Today on the Evangelist Podcast, we're concluding our look at things that stop us from sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00The Evangelist 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_01Welcome back to the Evangelist Podcast. This is a show where we encourage you in your witness to your friends, your family, and even complete strangers. I'm Andy Brinkley, and with me is Glenn Scrivener, as usual.
SPEAKER_04Yes, good to see you all. Well, I don't see you, but good to be in a studio miles from you.
SPEAKER_01So, Glenn, we've been looking at things that stop us from sharing the gospel. Give us a recap quickly.
SPEAKER_04So we've been thinking about uh dirty hands, fear of dirty hands might stop us from evangelising, at which point we kind of think God is up in heaven all pristine and and uh he sends us out into the dirty world, and we've got to kind of hold our noses and out we go. And and we kind of think that involvement in the world is a necessary evil in order to do evangelism, rather than this is what the Lord wants. You know, he he is the outgoing God who who we join as as he is outside the camp. We we thought about that verse in Hebrews 13, verse 13. Jesus Christ is outside the camp and he says, Come to me, let us go to him outside the camp, uh outside the safe place, outside the clean place, out into the world. Uh that's where we find Jesus. So godliness and evangelism go go hand in hand. So we shouldn't be afraid of dirty hands. Actually, Jesus has his hands wide open to the world, and that should be our posture as well. So that was sort of two episodes ago, and then we thought about red faces. We fear red faces. Looking silly, looking silly, looking dumb, uh, looking weak, looking pathetic, alienating people, losing friendships. Just fear of of how the world will respond to our words. Uh and we we kind of thought about how actually in our evangelism um we we should be fearful in some ways. You know, Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 says, I came among you with fear and trembling, much fear and trembling. Um and he wasn't polished. And though in Corinth they wanted him to speak about the latest Greek wisdom or show them the the the greatest sort of Jewish style miracles, he he didn't. He looked weak, he looked pathetic, he looked foolish, he was stuttering, he was trembling, um, and that's what effective evangelism looks like. That's what power evangelism looks like. In one Corinthians two verse five, he talks about you know the power of the spirit is at work. Well, what does power evangelism look like? It looks like a stuttering, weak, pathetic, foolish, but Christ-obsessed man or woman who who just not polished um but in spite of the fear steps out and speaks for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh as you say, that fear can actually be helpful in uh you know uh helping us to care for the people and to really take seriously what we're doing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and it drives us to prayer and it reveals to us actually that our identity is in Jesus and not in, you know, the masks that we like to wear for the world, because we all like to wear masks for the world, and this is what evangelism really kind of disrupts for us, because we can't wear that mask and speak for Jesus. Suddenly we've got to go naked into the world and and kind of we can't hide behind those things anymore. But at those moments we find that Jesus is more than enough. And we find that as we go to him outside the camp, we have fellowship with him in a in a deep way. So that's how we try to kind of deal with the the red faces.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so uh we're gonna look at uh the fear of heavy burdens.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The idea that it's a duty to go and tell people about the good news.
SPEAKER_04Yes, exactly. And that and we're talking about spiritual dryness here, we're talking about you know the words just aren't coming. Because, you know, if if Jesus is is right, and I believe he is, in uh Matthew chapter twelve, verse thirty-four he says, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. If that's true, then what does it mean when our words aren't coming? Well, it probably diagnoses a bit of a heart problem. Um and once we've cleared away the the fear of getting our hands dirty and the fear of red faces, once we clear away that, and once we say, you know, evangelists they look pathetic and stupid and they don't have all the right answers and they're not polished. So what's your excuse? All of us then say, I don't really have an excuse. Yeah. But I feel a bit spiritually empty. Yeah. And I don't think I've got a fullness to share with people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And out of our comfort zone, we kind of you know, feeling, oh actually, uh, I don't really want to go out.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Do I yeah, do I do I have is there that fullness in me that can overflow to others? Is there a and do I see a fullness in Jesus that is to be shared with the world? Or have I fallen into a kind of a spiritual apathy in my own life in which not only do I feel empty, but also at at those moments the Lord can feel empty, or the Lord the Lord can feel not like an overflowing reality, but like a demand in my life that wants to suck the life out of me. And when I'm thinking in those terms, then evangelism just isn't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Somebody knocked on my door once, somebody from a religious organization. Okay. And uh it wasn't the usual chap that comes and knocks on my door. So I said, Oh, where's where's so and so? And he said, Oh, he's done his quota for the year. And apparently he had a set quota of doors to knock on or or whatever. Wow. And uh he was done, so I was finished. That's an early mark of the live free free from the rest of the week.
