This sermon was preached at Wesley United Methodist Church on Sunday, June 4, 2023. Due to technical difficulties, the video below only captured part of the sermon.

1 John 3:16-20

“Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” These are the famous words of St. Francis of Assisi. I really like St. Francis. He was a bit of an odd fellow. He truly did preach the Gospel at all times. He even preached to the birds…and to the bees, to the animals and the trees. He preached to all of creation, not just to people. And I really like his view on preaching: “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” I love that.

And so, on this Trinity Sunday, we are reminded in the Great Commission in Matt 28:18 to go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus commissions his disciples to preach the Gospel at all times to all nations in all places and spaces throughout the globe in order to make disciples of Jesus everywhere. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt 24:14). So as Jesus’ disciples, we are commissioned, me and you to accomplish this task. Preach the Gospel to the whole world. Make disciples of all the nations.

This Great Commission has always left me with a question: how? How are we to do this? This is such a big task. How should we make disciples of all nations? How should we preach the Gospel? And that’s precisely what we are going to be looking at for the next several weeks in June. We’re going to tackle the question: How should we preach the Gospel?

The Great Commission

Well, for starters, the Great Commission in Matthew 28 already gives us part of the answer. Number one: “by baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (28:19). There is the Trinity. One of those special passages in the NT where we get all three persons of the Trinity in one place. Those are important passages of Scripture. And then there is number two: “by teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (28:20).

How should we preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations? First of all, it’s going to require baptizing people and teaching them what Jesus taught. That sounds simple enough. Call people to repent and turn to Christ to save them from sin and sin’s punishment which is death and then baptize them. Then train and equip them in Jesus’ teachings to live their lives for Christ. Badda bing. Badda boom. That’s all that’s required? Really?

You Are a Preacher

Well, it requires something else from us too. And that’s the key word here, “us.” The question we are asking and exploring is “How should we preach the Gospel?” You might be saying to yourselves, “Did you just say we?” Yes, I did: how should we preach the Gospel?

“Umm, preacher, don’t you know that you’re the preacher and we’re the audience? That’s your job. That’s what we pay you for. Our job is to say Amen and pat you on the back when you preach a good sermon and tell you when you preach a bad sermon. You’re the preacher, not us.”

[buzzer noise] Wrong. Go straight to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. I’m sending you to the clink for that.

The first thing that we need to realize is that Jesus commissioned all of his disciples. If you are a Christian, this is your This is your responsibility. You are called to make disciples. You are called to preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words. Not just me. Not just Shalom. Not just Erica. Not just Renee. Not just Jendy. Not just Peggy. Not just our church’s pastors and staff. You! We are the lead equippers. Yes, we are called to preach too, but as the leaders in this church we are tasked with equipping and training all of you to spread the message of Christ. So, it is not just me and Shalom and the rest of the staff who are called to do this, but you!

You are a preacher, my friend. I’m going to say it again: you are a preacher. I think it will help if we all say it together. I need to hear you say together, “I am a preacher.” What was that? We can do better. With enthusiasm! “I am a preacher!” “He is a preacher.” “She is a preacher.” “We are preachers.” “I am a preacher.”

Whether you like it or not, I am not the only preacher in the building here this morning, Each and every one of us here is indeed a preacher, a preacher of something to someone somewhere.

Now the question is: what are you preaching and how are you preaching it?

Preaching with Our Lives

Now not everyone wants my job. Some of you, I know, are scared to death of public speaking and getting up in front of people and talking about anything, let alone talking about your faith in Jesus. Some people have that gift for public speaking. Some people don’t. But that’s not exactly what I’m talking about here. I’m not talking about what I’m doing right now as preaching. Not all of us are called to preach sermons on Sunday mornings to Christian congregations.

And that’s good. But what I’m talking about is the fact that we all preach all the time at every moment whether we know it or not, because actions speak louder than words.

That’s what our Scripture for this morning instructs us about. 1 John 3:18 tells us to love not simply through words and what we say, but to love others through what we do, through our actions. It says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Translation: words simply are not enough. It’s not enough to say things, to say the right words to the right people at the right time. But we have to practice what we preach. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And that is preaching. That is how you are a preacher; showing people how much you care. That is where we have to start.

Words aren’t enough. The Epistle of James says we must be doers of the word. Don’t simply hear the word and forget it. Don’t simply just know it. Don’t simply just say it. You must be doers of the word.

You’ve heard the famous phrase, probably from your parents: “Do as I say, not as I do.” My friends, that is exactly what is wrong with churches today. It is no secret that the number one reason that atheists and agnostics give for not believing in Jesus is the hypocrisy of Christians. So often, Christians say and believe one thing, but do another. “Do as I say, not as I do…oh and if you don’t, then you’re going to burn in Hell forever.” That’s a common message preached through Christian lives today.

My favorite comedy TV show is The Office. On that show, one of the characters is a Christian lady who is an absolute hypocrite. Her name is Angela. She is harsh. Mean. Angry. A bully. Stuck up. And she is the head of the party planning committee. She coordinates and puts together the office parties that they have on special occasions like Christmas or people’s birthdays. So during one of their Christmas parties, someone else in the office actually stands up to Angela and creates a competing Christmas party that meets at the same time but in a different place than hers. So there are two parties happening at the same time and people have to decide which party they are going to go to. As people are picking, Angela says to one of her coworkers, “Meredith, if you don’t come to my party, you will be very sorry.” Meredith asks, “Is that a threat?” And Angela with a smile on her face says, “No, that’s an invitation.”

Do as I Say and Do as I Do

My friends, that is exactly what needs to change in churches today. The world has heard us for centuries hypocritically say with our lives and actions, “Do as I say, not as I do…and if you don’t you’re going to burn in Hell.”

Our motto must change. Our lives, attitudes, and actions need to speak louder than our words. They need to say: “Do as I say and do as I do.” And that is precisely what our Scripture this morning says: “let us not love with words and tongue, but with action and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Now that’s not to say that we have to be perfect in every aspect of our lives. No one is perfect or even close to it. So, don’t hear We need to be shaped into the image of Christ and live as he lived, with love for God and love for the people around him.

Walk the Walk

So let your life speak. Let the way you live do the talking. Don’t just talk the talk. Walk the walk. Don’t be an Angela. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t preach with your lives a message of, “You better become a Christian or you’ll be very sorry.” Don’t let that be your invitation for people in your life to become a Christian. Don’t let that be how you preach the Gospel.

Remember that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Not rudeness. Not harshness. Not a mean, judgmental spirit. But it is God’s kindness that brings us to repent and be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and then to obey all that Jesus commanded us.

We’ve got to love people into God’s kingdom and into becoming disciples of Jesus. We’ve got to kill them with kindness, because it’s not just what you say, but…how you say it.

I saw a meme on Facebook awhile back that said something like, “Sometimes the best evangelism is simply telling people you’re a Christian and then not being a complete jerk.”

Friends, you are preachers. You all preach to more people than I do every week. You are preaching with your life all the time everywhere you go. So, the question is, “What are you preaching and how are you preaching it? Does your life, your attitude, your actions, and how you treat others show that you care? Does your life, your attitude, your actions, and how you treat others proclaim the death and resurrection of our Savior?

You are a preacher. Are you preaching the Gospel? If not, how can you start to share the message of God’s love and kindness through your life? Are you preaching the Gospel? If so, how are you preaching it? Let’s pray.