We in the church are called by God to be light and salt, and to share our faith. At home or abroad, at work or in play, if we will be faithful and true to our calling, God will open doors of opportunity to share.