Ministries of the Church Pt. 3: Evangelism

Patton Shinall

Being the Church • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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The church exists to proclaim the gospel so more might be saved.

Notes

Transcript

Intro

Why does the church exist?

This is a crucial question because how we answer it will shape everything about our church. Not only that, but by getting this wrong, many church’s have abandoned the gospel and ceased doing any fruitful ministry for the Kingdom.

When God created the church, he created it with a purpose. But sadly, we have become complacent on what God has called us to do or worse, forgotten it all together.

The church exists to see God’s glory fill the earth by sharing the gospel with the lost so that sinners all over the world can turn from their sin and worship God alone.

God has called us to a great task. He has called us out of sin from the world so that we can grow to worship him and tell others about the good news of salvation.

But many churches exist as if God has saved them so that they can stay nice comfortable behind their four walls completely safe and disengaged from those around them who are dying enslaved to their sin.

Its like we are more than content to sit back enjoy a rich oasis of living water while those outside of Christ are crawling through the desert dying of thirst.

And because we have lost why the church exists and turned it into

Dear Christian, we cannot be content to hoard salvation while people all around us are dying with no hope to withstand the coming judgement.

We must see that when God calls us to salvation, he also calls us to his mission to share the gospel with anyone we possibly can so that they too can be saved.

The big idea of this sermon is that every Christian is a missionary. Every single one of us is called by God to be a herald of the good news and share how Jesus has died for sinners so that they can be saved.

And the amazing thing is, being a missionary doesn’t mean you have to go to Africa or China to share the good news. In fact, for most of us, all God will ask us to do is to go across the street or to the next cubicle.

My goal for this sermon is to show you how you are called by God to engage your life in his mission to save sinners. How every Christian is invited to join in God’s work and share the gospel with whoever will listen so that God will be worshiped among the nations and receive the glory due to his name.

My hope for us today is that every single one of us would open our eyes to see how complacent we all are about sharing the gospel so that we can start to see ourselves as missionaries right here, right now.

I want you to see how every Christian is called to be a missionary, and in this Sermon I’m going to give you three reasons why we must embrace this call and share the good news of the gospel as often as possible.

I. Every Christian is a Missionary because of the Great Commission

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

This passage is commonly referred to as the Great Commission and it is the marching orders for every church from every nation for all time.

It is the clearest definition of the mission of the church given to us in the Bible.

By saying All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Jesus is saying that he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He claims to be the only God and the Lord of all things.

He alone is the one who is worthy of all worship and devotion from all people everywhere.

Then he says Go therefore. Because Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the church is called to go and proclaim his kingdom to all the world.

That is, the church is meant to be a sent people.

Yes. We are gathered together by God in church to worship him, but we do not gather for gathering sake. We gather to be encouraged and equipped to go out into the world and share the gospel with the lost.

And when we share the gospel our aim is to make disciples who follow Jesus.

The goal of evangelism is not converts. The goal of evangelism is converts who faithfully follow Jesus.

So not only are we to baptize people who make professions of faith, we also teach them to observe everything Jesus has commanded us to do.

So the Great Commission has two parts.

One. We are to share the gospel so that people might repent and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.

Then two. We gather these converts into churches, into the community of God’s people called out from the world to worship him so that they two can be equipped to go out and share the gospel too!

And because Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, we are called to share the gospel with all nations.

In other words, all people, every single one of them must be told the gospel so that they might repent and be saved.

With a task that is so all encompassing, how can we waste a single day not sharing the good news of salvation with anyone that will listen?

They must be told the gospel so that they can be saved and give God the glory due to his name!

So the mission of the church is the mission of discipleship.

We are saved so that we can worship Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords. So that we can treasure him more than anything else in our life because of what he has done for us in his life, death, and resurrection.

Then, because Jesus is the King and Lord of all people, we go out into the world wherever we are and share the gospel with all people so that they too can repent and worship Christ in every area of their life.

This is the work that every Christian is to be busy doing until Christ returns. This is our ultimate purpose as a church. To see God’s name glorified by more and more people turning from sin and worshiping him.

I say that because after Jesus gave the Great Commission, he told the Apostles to wait for the Holy Spirit. Once the Spirit fell at Pentecost, Peter preached the gospel, 3,000 people were saved and the church was born.

Then from there, these churches planted churches that planted churches that planted churches so that more people could hear the gospel and be discipled with God’s people.

Practically, that means if you are a part of a church, you are part of this Great Commission work.

