Can I Get a Witness? - Sermon Transcript

A sermon preached by Rev. Mitchell Boone at First UMC, Dallas on September 8, 2024

In the spring of this past year, I was very lucky. I got several sets of tickets to the Dallas Mavericks playoff games, and I love going to the Mavericks games. They're some of my favorite things to attend in the city. The best news about these tickets was they were all free, so I didn't pay for a single one, which is good because it's like a car payment every time you go in there to buy food and drink. So, I was excited to save money to buy an extra hot dog. A friend met me at the church, so we didn't pay for parking. We walked from the church down to the arena in Victory Park. There's a vibe, a feeling in the air during playoff games. The crowds are bigger, and people are a little more excited. As we got closer and closer to the stadium, you could tell that it would be a good night and there would be more and more people. We're getting pretty close to the stadium at this point, and out of the corner of my eye, I see a man with a bullhorn and a sign harassing two mid-20-year-old women about what they were wearing and asking them questions about hell. I was a bit taken aback by it, so I walked over and asked the gentleman if this was his best attempt at sharing Christ's love with the world. Immediately, he turned his attention from those two women to me.

Today, we start a new series called “The E Word,” which is focused on evangelism and extending an invitation. I know that you may be uneasy because if you are like me, my initial response to evangelism makes me cringe because the word's loaded. It comes with a lot of baggage. Maybe you hear that word, and you think of past trauma that you experienced in church. Maybe you think of gentlemen like the guy with a bullhorn and a sign on a street corner. Maybe you think of how you've been treated by close friends and family. I understand that when we talk about evangelism, it can conjure up all sorts of feelings. The idea of preaching on evangelism makes me a little anxious. I don't like preaching on topics that make people uncomfortable, and I recognize that evangelism, just saying that word, brings with it a whole lot of stuff.

I also need to admit to you all that there have been times in my own life when I have been reluctant to share my faith. That may seem strange to you because I'm a preacher, but let's be honest, 95% of you in here, it's like preaching to the choir. There is always some hesitancy about sharing our faith, whether we are new to faith or we've been a part of the church for a long time, whether we are lay or clergy. There is a sense that sharing about our faith comes with a cost, and it can make us feel uneasy. I am a follower of Christ, and I try to do that faithfully. I believe the church is vital to our faith, but I don't want to be weird about it. You know what I mean? I don't want to be weird about it or insulting. I think most of us feel that same way. But here's the truth: regardless of how we feel about it, how we struggle with sharing our faith, the reluctance that we may have, the most important thing about being a disciple is not what happens here on Sunday morning. The most important thing about following Jesus Christ is not what happens here on Sunday morning; it's what happens outside these walls, week in and week out.

This series will be on evangelism, the struggles we have with it, and how we can begin to change our perspective. Sharing our faith with others, talking about the gospel, what it means to believe in Jesus Christ, and how we are impacted by God's grace is worthy of the next three weeks. It is a worthy endeavor that we will be journeying on together. In fact, the very last thing that Jesus says to his disciples is to go out and share their story. Our text this morning is in the book of Acts, which is written by the same author of Luke. Luke is focused on Christ's ministry, life, death, and resurrection. It is my favorite gospel. The book of Acts is focused on the church or the acts of the disciples. The huge theme in Luke and Acts is the passing of Christ's ministry on to the faithful, to the church. More specifically, Luke and Acts raise some questions. How does the work of God, which seems to be distilled down into the person of Jesus, the Incarnation, move from one person to a group of people? In fact, this theme is so important that the story of Jesus's ascension, the moment Jesus ascended into heaven, is written about twice, once in Luke and once in Acts. Both accounts lay out this question: what do we do now that Jesus is gone? If Jesus is gone, what's next?

Acts 1:4-11 (NRSVUE)

While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

I love the end of the text. We have two men in dazzling white clothes, whom we can assume are angels, showing up to troll the disciples. That's what they're doing, asking them, “What are you looking at?” “Obviously, Jesus was here, and then he started floating up into the clouds, and we're trying to figure some stuff out.” They show up and ask, “Well, what are you looking for? Jesus will come back, but until then, you have work to do.” Here are the disciples who must be emotionally, physically, and spiritually exhausted, left once again without Jesus to guide them. We will read about the Holy Spirit and the Pentecost story in the next chapter, but for a moment, let's bask in the awkwardness and anxiety of this chapter. Jesus has been raised from the dead. The disciples’ fear, which had become sorrow and then unexpected joy, is now left with uncertainty. Here, we realize that God's story was never intended to be private, a story for just a few lucky ones in a sea of misery and pain. No, Jesus tells them they are the ones to go and tell the story of what they've seen. Go and tell the world the good news. I can't help but feel their hesitancy because, like I've said, I felt it, too.

I know what it's like to follow Christ but not talk about Christ. College was that way for me. I went to Hendricks College. While it was a Methodist school, it was fiercely secular in its approach. Also, nine out of 10 times when I'm on an airplane and someone asks me what I do for a living, I tell them I work in the nonprofit space so I can keep my headphones on and just play Candy Crush or something. For a long time, it was easy for me to let moments where it was clearly appropriate for me to share about my faith sail on by. You know what it's like to feel uneasy about sharing what Jesus means to us. The disciples are left there being dunked on by angels, and we can see ourselves in the story. Some of us have a real fear of sharing our faith. While it certainly isn't on the same level as the disciples who watched their Messiah, their friend, their savior be executed by the state, or those who live in countries where practicing Christianity is something that can end up with serious consequences, we still have legitimate fears when we are talking about something so personal and something so real. I understand how that fear can produce anxiety.

