Joy to the World...in August

Joy to the world...in August? Yes, even in August. Actually the famous Christmas carol is about the coming of Christ into men's hearts. The first line of the song refers to the earth receiving her King. The "earth" is the good soil in Jesus' parable of the seed and the soils (Matthew 13:18-23, Mark 4:13-20, Luke 8:11-15). The second line supports this..."Let every heart prepare Him room..."

The question is this; So why do spend so much time, effort, and money trying to get people to come to church rather than taking Jesus out to them? I guess the idea is that if they come to church they will find Jesus in the same way the shepherds and wise men came to the barn and found Him. The problem with that is that very few actually did that. I think one of the problems we have is that we have gotten into the habit of introducing people to the wife rather than the Husband; the bride rather than the Bridegroom; the church rather than the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords.

The first command God gave to man was in Genesis, "...Be fruitful and multiply..." And man has been very obedient to that command. The last command that the Lord gave to us is, "...And make disciples of all people groups..." The followers of Christ have not been as obedient to the last command as everyone else has to the first.

Sometimes we make the excuse of ignorance; "I don't know what to say to someone who is lost..." Or we will blame the lack of resources; "Our church can't afford the bells and whistles that attract lost people," or we blame our schedules, "I have a regular job, a family to support...I can't be running off to China or Africa...I don't have the gift of evangelism," (actually, the gift of evangelism is given to a person who then equips the saints to evangelize, Ephesians 4:11-12).

But if you have the Holy Spirit of God living in you by faith in Jesus Christ, you have everything you need to share Christ with others. Jesus said that He would give you words to say "...at that time..." (Matthew 10:19, Mark 13:11, Luke 21:13-15). And if it is a "word" that you are to share, what does that cost? In the Great Commission, Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus said "As you go, make disciples..." The command is not go, the command is make disciples! This means that wherever you go, as you go, make friends with people, share your joy, your hope, your faith, your Lord with them, knowing that Christ Jesus Himself is with you, for you to share Him with others.

Try this; keep a list of two or three people who need the Lord and pray for them every day. As you go about your daily routine, look for and pray for opportunities to engage someone in a conversation. This is how you make friends. Ask questions and listen (this is what Jesus did, Luke 2:46); ask about their family, friends, their food, their festivals, their future. Be upfront and unashamed from the start to let them know about yourself; your faith, your family and church family friends, your future. Before long they will have a prayer request, probably about their family or future. Blessing them with prayer and loving interest will go a long way to giving you the opportunity to have a spiritual conversation about the need they have and how Jesus Christ can meet their need by being their Savior and Lord. Before long, they will be following you to church, but they will be more interested in you and the Lord Jesus you have been sharing rather than your other friends and church.

If we would just focus on what the Lord told us to do, make disciples, rather than going to church, starting new ones (most of our church planting is actually church "service" planting, centering upon style and music), and being passive with or guilt ridden over believing the lie that we can't do this, then I believe we would be seeing and singing Joy to the world, the Lord has come... more. We don't know the condition of the soil but we do know the power of the Seed...we can't make the seed grow, but it will never grow until it gets scattered! Let's scatter more seed!