Living out the Great Commission means that we are intentional to live our lives for the glory of God by trying to reach others with the gospel.

This is what it means to live a missional life, a life with a purpose. It means that we are aware of what God is doing in the world to save sinners and to join him in that work by sharing the gospel as much as we can.

This is not a job left to pastors or missionaries or even just other Christians. This is the work God calls every single one of us to engage our life in because it is going to take all of us to share the gospel with all nations.

And again, that doesn’t mean you have to go to another country. God may call you to do that, but until that day comes, you can be a missionary here in our city, at your job, at your kid’s practices or community events.

Sharing the gospel should be our way of life, not a special event, and sharing the gospel is a way of life and not an event because, by saving us, God has given every single one of us the ministry of reconciliation. Turn to and I will show you what I mean.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

So Paul says that the love of Christ controls us. The word translated control actually carries the meaning of pressing two things together. So in a way, Paul is saying that the love of Christ presses him on in his ministry. It is the thing that drives all that he does.

And he says because we have concluded this. The motivation for Paul’s ministry was the fact that Christ died on behalf of all that would put their faith in him. This is what displayed Christ perfect love for his people.

Jesus himself said that there is no greater love than someone laying down their life for their friends, and this is exactly what Jesus did for us.

Then Paul says because that is true, because Christ loved us in dying for us, we cannot live for ourselves, but we must live for Christ. We must live for his glory and his will and purposes, not our own.

Basically, Paul says if we truly understand just how much Christ has loved us in dying for us, we have no choice but to live all our life for him. We cannot live for our kingdom, we must live for his and the work of his Kingdom is the proclamation of the gospel.

Then he says because of the gospel, we can no longer regard anyone according to the flesh. In other words, we can’t just look at people in a worldly way.

That we don’t look at people with a worldly lens, but a spiritual lens. That we see them for who they are as spiritual beings who must be reconciled to God and saved from sin.

That is why he says that we once regarded Christ according to the flesh. Paul is talking about his life pre-conversion. He is saying, “When I was Saul, I just saw Christ as another man. A liar and a blasphemer. But through faith in the gospel, I see Christ as he really is, the Messiah of God, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

This means that we can’t just look at others as mere passerbys. We must see them as people who need to be told that Christ is King and he loved them enough to die for them.

Then Paul continues...

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

Paul starts by laying out the effects of the gospel. When someone is saved they are made new. They are no longer their dead, sinful self, but they are a new person, adopted as one of God’s sons or daughters.

Then Paul says all this is from God. The gospel and saving sinners is all God’s Work. He is the one who reconciled us to himself in Christ and when he did that, he gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

What does that mean? Paul tells us in verse 19. God, the Creator of the universe and reconciler of sinners, has entrusted to us the message that saves sinners from their sin.

He has entrusted us to share the gospel so that people could repent and not have their sins and trespasses counted against them, but escape judgement, and not only escape judgement, but be given eternal life.

Then Paul says because God has entrusted to us such a precious message with such high stakes, we must see ourselves as ambassadors for Christ.

God, in his sovereignty, has chosen us to be his ambassadors and the heralds of his message of salvation. Everyone of us must look for and take opportunities to share the gospel so that more people can be reconciled to God.

And before you start to think to yourself, well that sounds good, but other people are more capable, more qualified, more skilled to do that. I’ll just keep following the Lord and let others worry about sharing their faith, I want you to ask yourself, if we don’t think we need to share the gospel with others, who will?

Don’t see see the great danger the lost would be in if all of God’s people believed its someone else’s responsibility to live out the Great Commission? Just in our church if we all believe it is someone else’s job to share the gospel, allowing ourselves to all pass the buck to the next person, eventually, there will be no one is actually preaching the gospel.

And if no one is preaching the gospel to the lost, they will die in their trespasses and sins, separated from God to suffer under his wrath for all eternity.

We are Christ’s ambassadors. We are the ones called by God to be the heralds of the gospel so that more people might be saved.

We cannot afford to assume other people where share the gospel for us. We must be willing to fulfill our calling. Why? Because the love of Christ controls us.

Christ has loved us perfectly in the gospel. He forgave us and freed us from the slavery of our sin because he loves us and is for our good.

How can we keep this love secret? How can we not tell others that Christ loves them just the same way if they repent and trust in him when all around us people are wandering off into eternal judgement.

Every Christian is a missionary.

