Last week I talked about a word that strikes fear and dread in our hearts: evangelism!  

I hope by the time we’re done with this Just Walk Across the Room series, the idea of evangelism won’t be something that makes you break out in a cold sweat, but will be something where you say, “Yeah, I can do that.” 

We’ll discover together that evangelism can be as simple as taking a walk across a room. And taking a walk across a room is something we can all do, wouldn’t you agree? 

If you’re a Christ-follower, isn’t this essentially what you want most … to touch the lives of the people you know—the people you love—who are living their lives far from God? 

The single greatest gift Christ-followers can give to the people around them is an introduction to the God who created them, who loves them, and who has a purpose for their life. Nothing beats it—not monetary gains, not job opportunities, not recognition or accolades. 

And when you boil it all down, this is what evangelism amounts to: constantly watching for ways to give this single greatest gift to someone living far from God. Today we begin the process of understanding how to get “usable” to God, friends.  

Let’s take a closer look at how this whole thing unfolded. What will it take in order for us to give this “single greatest gift” to someone we know? 

Enter the Zone of the Unknown
For those who have put their faith in Christ, have become Christians, there is a trend that happens over time. We become involved in church, in ministry, in fellowship with other believers. These of course are all good things, but the longer we are a Christian, the more we can lose touch with people who don’t yet know Jesus. Our activities and social life are involved more with the church and Christian friends.  

We could think of it as our Circle of Comfort where its easy to relate, easy to converse, where there is no threat … in other words, nothing “unsafe” could happen. We need the security of this circle of comfort, but God also calls us to step outside of it into the Zone of the Unknown. 

Have you ever been there—in the Zone of the Unknown? 

It’s in the Zone of the Unknown where God often does his best work! When we reach out to someone outside of our usual circle, start a conversation without knowing where its going to go, being open to a friendship and believing God can touch a life. 

It’s a simple and straightforward image. Just a few steps to cross the room, extend your hand, introduce yourself and see where it goes from there..

Here’s the question I want us all to ponder: what would happen if we were to take a few steps across a room? Is it possible that we could actually impact someone’s eternal destiny—perhaps even that of their family? That we could change the course of an entire family history by simply taking a few steps toward someone who may be heading for a Christless eternity? 

Do you think that would be worth the risk of ten steps across the room? 

In Just Walk Across the Room, Bill Hybels says: The day that Christ-followers like you and me stop taking walks across rooms in this manner, the day we stay glued to our Circles of Comfort, refuse to make the walk, refuse to enter the Zone of the Unknown … the day Christ-followers like you and me stop doing that sort of stuff, it is lights out for the kingdom of God here on earth. It is the beginning of the end of redemptive history. It’s the slow defeat of the church—the bride of Christ. It’s the end of the dream of Christ that people on earth would come to know him.” 

I want you to remember that one of the top priorities of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives is to turn every single person here—every single Christ-follower—into a walk-across-the-room kind of person. If you’re a living, breathing Christ-follower, then the Spirit is asking you to walk. He’s asking me to walk. He’s asking us to make a difference in the lives of the people we see each and every day! At work. At school. In social settings. At the gym. At our kid’s basketball game. In the midst of our insane schedules. Wherever. Whenever. 

If you have made the choice to follow Christ—if you have found him to be truth, if you have found what the Bible says to be truth—then why would you—why would any of us—think that other people wouldn’t be interested in knowing about what we have discovered to be the most life-changing, heart-stimulating, eternity-altering relationship in our lives? 

Listen for the Spirit’s Promptings
In order for us to be effective in the Zone of the Unknown, we must be led by the Spirit. We must listen to the Spirit’s promptings every step of the way. 

Before you get the wrong idea about what this looks like, let me tell you that being available to the movement of the Holy Spirit doesn’t always work out the way you think it might. Sometimes you see and you hear and you feel and you move … and then you go ahead and take the risk. And then other times, when it seems like maybe you should make a move, things just don’t open up that way. 

The key is this: fundamentally, being walk-across-the-room people means that we walk when the Spirit tells us to walk and we don’t walk when the Spirit says not to walk. That’s what makes this thing dynamic and mystical and out of your control … and out of mine. Frankly, it’s what keeps the edge and the adventure present in the Christian life. 

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said this about his followers: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” 

So, as the verse says, you’ve got to have savor. You’ve got to have spiritual potency. But what else does salt need if it’s going to affect anything? It needs proximity. You’ve got to get salt on something if it’s going to affect it, true? 

