Biblical Evangelism (with apologies and thanks to Mark Dever)



Tolle Lege (Take up and read)



These are study notes from our new class on evangelism.  These are based heavily on Mark Dever's book "The Gospel and Personal Evangelism"  I merely organized the information there in a study note format for my students and added some of my own personal thoughts.  Everything in quotation marks is the work of Mark Dever.  I encourage everyone to pick up a copy.  It is available on Kindle for a little over $7.  The next chapter is "What is the Gospel"  I hope to have that up and ready by next Monday.  Enjoy and may you be encouraged to share your faith and be salt and light "in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation." Phillipians 2:15

Biblical Evangelism

Introduction

One of the clearest commands for the Christian and yet one of the most neglected is the command to share the Gospel (Good News) with others. To go and make disciples. Matthew 28:19 The Great Commission!

So why don't we do it? What is it? Who should do it? How do we do it? How should we not do it? Why should we do it? And what should we do after we do it? These are questions we will attempt to answer over the next few classes.

Why We Don't

A. Basic Excuses

1. I don't know their language. This is a common excuse and not necessarily an illegitimate one. In 1 Corinthians 14:10-23 Paul speaks of the importance of understanding each other. This is a legitimate excuse but there are things that we can do to overcome these obstacles, such as, learn the language.

2. Evangelism is illegal. Again, in some places, this could be a real reason to be careful in preaching the gospel, but for most of us this is not a real problem.

3. Could cause problems at work/school/family. If we are working for someone else, we are to be good servants and not use their time to evangelize, but there are often other opportunities around this to be a witness. Also, at school, we must not be inconsiderate of others and interfere with teaching or learning, but find the right moments to share the gospel with others. And with family, we must share but in love and never with rudeness or forcing it upon our loved ones. “We certainly don't want the sharing of the gospel to bring us or the gospel into disrepute for any reason other than a disagreement with the message itself.” We don't want our evangelism to stand in the way of the evangel (good news).

4. Other things seem more urgent. There are other duties in our life that are good and necessary for us to take care of in a timely manner. Spouse, children, work, etc. All of these are legitimate areas where we need to spend time and care. God has blessed us with these people and things to take good care of them. But sometimes we can use these as an excuse not to do what God has left us here to do.

5. I don't know any non-Christians. This is a common problem among many Christians, especially today. We have created for ourselves little Christian bubbles in which to live. Even in countries like Nepal, it can be easy to do all of your business with and spend all of your time with believers only. This is the opposite of being salt and light. This is the equivalent of hiding your light under a basket or pouring your salt beside your food and refusing to let it accomplish what God has commanded us to do. We must be salt by mixing ourselves in with our culture, by being in the world but not of the world. We must associate with those of this world. (1 Corinthians 5:9-10) We are to live in the world as a light to the world. (Philippians 2:15) But we are to do this blamelessly. We are priests of God representing His name to the nations. (1 Peter 2:9) We cannot do any of this living in a Christian bubble, avoiding contact with all unbelievers. We must not be afraid to engage our culture and it's people!

B. Excuses Concerning non-Christians

“People don't want to hear.” “They won't be interested.” “They probably already know the gospel.” “It probably won't work, I doubt they believe.”

These are all excuses that we have probably all used on ourselves about someone that we felt the Spirit calling us to share the gospel. These all show our faithlessness. Oh, we have faith but not in God. We are putting our trust in our own powers of persuasion or their ability to listen and believe and rightly judging them to be insufficient and not sharing the gospel on those beliefs.

     Like Moses, we hesitate to share the message God has given us because we doubt our own ability or we predict the unbelief of our audience, but really we doubt God and the power of the Gospel! (Exodus 4:1,10)

     What makes them so different than us? Why did we believe? Was it because we were more inclined to believe such a message? Was it because of our intelligence? No! It was the power of God! (1 Corinthians 4:7) Their faith, like ours, will be a gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Conversion is a miracle! It goes against the very laws of nature. We are born in sin, unable to hear or see God. Without the desire to know God. Everything within us denying Him and His existence. (Romans 1:18-23) The fact that anybody is saved is a miracle of God that is compared to the creation of the world! (2 Corinthians 4:6)

C. Twelve Steps to Help Us Not Stop Evangelizing

1. Pray! - If you are lacking opportunities to share the gospel, pray! Pray and be amazed as God answers your prayers and brings people into your life for you to share the good news.

