This sermon was preached at Wesley United Methodist Church on Sunday, June 18, 2023. In the video below, the sermon begins at 43:40.

Romans 10:1-15

Preach the Gospel at all Times…

You are a preacher. You are a priest. You preach through your life and how you live. You represent God to the world in your actions, thoughts, attitudes, and how you treat others. We remember that St. Francis once said something like this: “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.” And so the past couple Sundays, we’ve been hearing about how we should preach the Gospel with our lives. I called this the ethos of preaching. Ethos as you will remember means trust. We must gain people’s trust and earn the right to speak into their lives. People won’t listen to us unless they know that we are trustworthy, reliable, and faithful people. That is ethos. And so we preach with our lives, as Paul said, “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your logical/reasonable worship” (Rom 12:1). And so, we can preach the Gospel at all times through our lives, because actions speak louder than words.

…If Necessary, Use Words

But the end of St. Francis’ quote doesn’t let us off the hook with simply being nice people who get along with others and build relationships with people. That is good and necessary, but the last part says, “if (it is) necessary, use words (in preaching the Gospel).”

Sometimes it is necessary to use words. People can’t come to Jesus simply by having a relationship with us. And people can’t come to Jesus just by watching a beautiful sunset or sunrise. People can’t know that Jesus loved us by dying on a cross for our sins and that God raised him from the dead and defeated sin, death, and the devil just by observing the beauty of creation or simply by knowing that Christians are nice people who can be trusted.

It is absolutely essential and vital that we practice what we preach, that we model and live out what we believe, but that alone won’t bring God’s salvation through Christ to the world. We read in the Book of Acts that the apostles and early church had integrity and were faithful to God and lived what they believed. But they did more than that, because when the rubber hit the road, they actually proclaimed their faith as well.

Sometimes it is necessary that we use our words. And the apostles used their words a lot when evangelizing the Roman world during the first century. They proclaimed the Gospel. And so, this morning we’re going to talk about actually sharing our faith; using words to preach the Gospel to people, because sometimes it is absolutely necessary that we do so.

The Logos of Preaching

And this is called logos, the logos of preaching. Logos is a Greek word that means a number of things. It means “logic.” It means “word.” It means “speech” or “speaking.” You know that famous phrase: “It’s not what you say but how you say it.” Well, the logos of preaching has to do with what we are saying, not so much how we are saying it. Logos is the message that we preach. That is logos, our message, which is the Gospel.

So, the question, then, must be asked: what, then, is the Gospel? What is the Christian message? That sounds like a no brainer. We are Christians. We know what the Gospel is. But do we? Do we really have a good grasp of what the Gospel is and means?

What Is the Gospel?

If you look around pop-Christian culture today or turn on the Televangelists, you will find a number of things that pose as the Gospel. Some say that the Gospel is mental positivity. Others preach a Prosperity Gospel, that if you come to Jesus and pay the Televangelist, that you will become rich in this life and prosper with material wealth. Others preach that the Gospel is actually bad news. They start and finish with, “You are a sinner and you’re going to burn in Hell forever.” Friends, that’s not good news. That’s bad news. That’s no Gospel at all. That’s fire and brimstone. But that’s not the Gospel. Others preach that the Gospel is receiving the Holy Spirit and they say that only those who have spoken in tongues or other languages are the true Christians and the only ones who have the Holy Spirit. Still some say that the Gospel is forgiveness and that the whole of the Christian message is that Jesus died on a cross to forgive your sins. And still others say that the Gospel is that Jesus loves you, and that proclaiming the love of God is the Gospel.

But friends, some of those things are part of the Gospel, and some of them aren’t the Gospel at all. Positivity is not the Gospel, but positivity is still good. The Prosperity Gospel is not the Gospel, though God can use wealth for good. The fire and brimstone message is not the Gospel, but Hell is real and is an important historic Christian belief, but it’s not the Gospel. The message that only true Christians speak in tongues by the Holy Spirit is no Gospel, though Paul says that we should not prevent speaking in tongues and he also says that if you are a Christian, that you indeed have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you regardless of whether you speak in tongues. The message of forgiveness and the cross of Christ is certainly part of the Gospel message, but it’s not the whole message. And the message that Jesus loves you is again certainly part of the Gospel message, but it’s not the whole story.