SPEAKER_04Uh the rest of the year. Yeah. And as much as we can kind of we we can kind of make fun of certain organizations who who have that kind of legalistic attitude, I see it in churches all the time. Like like don't we and don't I? We we put on the big mission week, maybe in a church, and you know, it's it's it's all shoulders to the grindstone and and is that a phrase? Yeah. Yeah? Okay, good. I don't know. Anyway, ev everyone working hard at evangelism. And um and then you get to the end of the week and it's like, oh well, no one can say we didn't try. Let's let's just take it easy and and and yeah, and you you feel like there's a quota, mm-hmm, even even if you wouldn't put it like that. So often we we feel like we've done our bit. As though evangelism is a is a duty that needs to be performed. And yet what does Jesus say in in Acts chapter one verse eight? He says, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world. He he doesn't say, I'd like you to do some evangelism, please. He says, You will be my witnesses.
SPEAKER_01It's almost like whether you like it or not. Yeah. You will be like me in that situation, you will behave in a way that's different, you will You will, and it's part of who you are.
SPEAKER_04You will be my witnesses, not you know, you will on a Wednesday afternoon for three weeks, you will do evangelism. No, it's you will be my witnesses. So so we've got to get this this idea of the Lord and ourselves and the gospel and evangelism right, or else we're gonna we're gonna feel like the Lord is an empty or even needy being who's always trying to suck things out of us. We'll think of of ourselves as not as reconciled to Jesus and and made into ministers of reconciliation, we'll just think of ourselves as kind of plodding along in the Christian life, and sometimes we do a bit of evangelism, sometimes we don't do evangelism. Or we think of the gospel as you know, this demand on us rather than this gift to us to be shared. When we get all these ideas wrong, it's you know, evangelism is just gonna dry up.
SPEAKER_01So how do we how do we sort of get to that point and how do we refresh or reset our motives?
SPEAKER_04I th I think the Apostle Peter is really interesting in this regard. I I think he's kind of like a model fisherman. Well he he is a fisherman, he's a a fisherman who then Jesus says, I'll make you a fisher of men. But I think I think it depends which Peter we're following. Because the Peter before Easter is different to the Peter after Easter. The the the Peter before Easter, um, he sounds like such a keen evangelist. And he sounds like he doesn't need any, you know, help with motivation whatsoever. In Matthew chapter 26, there they are, it's the evangelists' conference, the the keynote speaker is Jesus, and all the other evangelists are gathered there. And Peter, um, he really fancies himself as you know the the next big thing in evangelism. And Peter says in uh Matthew 26, verse 33, uh, even if all fall away on account of you, I never will, says Peter. Like, you know, he's gonna be ironed for Jesus. And of course the next verse, verse 34, Jesus says, I tell you the truth, this very night before the cock crows, you will disown me three times. But Peter declared, Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And then he's such a good leader in evangelism, all the other disciples said the same. You know, so he really And this is what's interesting about motivation in evangelism. You c you can look at some people who are great enthusiasts and they can whip up a whole heap of emotion on an evening, on a Thursday night. They can they can whip up a whole heap of emotion. And yet I think that same self-focus and self-determination and and self-reliance that sows the seeds for the denials and and the same Peter who says, I'm I will never disown you, Jesus, you know, within a matter of hours he's denying Jesus to the servant girl and swearing and calling down curses on himself. And actually I think, you know, Jesus sees it in the upper room. He says, You know, this your problem right now is your own self-reliance, thinking that you're going to do it. And it all falls apart within a matter of hours for Peter. So that's that's the wrong Peter to follow. But then kind of after Jesus' death and resurrection, we know uh those wonderful verses when Jesus rises again and and he says, for instance, to Mary, you know, go to the disciples and to Peter, you know, because we know that you know Peter has especially failed Jesus and and needs that sort of recovery. But then when when we get to John chapter 21, we see this face-to-face you know recovery. And again, we're meant to think in evangelistic terms because here is Peter doing the fishing thing again. And just as Jesus had called Peter away from the fishing nets back in Luke 5, again Peter is at the fishing nets in John 21. Um, but this time it's very, very different. This time Peter kind of runs to Jesus and he and he knows he's met the risen Christ already, and he knows that Jesus is full of forgiveness, and he just wants to be near uh to Jesus. And then we we see Jesus reinstating him. Verse 