The Need for EvangelismWhy be Evangelists? Every church should be evangelistic and every Christian should be a missionary. Why? (1) The purpose of our existence is to glorify God. One way we do this is by telling others what a great God He is and describing to them His holiness and justice and His grace and mercy. That is witnessing. (2) We must also be concerned to persuade other people to glorify Him. Of course everyone will glorify God, including the sinners who end up in hell. Yet it is obviously best to do this voluntarily. We love God and so we witness to our neighbours in order to peruade them to become actively involved in glorifying Him too. (3) We tell the good news to our neighbours because we love them and are longing to see them saved from a lost etemity and enjoying God. Paul wants to bring the Gospel to Rome Paul says: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ" (Rom.1:16). He was keen to go to Rome. Although they already had many gods, Paul knew the one real God. Although Rome was a great power the gospel is "the power of God unto salvation". The Roman Empire was large but the kingdom of God is universal and eternal. Rome had a wonderful law but Christ is the Lawgiver and Judge before whom even Caesar will have to stand. Paul was prepared to take His gospel right into Caesar's palace. He was proud of it. Are you? Why does the World need this Gospel? God is angry. People talk glibly about the love of God and forget that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men'' (Rom.1:18). It is not just in the future that people suffer for their sins. All the sickness and pain in the world is the wages of sin. If there were no sin there would be no suffering. Yet it would also be very wrong to argue that those who suffer most have sinned most. God also reveals His wrath in the immorality of the world. Because of their turning away from Him "God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature" (Rom. 1:26). Homosexuality, lesbianism, child abuse along with promiscuity and broken marriages are God's judgement on an irreligious society. Man needs salvation. Peace with God is vital. Otherwise a miserable life here will lead to an eternity of misery. The law is our schoolmaster to force us to Christ (Gal 3:24). Peace and true happiness can only be found in Jesus. Loving our neighbours, we want them to be saved and to enjoy God both here and in the hereafter. Why are we such timid Evangelists? Apathy. People are not interested in our message. (1) Having rejected the Creator they put their faith in evolution and pretend there is no meaning to life. They say we are here by chance. (2) The common liberal teaching that there is no wrath in God and that because He is love there is no hell, leaves people secure in their ungodliness. (3) Fallen man, in his self-righteousness, will always find an excuse for sin and argue that he is just as good as anyone else. (4) Christians generally are poor witnesses and so worldly, pleasure-loving and materialistic that the ungodly find it easy to dismiss them as hypocrites. Pluralism. This is the heresy taught in the media. They say all religions lead to God as many different paths lead up a mountain. So, others who claim to have the truth themselves and say that people must repent are to be despised as bigoted fundamentalists. Who wants to be thought of in that way? Blind to the danger. If we saw our friends going to hell and realised the awfulness of eternal misery in that place of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched without a drop of water to comfort them throughout the endless ages of eternity, surely we would plead with our friends to repent with all the earnestness at our disposal! Failure to trust the sovereign God. If we truly believed in God's power to save even the hardest of sinners we would be much more bold. Too often we listen to the devil who says to us that there is no point in witnessing. But if King Manasseh the idolater, and Saul of Tarsus the persecutor and blasphemer were converted surely anyone can be. The God who raises the dead can save anyone. Be brave and loving. Do not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God has appointed you as a watchman to warn your friends and relatives. Do not let them perish through your fear of being mocked. Tell them of the Saviour who came to seek and to save the lost and has done all that is required. He is willing to save them but they will not come to Him. Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the editor. [Back to Reformed Christian Pages][Back to Free Church Foundations] |