Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
First, let’s just define the term Evangelism. Now we should always look to Scripture to get the proper definition but I thought just for fun I would look up the term in the dictionary just to see how they define it. EVENGELISM- the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ
That’s not such a bad definition but let’s try to dig a little deeper – Although the word “evangelism” is not found in the Bible the office or title “evangelist” is at least on 2 occasions. The English term “Evangel” comes from the Latin term euangelion which means Gospel. So evangel means Gospel therefore Evangelism is the sharing or the preaching of the gospel.
Someone might say but isn’t it a Pastor that preaches the gospel and isn’t it the average Christian who is supposed to be out there sharing their faith? What makes an Evangelist different from your average preacher is that they actively go out and preach to new people, many of which have never heard the gospel before.
A Pastor typically preaches to the same people week after week, he has a flock that he shepherds and that is the Pastors primary responsibility. An Evangelist goes place to place preaching to different people. A good example of this is Billy Graham, Billy Graham doesn’t have a church and he is not a Pastor. During his ministry, he was always going city to city, county to county trying to reach new people for Christ.
If you think about it an Evangelist is more like a Missionary than a pastor, in fact some would argue that since the term Missionary is not found in the Bible either, essentially what we call a Missionary the Bible calls an Evangelist. Some might disagree and I don’t want to get hung up on terminology but I think it is worth pointing that out.
But let’s not focus so much on the office or the Spiritual Giftedness of an Evangelist let focus more on the broad term Evangelism. In the broad sense of the word we can all be involved in Evangelism. We often hear and use the term Evangelical, you may tell people that you are an evangelical Christian, or that Moores Corner Church is an Evangelical Church. I think that is accurate because we not only believe the gospel it is the focal point of the ministry here. we want the gospel shared! We want to see people converted to Christ – in other words we want to see them saved!
Not all churches have a gospel centered ministry. Millions of people sit under a ministry centered around a social gospel – helping the poor, feeding the homeless etc. Many are drawn to the prosperity gospel where the preacher (or the “life coach”) talks more about getting a promotion at work then he does about getting promoted to heaven! The there are the churches that are center their ministry around civil rights and ethnic identity and on and on and on!
Nothing wrong with helping the poor, nothing wrong with civil rights and most of us wouldn’t mind a promotion at work but that is not the primary message of Christianity! The primary message of the faith is salvation by grace through faith in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ! PERIOD! That’s the message we want to share and when we share that message that is called evangelism. What do we need to be successful at Evangelism? In order to be driven and successful I believe we need the following things -
Compassion
Effort
Commitment
First let me say a few things about Compassion. I believe most of us (hopefully all of us) have compassion for others and to be fair non-evangelicals have compassion for others as well. In fact, there may be no shortage of unsaved people who have compassion for their fellow man (I don’t doubt that) but do they have compassion for their souls?
We have compassion for their souls because we know that the unsaved, because of their lost condition will not enter into the Kingdom of God. That’s what the Bible teaches, that’s what the Holy Spirit has testified in our hearts but you and I know that many, if not most reject that idea. Of course unbelievers reject that idea but sad to say that many professing Christians reject that idea as well. I think back to a conversation I heard about between an evangelical pastor and a liberal UCC pastor. The Liberal UCC pastor said to the evangelical pastor “I think I know there difference between me and you, you believe the Bible is the Word of God. I don’t! That unfortunately is very, very common.
Many professing Christians don’t even believe there is a heaven and many churches and many professing Christians tend to be universalist. Now we believe in salvation by faith - they believe in salvation by death! What do I mean by that? Essentially they believe that all a person has to do to get to heaven is die! They believe that everyone goes to heaven, they reject the idea of hell, they don’t believe people need to be saved because (in their mind) there is nothing to be saved from!
I’m not saying they don’t have any compassion for others, what I am saying is that they have ZERO compassion for the lost because they don’t believe anybody is lost!
