John 4:34-42
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
We are finishing up the series on our core values as part of our strategic process. As you know, we have two sets of values that we're looking at. There are the active core values and the aspirational core values for our congregation.
The active core values are the ones that we see in action now. Those three are:
Worship
Christian growth (or catechesis—studying the Word)
Sanctity of life
The aspirational core values are the values that we want to see active in our congregation. So far, we’ve talked about:
Human care—taking care of people’s physical and emotional needs
Outreach—congregational efforts to engage the world
And today: Evangelism or Witness
The system we’re using defines witness this way:
“We are committed to sharing the good news of Jesus through the witness of our individual members. We equip, encourage, and empower our members for active and effective witnessing.”
So the real question we should start with is: What’s the difference between outreach and evangelism?
They sound pretty similar, don’t they?
Outreach is what we do together as a congregation—planning events and activities that slowly help move people from casual connection into the life of the church. It’s an organized, ongoing process.
Witness, on the other hand, is when individual Christians share the gospel in everyday life—with people they know and love.
And the funny thing is: outreach is the hardest way to gather people into the church, while individual evangelism is the easiest.
Why?
When a salesman shows up at your door, do you open up excited to talk? Probably not. Our walls go up. We assume someone’s trying to sell us something.
Now, we know we’re not trying to sell anything. We just want to share the love of Jesus so that others can have eternal life. But they don’t know that.
Even when I go out as a pastor, wearing my collar, some people think, “Well, that’s just your job.”
When it’s an institution doing the talking, walls go up.
But when you go to a friend and say, “Wow, I just read this amazing book!” or “This changed my life,” do they assume you work for the company that made it?
No. They trust you—because you have no stake in it.
That’s the difference. A friend who’s excited about something is way more trustworthy than an organization trying to promote itself.
And that’s what happens with evangelism.
Take John chapter 4—the woman at the well. She meets Jesus, and after their conversation, she runs back to the village and says:
“He told me all that I ever did!”
That was good news to her!
She didn’t have her Small Catechism memorized. She hadn’t taken a class. She just knew Jesus is amazing and everyone should come meet Him.
That’s evangelism.
You don’t need a script.
You don’t need all the answers.
You just say: “I know someone who saves—and He’s changed my life.”
And what do her neighbors do? They come to see Jesus for themselves. And they say:
“It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
That’s the power of personal witness.
When we share the gospel with people we know, we’re inviting them to “come and see” Jesus, and we know where He shows up: in His Word and Sacraments.
Jesus comes to us—really and fully—whenever we gather around His gifts. And that’s what people are invited into when they come to the church.
And here’s another reason evangelism through the members works: it’s just plain math.
If I, as the pastor, invited someone every hour, 24 hours a day (and I didn’t sleep), that’s 24 invitations.
But if 30 of you invited just one person each? That’s 30 invitations—without breaking a sweat.
Evangelism happens through the church not because of the pastor’s efforts, but through the people who are excited about Jesus.
But I know—this can feel overwhelming. So let me give you some encouragement from Jesus:
“Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life… I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:35–38)
What does that mean?
It means the harvest is already there. The seeds have been planted. God has been at work long before you showed up. And when we go out and share the gospel, we’re simply participating in the work that God is already doing.
The Holy Spirit does the heavy lifting. He opens hearts.
We’re not responsible for the results—just the invitation.
So don’t carry the pressure of “saving” anyone.
That’s not your job. And guess what? You couldn’t do it even if you tried.
It’s prideful to think someone’s salvation depends entirely on what we say or how we say it.
God is doing the work.
The Holy Spirit is the evangelist.
We just get to be there for the ride.
And that’s the joy of being a Lutheran:
We believe it’s all grace—so we don’t get the blame or the credit.
We just get to be faithful and do what we’re called to do.
And that means…
You can do it.
We’ll be offering some training and resources to help you grow in confidence. But the first step is knowing that evangelism isn’t about having all the right words. It’s about knowing Jesus and pointing people to Him.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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