It is certainly a privilege to be the first writer on the
Bethany Community Church blog.
They say that if you want a sure fire way to guilt your
congregation, talk about prayer or evangelism. My hope is that my part of these
blog posts on evangelism will not heap any guilt on you, but instead, what you
read will motivate you to see the joy of reaching your neighbors for Christ.
Additionally, I hope to give you some good ideas for how to reach your
neighbors. The thoughts in my posts are from a recent men's breakfast and
adapted from Pastor Mark Dever, and at times, I am not sure what is from Dever
and what are my thoughts. Let's assume if you are reading good stuff, it was
from Dever.
Consider the following statement: The more you meditate on
the gospel, the easier evangelism will become to you. I certainly agree. The
fault of many posts on evangelism is to motivate the church to evangelism
through guilt with statements like “God has done so much for you; will you do
much for Him?"
A better motivator is the gospel itself! Mark Dever says,
“The gospel is the very heart of what we’ve been called to do. The more I study
the gospel, the more I become excited about talking about it.”
We should ask ourselves, "Why do I at times struggle
with sharing the gospel with the unsaved world?"
Possible answers are:We don’t remember the gospel. (Romans
6:23) We struggle with a fleshly desire to not think of others before
ourselves. (Philippians 2:3-5) Remembering the gospel, here is one reason why
all believers are called to joyfully share God’s plan of redemption with the
lost world: a desire to be obedient.
God’s call to evangelize is clear: 18 And Jesus came and
said to them, “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.”
(Matthew 28:18-20)
Paul writes of the call and obligation to evangelize: 1I am
speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in
the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the
sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. (Romans 9:1-3)
Of this passage, Mark Dever says, “This passage is a clear
call to us. Our silence is not a matter of neutrality. You need to tell
yourself that. Our silence is a matter of guilt and sin. Obedience is…a
biblical reason to evangelize.”
Do I wait until I feel like being obedient to evangelize? To
evangelize is to be obedient. Don’t wait for your feelings. Work at them, but
don’t wait for them.
More soon. Take care...
Pastor Ben
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