All of what is out there today in pop-Christianity is missing one key thing, and it’s not just a key thing, because Paul calls it the most important thing, and that is the resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel message is summarized as the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. We’re so good at being Good Friday Christians, but friends, if we are going to preach the Gospel according to the NT Christians and apostles, we need to become Easter Sunday Christians, because while they indeed proclaimed the forgiveness and mercy and grace of Jesus’ cross and Christ’s death, the early church focused far more on the resurrection of Jesus.

Why? Because as Paul says in 1 Cor 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” Translation: the cross means nothing without the resurrection. Christ’s death did nothing unless he rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the most essential Christian belief and in fact, it is what is found most on the mouths of the apostles in the Book of Acts as they proclaimed the Gospel throughout the whole Roman empire 2,000 years ago.

Acts 2:24 – “But God raised him from the dead.”

Acts 2:32 – “God raised this Jesus to life.”

Acts 3:13 – “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.”

Acts 3:15 – “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.”

Acts 3:26 – “God raised up his servant.”

Acts 4:2 – “the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.”

Acts 4:10 – “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.”

Acts 4:33 – “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

Acts 5:29-30, 32 – “We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree…We are witnesses of these things.”

Acts 10:39-41 – “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

And the list goes on. Paul summarized his Gospel in 2 Tim 2:8: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.” Does it say remember Jesus Christ, crucified on a cross? No. Jesus Christ, who told everyone they were going to Hell? No. Jesus Christ, who loved you? No. What is the Gospel? Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.

Romans 10 summarizes it too: “that if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). Does it say, “that if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus loves you,’ and believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross for your sins,” that you will be saved? No. But that Jesus is Lord and that God resurrected him. That is the Gospel, and we are called to preach it.

The Gospel is that Jesus was raised from the dead, resurrected and received a new, glorified, transformed body on Easter And his resurrection is a promise and foretaste of our resurrection that is promised for us who follow Christ. That is good news. The focus is on the positive, the good: Christ defeated death and we will never die even though we may die.

I’ve shared this before, but my favorite Bible verse says, “And God raised the Lord and he will also raise us by his power” (1 Cor 6:14). If we leave off the resurrection of Jesus, then we are preaching no good news at all, no Gospel at all. The logos of preaching for us as Christian preachers, our message, God’s message, the message of the Gospel is that Christ’s resurrection points forward to our resurrection, and our resurrection happens when Christ comes again in glory from heaven to earth. When we take communion each month, our liturgy says, “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” That is the Gospel in a nutshell. The cross, the resurrection, and the return of Jesus the Messiah. That is the Gospel. That is the “what” of our preaching; that is the logos of our preaching.

The Recap

So, to recap the past couple weeks, first, we earn people’s trust so that we can share the Gospel message with them. That is called ethos. Then, when we have built trust, then and only then, can we share the message of the Gospel with them. That is called logos.

Courage to Share

So what does this all mean for us? Well, first of all, it means that it is going to take courage for sure to share the Gospel. It can be scary to share your faith. What if we are rejected? That’s no fun. But we’re called to be faithful, regardless of the outcome and regardless of what happens to us as the result. And being faithful will sometimes call us out of our comfort zones. So, we need courage and faith.

Because at some point, we have to share the Gospel message with others. We have to “Go tell it on the mountains…over the hills and everywhere.” Because eventually, it becomes necessary to use words.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Rom 10:14-15).

And So?

Translation: people can’t know Jesus from a beautiful sunset or from Christians being nice to them and showing them kindness and love. Those actions are important and they backup what you say, but if you never get around to saying it, then you may have missed your opportunity.