II. Every Christian is a Missionary because God is a Missionary

One of the things that makes God’s grace so amazing is that even after we rebelled against him and tried to overthrow his kingdom by sinning against him, he didn’t stand back, cross his arms and tap his foot waiting for us to come and grovel to him.

Instead, he came after us. When Adam and Eve sinned it wasn’t them that went to God to confess their sin. It was God who came to the Garden saying, “Adam, where are you?” Even after we first sinned, God came after us as a missionary to reconcile us to himself.

All throughout the Old Testament God sent his prophets to proclaim his salvation to his people until eventually, God himself came to earth in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God incarnate. That means he is fully God and fully man. The Bible teaches us that God himself became a man to come and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom so that sinners might be saved.

And Jesus was sent by the Father to die on the cross as our substitute and to rise from the dead three days later so that all our debt of sin could be paid and we could be adopted as God’s sons and daughters.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Telling Nicodemus how someone can be saved, Jesus said that they must believe in the Son of God who was sent by the Father to save sinners.

And Jesus says that God worked salvation for sinners because he loves them. In fact, he loves them so much that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ so that they would not perish in their sin, but have eternal life.

And he God sent his son into the world, and Jesus became a man, so that those that put their faith in him would escape judgement and condemnation.

And don’t miss what condemns someone in their sin. It is that they do not believe in the name of the only Son of God.

There is salvation in Jesus Christ and no one else.

Coming from a Christian family can’t save you, being a good person can’t save you, no other religion can save you, it is only faith in Jesus Christ who is the only Son of God and the only sacrifice that takes away our sin.

Speaking to the Jews, Peter said in This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Jesus alone is the cornerstone of salvation. He alone is the one who can reconcile us to God, and there is no other name by which we can be saved.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Have you ever considered how monotheism in itself compels us to evangelize?

Monotheism if you didn’t know is the belief that there is only one God, not many.

Because God is Trinity, three persons, one God, he is a missionary God because if people to not worship him, they do not worship the Creator and are condemned in their sin.

Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Because the God of the Bible is the only God of the Universe and because Jesus Christ is the only name by which we can be saved, we must evangelize the lost because without knowing Christ, there is no other way they can be forgiven of their sin.

Monothemism

There is only one right answer to eternal life, and if someone gets it wrong they will suffer eternal death.

We must share the gospel, because there is no other God who can save sinners from their sin.

Knowing this, Jesus, God himself, came to earth and he said I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Trinity

He also said For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

Jesus was the greatest missionary to ever live.

He came to earth to share the good news of the kingdom so that sinners could be saved.

This is one of the wonders of the incarnation. God didn’t send down a check list to say, “OK. If you can obey me this much, then I will love you.”

Because God knew we could never obey him enough to earn his love because he is so holy that even one single sin deserves eternal condemnation.

So God himself came to earth in Christ and lived in perfect obedience on our behalf. Many Christians only think of salvation as Christ paying the penalty of our sin on the cross which is true, but salvation is more than that.

Christ not only pays the penalty for our sin, he also gives us his righteousness as our own. This is called the doctrine of imputation. What that means is that when God looks at you in Christ, he sees someone who has had all their sin paid for and has obeyed his law perfectly.

Those in Christ are perfect in holiness as God is perfect through Christ’s sinless life, and this saves us because God’s righteousness demands nothing less than perfect holiness from those that worship him.

This is why Christ is our righteousness. This is why when you are a Christian, God doesn’t weigh your obedience against your disobedience to see if you’ve done enough for him to be pleased with you.

He is perfectly pleased with you, perfectly accepts you as his son or daughter, because he accepts you on the basis of what Christ has done for you, not on your ability to obey.

And because Jesus knew that the only way sinners can be forgiven and made acceptable to God was through his gospel, he said in As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

God sent the Son, Christ was sent, God and Christ Sent the spirit to empower the church to proclaim the gospel

John 3:16

Not righteous but sinners

That even so is the important part there. It means just as or in the same way.

So Jesus is saying in the very same way he was sent by the Father to proclaim salvation to the lost, he has sent us into the world to share the good news of the gospel.

What this also tells us is that if maturing as a Christian means we look less and less like our old selves and more and more like Jesus, eventually part of living like Christ means that we will share the gospel like he shared the gospel.

If God’s work in the Christian is to conform us to the image of Christ, to make us more like him, how can we be fully like Jesus and follow him if we don’t share the gospel like he shared the gospel?

