This morning we’ll be viewing the purpose of “evangelism.” So, what is evangelism? In his book, The Kingdom Focused Church, Gene Mims (a former President of LifeWay Christian Resources) defines evangelism as “the process of sharing the gospel with the lost and winning them to Christ, thereby enabling them to enter the kingdom of God. It is asking them to repent of their sins, put their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life, and to follow Him forever as Lord. Evangelism is the good news spoken by believers and lived out in their lives.”(1)
In The Kingdom Focused Church, Mims discusses the importance of the five purposes of the church as emphasized by Rick Warren (see chapter seven); however, concerning the purpose of “evangelism,” he stresses that “evangelism is the ultimate goal of the kingdom focused church [and also the purpose driven church, I might add], and everything the church does has to contribute one way or another to reaching that goal. It’s also true that church growth without evangelism is impossible.”(2) Now, keep in mind that evangelism is accomplished as we carry out the Great Commission.
Rick Warren says, “The Great Commission is your commission. You have a choice to make. You will either be a world-class Christian or a worldly Christian. Worldly Christians look to God primarily for personal fulfillment. They are saved, but self-centered . . . In contrast, world-class Christians know they were saved to serve and made for a mission. They are eager to receive a personal assignment and excited about the privilege of being used by God” (pp. 298-299, The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, 2002); and this morning, we’re going to view the commission given to each of us by the Lord.
We Are Empowered to Share His Story (vv. 46-49)
46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
In verses 46-47, Jesus informed His disciples about the message they were to share with people; that Christ suffered, or rather, He died on the cross for our sins; and that He arose from the dead the third day. The content of the gospel message is best summarized in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, in which the apostle Paul stated “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” This is the message we need to be teaching believers when helping them understand how to share their faith.
The easiest way to share the gospel is by using what’s called “The Roman Road,” and there’s only three points to memorize: 1.) Every person in the world is a sinner. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 2.) Sin separates us from God and leads to death. Romans 6:23 tells us, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 3.) The confession of sin and faith in Jesus Christ leads to salvation. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” These are the three points you need to know in order to lead someone to faith in Christ.
In verse 47, Jesus explained where His message should be preached: “to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” In Acts 1:8, Jesus declared, “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Rick Warren explains that “His followers are to reach out to their community (Jerusalem), to their country (Judea), to other cultures (Samaria), and to other nations [the end of the earth]” (p. 301, The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, 2002). He also “note[s] that our commission is simultaneous, not sequential,” stating that “every Christian is called to be on a mission to all four groups in some way” (p. 302, The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, 2002).
In verse 48, Jesus declared, “And you are witnesses of these things.” Witnesses of what things? In The Purpose Driven Church, Warren elaborates that “we are to tell the whole world of Christ’s coming, His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His promise to return” (p. 104, The Purpose Driven Church, Zondervan, 1995). In Acts 1:8, Jesus echoed Luke 24:48, saying, “You shall be witnesses to Me,” and when Jesus spoke of “you,” He was referring to His disciples; however, all who believe in Him today are considered His disciples. Therefore, “it is every Christian’s responsibility” to be witnesses of Jesus and “to share the Good News wherever we go!” (The Purpose Driven Church, p. 104.)
In verse 49, Jesus said, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” In Acts 1:8, Jesus declared, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me.” “The Promise of My Father” is the Holy Spirit. In John 14:16-18, Jesus promised His disciples, “I will pray [to] the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth . . . for He dwells with you and will be in you..” He also said in John 16:7, “If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
The Holy Spirit is called “the Helper” because He empowers us for evangelism. For example, when we speak, He reminds us of the words of Christ, for Jesus said in John 14:26, “But the Helper . . . will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” The Spirit will also give us the words to say, for we read in Luke 12:11-12, “Do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour.” The Holy Spirit is also the one who does the convicting of hearts, for Jesus said in John 16:8, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” This information tells us that we have all we need in order to share His story.
We Are Blessed to Start Doing Something (vv. 50-51)
50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
We read that Jesus blessed His disciples, or spoke good words over them. In verse 50, the Greek word used for “blessed” is eulogia, from which we get our English word “eulogy.” In the New Testament, this word “denotes both the spiritual good brought by the gospel and material blessings” (New Bible Dictionary).(3) Therefore, it was a word of success, encouraging the disciples that the message they shared would accomplish its purpose and that all their material needs would be met as they journeyed. The blessing served, if you will, as sort of a Nitrous Oxide boost in addition to the empowering of the Spirit, giving the disciples an extra dose of confidence to go forth sharing the Good News.
So, the blessing served as a confidence booster, if you will, until the Holy Spirit arrived on the scene; but what was the primary reason why Jesus blessed His disciples? They were blessed to get busy and start doing something. In Acts 1:9-11, Luke tells us, “Now when [Jesus] had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven’.”
Let’s make sure that we’re not caught continually looking up into heaven waiting for Jesus to return and always singing about “when we all get to heaven.” We have a job to do while we’re on this earth. It’s all too easy for believers to attend church and rejoice in the fact that they’re saved and have their ticket to heaven, and then become distracted from the outside world; a world that’s lost and dying, and going to hell. Let’s not waste God’s time getting caught up in eschatology or endless theological debates, but let’s look out beyond the church walls to see that there are needy and hurting people, and then let’s do something about it; and I’m not talking about humanitarian aid.