Some of us may also feel inadequate when talking about what it means to follow Jesus. We aren't theologians. We're not biblical scholars. We aren't preachers. We don't teach Sunday school classes. We don't have a degree from seminary. Because we lack confidence in what we say, we choose to say nothing. Or, maybe we think religion is a personal thing, and we don't talk about it. We don't talk about it because we genuinely want to respect others and give people space. Look, if they want the church, they can find it. There are plenty in Dallas, Texas. Why is it our role to push our religion onto others? We have legitimate reasons not to share our faith with others. The last thing I want to do is be lumped in with that street preacher who seems obsessed with harassing women.

By the way, once he locked eyes with me and turned his gaze towards me, he asked me a series of questions. Finally, I had to say, “Hey, dude, I'm a preacher. I know some of this stuff.” He said, “Well, what church?” and I proudly said, “I am the senior minister of First United Methodist Church of Dallas.” He said, “False prophet right there!” That's what he said to me, I swear. “False prophet! Wolf in sheep's clothing!” He yelled that at me all the way to the entrance, so it felt like I had my own hype man, but in a different way. He followed me at least two blocks.

The problem is very simple. We have - in our attempts to be civil, peaceful, and respectful, or because of our own fear and insecurity - lost our evangelical chops. We have ceded the high ground. We have left the public square to those whose theology does harm, whose approach is unloving, and who, by default, give a view of God that isn't biblical and drives people away from the church. For every person this evangelistic approach wins for Christ, a hundred people have moved farther away from knowing God's love. Friends, this is becoming a serious issue because fewer people attend church, but it isn't because folks are overwhelmingly opposed to church.

In 2021, right in the midst of the pandemic, a lot of people were asking questions about church. It was a hard time for many different organizations and institutions, and the church was one of those. How do you do church during a pandemic? The vast majority of us had no idea. It was a prime opportunity for researchers to do a lot of surveys. Pew Research (one of my favorites), Barna, and Lifeway - they were all putting surveys out into the field, wanting to know how people were dealing with the pandemic itself, how they were liking online worship, and what their spiritual practices looked like. In the midst of this research, one survey found that 74% of individuals would attend church if someone just invited them.

This leads us back to the last thing Jesus tells his disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” Jesus is taking his own ministry and handing it to the disciples. All Jesus wants from us - his disciples - is to be a witness, not an expert, certainly not a Messiah, just a witness, someone who shares what they have seen and experienced. That's it. We, as disciples, are to become the storytellers. The book of Acts is predicated on this last command Christ gives his disciples to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth and tell the story of Jesus to people. That's it.

Next week, we will talk about this in depth - what makes for a good story and how to extend that invitation. Here, this morning, I want us to simply practice. No, I won't ask you to talk to your neighbor about your faith, but I do have a little exercise for us. I know everyone's getting nervous. It's okay. I promise. The story of Christ and how God is at work in our lives is like a tapestry or mosaic. We all have our own experiences with Jesus. We all have stories of God's grace showing up in our lives. We all have that moment where it clicks and makes sense. Those are individual stories, but the beautiful thing about being part of a congregation is that we get to bring all those stories together and try to make sense of them, to try to show the world something beautiful by the stories that we hold, by the experiences that we've had with God.

We all have stories, and the great thing is that our stories come together here at FirstChurch, where we commit ourselves to creating spaces for belonging, purpose, justice, and joy. We have unique experiences as members of this church, and we all have something about this church that we love. Otherwise, you probably wouldn't be here. It's like when people ask me, “Why are you a United Methodist?” I say, “Because I believe it's the best theology.” If I thought another denomination had better theology, I would have an obligation to be a minister in that denomination. We're here because we believe that there is something special and unique about First United Methodist Church of Dallas. Maybe it's a Sunday school class that is taking care of us in moments of grief, pain, and loss. Maybe it's an experience we've had with the Music and Arts department, where we have felt connected to God in ways that no preacher's sermon has ever produced. Maybe we found a way to connect our faith to justice work. Maybe this place holds significant meaning because so much of our lives have happened here. We all have a reason for being in this space. If you have a reason or a story about First United Methodist Church of Dallas, I want you to stand up right now. Don't look at me; look around at each other. It's pretty cool. You can sit down. For those who stood up, which was most of us, we have a story to share.

Reclaiming evangelism from the depths of bad theology is very simple, and it starts by being a witness to what God has done in our lives. It doesn't mean we have to tell people they're wrong, they're going to hell, or what they believe is out of touch. It doesn't mean we have to be pushy, manipulate folks, or try to convince them when they seem a little standoffish. All we are called to do as followers of Jesus Christ is tell the story and share good news. Friends, we're aware the world is a hurting and broken place. There are people on your street, in your neighborhood, at your work, in your schools - from people you know from when you were a kid to that new friend you have just made - who need healing, who need to know about God's love and grace. We all know people who would love to sit in the pew right next to us. We all do. The challenge is how we create that bridge. How do we invite folks to join us? It's not that complicated. We find a way to share our story, and in doing so, we reclaim what has been lost. We step into the public square with an alternative witness to how many people view the church. The good news is that the Holy Spirit will be with us. We don't have to be perfect. We don't have to have all the answers. All we have to do is tell our story because we have good news, and we believe this good news is for everyone. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.