Today on the Evangelist Podcast, we're looking at the liberating truth that I don't need to evangelize.
SPEAKER_02The Evangelists Podcast from Revival. Find out what's new in telling people the good news about God, the world, and you. With Andy Brinkley and Glenn Scrivener.
SPEAKER_03Welcome back to the Evangelist Podcast. Before we go on, do you get our free daily prayer bulletin? It's a small twenty-four-page booklet that tells thirty-one stories of what God is doing around the world. Did you know that the gospel is reaching people in Romania? Or that North Korean Christians pray for us in the West? You can hear more about it in our prayer bulletin. You can get it free of charge via post or email by going to revivalmedia.org slash bulletin. So Glenn, the liberating truth that I don't need to evangelize. I mean we've looked at uh the pitiful practice of gaining converts, that it wasn't converts. And uh didn't Jesus say in Matthew twenty-eight, go into all nations making disciples. So it's not converts, it's disciples, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes, Matthew twenty-eight is very important. These are the churches' marches all marching orders, uh and go into all nations. In fact, let's let's let's get it. Let's get it from the lips of Jesus. Go into all nations. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age. Um absolutely vital verses, and and I think you should all uh memorize them by heart. And if you don't, then you're a deficient Christian. Um I put myself in the same boat. So here is a a very grand task, really, isn't it? Making disciples and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded them. And and he's saying this to the plural lot of disciples that are in front of him. So he's talking about an all-encompassing corporate church mission that is something quite a bit bigger than just, Andy, you should individually share the gospel with your neighbour. Often Matthew twenty-eight is kind of taught in that that kind of way, and and I think obviously how you act towards your neighbor is is uh an implication of of these verses, but specifically what these verses are are the church's marching order, a very comprehensive mission to teach and disciple and uh and and help people to obey all that Jesus has commanded, uh not simply the the the little thing of of me individually sharing the gospel with another individual. So there's there's that to say about Matthew 28. But but I think overall what I want to say on on this issue is that yes, in in a very deep sense, we should evangelize, we should witness. We are constituted as witnesses. That's what Jesus says in in Acts chapter 1, verse 8. He says, You will be my witnesses to the very ends of the earth. So uh we are constituted as witnesses by Jesus. We've been swept up into God's mission out to the world. Um but the reason why I say it's it's a liberating truth that I don't need to evangelize is that look, there are lots of things that make up the Christian life. There are lots of lots of things that in one sense I should do. I should read my Bible, I should pray, I should forgive others, I should be generous with my money. But none of those make you a Christian. And understanding that that distinction between the things that make up the Christian life, witness being a part of it, and the things that make you a Christian. And when we sort of force these things that make up the Christian life into things that make you a Christian, I think we get into the realm of all sorts of guilt and burden that we were never meant to bear, really. So what's the difference then? The difference between the things that make up the Christian life and the things that make you a Christian is really, really vital. So think think, for instance, of giving money. Giving money is absolutely vital to actually your your Christian discipleship. It's taught on so very regularly. People say that uh if you just preached the words of Jesus from the pulpit every Sunday, then you'd preach on giving every six weeks. Like a sixth of all that Jesus says is is on the subject of money. And so so it is one of the things that that make up the Christian life, giving money. But it's not something that makes you a Christian. Like, how you know, how should I be a Christian? Well, you need to give this amount of money. And actually, every time in the New Testament when money is spoken of, Jesus and the apostles really shirk from giving certain amounts and laying laying particular commands and burdens on people in in a particular way. So if if you think about something like um 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, um, which are you know wonderful verses about giving, but but the whole kind of way that generosity is encouraged is really by the by the grace of the Lord Jesus. And and and you know, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 8, I am not commanding you. And then he gives them the gospel, verse 9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. You go through into chapter 9, and he and he says in chapter 9, verse 7, Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And I I just think, you know, bringing those verses into the realm of evangelism, I think God thinks exactly the same way in terms of evangelism, that you know, each person should witness not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful evangelist. And I think there are so many parallels with evangelism. Um evangelism is something that makes up the Christian life, uh, but it doesn't make you a Christian.
SPEAKER_03And and when we don't distinguish things properly, I think we get into the realm of of of guilt and 'cause we we can often sort of feel the need, oh I must go out and speak to somebody about God, you know. Um how does things go wrong when we need to feel that we need to evangelize?