Every Christian is a missionary, because God himself is a missionary. Jesus was sent by the Father to accomplish salvation and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom. Today, Jesus sends us by the power of the Holy Spirit to continue his missionary work in the world so that more people might be saved.

So not only is Every Christian is a Missionary because we are called to carry out the Great Commission, and because God himself is a missionary God, but Every Christian is also a Missionary...

III. Every Christian is a Missionary because Sinners Must Be Saved

We’ve alluded to this several times already, but let me make it explicitly clear. Without hearing the gospel, sinners will die in their sin and suffer for eternity in hell.

The Bible clearly teaches that all people in their natural state are sinners.

Paul says in For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And because of sin, Paul also says that all sinners They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

This verse describes the doctrine commonly known as total depravity.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Total depravity essentially says that all people are sinners and have nothing good dwelling in them. They are only evil all the time in all that they do and have not hope of saving themselves.

But people often get confused about what total depravity actually means. They assume that if the doctrine of total depravity were true, and people were as sinful as the Bible claims they are, that everyone would basically be Hitler. But because we know that is not true, people think that they are not as sinful as the Bible says and therefore see no need for a savior.

But here is what we do not mean by total depravity.

In saying that all people outside of Christ are completely dead in their sin, we do not mean that they are totally insensitive to matters of conscience.

They still are able to have a sense of right and wrong, and in fact, Paul says in that this is God’s common grace which holds back the evil of men’s hearts so that the world does not descend into chaos.

Also, total depravity does not mean the people are as sinful as they can possibly be. It doesn’t mean that they will only do evil in the most wicked fashion possible.

After all, even unbelievers can be altruistic or kind or faithful in their marriages or generous. What it says is that these acts, as moral as they are, do not qualify a person for salvation because they do not do them to worship or obey God.

Finally, total depravity does not mean that a sinner sins in every possible way.

Just because someone is a sinner, doesn’t also make them a murderer. that would be ridiculous. It just means that their natural inclination is to sin.

What we do mean by total depravity is that every person is a sinner and sin has affected the entire person.

It is not just one aspect of who they are, but defines everything about them. It is the reason that Paul is able to say that unbelievers are slaves to sin.

Moreover, total depravity means that sinners cannot save themselves from their sinful condition. There is nothing they can do to earn forgiveness because their state as sinners demands God’s wrath.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

By saying death is the wages of sin, Paul point is that death is the fitting payment, the just response, to our sinful works.

And this death has several aspects.

First, sin brings physical death.

When God made Adam and Eve, everything in creation was good. He is the God of life, and death had no place in his Creation because death is the antithesis of who God is.

Yet, God promised that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die.

Yet after the Fall where Adam and Eve sinned, death became a reality and we see this today as every person to have ever lived besides Enoch and Elijah has died.

So after the Fall, the world was broken and placed under a curse where now physical death was possible.

Second, sin also brings spiritual death.

Spiritual death is the separation of the person from God.

God is perfectly holy and cannot look upon sin or tolerate its presence.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve had bodies that could become diseased, but their were no diseases that existed to afflict them. But because of sin and the brokenness of the world

Therefore, sin is a barrier that prevents people from having a relationship with God like Adam and Eve before the fall.

Sin alienates us from God and therefore separates us from the fountain of living waters God himself.

This is the state of every person alive today that does not believe in Jesus.

Finally, sin also brings eternal death.

In a very real sense, eternal death is just the extension of spiritual death.

When someone who is dead spiritually dies physically, they spend eternity in that state. They spend eternity separated from God under his wrath with second chance of redemption or salvation in what the Bible calls hell.

says that it is appointed for a man to die once and then after dying physically to face judgment.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

In this passage, John is describing the Great White Throne of Judgment where Jesus will judge every person that has ever lived.

Right now, with every action you are writing a book in heaven about your life.

And every single person’s book will reveal their sin and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they deserve to be condemned by God for their sin.

However, for the Christian, their name is written in another book called the book of life. This is the book that records the names of all those that Jesus has covered with his own blood to give them forgiveness.

to pay their debt of sin on their behalf

To pay their debt of sin on their behalf

Imagine the book of your life that list all your sins as a ledger that shows your infinite debt to the Lord. You could not pay it back in a thousand lifetimes. But in the book of life there is another ledger and next to your name there is a stamp that says “Paid in Full” because of Christ’s blood shed for you.

Every person that does not believe in Jesus will have no recourse. There are no do-overs. They will stand condemned in be thrown into the lake of fire, that is Hell to suffer eternal, conscious torment, or what the Bible calls, the second death.

