I had my second heart surgery in October of 2004. It was a tough process of healing. I was in the hospital for 6 days and then got sent home for several weeks of rest to get my strength up. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I could finally have friends over again. The doctors were worried that I would get an illness from someone and that could have caused more issues post-surgery. So, when I finally was able to have my best friend over, I was so excited, I probably caught him totally off guard with my welcome at the front door. I never even gave him a chance to get in the door before I lifted my shirt to show off my brand-new scars from the surgery. There were 4 of them that I really wanted to show him, as well as anyone else that crossed my path. I wasn’t the most subtle of 11-year-olds. I didn’t even ask him if he wanted to see them. I honestly didn’t care. I was so proud of my scars that I just had to show him. I eventually showed them to a lot of my friends at school, again not sure if I asked them either. But isn’t that how any of us are with something new, or old for that matter, that we are proud of? We can’t wait to show it off, whether it’s a car, a house, a new computer or tv, or a fish you caught or a deer you hunted. We all have our passions that we want to show other people. It’s normal. But how many of us would put Jesus in that category?
I’ve been reading a lot in the last month or so. It’s part of my quest to get off the screens, as I preached about recently. One of the books I’ve read recently is "When God Builds a Church" by Bob Russell. In the book, he lists 10 ways that God will build a church and what pastors/elders/deacons/leaders can do to join God in that venture. For those of you who don’t know Bob Russell, he was the pastor at Southeast Christian Church until his retirement in the late 2000s. He helped grow that church from a few hundred to tens of thousands of people at the weekly services. Each chapter deals with a different topic and the last chapter has to do with evangelism. Evangelism is crucial to church growth and it’s something that cannot be ignored. The biggest question, I think, that people struggle with is how to do it. What are we supposed to say? What if they have questions that I can’t answer? There are so many concerns, and I understand that. As the youth pastor, I do my best to equip my students to be prepared to evangelize as best they can, and there are ways I know I can improve in that and am seeking to improve in that. But you know what I think is fascinating? In the New Testament, we don’t have any record of Jesus teaching the disciples what to say if people have questions. He never gave them any replies to have ready if someone doubted, and people did doubt. Even John the Baptist had doubts. In Luke 7:18-20, John sends two of his followers to Jesus to ask if he is the one to come or if they should expect someone else. And Jesus doesn’t give them a long monologue of what to expect. He doesn’t rebuke them for asking. He tells them, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Luke 7:22 NIV). Jesus knew that He didn’t need to use elaborate arguments to prove that He was who He was. He just needed people to see what He was doing.
In a few of the stories in the gospels of people deciding to follow Jesus, they are simply told by someone else, often a fellow disciple, to “come and see”. Philip says it to Nathanael in John 1:46. The Samaritan woman tells her fellow townspeople to “come and see” in John 4:29. It’s a simple invitation that can build such curiosity in a person. Come and see what Jesus can do. I don’t know what Jesus has done for your life, but I know he has transformed me into someone I never thought I could be when I was a teenager. He has worked so much in my heart and my mind over the last 10+ years and I don’t have the words to describe it. So next time you want to try some evangelism, it may be efficient and effective to simply invite them to “come and see” this man, Jesus, who has done more than I ever could have dreamed.
