Biblical Evangelism Luke 24:44-49 44 Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Introduction: Generally speaking there are two subjects that I can t stand to hear sermons on; prayer and evangelism. The reason is because no matter how much I am praying or how many people I m seeking to evangelize, I still go away feeling awful about myself as a Christian. Those sermons typically seek to guilt audiences into praying and evangelizing more. That s easy to do when our infinitely Holy God has commanded us to do these things and is worthy of 100% of our efforts, yet not one of us is capable of giving 100% because we are sinners. Before we go any further let s all confess we are falling short in the area of evangelism, ask God for his forgiving grace, receive it in Jesus name and move on. These types of sermons are often preached with good intentions but built on foundations of misconceptions. Today we are going to discuss some of the misconceptions that negatively affect our evangelism, and allow God s Word to shed some light on them. It is my hope that by God s grace we will have our understanding of evangelism sharpened and our passion for evangelism inflamed. Before we discuss these misconceptions let s look at our text and be reminded by the word of God just what biblical evangelism is. Luke 24:44-49 44 Then he (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you (in the other Great Commission statements everything that Jesus has commanded them ), that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. (This is Jesus mandate to preach the whole Word of God and do so as it pertains to Him and His ministry)
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (God is the only one with the ability to open the minds of those who hear the gospel preached) 46 and said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (We are to preach the whole counsel of God, but the making of a disciple begins with believing the gospel. Here Jesus gives us a gospel synopsis and commands us to proclaim/preach it to all nations. We are the church, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets who began this ministry in Jerusalem and now we carry it to the ends of the earth.) 48 You are witnesses of these things. (This is a reference to the apostles who were eyewitnesses of Jesus ministry and resurrection. However, to keep us from excluding ourselves on those grounds, the apostle Paul comes along as an apostle, one who was untimely born, meaning unlike the other apostles, Paul never witnessed Jesus in the flesh. Neither have we but we are called to bear witness of what we have seen, heard, and touched by faith). 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. (This is a reference to the Holy Spirit who dwells in all believers and fulfills the ministry of witness-bearing through us.) But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (The Holy Spirit clothes us with power from on high as it did the apostles at Pentecost. Our evangelism does not dependent on our strength and abilities but the power of God through the work of the Holy Spirit) Let me say about the misconceptions that we are going to discuss that they are not meant to be accusatory. I m not taking this angel to embarrass anyone or start a controversy. You may or may not think any of these are true. My hope is that none of us do. If that is the case than hopefully this message will be a great recitation of important truths that will spur us on in our walk with Christ particularly in this area. However, I know these misconceptions exist and do feel they contribute to our lack of effective evangelism in the church today. Now let s look at some common misconceptions and allow the Word of God to give them clarity and empower us to fulfill the great commission in our lives and the life of this church.
Misconception #1 Evangelism is the work of the church. 1. Evangelism is the work of the church You may be thinking that this is not a misconception but a solid biblical statement. You are correct if you understand it correctly. A misconception is a misunderstanding of a concept. Here is the common misconception of this statement: Evangelism is for the professionals at church like Reggie. My job is to invite people to church and then he will get them with his preaching. It is true that evangelism is the work of the church, but we must remember WE ARE THE CHURCH! Evangelism is both corporate and individual. Corporately we work together to evangelize the lost through missions, outreach, evangelism training, evangelistic praying, etc.. But individually, every believer is accountable to their own mission field. There are some who Paul lists is Ephesians as evangelists whom God has given to the church, who I believe are people particularly gifted at preaching the gospel to unbelievers. We recognize those people in our culture today, but this small group does not negate every believer s responsibility to bear witness to the gospel to the lost. This work began at Jerusalem with the apostles and then spread from there when Stephen was stoned to death. Acts 8:4 Those who were scattered from Jerusalem went about preaching the word. This is how the Great Commission is fulfilled. The apostles told people, those people told people, then those people told more people, all the way to the day you heard the gospel and was saved. And now it s your turn. The problem we face with this particular misconception is that we run the risk of losing the gospel message. If we think evangelism is for the professional clergy, we tend to only invite people to the church. Evangelism is not an invitation to visit a church or an outreach event; it s an invitation to believe the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone. Yes, God uses the preaching of the gospel by preachers like Reggie, but the most common means God has ordained to use is the witness of common Christians like you. There is nothing wrong with inviting people to church or Christian events. But if we want to be really honest, we should aim to do that after we have shared the gospel and invited them to trust Jesus.