Jesus likens it to be thrown out in utter darkness bound hand and foot where all you can do is grind your teeth in an effort to bear the suffering.

He also says it is like being thrown into the ocean with an anchor tied around your neck. Imagine that. You are thrown into the ocean, and as you splash into the water you take one, last futile breath and as you sink down you feel the weight of water begin to crush you and drive out the little air you have left.

Jesus’ point is that the terror of that moment, is the terror someone will suffer for eternity under the wrath of God as the weight of their sin crushes them.

And what is so terrifying is about hell is that when you drown that terror only last for a few minutes, but in hell, those few minutes are stretched into an eternity.

This is the fate of every person who does not put their faith in Jesus through the gospel.

And I know Hell is not a comfortable subject. In fact, none of us should be comfortable with Hell because God himself does not want anyone to God to Hell.

It wasn’t made for people. God created Hell for the Devil and his angels.

Hell is a place meant only for sinners, who Satan and his demons were the first. Hell just became the final destination for people who refuse to repent of their sin and put their faith in Christ so that all their sins could be forgiven.

This is why we must share the gospel. So that people can believe in Christ and escape the coming judgement. There are no second chances after this life. The author of Hebrews says in that people die one time, and then after death, they face judgment.

But Pauls says in For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Sin and hell

The only way people can escape the coming judgment is if we we are sent to preach the gospel.

Jesus has sent us, are we preaching? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!

Calvinism Objection

Allow me to answer one common objection that particularly affects our church’s theological camp.

Calvinist Objection

Our church is reformed and holds to a Calvinistic view of salvation which means that we believe God elects his people to salvation. Basically, that God is going to save whomever he wills and there is nothing anyone can do anything to prevent that from happening.

Because of this, many Calvinistic Christians give themselves a pass from evangelism reasoning to themselves that if God is going to save whoever he wills, he doesn’t really matter what I do anyway.

But that is the wrong heart. Even God’s heart is that none should perish but all should reach repentance.

But Calvinists should be the most evangelistic people on the planet for three reasons.

First, as we saw earlier in Romans sharing the gospel is how God saves sinners. There is no other way for the elect to be saved unless someone tells them about all that Jesus has done to forgive them of their sins.

Second, evangelism is all about God’s glory. God doesn’t save people because he needs us or because we’ve done something to earn his forgiveness. The only reason God saves anyone is because God wants to show his glory to all creation in his mercy, love and forgiveness so that all creation would worship him.

Instead, our motivation for evangelism is God’s glory. That is why God saves sinners. It is not because God needs us or we’ve done something to earn it. Its because God wants to show his glory to all creation in his mercy, love and forgiveness.

As such, Calvinists should be first to evangelize the lost because we want God to be glorified.

The Bible says no one looks for God or even has any desire to worship him, but God in his grace and mercy saves them when there was no hope for any of us otherwise.

Every time someone is saved, they turn from their sin and idolatry to worship God alone. To give glory to his name and to stop worshiping their deaf and mute idols they have made for themselves through their sin.

So when a sinner repents through the gospel, God is glorified. And if the only way they can repent is through the preaching of that gospel, we should be busy doing that very work.

Third, the Bible never tells us who the elect actually are. Just because God chooses to save whoever he wills doesn’t mean we are privy to that information. The only way to know who God has chosen to save is by sharing the gospel with everyone we can and seeing who God gives saving faith.

The way God has established for sinners to be saved gives glory to God’s na

So when we share the gospel with someone and they come to saving faith, God alone gets all the glory because it is his gospel that saves them. Not our methods or our words. It is his Word of salvation that gives eternal life.

Not only that, but the Bible never tells who the elect are. The only way we know who God has chosen to save is by sharing the gospel with everyone and seeing who God gives saving faith.

Yes, God will save whoever he wills. But he invites us to join him in that work. He wants us to be a part of his Kingdom and bringing it to the lives of others. Not to be content to sit on the sidelines.

A true Calvinist will always preach like an Arminian, compelling all people to repent and believe, but then rest easy knowing that its not up to them to save sinners.

So even if you are a Calvinist and believe that God is going to save whomever he sills, you should still evangelize because without someone preaching, no one will be saved and God will not be glorified. As faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Every Christian, even those who hold the Calvinist position of salvation, must be a missionary because sinners must be saved if they are going to escape the coming judgment.

