Spiritual Disciplines (4of4) - Evangelism

Evangelism

Evangelism is simply communicating the gospel.  I’m willing to bet that there are some people in here who feel confident that they are obeying the Lord in their Bible intake, prayer lives, their giving, and their service.  But I wonder if any of us are fully confident that we are being as evangelical as we possibly can.  Why is evangelism expected of us?  Well because Jesus Christ himself commanded us to: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20 

                Mark 16:15 – “Go into all the world and preach the good news”
                John 20:21 – “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you”
              Acts 1:8 – “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to  the ends of the earth” 

If it’s so clear that Christians are called to evangelize then why do we disobey or ignore that command so often?  You may be like me and feel that you need to have more Bible knowledge in case someone asks a question or objects to something you’ve say.  But do we ever really get to that point where we have that much confidence in our ability to witness?  Sometimes we are just afraid to talk about Jesus because of fear of rejection, or that someone will think we’re weird.  Another reason may be the gravity of evangelizing, realizing that Heaven and hell hang in the balance.  Though we know that only God’s grace can save someone we feel a duty to present the gospel in a clear-cut manner so that we don’t become a stumbling block for someone’s salvation.  Researcher George Barna found that 9 out of 10 Christians who attempted to explain their beliefs to a non-Christian came away from their witnessing experience feeling as though they had failed.  As a people we enjoy pleasure, comfort, and doing things we’re good at so even though we are commanded to go out and spread the gospel, we prefer to steer more toward areas of Christian disciplines where we can feel more successful. 

So what defines success in evangelism?  Is it when the person we witness to accepts Christ?  Though that’s definitely what we want to happen, are we failures when we share the gospel and people refuse to believe?  If that’s the case, was Jesus a failure when the rich young ruler rejected His message?  Well obviously not.  So neither are we whenever we present Christ and his message.  We’ve got to learn that sharing the gospel IS successful evangelism.  We’re kind of like the post office, we are measured on how well and accurately we deliver the package, not on the recipient’s response.  People being saved and accepting salvation is something only God can give.  Another analogy of sharing the gospel is it’s like walking around in a thunderstorm passing out lightning rods.  You don’t know when or who it’s going to strike, but when it does that person’s lightning rod will be charged with the power of the Holy Spirit.  That’s why we should have confidence when sharing the Word because it’s the power of the Holy Spirit that spreads salvation, not our presentation skills persuasiveness. 

Again, evangelism is a discipline that must be practiced to improve at it.  Matthew 5:16 tells us “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  We are called to let our lights shine, there’s even a children’s song quoting this verse.  So why aren’t we witnessing more actively?  Is it because we don’t have time and we’re too busy?  Do we really want to stand before God one day and have to tell Him that we didn’t witness as we were called to do in the Great Commission because we didn’t have time?  I feel like I have less time now than ever with a newborn at home but even raising our children in a Godly manner is part of the Great Commission.  Ephesians 6:4 says “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” 

Evangelism is simply sharing the empowered Word of God, by how we live our lives, by our service, and by telling others the message of Jesus Christ.

I tried to touch on four disciplines over the last few days, and the more I read up on them the more I realized how much work I need on each of these areas in my life.  And I hope that something I said here was meaningful and impactful to one of you.  I want to close with one final thought on discipline:

Tom Landry, the great Dallas Cowboys coach, said “The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be”.  Isn’t it the same for us as Christians?  Are we not called to do what we normally would not do, follow spiritual disciplines, in order to achieve what we’ve always wanted to be, more like Jesus Christ?

#discipline #evangelism