SPEAKER_00I think often in the Bible people speak of this this burden they that they want to share. I I think I think that is a good thing. So, you know, in Jeremiah chapter 20 talks, the prophet talks about the the word of God is like the fire shut up in his bones. He's weary of holding it in and he can't hold it in anymore, and just out it comes. And you know, the apostle Paul says, Woe to me if I don't preach. And um, but that's that's great. That there is this inner compulsion. This is this is like like what Paul says about giving money. You know, Paul Paul says, you know, don't give reluctantly or under compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver. Um and and I see like evangelism ideally is not not reluctantly or under compulsion because your pastor is being hitting you with a stick until you do it, but cheerfully and and and and so if you if you have that kind of burden to share your faith, that's wonderful, but it it can go wrong, and and it can go wrong quite spectacularly, really. I think. John John Wesley is uh an example I always think of in this regard, you know. Um he was a missionary before he was a Christian, which is interesting. He he went out by ship to Georgia in the States. It wasn't the United States then, but uh he he went out and it was a bit like going to the Amazon today, you know, the the the wilds of of Georgia. And uh he wrote in his journal as he as he was sailing to Georgia, I am going to Georgia in order to save my own soul. My own soul. Not not the souls of of those there, but his own soul, and and um he was he was actually converted a couple of years later. Um and and I think that's a really interesting statement from the unconverted heart of J John Wesley, that actually you can do all sorts of missionary activity because you feel you need to be c because you think this is what's making you a Christian. Not not because it's this is what makes up the Christian life and hey, let's do it, and not not reluctantly or under compulsion, but God loves a cheerful evangelist. No, this this was very much I need to save my own soul. And you and you look at some of the cults and the way that they do evangelism, Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, have to do so many hours a week of of door knocking. Um you look at the sort of Mormons and they they do their their one or two years kind of um of service as like a nineteen, twenty-year-old, and and and at that stage it it really does seem to be under compulsion that the evangelism is happening. But before we sort of point the fingers at the cults, I think what about my own heart? I'm sure there have been times when it's been questionable. Glenn, are you doing this evangelism to bring the other person closer to the Lord? Or are you doing it to bring yourself closer to the Lord? Um and unfortunately the answer is sometimes I I do it because I think I'm bringing myself closer to the Lord, but it that that's what you know goes wrong when we we feel we need to evangelize.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So what could some signs be that uh we're doing it wrong?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think one one sign is it is your evangelism compartmentalized? So thinking of thinking of like the Mormon thing or the JW thing, once they've done their evangelism, they've signed off on doing their evangelistic bit. And and it's it it's interesting, you like hearing hearing the way that um Mormon missionaries kind of speak about their one or two years of service. Just gotta get this you know two year service done, and then I'll be free and off and and back to normal life. Um but before we point the finger, what about us? Like, do we have a week of mission at church so that we can put in a lot of effort for one week and give it our best shot, and then we can say, that was tricky, but you know, at least no one will ask us to do that again for at least a year. Um is it compartmentalized? Do we do it at some times or or not at other times? Is it loveless? Is it joyless? God loves a cheerful giver, not only of money, but also of the gospel. Is it Lone Ranger? Am I just doing it by myself because I'm scratching my own evangelistic itch? Or is this part of the witness of the church and am I taking brothers and sisters with me? And and again, if I'm trying to save my own soul, then I won't be much interested in whether I take three or four people with me or I'm just in it for me. Um so you know, is it loveless, is it joyless, is it lone ranger? And yeah, is it is it is it just this sort of self-fulfilment drive? You know, I I'm a really weird kind of person who I just don't have a shame gene. I just I was born without it. And um my wife feels enough shame for the both of us because I cause it because I'm just embarrassing. So me getting out you know in the open air and doing open air evangelism, actually I d I don't fear that at all. Some people think that, you know, standing up and speaking in public is like their number one fear, and I've I've never understood that I quite like it, I quite enjoy it. But then there's a danger for me. Do I do I just do evangelism, you know, for my own sake? Am I just scratching an itch that I feel and is it for me? Or surely it it should be for the sake of the other person, for the sake of Jesus. It shouldn't really be for me, but when it goes wrong, evangelism starts to be about me. Um when it actually it should be about Jesus and it should be about my neighbour. So what's the answer then? What's the answer? How do we how do we do it? Well, I I I think there are a lot of lessons that Paul has taught us i i in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 about cheerfully giving money. How do we cheerfully give money? Well, I I think those same uh principles apply to cheerfully giving the gospel. Um, you know, he and he seeks to do it again and again by telling them the gospel. He says, I'm not gonna lay a compulsion on you, I'm just gonna tell you the gospel again. Let me tell you the gospel again. That Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. And and it's significant that these chapters on giving come in chapter eight and not in chapter one. You know, it like he's been laying out the gospel again and again and again and again, and and showing them the generosity of Jesus and his self-giving love. And and then, you know, he's he's praying that the gospel itself would move hearts to want to be generous and to want to share. So y I think that's that's the first thing that if we don't want to share Jesus, uh at that point our problem is not just that we're deficient as evangelists. Uh our problem is that we're deficient as Christians at that point. And well, you know, and anyone says, What a surprise. Of course we're deficient as Christians, we're we're we're sinners. Um but what it should make us do is is come back to Jesus and and and and to ask the Father to tell us the gospel again in a new way, in a fresh way, to open up the scriptures again and say, Father, show me the glory of Christ in that way, so that maybe I'll get a little bit like Jeremiah. It's like a fire shut up in my bones, and I I'm weary of holding it in. Maybe we'll maybe we'll get a little taste of what Paul means when he says, Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel. Because Paul is not there saying, you know, the Lord's there with a stick and woe to me if I don't preach the gospel. What he's what he's saying is this is an incredible earth-shattering news that I just must share. But it's it's coming from the nature of the gospel itself, not not from any kind of uh anxiety of my own over my own salvation or whether I can get close to God or anything like that. But the gospel itself is coming to me and and and and showing me the glory of Christ in this earth-shattering way. And I think that's that's what we need to be praying, because you know, a as ever, you know, the the verse I always keep coming back to in evangelism is is Matthew twelve, verse thirty-four, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So we just should be prayerful that the Lord would give us more of a sense of the of the goodness of Jesus, the goodness of his gospel, and then I think we'll start to to give the gospel in the way that we're meant to give money. You know, each person 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7, let's let's uh apply this to evangelism. Each person should witness in a way that they've decided in their heart to witness, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful evangelist.
SPEAKER_03Well that's uh that's a good way to uh to draw things to a close, Glenn. Thanks for that. If you have any comments or questions about today's show, uh you can go to this show's web address, which is revivalmedia.org slash tep forty two. Uh, if you'd like to give us a rating and review on iTunes, you can do that easily by going to revivalmedia.org slash iTunes, and you can do the same if you go to revivalmedia.org slash stitcher if you listen on Stitcher Radio. Thanks very much and see you next time. See you next time.