Think of it this way: I can be the strongest, most savory form of salt the world has ever seen. I can be the saltiest salt known to humankind … but I won’t make a hill of beans’ worth of impact unless I get up close to some people who need to be affected. 

Some of you are probably thinking, “Oh, man, this is tough! This feels way too risky!” 

It’s true: there is genuine fear that has to be overcome to operate in the environment we’re talking about. There is anxiety about how everything will unfold once you enter the Zone of the Unknown. There can be incredible anxiety when a normal conversation suddenly shifts gears and migrates into spiritual territory. It unnerves even the most seasoned Christ-followers, I promise you! 

But here’s the underlying reality I want to remind you of: when we are relating right with Jesus Christ—when there is vitality and openness in our spirits to the promptings of his Spirit—here’s what happens: 

You’ll find yourself standing in a Circle of Comfort as usual. But by the Spirit’s power, as you’re listening to the conversation at hand, you’ll be able to have one eye open and roving around the room to see if there is someone the Holy Spirit really wants you to see.

Some of you have already experienced this firsthand. If you have, I think you’ll agree with what I’m about to say. 

What I hope you’ll discover in the next few weeks is that this experience is not about trying to get everyone to march to some new orders around the church. No, what this is really about is helping all of us become more aware of how the heart of God beats through us when we are operating in harmony with him. 

As Christ-followers in this scenario—the scenario where we’re operating in harmony with God—we win because there is an internal spiritual victory that happens when we walk by faith and not by sight. There is something a lot like Jesus that is going on in you and in me when we leave a Circle of Comfort and take that faith-walk across the room and reach out that hand. This is something we can all do, friends. This is something that every single person in this congregation can decide to do and can learn to do.  

Just Walk!
Like the Nike slogan used to say: “Just Do It!” Just take the walk across the room toward someone. 

There’s a passage in Romans 5:8 that says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (TNIV). 

And how was it, exactly, that Jesus Christ demonstrated the love of the Father? What was the radical move he made to prove to you and to me that he really does feel redemptive, grace-filled, unconditional love for each one of us? He took a walk. 

Philippians 2:5-7 says “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” At a specific point in history—actual time and space—Jesus walked all the way across the cosmos and reached out his redemptive hand to people like you and me. And because of that one walk, humankind was able to be saved and secured in the family of God forever. 

Think for a moment about the implications of that walk: this passage tells us that Jesus, under direction from his Father, left the ultimate Circle of Comfort—heaven itself … direct participation in the Trinity … the worship and adoration of the angels. Jesus Christ left the supreme Circle of Comfort and he took the longest walk a person could ever take, if you think of it along the metaphorical lines we’re discussing. 

But why? Here’s why: he did it to stretch out a hand to people just like you and just like me. He did it to reach people, many of whom were smack dab in the middle of absolutely wrecking their lives. 

In addition to taking a walk across the cosmos so that you and I could be redeemed, he also took a walk across the cosmos so that you and I could see how it’s done. And these days—right here in our everyday lives—what he tries to do with us between now and heaven is to say, “What I did, leaving that circle, making that trip and reaching out to you, what I did … is precisely what I want you to do. I want this to be characteristic of my followers, that they would be walk-across-the-room kinds of people. Just following my lead, doing exactly what I did … whenever I give them opportunity to do so.” 

And what I hope you will hear in Christ’s exhortation is this: “Don’t get yourself tied up in knots trying to make sure all of the mechanics and logistics are just right. Don’t give even a hint of mental energy to motivations of guilt or obligation. You can cast all that stuff aside and instead just take the hand of the Holy Spirit and walk. If you will stay open, with an eye focused on people and an ear tuned to his still, small whisper, you will be amazed by what unfolds!” 

God says to us all today, “I am going to ask you to walk across the street; I am going to ask you to walk across a restaurant; I am going to ask you to walk across an office complex; I am going to ask you to walk across a cafeteria or locker room. I am going to ask you to take that walk, leave whatever Circle of Comfort you are in and take the walk, enter the unknown—and something really exciting is going to happen. That is what I want you to do.” 

I know that, like the disciples, we can all be tempted into staying in our safe little circles. Just like those guys did, we too can make a habit of rushing off to our lunch appointments or business meetings or family gatherings instead of caring about the people standing right in front of us. But hopefully, the longer we hang around the person of Christ, the more our eyes will be pried open to seeing the things that he sees. 

(At the end of this sermon I explained that there were note cards in each bulletin for us to send a note to someone who walked across the room to tell us about Jesus. I sent mine to the friend who invited me to a youth retreat in middle school where I met Jesus. I have extra cards if you would like to send one to a special person in your life.)