Second Sunday after the Epiphany
January 20, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
Three Evangelism Pointers: Point, Invite, and Find
(John 1:29-42a)
The Epiphany season traditionally is a time for
emphasizing the churchs work of evangelism and
missions. Why is that? Well, think of the event
celebrated on the Epiphany festival: Wise men from
the east, being led by a star to find the Christ
child--in other words, the spread of the gospel to the
Gentiles. Or think of the word, Epiphany; it means
manifestation, appearing, literally, a shining
forth. In the Gospel readings during the Epiphany
season, we see Jesus shining forth into a sin-darkened
world. And now, in our day, the church is the beacon
Christ uses for that shining forth. What we heard
earlier in the reading from Isaiah applies not only to
Christ but also to his church: I will make you as a
light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to
the end of the earth.
Today, then, were going to see how Christ will use us
to be that light shining forth. Only were not going
to talk about bringing salvation to the end of the
earth as much as well talk about bringing it to the
places right near by. Local evangelism, personal
witnessing--that is our focus today. In todays
Gospel reading, we see several good examples of
personal witnessing. Of course, the first priority is
that this text would witness to us, bringing us the
good news of salvation. Only then, with faith and
forgiveness in Christ, and alive in his Spirit--only
then can we hear it also for what it tells us about
our witnessing to others. But the gospel is powerful
enough to do both, bring good news to us and help us
bring good news to others. In that light, then, today
we will pick up Three Evangelism Pointers: Point,
Invite, and Find.
The first point then is to point! The pointer in
our text is John the Baptist: John saw Jesus coming
toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world!
John the Baptist points people to Jesus. You see that
depicted on the front of our bulletin today, dont
you? See the picture of John, holding a cross and
pointing to that Lamb with the pierced side. And
notice the words that John is saying, Ecce Agnus
Dei. Thats Latin for Behold, the Lamb of God!
In an old church in Isenheim, Germany, there is a
magnificent altar painting of the crucifixion of our
Lord. The body of Christ is shown hanging on the
cross, contorted with pain and agony. The hideous
horror of death is depicted in all its terror.
Christs dying body is painted with a gruesome, almost
greenish, tinge. At the base of the cross you see the
women crying. Off to the side, there stands a rugged
character, clad in a rough garment made of animal
hair. That person, of course, is John the Baptist.
But if you think about it, you realize that such a
scene could not have been actually possible. John the
Baptist was beheaded long before Jesus was crucified.
But as to the great truth that it conveys, the
painting is absolutely accurate. For what strikes you
when you see the painting is what John the Baptist is
doing. He is standing there with his arm extended,
pointing to Christ on the cross. And the interesting
detail is the finger with which John is pointing. It
is long--a little too long, really, to go with the
rest of his hand. You see, the artist, Matthias
Gruenewald, deliberately painted it that way to call
attention to Johns ministry as a pointer. John
pointed people to Jesus Christ--and him crucified as
the sacrifice for sin. And as you see John standing
there, pointing to Christ, your mind automatically
fills in those famous words from our text today:
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world!
What a message of both Law and Gospel this is!
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world! We hear the Law when John refers to the
sin of the world. Notice that he says sin, not
sins. How come? One commentator puts it like this:
The singular sin raises attention above individual
sins (which people attempt to play down and excuse) to
the abominable condition of the entire human race in
its state of rebellion, separation from God, and
spiritual death. It is this whole deadly mess which
the Lamb of God removes, lifting it off us by his
sacrifice.
John says, the sin of the world. And we are the
world! It was our sin, our part of the whole deadly
mess, that is included in the sin of the world.
Think of a big ball of mud and dirt, as big as the
world itself, and we each have contributed our part.
It is that whole world of sin--the sin of the
world--that would crush each one of us, and all of us
together, under its weight.
And so John preaches Gospel, beautiful gospel, when he
points us to the Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world! That huge boulder of guilt and
death, weighing us all down--Jesus Christ comes and
takes it away! Christ picks up that big ball of sin,
lifts it off us and puts it on his own shoulders and
carries the full weight of it to the cross. My
friends, Jesus takes away all our sin, the whole
deadly mess. Trusting in him, you and I are forgiven
and free.
Jesus takes away the sin of the world, and he does
this as the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God: What
all the sacrificial animals of the Old Testament
pointed ahead to, that Christ accomplished. He shed
his blood as our substitute. He died that we might
live. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid
on him--on Christ, the Lamb of God--the LORD has
laid on him the iniquity of us all. Thats what John
is saying here when he calls Jesus the Lamb of God.
So our first evangelism pointer today is simply to
be that kind of pointer--a John the Baptist type of
pointer, pointing people to the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world! You and I know Christ to be our Savior.
He has taken away our sin. And that is why and how we
are able to point others to him as well.
The first point is to point. The second evangelism
pointer is to invite. And the one doing the inviting
in our text is Jesus himself. Two of Johns disciples
hear John calling Jesus the Lamb of God. They begin
to follow Jesus, and this is what happens:
Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,
What are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi,
where are you staying? He said to them, Come and
you will see. So they came and saw where he was
staying, and they stayed with him that day.