Misconception #2 Evangelism is making converts. 2. Evangelism is not defined by Making Converts Another important misconception is in the way we define evangelism. We sometimes think to evangelize is to make converts. We sometimes use the term evangelize in that way. We certainly strive for that result, but we must know that the Bible defines evangelism as faithfully sharing the gospel message and inviting people to believe it and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior. John Stott says in his book The Biblical Basis of Evangelism, To evangelize does not mean to win converts, but to announce the good news irrespective of the results To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe. Jesus made it clear to us in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 that we can expect three different responses to the gospel and only one is a true reception unto salvation. If we confuse evangelism with the results of the evangelism we can create a false sense of failure and frustration as well as the temptation to create manipulative methods. Remember in our text Luke 24:45 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (God is the only one with the ability to open the minds of those who hear the gospel preached). However, evangelism is not simply telling the gospel story and walking away saying, I ve done my part now its all up to you God. The Bible tells us that God is commanding all people everywhere to repent and believe the good news (Acts 17:30). We are the messengers of God with that same command. We are to tell the story and then urge our hearers not to turn away in unbelief but repent of their sin and turn to Jesus. Listen to this incredible example of the early church recorded in Acts 2:46-47 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Although it does not explicitly say they were evangelizing, we know people were not added to their number and being saved daily without hearing and believing the gospel. But the Holy Spirit through the pen of Luke made it abundantly clear that it was God who added to their number daily those who were being saved. We should find great peace in knowing this, which leads us to our next misconception.
Misconception #3 Guilt and fear are motivations for evangelism 3. Guilt and Fear are Not Motivations for Evangelism If you were taught to believe that success in evangelism is measured by positive results you will experience guilt when those results do not come. Do we consider Jeremiah to be a successful messenger of God? He preached for 30 years without a convert. Evangelism must be defined as the faithful sharing of the gospel and not the response of the hearer. When these are confused you breed a feeling of guilt and fear when someone rejects your offer of the gospel. You can be made to feel their eternal soul rests in your ability to evangelize. We do not want to encourage lethargy in evangelism or excuse a lack of, but neither do we want to try to scare people into doing it with bad theology. There is no need. Pastor talked this past Wednesday about the Christian at the Judgment Seat of Christ where we will receive crowns at which we will in turn lay at the feet of Jesus. Every time we are faithful to share the gospel we collect a crown not just when someone believes it and is saved. We must be concerned with people s eternal destiny and we need to have a sense of urgency as we plead with them to repent and believe, but that is not what the Bible teaches to be our primary motivation. The primary motivation for our evangelism is the glory of God amongst all the peoples of the earth. Look at Isaiah 6:1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am! Send me. Isaiah saw the glory of God, was touched by the saving grace of God, and responded by saying send me, I ll go tell the people whatever you tell me to tell them. He may have loved the people very much, we do not know. But we do know he loved the glorious God who took away his guilt and atoned for his sin. I know you love your son, daughter, mom, dad, and you pray for them and witness to them. You want them to be saved, but why? Is it because you love them and want them to have a better life on earth and to know they ll be in heaven? Those things are not wrong or bad. In fact, they are evidences of your love and that is certainly a good thing. But that can t be your primary thing. You must love the God who took away your guilt and atoned for your sin more than the person your preaching the gospel too. If only a love for people is motivating your evangelism you will be selective without realizing it. You will bear witness to those you hold near and dear while neglecting strangers and those you find difficult to bear. You will have a tendency to give too much weight to people and worry about their response toward you. Reggie tells us often that worship is giving weight to something. If your love for people exceeds your love for God you are giving people more weight than God. Look at Jonah. He refused to preach the gospel to Nineveh because he didn t like Ninevites. It wasn t until he experienced the saving power and loving grace of God that he responded in obedience. We don t know if he ever really learned to like Ninevites but we know that a love for God fueled his obedience to preach. O God give us a passion to see your glory among the nations like that of the Psalmist. Read Psalm 96
