Newburg Christian Church

10-12-2008 Sermon

The Baptism Barrier

Acts 8:26-37

Have you ever thought of yourself as an evangelist? You know a real evangelist that actually talks to people about Jesus. Someone like this guy Philip we just read about was an evangelist; he shared the Good News of Jesus with someone very different from himself. Maybe you never thought of yourself as an evangelist. Or maybe you have thought about what it would be like to be able to talk with someone who doesn’t know Jesus and help them come to faith in the Son of God.

I’m going to take a guess that a shiver just went up and down the spines of some of you. Halloween is coming, and I’m going to guess that Halloween is nowhere near as scary as the thought of “evangelism.” In fact one of the scariest creatures that could knock on your door this Halloween is the stereotypical evangelist yelling on your doorstep, “Are ya saved? Do ya know Jeeesus?” That would certainly scare me.

Evangelism is a word that may not scare you, but it’s a word that makes many people uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable for us to hear because there is a sense of guilt attached to it, guilt because we aren’t doing it or because there is no way we would ever want to even do it, except in the safest of environments. We only like to talk about Jesus in the friendly confines of Sunday School or small groups.

A large study done by George Barna on evangelism in America a few years ago came to a finding that is not so surprising. The study found that a vast majority of people would rather get a root canal than talk about, much less do, evangelism. That’s why over the past 40 years most churches in America have been in decline, that’s why our own denomination continues to decline…we’ve lost a passion to talk about Jesus with people who need to hear about him.

It’s almost like we’ve developed a life-threatening aversion to real evangelism. Right now, at this very minute, some of you are probably wanting to put your fingers in your ears and sing “la la la” until I’ve finished talking about evangelism. We’ll do almost anything to avoid the “E” word, watch out I’m about to drop the “E” bomb! EVANGELISM!

Why do so many of us have such an adverse reaction to evangelism? There are all kinds of reasons why there isn’t much evangelism happing in our churches today. I’ll give you a few of my own reasons that have cropped up in my brain in years past…
- I didn’t want to stand on a street corner and yell at people.
- I didn’t want to walk around with a plastic smile on my face.
- I didn’t want people to think it’s really about their money.
- I didn’t want to offend my neighbors or co-workers by telling them they are going to end up in hell if they didn’t go to church.
In addition to all those reasons I also remember thinking at times what business do I have telling people what they ought to be doing or believing. I’d rather just do the best I can and hope other people can just see that I’m living a Christian life and be inspired by how I live without me talking to them about Jesus.

This goes straight to the teaching of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all time. Use words if necessary.” Yes, every one of us needs to preach the gospel in the way we live our lives, but the problem is that too often our lives don’t reflect the gospel. Our lives tell others we love our money more than the church, our lives tell others we love ourselves more than others, our lives tell others of our prejudices, our lives tell others of our un-repented sin. Worst of all our lives tell others that Jesus is a name to only be mentioned on Sunday mornings or when we need the correct cuss word.

You can’t walk through Wal-Mart and expect people to know you’re a Christian. You can’t sit at your desk in an office and expect people to know you are a Christian. There are no wordless actions that can relay that message, only words can lead someone to Jesus. Yes, we are to preach the gospel with our lives, but what happens when we meet someone who needs to hear the words of God’s love?

Someone like the Ethiopian eunuch needed words. He is an African man with an important job that came with a high price. Most likely, he had been castrated at some point in life so he could serve the queen of Ethiopia. Because he is a eunuch he is unable to marry or have children. Because he is a eunuch Jewish law would have prevented him from taking part in Jewish worship services. But somehow he had heard of the God of the Jews and desired to know more.

What do you do when you don’t think of yourself as an evangelist and you run across someone like this man? You may never meet an Ethiopian eunuch, but you are very likely to meet people who have been physically or emotionally wounded in this world. You will meet people who are outside the norms of society. You will meet people who have been shunned by the church and family. You will meet people who have an emptiness in their lives. If you don’t see yourself as an evangelist then you are telling God, “I’ll take a pass on this person. Bring in someone else?”

This week I had some plumbing work done at my home…we needed a plumber because I learned once again that I’m better at preaching than I am at plumbing. As I talked with the plumber I learned that he was the son of a plumber who was also a preacher, and the grandson of a preacher who was also a plumber. He was only a plumber and was raised in the Nazarene church. He told me that growing up he heard more rules than he heard about the Bible. When he was old enough to move out of his parents’ house, he moved out of the church as well and never looked back. He’s a man who was raised in the church and all he got out of it was that it was evil to wear short pants in the summer and it is evil to practice baseball on a Wednesday evening.

He told me he was giving church a try again, but I could tell in his voice that he was skeptical of what would happen. We talked about faith and the church for a while, it was something I could tell he missed in his life but wasn’t sure how different most churches are from the experiences he had known.

While this man had some faith training while growing up, it’s not something that had a positive impact on his life. There is a growing number of people in America today who have not even had a negative experience with the church…they have absolutely no experience. In 1910 only 3% of Americans grew up outside the church. In the 1980’s that figure jumped to 14.5% of people with no faith training. In 2006, in the 40219 zip code, demographic data shows that 26% of people right here in Newburg have no faith identity. Nothing. They are not Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or Christian. They are not connected to any type of faith community. What are their barriers to God?

The question asked by the Ethiopian was, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” That’s a good question. What are the barriers to baptism for people today? What are the barriers we erect that keep people from becoming followers of Jesus? What are the barriers that keep people like my plumber from giving his life back to Jesus? For many people the biggest barrier is that no one has ever told them about God’s love for them. No one has ever felt the need or had the courage to speak words of hope and love.

Are we preventing people from hearing about God because of our discomfort or our hesitation? Too often you and I are the barriers between the gospel and the people who need so desperately to hear it? We may well be the barriers for a lot of people like my plumber and the 26% of the Newburg area that prevent them from knowing God? It scares me to think I could be a barrier that keeps someone from following Jesus? You’ve got something they need, you’ve got something that can help them experience the kingdom of God right now…you have the tool to help them, will you use it or keep it to yourself?

Imagine coming up on someone on the side of the road. They tell you they have a flat tire and don’t have a jack. You know they have a problem. You’ve got a jack in the trunk of your car but instead of getting it out you tell them you’ll go find someone else to help. You’ve got the jack, you are there, and you are the help they need. The same is true with people who don’t know Jesus. They need help and you have the tools.

Philip asked the Ethiopian, “Do you know what you are reading?” The man nearly begged Philip when he replied, “How can I unless someone guides me?” So Philip went and sat beside the man. Will you commit yourself to step outside your comfort zone and allow God to lead you to someone to sit beside? Who needs you to sit beside them right now? What will you do the next time someone needs help? Will you remain a barrier or will you sit down and be a guide? We must become barrier breakers; we must break down the barriers that separate people from God, especially if you and I are the barriers.

(Based on material from Unbinding the Gospel by Martha Grace Reese)

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