How Saints Evangelize
Good Morning Friends,
I was listening to a couple of Pope Francis’ Homilies this week and the blending of two of them caught my attention. They are interesting in many regards but in a special way because there is another Pope humbly looking over his shoulder, decreasing so that the other might increase. The homilies were about bureaucratic obstacles, saints and evangelism. The dynamic is instructive for Catholics but for Protestants as well. With this in mind today we explore the power of How Saints Evangelize.
Scripture: Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jude 1:1-3 (KJV)
From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Ephesians 4:16 (NIV)
I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
Psalm 16:3 (NIV)
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:19 (NRSV)
Message: Many people immediately assume that the new of new evangelization means we should use new media. New media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. are certainly essential to evangelization today, but John Paul II called for a new evangelization over a decade before online social networking was even possible. What John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis call for is an evangelization to those who have already been baptized. The call to the new evangelization is a call for the baptized members of the Church to deepen their faith and reach out to other Christians in deep need of a new encounter with Christ. This is not just limited to Catholics. Two years ago Pope Benedict XVI canonized seven new saints and prayed that their intercession may “strengthen and sustain” the Church “in her mission to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world.” With the recent canonization of two well-known Popes it has become clear to me that Protestants need to stop conveying that the church is there to fix others problems and get back to the saint-making business. We have gotten side tracked into the solution business. And if we enter the human-potential business, focused on empowerment alone we’ve lost our calling. Pope Francis in two homilies this week reflected on the three elements necessary for an effective evangelization, saying it requires docility, dialogue with people and trusting in the grace of God which is more important than bureaucracy. He pointed out that the Lord chooses certain people so that holiness can be better seen, to show that it is He who sanctifies. That is true evangelism. Here are seven quotes of well-known people of faith on the subject:
“The primary work of churches is to make saints.”
-Eugene Peterson
“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you’re not saved yourself, be sure of that!”
-Charles H. Spurgeon
“If you alter or obscure the Biblical portrait of God in order to attract converts, you don’t get converts to God, you get converts to an illusion. This is not evangelism, but deception.”
-John Piper
“Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“I believe that entertainment and amusements are the work of the Enemy to keep dying men from knowing they’re dying; and to keep enemies of God from remembering that they’re enemies.”
-A. W. Tozer
“Radical obedience to Christ is not easy… It’s not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things. But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ. And he is more than enough for us.”
-David Platt
“We need to avoid the spiritual sickness of a church that is wrapped up in its own world: when a church becomes like this, it grows sick. It is true that going out on to the street implies the risk of accidents happening, as they would to any ordinary man or woman. But if the church stays wrapped up in itself, it will age. And if I had to choose between a wounded church that goes out on to the streets and a sick, withdrawn church, I would definitely choose the first one.”
-Pope Francis
Pray our efforts to evangelize will bear more fruit together than what we do individually. Pray we share a common vision of being the body of Christ together. Pray, our efforts are grounded in our prayers of intercession to God and in our love for each other, not just in seeking the next best solution.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 