If you don’t think people need to be saved, if you don’t believe in the Last Judgment then you’re not going to have an interest in Evangelism! Why would you? What would be the point? Then there are those churches that do believe but they don’t really encourage evangelism, they don’t really make any real effort to share the faith. You’ve heard people say things like “I don’t talk about my faith because my faith is private”. People who say that need to be rebuked, after all Jesus said in Matthew 10: 32-33
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
If you truly believe the Bible, then you will want to see people converted to Christ. If you think everyone is going to be ok in the end then why make an effort to convert Muslims, Jews, Buddhist, agnostics etc… In order to put in any effort you must have a compassion for the lost.
So you need Compassion, and you need Effort - Compassion is a feeling but effort takes work. You not only have to feel something you have to do something! Acts 1:8 - But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
The only reason the Christian faith spread to begin with is because believers took the gospel throughout the Roman Empire and beyond! The church was originally located in Jerusalem but because of persecution Christians fled Jerusalem and as they traveled they shared their faith with others. This took effort, this took zeal, this took gifted men who preached with boldness even in the face of opposition and persecution.
The man most responsible for this was of course the Apostle Paul but he certainly wasn’t the only one. Another preacher of the gospel that we want to look at this morning was a man named Phillip. Turn to Acts 8
While you’re doing that let me read Acts 21:8
On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist…
Although Paul did tell Timothy on one occasion to “do the work of an Evangelist” Phillip is the only one in Scripture specifically named as an Evangelist. Timothy is generally regarded as a Pastor who at times did that work so in order to be regarded as doing the work of an evangelist you must be able to preach! I want to be clear on that – to be regarded as an evangelist you must be a preacher, if you don’t preach your not an evangelist, you can be involved in evangelism but that is not the same as an evangelist.
To prove the point let me read Ephesians 4:11 - And He Himself (Christ) gave some (in the church) to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers
Any Christian can teach another, mothers teach their children, we often teach each other things and that’s great but that doesn’t make us “official teachers in the church” nor does it mean we have that specific Spiritual Gift. EVERY Christian is supposed to share their faith but that couldn’t possible mean that every Christian is called to be an Evangelist. Note what Paul said in Ephesians 4 – He gave “some” not all! But just because we are not evangelist doesn’t mean we shouldn’t witness to people, we should and in fact we must! Bottom line is if we are ashamed of Christ then He will be ashamed of us! Paul said in Romans 1, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto Salvation” and we should all be able to say Amen! Neither are we!
So it takes compassion and it takes work! It’s not easy to go out and be a bold witness for Christ. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes a thick skin especially when you consider the majority of people don’t want to hear it! Or even if they are willing to hear it the majority are not going to accept it but lets look at one occasion where Phillip took the time and effort to preach to a specific individual – this is the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts chapter 8.
Acts 8:26-40 - Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So, he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”
So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
Consider that last sentence – “he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea”.
Let’s just say you were to travel to Boston and you made it a point to preach to every city between here and Boston. How much time and effort would that take? It most certainly takes compassion, time and effort!
You might say “I don’t have the gift” or “I don’t have the calling”? The question is what are you willing to do when you have an opportunity? It’s very normal to get nervous, its normal to be a little hesitant especially if you are anticipating a negative response but keep in mind even if they don’t accept it, you have planted a seed! Or perhaps you are watering a seed – if you don’t see instant results don’t be surprised just remember, you’re being faithful to God and it is God who will give the increase! It’s up to Him to do that work in a person’s heart!
Don’t get discouraged, I know it’s easier said than done but remember – Paul didn’t convert everybody he preached to! Even Jesus had people walk away from His ministry. In John chapter 6 Jesus preached a sermon and many of the people didn’t like it, and many who followed Him followed Him no more! He turned to the disciples and asked them “are you going to go away also? Peter replied “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” The point is if it happened to Jesus don’t be surprised when it happens to you!
