Sermon at the Commissioning of a Lay Evangelist

Text: 1 John 3.11-20

  Sue, I have to say we chose this passage for this service before we knew this would be your commissioning!  And I was tempted to change it, because after all it tells us not to love with words or tongue, and you might think that words and tongues are pretty important for an evangelist.  But I’ve kept it, because although it might not tell you what to do as an evangelist, it does tell you what sort of person to be.  And the structure of the passage is pretty simple, really:  verses 11-15 say don’t be the kind of evangelist Cain was, verses 16-18 say be the kind of evangelist Jesus was, and verses 19-20 say “rest”!

Cain, the death-bringer

You know the story – Cain brought God a sacrifice, and God didn’t like it.  We’re not  told why God didn’t like it, but he didn’t.   Whereas God, for some reason, did like Abel’s sacrifice.  So Cain killed him.  It was the world’s first murder.

Cain was the opposite of the evangelist you’re called to be.  Why?

Because Cain was a death-bringer, and evangelists are life-bringers.

Because Cain couldn’t accept that God would be more pleased with Abel, than with him and evangelists are people who forget themselves in the desire that others will find God’s favour.

Because Cain was an individualist, and evangelists work in teams.  Yes, seriously, that the point of verse 14 – we’re part of a team, and if someone else in the team is doing better than we are we’re going to be glad. 

And of course – for anyone eavesdropping who isn’t Sue – this is true for her because it’s true for all of us.  We’re all called to be life-bringers who forget ourselves in the desire that others be favoured by God, team-players who want others’ promotion.  If someone’s more junior than us, we’re going to be pulling them up and hoping they overtake us.  If someone’s more senior than us, we’re going to be pushing them up and rejoicing in what God’s doing in their lives.  Because we’re not like Cain.  But some people are.  Verse 15 says it’s possible to be a death-bringer like Cain without actually killing someone.   If you treat someone with contempt, you’re acting like Cain.  If you treat someone as if they were less valuable than you, you’re acting like Cain.  If you try to exclude someone from the church, that’s Cainish.  Or if you don’t actively do any of those things but you isolate yourself from your fellow-Christians or even your fellow-human beings, because they don’t live up to your standards, you are a death-bringer. 

 Jesus, the life-bringer

 So it’s a relief to turn from Cain to Jesus.  This is how we know what real love is, says John: real love will look like Jesus’ love.  So real love does include words, because Jesus spoke.  Francis of Assisi may have believed we can preach the Gospel without words, but I’m afraid he was wrong on that one: if you do good deeds without telling people that the good deeds flow out of your relationship with Jesus, all that will happen is that you will get the credit instead of Jesus, which is intolerable to God and definitely not preaching the Gospel in any sense.

 So being an evangelist – or being a Christian - does involve words, but John’s point here is that it mustn’t only involve words.  Not just words or tongue, but also actions and truth.  Because Jesus loved not only in word, but also in action.  And it makes no sense to be people like the ones referred to in verse 17 who have words that demonstrate Jesus’ love without actions that demonstrate Jesus’ love.  We have a word for people like that.  And it isn’t evangelist.  It’s hypocrite.

 My favourite word at the moment is “kavanah”, a Hebrew word that can be translated “integrity” or “consistency”.  When our words and deeds and inner emotions and theology and strength perfectly cohere, we have kavanah.  Words and actions, body and spirit, al intertwined: present your bodies, says Paul in Romans 12, that’s spiritual worship.  That’s why a first-century Jew (and many Jews today) would begin his or her prayers by saying the shema to himself or herself: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One – so he’s not divided or inconsistent.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart – that is, with your intellect and emotions – and with all your soul – that is, with your inner life breath, with the person you are when no one’s looking – and with all your strength – literally your “muchness”, your busy-ness, your words and deeds and achievements.”   “Let my inside match my outside, and let both show love to you.”  It was a way of bringing the strands of the person praying together.   And Jesus had perfect kavanah: he acted in perfect consistency to his words – even when it came to talking about sacrificial love.  He didn’t tell us to do anything he wasn’t willing to do himself.  Be like Jesus, says John.  Tough call, being an evangelist.  Or a Christian. 

Good news for evangelists

 So I’m not surprised that after delivering a pretty challenging call, John ends our passage today with something a bit more encouraging.  Your heart is likely condemn you at various times, he says.  I suspect evangelists feel this more than most: if only I’d done that differently, said that differently, been more effective, given more time… But God is greater than your heart, so set your heart at rest in his presence.  I may not be successful, but Lord, I love you with words and deeds.  Let me rest in your presence.   The amount of resting in the presence of God you do will probably largely determine the quality of your ministry.  Sue, we need your words.  We need your deeds.  But mainly we just need you to be you, resting your heart in the presence of God being God.  Amen.