The curiosity of these two had been aroused, and Jesus
took note of it. He stopped what he was doing for a
moment and engaged them in conversation. He drew them
out a little bit with an open-ended question, What
are you seeking? They wanted to know where Jesus was
staying, so they could go and find out some more about
him. He simply says, Come and you will see. That
is Jesus invitation to these two. Once they get to
where Jesus is staying, then they can spend some time
getting to know more about him.
Now this is an example for us in our personal
witnessing. In our daily encounters with people, we
have opportunities to engage people in conversation.
We can draw them out with open-ended questions. Or
they may approach us with questions of their own.
When we recognize those open doors, when the other
persons curiosity or interest has been aroused, what
can we do then? Well, we dont necessarily have to
launch into an hour-long discourse on the person and
work of Christ and the doctrine of
justificationalthough I wont say that couldnt
happen, if the interest is there and you can do it in
words the person will understand. But you might just
simply invite the person and say, in effect, Come and
you will see.
Invite people to come and see. Invite them to the
place where Jesus is staying and where they can spend
some time finding out more about him. Jesus is
staying where his gospel is, and that is here in
church. For where two or three are gathered in my
name, there am I among them. Jesus is here, really
present, and through the preaching and teaching of the
gospel, he is giving out his gifts of forgiveness,
life, and salvation. Therefore one of the best things
you can do is simply to invite that person to come and
join you here in church. You can do that with
confidence, because this is where Jesus is staying
with his gospel, this is where he has promised to be
present.
Be an inviter. In a book called, The Inviting
Church, the author reports the results of a survey of
newcomers in congregations from around the country.
The survey asked the question, What brought you to
church? Here are the results: 2% had seen an
advertisement; 6% came through an organized
evangelistic outreach program; 6% had been invited by
a pastor; 86% came by invitation of a friend or family
member. Did you catch that? 86% came because someone
they knew invited them! It should come as no surprise
that friends and family members influence other
friends and family members.
But this raises an important question: Is there
someone you know--perhaps someone in your family or at
your work or maybe your next door neighbor--is there
someone you know whom you could invite to join you at
church or for Bible class? Wouldnt it be great if
St. Matthews could be known as, The Inviting
Church? That will happen when we invite the people
we know--our friends, relatives, associates, and
neighbors--when invite them to join us at church.
Come and you will see.
Point. Invite. And now, third, find. The finder
we read about in our text is Andrew, one of those two
who came and saw. Andrew first found his own brother
Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah.
The invited becomes the inviter! Andrew had been
invited to come and see, and now he, in turn, finds
somebody else to invite. Isnt that the way it is
with us? Jesus has invited us to come to him. We
have been where he is staying. And what we have found
is so wonderful that we cant help but want to go and
find someone else to share in our happiness. Thats
what Andrew does. Its even the first thing he does.
There is some excitement, some enthusiasm, in Andrew
because of his encounter with Jesus. He cant wait to
tell somebody what he has found.
One day the Greek scientist Archimedes sat down in his
bathtub to take a bath. He noticed that the water
rose and overflowed the tub a bit when he put his body
into the water. Suddenly the light came on in his
mind. He had just figured out what in physics is
called the principle of displacement. Well, old
Archimedes was so excited by his discovery that he got
up out the bathtub and started running down the street
naked, yelling Eureka! which in Greek means, I have
found it!
Now Im not advocating that you run up and down the
streets of Bonne Terre in your birthday suit yelling,
Eureka! Im not sure that would be the most
effective evangelism method. But I am saying that you
and I have found something even greater and more
exciting than what Archimedes discovered. Its the
good news of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let the gospel
be good news for you once again! Consider how
wonderful your Savior is, all the great things he has
done for you, and all the great things he still has in
store for you! Do that, and you too will have some of
the contagious enthusiasm of an Archimedes or an
Andrew.
Andrew first found his own brother Simon and said to
him, We have found the Messiah. Andrew found two
people, really. He found his brother, and then he
said that he had found the Messiah. Now as to his
finding the Messiah, the question is, really: Who
found whom? Of course, it was really Jesus who found
Andrew. Just like it was Jesus who found us, lost and
wandering in our sin. It was Christ who found us, but
the sense of excitement and discovery we experience
makes it seem like we found him. And because of the
joy we find in Christ, we then want to go and find
someone else who could use that life also. We go and
find our brother, our sister, our neighbor, our
friend, our co-worker. And we say, Listen to what I
have found!
We find our brother and say, We have found the
Messiah. We invite our friend, saying, Come and you
will see. We point people to Christ and say,
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world! Point, invite, and find--three evangelism
pointers for us today. But the beginning point--and
ending point--is that Christ has found you and invited
you to himself. He, the Lamb of God, has taken away
your sin. And now through you, this same Jesus
continues to do the pointing, inviting, and finding.
The Epiphany light is shining! It is shining for us,
and it will shine forth through us to others.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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