Misconception #4 I don t know enough about the Bible to do evangelism. 4. Evangelism Does Not Require Seminary Training There are several ways this misconception can be expressed. Many of us may not verbalize this misconception or ascribe to it as truth but we certainly have felt this way at some point in our attempts to evangelize. It is normal to feel inadequate in sharing the gospel with other people. You have been saved by God through a simple story yet that story is not so simple at all. It is the deepest and most profound story that has ever existed. It is a story in which every detail is of immeasurable importance. It is fantastical yet true. It is unfathomable yet it makes so much sense in your heart. But it s just so hard to put into words. Having said all that, it s still a simple little story. The woman at the well simply invited her town to come see the man who told her all that she ever did (referring to her sin) and asked them to determine for themselves if he could be the Christ (Jn. 4:29). The gospel is a simple story that you have to understand to be saved through it. If you understood it when it was used to save you than you should be able to communicate it to others in a way they can understand it. However, as simple as it is, training is of great value for evangelism. Training is not mandatory, but it can help with clarity and confidence. Evangelism is not the same as apologetics. You are not required to defend the faith, prove God s existence, or answer the age-old Problem of Evil philosophical debate. You are required to tell the old gospel story of Jesus death on the cross that saved your soul through faith. While I say that it is sharing a simple story we must be careful not to oversimplify it and inadvertently change it. This leads to our final misconception.
Misconception #5 Evangelism is sharing my testimony. 5. Evangelism is Not Just Sharing Your Testimony While testimonies and life experiences can be used in evangelism, we must be careful not to replace the gospel with them. The gospel is not your story, it is God s story. It is not a story about you and what Jesus has meant to you. It is a story about God and what Jesus means to all of humanity. Your story can play a significant role in helping people connect too and understand the gospel, but it should never replace or even overshadow the gospel. Nothing can replace the gospel story in biblical evangelism. Biblical evangelism must contain the telling of the good news of Jesus. God made us in His image and it was perfect. But our first parents Adam and Eve rebelled against God introducing sin and death into the world. That sin brought eternal death for all mankind. However, God loved this world and gave His only Son to die on a cross to undue the curse Adam and Eve brought. By believing God s Son Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead we can be saved. Being saved means belonging to God now and for all eternity.
CG Discussion Questions 1. How can evangelism being a work of the church be misunderstood or abused? When you do not understand that the church is made of individual believers and think evangelism is the responsibility of the clergy only. 2. What are some of the ways the church corporately participates in evangelism? Missions, local outreach, training each other in evangelism, praying for each other etc 3. How should we properly define evangelism? Evangelism faithfully proclaiming the gospel message and inviting hearers to believe it and trust Jesus for salvation. 4. What are the dangers of defining evangelism in terms of positive results? We could potentially create a sense of guilt and failure if people do not respond positively. 5. What does the Bible teach should be our primary motivation for evangelism? The glory of God 6. What are some motives for evangelism that are good but should not usurp our response to God grace? 7. Have you ever shied away from sharing the gospel with someone because you did not feel that you knew enough about the gospel or feared you would be asked questions you couldn t answer? Explain 8. Why is simply sharing your testimony not sufficient for evangelism? (That s assuming your not integrating the gospel message in it). 9. In your own words what is the gospel message that must be presented to an unbeliever?