2. Plan. - We plan for so many things in our lives: work, family, dinner, vacations, retirement, even entertainment! Why not plan for evangelism? There is nothing nonspiritual about planning time to go witnessing. Keep gospel tracts on you as you go about your day. Even if you can't stop and talk with someone, be sensitive to opportunities to pass these out or leave with someone that you've had the opportunity to share the gospel.

3. Accept. - “We have to accept that this is our job!” “Go therefore and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19) I have heard some say that we are not called to share the gospel but to make disciples. We are only called to train others in the faith, not go and call them to the faith. It is amazing how cowardice can distort our ability to read and understand simple text. We will not have anyone to disciple unless we go and make disciples by sharing with them the good news. This is our duty! It is to this that we are all called.

4. Understand. - “But evangelism is just not my gift.”, somebody might say. Okay, there is a gift of evangelism, but just because it is not your particular gift does not mean that it is not your duty. Hospitality and mercy are also giftings of the Spirit, but if that is not yours it doesn't mean that you are allowed to merciless and inhospitable. How absurd! This is every Christian's duty!

5. Be Faithful. - Sometimes in our attempt to be thoughtful of others, we might forget to whom we owe our allegiance. “Good manners are no excuse for unfaithfulness to God.” Sometimes we can more concerned about how people will respond and not concerned enough about God's glory. Be faithful to God and His glory. That is the business we are to be about. We were created for His glory and now that He has saved us and restored His image in us through the work of Christ, this is the most important thing that we can accomplish.

6. Risk. - We must be willing to put ourselves into situations where the outcome is not known and the end might even be uncomfortable. “We must be willing to risk in order to evangelize.” This is probably one of the greatest obstacles to our evangelism: our own pride. Too often we are more concerned with our own glory and not concerned enough with God's.

7. Prepare. - Sometimes our reason for not sharing the gospel is because of our own sense of unpreparedness. We are afraid we don't know enough, what if they ask me a question and I don't know the answer? Again, we must remember it will not be our own wisdom and ingenious answers that will lead someone to repentance but the Spirit of God. “We should prepare ourselves by knowing the gospel, working on our own humility, and studying more.”

8. Look. - Be aware of opportunities to share the gospel! So often we realize only too late that we had an amazing opportunity to share with someone and missed it because our minds were somewhere else. When this happens, we must not get too discouraged as if that person is now doomed to an eternity apart from God, because we goofed up, but we must be alert nonetheless. If we are closing our eyes in prayer for opportunities to share the gospel, we must also open them in faith and be ready to seize those same opportunities.

9. Love. - “We share the gospel because we love people. And we don't share the gospel because we don't love people. We protect our pride at the cost of their souls. If we would evangelize more, we must love people more.” We must love God's glory and other people more than our own reputation.

10. Fear. - “When we don't share the gospel, we are essentially refusing to live in the fear of the Lord. When the One who is our all-powerful creator and judge is also our merciful redeemer and savior, then we have found the perfect object for the entire devotion of our heart. And that devotion will lead us to share this good news about Him with others.”

11. Stop. - “We should stop excusing ourselves from evangelism on the basis that God is sovereign.” God is calling a great number to Himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation. (Revelation 7:9-10) This should encourage us in our evangelism. This is the means God has chosen to call His people to Himself. (1 Corinthians 1:17-31) “We can't answer all the questions of how God's sovereignty and human responsibility fit together, but we can certainly believe that they do.”

12. Consider. - (Hebrews 12:3) “When we don't sufficiently consider what God has done for us in Christ – the high cost of it, what it means, and what Christ's significance is- we lose the heart to evangelize. Our hearts grow cold, our minds grow small, and our lips fall silent.”

Consider: That God has loved us as He has!

That God is glorified by our telling others of His amazing love.

That by keeping silent, we reveal our coldness to God's glory.

“That if we would be more faithful in evangelism, we would fuel the flame of love toward God within us, and of gratitude and hope. A fire so enflamed by God will have no trouble igniting our tongue.” (Matthew 12:3-4)