Don’t Always Be Closing

Now in business sales, there is an acronym: ABC. It means “always be closing.” Always be closing the sale. Get the sale. Get paid. Make the deal. But the church isn’t a business. God’s kingdom isn’t about making the sale. So, for us, we don’t always have to be closing. It’s okay to not always be trying to convert people in every conversation that you have with people that you know aren’t Christians. Some people aren’t ready. Some people are questioning and thinking about things. And that’s okay. We shouldn’t be like pushy, annoying salesmen who try so hard to get us to buy something right now. That’s not the biblical model of preaching the Gospel and getting people saved and making disciples. It doesn’t work that way. These things take time. It’s okay not to mention Jesus in every conversation, because doing so might actually turn the people off that you’re trying to reach and influence. But sometimes, we do need to speak the truth, to speak the Gospel. Sometimes people are ready, and they’re just waiting for us to share.

We are sent by the Lord to bring good news to people. When the time is right, when they are ready, and when we have done the hard work of building a real, genuine relationship with others, then we can tell them of our Savior’s love; then we can tell them of his suffering and glory, of his cross and empty tomb, of his death and resurrection; then we can bring the good news that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

An Example

I want to share a brief story about a girl in our youth group from years ago. She was an MK, a missionary kid, and she was really struggling with her faith. Her parents were missionaries in Asia, and they were back in the States on furlough while Paige and I were youth pastors at their home church. For two years, we poured into her, but she really didn’t want to hear the Gospel. She had lots of questions about God and the Bible, and the answers that we gave and others gave just wasn’t satisfying for her. But we kept on loving her no matter what. Eventually, she and her family went back to Asia, and about three years later, we heard from her that she had given her life to Christ and was serving him with her life. Since then, she has grown so much in her faith, and now her and her husband have a wonderful family and they are following Christ.

During those two years, we didn’t see any immediate results from our faithfulness to loving her as Jesus does or preaching the Gospel to her. But I think we were sowing seeds. Maybe someone else planted and someone else watered, but God made it grow. We did our part and were faithful, and God did his part, and she did her part of struggling and pressing through even though she had doubts. And now, she is a strong Christian woman who loves Jesus, and we are grateful that we were able to play a small part in her journey to becoming Jesus’ disciple.

Application

So, as I close this morning, I want you to think of one person in your life—just one—whom you know does not know Jesus. I want you to pray and ask God how you can reach out to them this week. How can you build trust with them? How can you help your relationship with them? What’s one thing that you can do this week to build some ethos? And then, I want you to pray and ask God to open a door for you to share with them the Gospel. Ask him for courage. Ask him for wisdom to know when the time is right. And if that person still isn’t ready, let them know that it’s ok, that they can take their time, and that you will be there for them no matter what. Pray for them. Paul in Romans 10 prayed for the Israelites to be saved. You pray for your friends and family and even strangers or acquaintances to be saved and know the Lord as well.

And one final note. Reaching out to people isn’t about us. It isn’t about our church. It isn’t about getting more members here and growing our numbers, because that supposedly looks good and means success. Reaching out to people with the Gospel is about the kingdom of God. It’s about eternity and eternal life, because we aren’t here for very long. Most of our lives will be spent in eternity. It’s not about us. It’s much larger than that.

And I’m convinced that if we are a church about God’s kingdom and not our own kingdom, that growth in members and growth in numbers will happen, because we will be a place that’s about God and not about ourselves. People will want to come and be a part of our church if we are about God and his kingdom work.

So take this step of faith this week. It’s a selfless thing. It’s not about you. It’s not about this church. It’s not about becoming a United Methodist. It’s not about our denomination. It’s about becoming a Christian. It’s about becoming a disciple. It’s about following Jesus. And it’s about making more disciples. Let’s ask God how he can use us to make disciples here in Canton and in our lives here in our community. Let’s pray.

Prayer

Lord, who is that one person? How can we reach out? How can you use us? We pray for them, for their hearts and minds to be ready. We pray for us, for wisdom and guidance and patience and love and the words, your words, to share. Take us. Use us. Empty us of ourselves. Fill us with the love of Christ. May Christ’s love compel us to share the Gospel with those around us. Who is that person that you are calling us to disciple? Show us the way to become all things to all people so that by all possible means we may save some. Send us, Lord. Use us. Bring people into your kingdom through us. Help us be faithful. As we lift us Christ, may you draw all people to yourself. In Jesus’ name, Amen.