sermon-evangelism-02

THREE LESSONS TO LEARN FROM CELTIC EVANGELISTS

Moheb A. Ghali

April 3, 2011

Over the past four weeks we heard about the first five chapters of the Celtic Way of Evangelism. Now we come to the “How to” part. What I have to say this morning is very simple: from the way Celtic missionaries carried out evangelism we learn two things to do and one thin not to do. The things to do are: Present the Christian message in the language and context that the people understand; and Exercise the gifts of the Spirit, especially the gift of discernment, and the one thing not to do: Do NOT compromise the message.

1. Celtic evangelists presented the Christian message in the language and context that the people understand. This has three components

a. When they entered a village St. Patrick and his team showed their love and respect for the people by learning their language and understanding their culture. In this they were following what the Apostles did, and what God did.

· When Peter was sent to Cornelius the Centurion: “He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” [Acts 10: 28.]

· Paul says: “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.” [1Corinthians 9:19 – 23].

· Consider the ultimate example: God out of love did “move into” our world, culture and limited understanding, by becoming a man, to give us the message in a way that we can understand. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” [John 1:14]. We are told that Jesus, by living among us fully sympathizes with our weaknesses: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.” [Hebrews 4:14].

b. St. Patrick presented the message in a way that people can relate to drawing on their culture and traditions. This is also in following what the Apostles did.

· “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, hat they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. `For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring. '[Acts 17: 22 – 27].

· Each of us is most effective with people whose culture we understand, way of thinking we share and language we speak. Consider the missionary efforts of St. Paul of Tarsus starting churches in Asia Minor or St. Barnabas, from Cyprus, starting churches in Cyprus. As Yogi Berra may say: If people cannot understand you, your message will not be understood!

c. They sent a mission team rather than a single individual. This is also what Jesus and the Apostles did.

· This is what Jesus did when he sent “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” [Luke 10:1-2].

· That is what the Church in Jerusalem did when they heard that Samaria had accepted the message “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit”. [Acts 8:14 -17].

· And that is what the Church did when they sent Barnabas to Antioch: “Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. “ [AC 11:25 - 26].

Why is it important to go as a team? (i). In spiritual warfare, just as in warfare, you do not send individual soldiers, send a company, each with specific weapons – (spiritual gifts); (ii) When one team member is speaking, the other is praying and seeking discernment; (iii) Maintain humility and avoid pride – no one individual can claim credit.

2. Celtic evangelists exercised the gifts of the Spirit. In chapter 6 the author quotes Michael Mitton: “Celtic Christian leaders relied strongly on the “spiritual gift of discernment” so they “were very sensitive to the presence of good and evil in people and places. They therefore sensed what was good in a community and blessed it accordingly, or they sensed evil, in which case they sought to combat it with prayers.” [p. 87].

Exercising the gifts of the Spirit is essential in evangelism. I believe this is why Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem “until you have been clothed with power from on high."[Luke 24:49]. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:8]

· Discernment is essential. Some times what appears to be a prophecy from God can be a trap set to hinder the message. In Acts we read: “This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.” [Acts 16: 17 – 18]. While her message was true and sounds like free advertising for Paul and his team, Paul discerned that it is the evil spirit who is talking and that its objective is distraction.

And John warns us: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” [1 John 4:1]. Celtic Christians were correct in relying strongly on the gift of discernment.

· Openness to hear from the Holy Spirit while evangelizing also allows us to see where the real blockages to receiving the message are, and to say exactly what the person needed to hear to receive the message. When this occurs we call it receiving a word of knowledge (and this does happen during praying for individuals at Communion time in St. Brendan’s). You may recall from last week’s Gospel that at the well all that Jesus had to say to the Samaritan woman was: “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. ´[John 4:17 -18]. This led her realize that he is a prophet and could be the Christ. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony".

· Hearing from God what to say to a person is another needed gift of the Spirit. Jesus told us that “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” [John 8:28]. Hearing from God and relaying the message is what is called prophecy. There is a danger that when we are trying too hard and are entirely focused on what to say next, we are no longer open to hearing from the Spirit, and our message will not reach the person we are attempting to reach. This underscores the importance of teamwork – at least one member of the team may be open to the Spirit for discernment, word of knowledge and for guidance on what to say.

3. Celtic evangelists did NOT compromise the message in order to “win” people. In chapter 6 Hunter tells us that “The Celtic Christian leaders saw no reason to welcome other gods into the life of Christian communities. Occasionally they would confront the local god of their leaders – as in Patrick’s occasional “power encounter” with the Druids, or as in the case where Columbanus had to “cleanse” an area by chopping down sacred trees that had become idols.” [p. 87]

· Here is one story of a “power encounter”. In order to call the sun back to the north, the Druids custom was to extinguish all fires in the kingdom. The chief wizard then ignited a bonfire as part of the ritual. Then runners bearing firebrands lit at this bonfire raced through the fields carrying new fire to each village. Thus the Druids showed that it was their enchantments which brought warmth back to the hearths of the nation. On the night of the ceremony, as the warlords and wizards worshiped in the darkness of their great stone circle, there was a huge bonfire already burning on the hill opposite their megalith. Patrick had lit a blazing Paschal fire this Easter to commemorate Christ, the Light Of The World. When the druid Lochru came out with an army to kill Patrick, Patrick prayed, “May this man who blasphemes your name be carried up and die immediately,” and immediately God lifted Lochru up and smashed him against a rock! The army was thrown into confusion and did not harm Patrick. The next day, Patrick and his disciples entered the castle and were confronted by another druid named Luctmael. Patrick called down fire from heaven which roasted Luctmael, then told the king, “If you do not believe now, then you will soon die, for God’s wrath will come down upon your head too!” King Loegaire became a believer that day!

· “Power encounters” are biblical: we find them in both the Old and the New Testaments.

A great example of the “power encounter” from the Old Testament is that of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, meeting on Mount Carmel(1 Kings 18:22 – 40].

Also recall Peter had a “power encounters” with Ananias and his wife. [Acts 5:1 -11].

Conclusion:

We learn from the Celtic missionaries, and indeed from the early Church, that to be successful evangelists we need to do two things:

1. Present the Christian message in the language and context that the people understand.

2. Exercise the gifts of the Spirit, especially the gift of discernment.

And one thing we should not do:

1. Do NOT compromise the message of salvation.