“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) I praise God for the opportunities to share the gospel with more people than usual as of late. It is probably not new to most, but I’ve come to the realization that I’ve been letting opportunities to share the gospel with spam callers, wrong numbers, and more, pass me by. I normally ignore the calls and texts; however, it dawned on me, these are real people, they’re an open mission field. We have been called to the ministry of reconciliation. “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. So then, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we have been made manifest to God; and I hope that we have been made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an opportunity to boast of us, so that you will have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are out of our mind, it is for God, or if we are of right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, so that they who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their transgressions against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as God is pleading through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5) As this nation and culture at large grow increasingly secular and quite hostile to biblical truths, we can all too often be tempted to sit idle, hide, or be less than bold in our evangelistic efforts. Our opening verse is a crucial one to meditate on as we seek to share with this lost and dying world. I can tell you that it is also incredibly helpful to meditate on not only the power of God at work through the proclamation of the gospel, but also on His promises, His presence, His provision, His protection, His vast mercies, and His marvelous graces.
“It is a trustworthy saying and deserving full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15) You may be wondering, what does that have to do with witnessing to the unbelieving?Well truth be told; I’ve been persuaded we often aren’t as effective as we could be in our witnessing because we have forgotten who we are. Yes, obviously we must be bold in our efforts; and of course, we should dive into and seek to improve our apologetics so that we can reason for and defend the faith we’ve graciously been given. However, I can’t stress it enough, it’s important for us as believers seeking to fulfill the Great Commission, to realize that we are more like those non-Christians than we are unlike them. Let me open up and be honest with some of my struggles; all too often I am tempted to look down on unbelievers and those who hold to something other than Christianity, with what could simply be labelled as a self-righteous, prideful, and rather condemning attitude. I can in all practicality appear as the Pharisee whom we read of in Luke 18. “The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” (Luke 18:11)So, if we are wanting to be patient, gracious, and shine forth the sacrificial love of Christ while witnessing, we must admit that we are not as different as we may think we are from those we are witnessing too. Paul never said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of which I am not. No, rather, he makes the exact opposite claim; knowing his past, knowing the sinfulness of his sin, he claims to be the chief of sinners, and we all should see ourselves in such light. Notice too that Paul writes that statement in the present tense. It wasn’t that he was the chief of sinners but isn’t now. Let us heed that we are still sinners, “simul justus et peccator”, simultaneously justified anda sinner, or also, at once justified and a sinner. Paul recognized that he was more like those whom he preached to, and we would do well to recognize the same.
As we seek to build relationships and witness with our non-Christian neighbors, let us examine ourselves. Do we have that same attitude of humility? Are we quick to confess how sinful we still are? Are we being honest with God, admitting that we have an impure heart, driven by a love of self, which causes us to think, speak, and act in ways that do great harm to our witness and relationships? “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does Yahweh require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)Humility is such a vital need for the Christian, we battle with this in our flesh, as our proud hearts continually wage war against the Spirit to exalt ourselves higher than we truly are. Our flesh doesn’t like to bow the knee to the truth found in the word of God pertaining to exactly how righteous (or better put unrighteous) we truly are in and of ourselves. It is a sad state for the Christian when they are discouraged from evangelism due to the fact that they are measuring success by the numbers that truly have been saved that they’ve witnessed to, or even by those who may reciprocate a positive response to the truth shared with them. However, true success in evangelism is and should always be measured by the faithfulness to share the message of Christ crucified for the remission of sins. “And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, ‘Behold, the sower went out to sow;’” (Matthew 13:3) “Even now he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.” (John 4:36) “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)Without the proper measure for success when it comes to evangelism, we will always grow weary and discouraged with our results, and ultimately resort to not sharing the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.
What then is our motive for evangelism? Well, for starters,we’ve entered into a relationship with the one true and living God that has so radically changed our lives, that we cannot but tell others. “But your are A CHOSEN FAMILY, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” (1 Peter 2:9-10) Secondly, our motive is obedience to His command. Christ Jesus who bought us with His blood, has commanded we share the gospel with all people. “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20) “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to THE END OF THE EARTH.” (Acts 1:8) How about the reality of death and judgment for every person, does that not motivate you? “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27) Let us feel the sense of urgency in our evangelism for those outside of Christ. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18) Listen to the exhortation and wisdom from Charles Haddon Spurgeon on this matter, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”
We’ve not been left unguided as to how to proceed with our evangelistic efforts. We’ve been given an outline for evangelism through Holy Scripture. What God requires of us, He equips us for, and furthermore He enable us to do through the means of His Spirit. Often times our flesh fights against going up to a complete stranger to witness to, out of a fear of man, out of busyness, and other various reasons. It’s something we must discipline ourselves to do, after all it is a command from the Lord Himself. Instead of giving in to the flesh, lean on the Spirit, look to Christ, and find your love for the Lord and the lost to cause you to walk in obedience. So, what does that outline look like? I would begin with first mentioning that those whom are prideful we deliver the law to, and to those who are humble we deliver grace to. That not to say that we aren’t gracious in all of it, or that we don’t use the law in every evangelistic effort. For apart from the law, there is no need forgood news; why would anyone accept the good news apart from knowing the bad news first? It is essential we confront them with the reality of their sin. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) “The soul who sins will die. The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, nor will the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:20) We then share with them the word of God, more specifically the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) Let us seek to exalt Christ in all of this and make clear that He is the only way to be saved! “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.’” (John 14:6) “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) To share such truth pertaining to faith and salvation, we must be diligent to remain faithful to thencall the non-Christian to repentance and faith.” I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3) “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;” (Romans 10:9) Now please do not take this wrongly, but we ought to give them a chance to respond to the call. I am not saying we should do that which is anti-thetical to the word of God such as get them to pray a sinner’s prayer, make a decision, or ask them to accept Jesus into their hearts. I mean genuinely and graciously urge them to respond. “And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’” (Mark 10:21) If they seem receptive and respond in a way that shows humility, if they recognize their utter hopelessness within themselves and their desperate need; follow up with that response by engaging in personal discipleship. After all, as we quote earlier from Matthew 28, we have been called to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that our Lord has commanded. We’re not alone in this, for Christ has promised that He is with us always, even to the end of the age. “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (John 15:16)
I pray we are all encouraged by this, that we would strive to obey the Lord’s command and stop putting this off. 10 out every 10 people die, and in 2024, roughly 3,280,000 people died, that means that roughly 8,986 people died every day. “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14) “For, ‘All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25) We are not promised tomorrow, and the love of God which has been poured out within our hearts, should ignite such a love for the lost that we are not willing to see any perish in their sins. If you think personal evangelism is not important, or unnecessary then let me urge you to think on this wisdom from Dr. John MacArthur, “One thing I have observed in all my years of ministry is that the most effective and important aspects of evangelism usually take place on an individual, personal level. Most people do not come to Christ as an immediate response to a sermon they hear in a crowded setting. They come to Christ because of the influence of an individual.” In fact, coming back to Charles Spurgeon, he has said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” It is also Charles Spurgeon who has said, “To be a soul winner is the happiest thing in this world.” Let me close with the word of God. “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)