The last several days for different reasons evangelism has been on my mind. I think much of it can be attributed to a statement I heard Richard Sutton make in a lesson recently. In speaking about the perspective each Christian should take with them into the world each day he said, “Christians live in a sea of lost humanity with mankind drowning in their sins – what are we doing?”
What are we doing? What are we doing collectively as the universal church? What are we doing collectively as congregations? Those are questions we can typically answer with ease. But even more pressing is the question – what are we doing personally? It’s not enough for me to say, “well the church is doing this,” or “our congregation is doing this.” What am I doing?
The Great Commission is not just a generic command given to the church at large. It is a responsibility entrusted to each individual Christian. Something for which we will each be held accountable. It is for that reason among many others that we each should give careful attention to our efforts in evangelizing this world. Why should every Christian be an evangelist?
- Because we have all been lost. All of our lives have been touched by sin (Romans 2:23) and that sin has resulted in our own personal spiritual deaths and separation from God (Isaiah 59:1,2; Romans 6:23). Yet somewhere in the midst of it all someone somewhere took an interest in sharing the gospel with us and it was only through the power of that gospel that we were delivered from darkness and became Christians (1 Peter 2:9). Let’s never get to the point in our lives that we forget the hopelessness of being lost.
- Because we all know people who are lost. Every day we work beside, eat lunch with, pass by, and perhaps even live with people who are lost. Some of them we care deeply about. Some we may hardly know. But how can we look them in the eye everyday knowing that their sin stands between them and God and repeatedly ignore the fact that they are lost. The words of the timeless hymn “You Never Mentioned Him to Me” should haunt us under such circumstances. I hope our hearts never become so hardened as to not care about the eternal well being of those we are around on a regular basis.
- Because love demands it. The second great commandment, second only to our love for God, is that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). But there is a great misconception of what that love is supposed to entail. The assumption is that because we are to love one another then we are to leave one another free to live life in whatever way makes us happy – even if that includes living lives of sin. It was Paul, though, that counters that thought by defining true love as that which does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). That would include doing what we can to help people learn and obey that truth. We tell people about the gospel because if we love people there’s no alternative.
- Because God said so. Ultimately every responsibility that we have as Christians boils down to this simple reality. God told us to. And if we are truly servants of God then the simple fact that He has issued a command is enough. It does not matter how uncomfortable, unprepared, insignificant, or otherwise we may feel. Just remember the words of Jesus – “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…” (Matthew 28:19). That is an imperative statement to which we will all be held accountable. With the reality that we will stand before God one day and give an answer for our actions, may we develop a heart for evangelism.
Friends, let’s not take this lightly. Our souls and the souls of the world are at stake. A statement that I’ve heard attributed to the late H.A. Dixon, former president of Freed-Hardeman College, I think says it all. Brother Dixon was once asked why more Christians aren’t involved in helping to evangelize the world and he responded that he largely believed it was because we didn’t really believe the world was lost without the gospel or that we will be lost if we don’t take it to them. Friends it really is that serious and that is why every Christian must be an evangelist.
-Andy Brewer