Why Evangelize?

A friend of mine showed me this video from youtube and it cracked me up. If you need a good laugh today, make sure to watch it. I especially love the commentator with the glasses.

While this video provided me with a good laugh, I believe that it made a strong point about the fact that many Christians in the American church are very lax about sharing the gospel of Christ. As a former pastor of mine put it: so many of us Christians are so excited that we have our place at the table that we just sit there content and do not bother to go out and invite others also. This got me thinking about what should motivate us to go out and evangelize more (in addition to the "Evangelism Linebacker" who may be lurking around to "blow you up!").

Here are six things I have thought of that should motivate us to share our faith:

1) CHRIST COMMANDS US TO

Jesus' final words to His disciples were: "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 observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20). One thing that should motivate us to go out and share the good news is the fact that Christ commanded us to do so. Jesus also states "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). If we are serious about our love for the Lord and our desire to live His commandments, we will want to uphold and live out this important commandment to honor Christ and bring God glory.

2) SHARING THE JOY WHICH IS OURS

The joy of having a relationship with Jesus Christ is so great that we should have no problem sharing that joy with others. It should make such a difference in our lives that we would not be able to not share. After all, why would we not want to share about how Christ, while we were still yet sinners and enemies of God due to these sins, took our sins upon Himself, the innocent being viewed as guilty, and suffered God's wrath on the cross, the separation from God which we were due to experience for all eternity? All so that we would be considered righteous instead of the guilty sinners which we are. Not only that but after having defeated sin, rising three days later to defeat death and give us assurance that all those who place their trust in Him will be raised to eternal life with God. This is wonderful news that should be easier to share than who won American Idol last night or the latest gossip in the neighborhood. Peter and John are wonderful examples of those who could not keep their joy to themselves. Upon being commanded by the Sanhedrin to no longer teach or preach in the name of Jesus, they respond, "we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). They could not keep quiet about Jesus! Being placed in jail a few times did not damper their zeal to share their joy. The same joy that propelled them to talk so much about Jesus should also lead us to evangelize more.

3) OUR LOVE FOR OTHERS

Take a moment and think about your family members and closest friends who do not know the Lord. Do you realize that without repentance and giving their life to Christ that they will go to Hell as punishment for their sins? You will not have the pleasure of seeing them in eternity if they do not accept Christ. Our love for our unsaved family and friends should propel us to pray for God to open up their hearts to receive the gospel and give us opportunities to tell them about Christ. Paul had a great love for his fellow Jews and longed for their salvation. "Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation" (Romans 10:1). In fact, it was this desire and concern for the Jews that led him to increase his ministry to the Gentiles, knowing that God had opened salvation to them in order to spur the Jews to jealousy. "But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them" (Romans 11:13-14). You never know. God may have chosen to use you to deliver the gospel message to someone in your family for Him to bring to faith.

4) THE MERCY AND GRACE IN EVANGELISM

A big motivation for evangelism should be the simple fact that evangelism is a privilege. We do not deserve to share in any part of God's work. God does not need us to tell others about Him but He chooses to use us. In many ways, God would probably get things accomplished faster if He did not choose to use us. One of the biggest blessings we have as a believer is the ability to serve God in different ways. Out of gratitude to be granted to be the ones whose feet "bring good news of good things" (Romans 10:15), we should go out and gladly do the privilege of our job to evangelize.

5) CHRIST GOES WITH US

One part of the "Great Commission" we usually forget about is Jesus' last statement: "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). We are not evangelizing on our own but Christ goes with us. If you are nervous about sharing your faith in Christ, don't fear but trust God and seek Him for the words in which you are to say. This is what the apostles did. At the start of the persecution of the early church, they gathered together and prayed that God would "grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence" (Acts 4:29). The Lord answered their prayer as vs. 31 points out and the rest of the narrative in Acts demonstrates. God granted them the boldness to go all over "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the remotest part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). God gave them the confidence that they needed to proclaim the word unto death (Stephen) and through more imprisonments (Peter).

6) THE RESULTS ARE UP TO GOD AND NOT TO US

It is important to understand that we are only responsible for delivering the message of the gospel and not for its reception or rejection. Scripture is clear that God is the One who works in a sinner's heart to "draw" them to Christ (John 6:44). He is the One who shines the "Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" in people's hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6) and makes those dead in their trespasses alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5). Paul preached the message in Philippi but the Lord was the one who opened Lydia's heart "to respond to the things spoken by Paul" (Acts 16:14). We are to be those messengers to bring the good news (Romans 10:13-15) to all of those we come in contact with, realizing that the Holy Spirit is the One who uses the message to "pierce" people's hearts (Acts 2:37), draw them to Christ (John 6:44), and bring them to repentance (Romans 2:4; 2 Timothy 2:25).
How is this an important motivation? Recognizing this truth lets us know that we do not have to be perfect in our presentation of the message or that we have to persuade one to come to Christ. God can use the simplest presentations of the gospel to impact one's heart and change their life. We don't need to worry about persuading one because God is the One who opens their hearts to hear the message and changes their hearts, bringing about their conversion. Realizing the fact that it is not based on our ability, we can focus more on getting the truth of the message right, knowing that the gospel is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). God uses the gospel which we are to preach to penetrate the hard hearts of unbelievers. While we will not be held accountable for the results of our evangelizing, I do believe that God will hold us accountable for those opportunities He gave us to share His good news that we did not take. We just need to be faithful to God by following His leading for the opportunities He provides and to faithfully communicate the message.

I pray that you will examine your own life to see how well you are doing in sharing your faith in Christ with others. If you realize that you have been lax in this area, take some time to see which of these motivations might be missing in your life. May God motivate all of us to go out and have the privilege to live out His "Great Commission."

In Christ,
Lee
Soli Deo Gloria!