4/6/08 - Evangelism Sunday - Acts 2:36-47

THE WORDS WORKS
- To bring people to the Church
- To keep people in the Church

The Word works. The Word of God that has been written down for us in our Bibles, that Word works to convince people to come to Christ and to stay in Christ. Because the Word is “the power of God” (Rom. 1:16) God himself says, it is “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17) the Spirit himself says, and it is “living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow” (Heb. 4:12). The Word is what the Lord uses to call people to faith. The Word is what the Lord uses to bring people to The Church of All Believers of All Time. And the Word is what he uses to keep that universal Church together.
Do you need any proof that the Word works? Just look at the Word working in Acts 2. The apostle Peter is preaching the Word. He is teaching the crowds of people there in Jerusalem about repentance and forgiveness and salvation. And Luke tells us that “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” Three thousand people! Three thousand people were added to the Church that day! Why? Because of the power of the Word. It worked. And it worked wonders! It cut the people to the heart with the law and then healed their hearts with the gospel. And that doesn’t mean three thousand people were added to that local congregation there in Jerusalem that day. Because this was the day of Pentecost. There were many people from all over the world there on that day. And so some of those three thousand new believers would go back home. They would not stay there. They would not be counted on the church of Jerusalem’s membership list. But they were still part of The Church (with a capital “C”), because that is ultimately the Lord’s goal: that people become members of The Church through faith in Jesus as their Savior. And three thousand people became members of The Church that day because they heard the Word. And as the believers there in Jerusalem continued to preach and teach and spread that Word, “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Every day the Lord was adding people to the family of believers. Through the Word. Only through the Word. Because the Word works.
The Word works. And as we - the members of Living Word Lutheran Church - gather together to reach out to those around us with that Word, we must always keep that in mind. The Word works. Not you as the Christian spreading the Word. The Word works. Not me as the pastor preaching the Word. The Word works. Not the programs or the fellowship groups or the church facilities that give us a chance to present the Word. The power of God lies in his Word. And we so easily forget that. Because what is one of the biggest reasons you hesitate to spread the Word to others as you should? Well, you aren’t quite sure what to say or how to say it, you don’t know how to approach that particular person with the topic and you’d be uncomfortable with the situation, right? But what then are you trusting in to work faith in the heart? The power of the Word or your own abilities? It’s not you who needs to convince others to believe in Christ, it’s the Word of God you speak that works in their hearts. Even if you stumble and ramble and walk away from the conversation knowing that you didn’t say everything right, the Word still works. Don’t underestimate the power of the Word! Give God’s Word a little credit! Stop relying on your own eloquence or lack of it, and stop thinking that improved conversational skills will somehow win people for Christ! The most articulate speaker in here will not win any more souls for the Lord than you will. Because polished presentations and rhetorical talent don’t produce faith. The Word does. Because only the Word can affect the heart.
And that goes for everything else we do as a congregation involving evangelism as well. A Bible study topic that we advertise may peak the intellectual interest of someone and prompt a person to step in the door, but only the Word will work in the heart. A program for children like VBS or Easter for Kids may motivate the parents to drop their kids off for a few hours, but only the Word will move their souls. A new church building may grab the attention of a handful of curious people, but only the Word will lead them to faith in their Savior and make them members of the True Church of All Believers. But somehow we keep getting caught up in the presentation, don’t we? We keep taking at least some of the credit away from the Word and placing it on how it is presented. What a terrible thing to do! What a wicked thing to do! To even suggest, to even subconsciously think that we need to contribute to the effectiveness of God’s Word! To think that with our persuasive way of speaking or our top-notch programs or the beauty of a new church we can give that boost to God’s Word that it needs is awful! We need not and we cannot do anything to add to the successfulness of the Word. The Word is what works. And it works alone.
