Mark 16:9-15
As humans, we tend to divide people into those we like and those we don’t like. But God’s attitude is quite different! Psalm 145:9 says, “The Lord is good to everyone! He showers compassion on ALL his creation!
There is a common story about a beach which was covered with stranded starfish, and one solitary boy who would bend over every so often and pick up one of the fish and toss it into the water, to give it a chance to live! A man came along and said why are you wasting your time with that one fish when there are countless thousands stranded here? What does one fish matter? The boy looked down at the one fish in his hand and said, “It matters to this one!”
Likewise, Jesus says in Luke 15:7, “There is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents!” He calls on us to be “fishers of men” – that is to seek out the lost on a one-to-one basis! We are not called to be daunted by the millions out there who are lost, but rather to do our bit in reaching out to them one at a time!
I once attended a meeting at the Sydney Town Hall, where Anglicans across Sydney were invited to meet their new archbishop! I have to admit that I was rather cynical about the whole deal, especially when the MC for the evening said, “If you’d like to ask the new archbishop a question, just grab a pen and paper and put your special question in this box for him!” I thought to myself, “What makes this man such an expert. I’m going to ask him the most difficult question I can, and let’s see how he deals with it! I put my question down on paper, and surprisingly, it was drawn out of the box and the archbishop addressed it! I had asked, “How can we Christians, who are relatively few in number, hope to reach the millions of people in Sydney with the Good News of Jesus?” the archbishop replied: “Every person living in Sydney probably knows at least one Christian – whether it be the local shopkeeper, the lady at the bus stop, the quiet bloke at work, or a student at our school or college.” If every one of these Christians sets a godly example, it’s possible that those around us may one day ask us a question, which gives us a chance to testify to our faith!”
The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Do I set a godly example to those around me, or do I just mimic the behaviour of the crowd?” We also need to ask, “Do I care about those around me, or do I just live for myself – doing what I want when I want?” The answers to these questions measure us against the most important command of Jesus: “GO into all the world and preach the good news to all creation!” This is Jesus one law of love in action! The most loving thing we can do for others is to share Jesus with them – both in words and in the way we live! What did Mary Magdalene and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus do, after they fully realised Jesus had risen from the dead?
The Apostle Paul took this command so seriously that in Acts 20:24 he said, “But life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about God’s almighty kindness and love!” If this is how a Christian must rate his/her life, how many of us would have to rate our lives as nothing? Can we truly say, “I brought such and such a person to Jesus,” or would we have to admit that we haven’t even tried! If we want to translate this opportunity into practice, we could ask, “How many people have I invited along to this church?” If your name is James, you have probably invited ten different people here since we started ten months ago! And many others here have brought people along! But if we are to remain a living church, we have to invite people all the time, because we’re already losing Annie to Queensland this week, we lost Ivan to Brazil recently and we shall lose Joseph and Christine back to Sweden later in the year! Every church loses people as they go to other states or countries, but every church that lives must grow! And every living church points people to Jesus! If I were to embarrass you by asking for a show of hands if you have invited someone along (and I won’t), could you raise your hand?
If we can’t bring ourselves to tell people about Jesus, we can SHOW them Jesus by the way we live! Pastor Doug Nichols was in an Indian hospital, and no-one wanted to hear him talk about Jesus. But one day when he helped a very sick man who was fouling his bed, to get to the toilet, people started to take notice, and then they began to ask him questions about Jesus!
WHY REACH OUT?
1. Each human soul is worth more than anything else in the world! Jesus actually says in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his own soul?”
2. Any soul who is lost is lost for eternity – separated from God forever! Do we wish this of our family and friends?
3. Jesus died for every person ever born! Why should anyone miss out on what He offers?
4. Heaven offers glories beyond our imagination. We would write, “Wish you were here!”
5. Jesus promises that when the Gospel reaches all nations and peoples, the end will come!
6. As we reach out to others, we GROW in the faith – even if we don’t know the results.
(The story of the old man who reached out in George St Sydney)
If we KNOW the Gospel, we can GO, SHOW, GROW!
WHAT CAN WE DO?
We can bring others to learn about Jesus, and hopefully give their lives to Him! Are you willing to do your bit by inviting someone you know to join us for a future service? Are you willing to stop mimicking the world’s behaviour and start reflecting Jesus in your life? Are you willing to be part of an outreach team in Kings Cross? Can you do one, or two, or even all three of these things?
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