You see, people are often more willing to be involved in service projects than evangelism. In his book What Is a Healthy Church, Mark Dever says, “Evangelism is not the same thing as sharing a personal testimony. It’s not the same thing as presenting a rational defense of the faith. It’s not even doing works of charity, though all three of these things may accompany evangelism . . . No, evangelism is speaking words. It’s sharing news. It’s being faithful to God by presenting the good news . . . that Christ, by His death and resurrection, has secured a way for a holy God and sinful people to be reconciled.”(4)
Evangelism is sharing the Word of God, the Holy Scripture, or the words of the Bible concerning who Jesus is and what He did to save our souls. In Share Jesus without Fear, William Faye says, “Many Christians tell people they love the Lord. They offer hugs and tell people they’ll pray for them, yet they only share hints of the gospel truth . . . Those Christians don’t share enough to effect heart change.”(5) Likewise, there are many Christians who will go to foreign lands and help with construction projects hoping to demonstrate the love of Christ, but it takes more than love to save a soul; it also takes words.
We’re blessed by Jesus to start doing something for others; and that something is meeting their spiritual need, which is the most important need of all. In Acts 3:1-6, we read that when Peter and John approached a lame man sitting at the entrance of the temple that “he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk’” (vv. 5-6). The lame man was hoping to receive a monetary handout, but Peter offered the man healing in the name of Jesus; and we too must offer healing in Jesus’ name – spiritual healing, that is – healing that’s delivered through sharing the gospel message of salvation in Jesus Christ.
We Must Worship to Prepare Our Heart (vv. 52-53)
52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.
We observe here the very first thing the disciples did after Jesus ascended into heaven; they worshipped Him; and they continued to do so even after returning to Jerusalem. Worshipping the Lord isn’t the same thing as being distracted by looking up into heaven, for worship is what prepares us for evangelism. On the website LifeWay.com, David Wheeler and Vernon M. Whaley tell us that worship and evangelism are actually unified expression of our obedience to God and that “God intended His followers to express both callings as we seek to multiply His kingdom.”(6) They further explain,
The purpose of a believer’s life is to glorify God. We worship so that God can be eternally exalted among the nations. We bring people to Christ for the same reason. When we live surrendered, obedient lives that seek God’s glory, we offer open invitations for others to become worshipers of our great God. Evangelism and worship are therefore uniquely related. Evangelism ignites a holistic lifestyle of worship, and worship of the one true God leads to evangelism . . .
[Jesus] called us to glorify God with unyielding allegiance, but our worship isn’t complete unless we also love our neighbor. If we fall in love with Christ and seek to glorify His name, we’ll also love others and lead them to worship with us [by evangelizing them] . . . Biblical worship, therefore, is a passionate response of devotion and obedience to God, and it results in active participation in the Great Commission. Neither evangelism nor worship is an isolated religious activity; both combine to form a lifestyle that seeks to glorify God by joining Him on mission every day.
Notice that part of the disciple’s worship included prayer. In Acts 1:12-14, Luke further expounds of that glorious day, “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”
In reference to the relationship between evangelism and prayer, Rick Warren says, “Prayer is the most important tool for your mission in the world. People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers. Like an intercontinental missile, you can aim prayer at a person’s heart whether you are ten feet or 10,000 miles away” (pp. 300-301, The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, 2002). So, “what should you pray for? The Bible tells us to pray for opportunities to witness, for courage to speak up, for those who will believe, for the rapid spread of the message, and for more workers” (p. 301, The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, 2002).
Time of Reflection
So, let me summarize what we’ve learned this morning from God’s Word, concerning this last and most important purpose of the church: We are given a commission to share the message of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. This message is to be shared with those in our community, our country, and with other cultures and nations; and all believers are expected to be witnesses to the purpose of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection; and we need not be afraid, for we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish this task.
Jesus has also given us His blessing, assuring us of success; a blessing to encourage us to get out there and do something to help people; which is, specifically, to meet their spiritual need of salvation as we proclaim the Word of God; and all the while, we must be engaged in worship and prayer, as worship is the catalyst for evangelism and prayer prepares the hearts of those to whom we’re sent.
So, the message believers are to be proclaiming, according to 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, is “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” If you’re here today and you’ve never before trusted in Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord; then here’s what you need to know in order to be forgiven of your sins and receive eternal life:
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” You must first of all believe in Jesus; meaning, you must believe in His death, burial and resurrection. Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” In addition to believing in Jesus, you must also confess your sins and confess your faith in Him as Savior and Lord of your life.
This message is part of a series on being a "purpose driven church." Many in-text citations are from Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Zondervan, 1995).
NOTES
(1) Gene Mims, The Kingdom Focused Church (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman, 2003), pp. 76-77.
(2) Ibid., p. 77.
(3) W. W. Wessel, “Blessing,” New Bible Dictionary (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1982), p. 144.
(4) Mark Dever, What Is A Healthy Church? (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2007), p. 91.
(5) William Faye, Share Jesus without Fear (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman, 1999), p. 8.
(6) David Wheeler and Vernon M. Whaley, “Great Commission Worship,” LifeWay.com: www.lifeway.com/Article/great-commission-worship-witness-evangelism (Accessed July 1, 2014).