And thank the Lord that you are living proof of that. The Lord worked faith in your hearts through the Word. Whether the Word worked in your hearts at baptism or the Word worked in your hearts as you heard and read it yourself, the Lord convinced you that he lived on this earth as you should have, died on the cross in your place, and rose from the dead as only God can so that your sins would be forgiven. You believe that. You fully trust that these things are true. That’s faith. And the only reason you have faith in these things is because the Word worked. It was powerful enough to break through our concrete hearts. It was forceful enough to persuade us that the illogical was absolutely right. It was compelling enough to give us hope in the things that we have not yet seen. The Word worked. And it worked alone. You were not convinced to believe in Christ by the persuasive words of a smooth talking Christian. You were not convinced to believe in Christ by a well-run church program. You were not convinced to believe in Christ by the outward beauty of a church building. You were convinced and your heart was captivated by the Word. And that Word is what keeps you here.
Why do you drive here every Sunday? Why do you go past church after church in this town and in others to come here? Why do you belong to a tiny congregation led by an inexperienced pastor, meeting in a storefront, and without enough money to support itself? You come here for the Word, don’t you? You know how important it is. You appreciate the truth and clarity and power of that Word and you don’t want anything but the Word without any strings attached. You keep coming back for the Word because the Word not only brought you into The Church of All Believers, it keeps all of us in that Church together. And we can see that very thing happen in the book of Acts
After that great day of Pentecost recorded for us in Acts 2, the believers there in Jerusalem “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.” The Word not only brought these Christians together, it kept them together. The Word worked unity and joy and comfort in those Christians. Although just 7 ½ before this event the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem, the crowds of Jerusalem and the Roman authorities of Jerusalem arrested, abused, and crucified Christ himself! And yet it was less than two months after that that these throngs of Christians were gathering around the Word - every day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, which is the Word, constantly. Why were these Christians putting their lives on the line? Because the Word works. It brought them together. It kept them together. And those Christians are still together now. And we will one day meet them there soon.
My good and my dear friends, my Christian coworkers who are here at Living Word because of the living Word, today you will be presented with multiple opportunities to spread this living Word. Today, on this special Evangelism Sunday, we will begin what will hopefully become a continuous and constant undertaking of this congregation. We will spread the Word. We will try to reach as many people as possible in as many ways as possible with that Word. Because the Word works. And yes, we will offer Bible study topics that may grab people’s attention. We will hand out quality advertising material to catch their eyes. We will introduce ourselves to others and let them know about what a friendly congregation we have. We may have a new church building in the near future to which we will invite them, we will hopefully couple that with a preschool in which many more will be interested, and we will continue to offer the different programs and opportunities for more and more people of this community to get involved with this particular group of believers. But none of those things is what we really offer. We offer the Word. And all of those secondary attempts to reach out to others are really attempts to bring people into contact with the Word. Because the Word is what works. And we want to do everything we can to have a chance to share that Word with others.
We have the Word. Do you realize how special and unique that is in this day and age? We have the organic Word, the all-natural Word. Nothing added, nothing subtracted, nothing changed. That’s exactly why each and every one of you is here today. And that Word is the only thing that will keep others here. People will not stay here for anything else. And if they do, they wouldn’t be staying here for the right reasons anyway. And we’ve got what they need. We’ve got the Word and we’ve got to spread it. We have to tell others, we have to invite others, we have to give everyone the chance to see and hear the Word for themselves. It is our duty as Christians. And it is our joy as Christians. I pray that you are moved by the Word to help this congregation spread it. And I am excited to see the Lord do his work through that Word we spread. Of course, it is possible that we may never see the results of those efforts in the growth of our congregation here. But we will see the results of those efforts in the heavenly congregation of eternity. Because that is our ultimate goal: that we see those people in heaven. But the only way they will see heaven themselves is if they first hear the Word. Let’s give them that Word. And let’s let that Word do it’s powerful and amazing work in their hearts just as it has done in ours.
Amen.

“May the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” - 2 Thess. 2:16-17