To be involved in the work of Evangelism you can start by simply telling people you are a Christian and if they are willing to listen you can tell them specifically what you believe. I remember a story of a man who was a deacon in his church and when he died men he worked with came to the funeral and heard people talking, they heard the testimony of those during the funeral service and one of his co-workers approached the Pastor afterward and said “I worked with so and so for 30 years and I never even knew he was a Christian, never mind a deacon! Totally unacceptable!
So just telling people you are a Christian that’s something! It’s so simple and it can open up the door to further conversation. That may seem obvious but the fact of the matter is not all Christians share that information. Or maybe that’s all the information they are willing to share. And think about it, if you use foul language at work or around your friends, if you tell dirty jokes, if you are a poor testimony even if you do share your faith people will most likely NOT take you seriously.
I could tell you stories! I’m not going to but I could tell you stories of people who have come to me and told me things – to make a long story short some people could preach from the rooftops, they could be gifted, they could teach and preach all the right things but nobody would listen because their testimony was “shot” all because of profane language they used while speaking in private. What we say and do matters and it can have a devastating effect not only on our testimony but it can also hinder the work of evangelism.
So one thing we can do is simply live the way God wants us to live – Someone once said “preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words”. That is to say our Christian conduct or lack thereof speaks volumes. Do the right thing, simply be open and let people know you are a believer, tell whoever is willing to listen - I suppose there is a proper time and a place but are you willing to do that if the opportunity arises? Are you willing to share a Bible verse that applies to somebody’s situation or struggle? Are you willing to invite them to church or tell them you will pray for them? That in itself can be very powerful and it’s so easy. If somebody is going through something difficult, simply tell them you will pray for them, and then make sure you DO IT!
So it takes compassion, it takes effort and it also takes commitment. It takes commitment because if you were to give up after a little while you would probably never see any real results neither will you receive any reward if you just give up. This is hard because we live in such a challenging time, we live in a time where people are taught the opposite of Scripture from a very early age. We also live in a very challenging area, New England is not exactly the most receptive place in terms of sharing your faith.
Imagine if you went out to Northampton and started witnessing to people on the street. Odds are you might experience a little bit of hostility but imagine if you won somebody to the Lord. You would feel like you just performed a miracle, you might start to think you were the next Elijah. More likely though you would be treated like Jeremiah and somebody might want to throw you into a cistern. The point is if you do any evangelism at all sometimes you’ll get discouraged but even if only 1 out of 100 believes that’s 1 life that has been changed forever and there is no way to truly measure the worth of even one soul that is Redeemed.
So evangelism takes compassion, effort and commitment. Commitment and perseverance, we can’t give up. You may feel like giving up sometimes, you may get discouraged but let’s keep things in perspective here, whatever we may experience it’s probably nothing compared to what the early church went through. We may get rejected, we may get laughed at, we might get yelled at, and lets face it – it isn’t pleasant but it doesn’t compare to the stoning of Steven, the beheading of Paul or the crucifixion of Peter and that’s not even to mention the Persecution from Rome where Christians were hunted down and fed to the lions or burned at the stake.
If we do our part God will do His part. If somebody doesn’t want to hear it, fine! We don’t need to push it on people but sometimes I think we assume people don’t want to hear it when in fact maybe they actually do! Now If somebody hears the gospel and they reject it, we shouldn’t try to shove it down their throats! If somebody just wants to consider it for a time, we can come back and talk to them at a later date. If they are hostile or antagonistic the Bible says we are not to cast our pearls before swine, Titus chapter 3:10 says A man that is an heretic we should reject after the first and second admonition.
If a person will not receive the Word shake the dust off your feet and move on but if we truly care about people, if we have compassion not only for their lives but for their souls then let’s take the time and the effort to fulfill the great commission of Matthew 28. Some call it the great omission because so many choose to ignore it but God forbid that should describe us. Let’s hear the words of Jesus from Matthew 28 one more time:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