IV. Application: What Does Evangelism Look Like?

This leads to our application where I want to show you how you can evangelize the lost God has sovereignly placed in your life.

I don’t want to just tell you you are a missionary. I want to help equip you so that you know how to share the gospel with others.

1. The Message of Evangelism

The message of Evangelism is, of course, the gospel.

And if you are thinking to yourself, but what if I mess it up or leave something out, I want to point you to .

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

To share the gospel with someone you really just need to hit four things.

First, that God is the Creator of the Universe and the only true God.

Second, that all people have sinned, and have separated themselves from him.

Third, that God sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins and was raised again three days later so that we could have eternal life.

And fourth, that God offers to save anyone if they repent of their sin, trust in Jesus and follow him.

This is the gospel, and the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

2. The Method of Evangelism

Many people wrongly assume that successful evangelism only looks like going up to a complete stranger and try to cold cock them with the gospel.

This is definitely a form of evangelism, but most of the time, we share the gospel over time with people we know as we have opportunity.

Especially in our culture, the most effective method of evangelism is when those we share the gospel with see how Jesus has actually changed our life. Someone can’t see that in a 2 minute conversation.

Then what’s worse is that they assume they are only successful in evangelism if they actually close someone by getting them to make a decision of faith.

What I want to do is to shift how you understand evangelism by looking at what the Bible has to say about it.

Throughout the book of Acts, it is clear that the results of evangelism are up to God.

In it says that the Lord added to the church day by day.

In it says that the word of God spread in the world.

In Paul and Barnabas came back from their missionary journey they reported that it was God who had opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles.

What this says is that evangelism is God’s work. The church’s responsibility is not to give salvation because of course we can’t. It is only to bear witness to the gospel in hopes that more might be saved.

That means you are not called to save sinners. Only God can do that. You are just called to share the gospel as you have opportunity and see what the Lord will do.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Instead of seeing evangelism as closing people we need to see it as sowing the gospel.

Paul says that some people are called to sow the seed of the gospel, others come along and water it, but ultimately it is God who is the one who gives the growth.

So when you share the gospel with someone whether it is a complete stranger, a general acquaintance or coworker, or even a family member, don’t put this pressure on yourself that its on you to save them.

Just sow the seed and see what God will do. Perhaps he will give the growth right then and there, or maybe he will let it sit until someone else comes along to water it a little more and a little more until eventually their faith sprouts.

I want you to see your evangelism as nothing more than bearing witness to what God has done in Christ.

Evangelism is God’s Work Hammett

Fields for harvest Ch. 7

You aren’t going to mess it up or prevent someone from being saved by not saying exactly the wrong thing because A. God is sovereign over who he saves, and B. God might just be using your imperfect method to sow the first seeds of faith.

So then what should evangelism actually look like? Whether you are sharing the gospel with a complete stranger all the way down to a life long friend, I think effective evangelism comes down to two parts.

How should we go about mission? Love and Zeal 105 missiology

First, you share what Christ has done

Then you share what Christ has done in you.

The big idea is that your life, your testimony is the evidence you have to show in real time the gospel’s power to save.

Sharing the gospel is just that. It is just telling someone what Jesus has done for us and then sharing how that gospel has changed your life.

The necessity of Evangelism 133

What does evangelism look like?

Its really is that simple. That is how you bear witness.

First, you share what Christ has done

And as we bear witness, we need to pray for the Spirit’s power.

Then you share what Christ has done in you.

In , the disciples were being persecuted and threatened for preaching the gospel. So in response to their fear they prayed to the Lord and said ; And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness...And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

The whole idea is that your life is evidence for the gospel’s power to save.

Do you feel afraid to share your faith with that coworker, friend, or relative? Then pray for boldness.

It is the Spirit who works in us to help us share the gospel because it is the Spirit who gives life to dead stony hearts. He is the one who opens blind eyes and enables sinners to believe the gospel.

Whether we are fearful of sounding awkward or losing friendships or maybe just complacent in our call to evangelize, let us pray to the Spirit for boldness and then pray for the Spirit to go before us and till the soil of people’s hearts so that their eyes can be open to the gospel and be saved.

Conclusion

Salvation is all God’s work. We are simply called to be ambassadors and heralds of the good news of the gospel.

With that in mind, may we be a church where every member lives as a missionary wherever we go knowing that we are missionaries because we have been entrusted with the Great Commission, because God is a missionary who desires none should perish but all should, and because without the gospel, sinners have no hope of escaping the coming judgment.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

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