15. Jesus asks Simon, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, You know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my sheep. And and here is the the reinstatement to Peter. And and now Peter's ministry is going to be based on the death and resurrection of Jesus, the love of Jesus. Um, not on his own you know determination to get out there and make a big noise for Jesus. That falls on its face. Um but when when Peter actually falls on his face before Jesus and brings those failures to Jesus and finds forgiveness and reconciliation and restoration in Jesus, now the love of Jesus drives him out as a very different kind of evangelist. So some of the things that we can learn from this is is is basically don't be the self-motivator, don't be the self-reliant one. Uh you're not Peter in the upper room, or at least, you know, I I hope you're not. You are failed, Peter, who nonetheless Jesus comes to and he shows you his scars and he says, I forgive you, I love you, I want to reconcile with you, I want to eat with you. And do you love me? And on the basis of of love for Christ, then an evangelist is born. Um when it's all about what you will do for Jesus, uh, you'll fall on your face. But when you when you realise what he's done for you, then that love for Jesus will will spill over.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh Peter says in his own letter about always being prepared for the hope that you have, doesn't he? Yeah. Where is that one Peter?
SPEAKER_04Is it one Peter? Peter three verse fifteen. It's kind of one of the key verses on evangelism, and it's where we get the word apologetics from, if you've ever heard the word apologetics. Because one Peter three verse fifteen says In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. That's interesting. Then it says, always be prepared to give an answer. Or in Greek it's an apologia. An answer, or it's where we get apologetics from. An apologia, an answer. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect. Wonderful verse about evangelism, isn't it? Yeah. But look where it begins. In your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. And it's it's kind of this this idea of sanctifying Jesus as Lord, kind of s giving prime position to Jesus in your heart. And that's where all our other evangelism flows from.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's that's the motive, isn't it? We originally Peter's motive would have been for sort of self-promotion and trying to, you know, he wanted to be the best follower of Jesus. Yeah. Um but here it is, he's learned many lessons by now. Yes. Um and he's saying, let Jesus, let God be the motive.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And I mean it's hard to think of a character in the Bible that comes over as poorly as Peter. And so, like in terms of the number of mistakes that Peter makes throughout the Gospels, and then even in Galatians, he's still he's still getting it wrong.
SPEAKER_01He's still a lovable character, he's great. We can identify with him, you know.
SPEAKER_04Completely. And if and if the law if the first person to whom Jesus says, I will make you a fisher of men, is such a failure as Peter, that gives hope for all of us, doesn't it? And then when he wants to pass on, you know, his wisdom, have a read of one Peter. It's a it's a phenomenal verse to think about what what mission, a phenomenal book to think about what mission looks like. Um essentially it's a you know, it it's written to these suffering people who are there in sort of Turkey, and they've been scattered and they're strangers in the world, one Peter one verse one. And yet, you know, he talks about them being gripped by God and he talks about how Jesus has died and risen again for them, and he and he talks about how together they are a priesthood. Um that's one Peter chapter two, especially from uh verse uh nine and following. A priesthood who together make Christ known into the world. And the way that they do that throughout one Peter i is in the midst of suffering lives. And he just says again and again to them, Look, suffer well. Entrust yourself to Jesus, be like Christ crucified, know Christ crucified in the midst of it, and as you suffer well, you know what will happen? Chapter 3 verse 15. People will ask you what gives you the reason for this hope that you have. Um so where it begins actually is in Christians knowing the hope of Christ in the midst of suffering. Um so it you know, in this in this scenario, 1 Peter 3.15, it's the non-Christian who asks the Christian, why why do you have this hope? You're suffering so much, and yet you don't give up. Why? And at that at that point, well, then you can then you can put words to the hope that you have, and you can you can point them to to 1 Peter chapter 1, where it says that um in God's great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And you can talk about that. But of course you can't talk about that if you don't have the hope. And if it's not a tangible thing that other people can see, well, uh evangelism according to 1 Peter 3:15 is not gonna happen actually. So the first thing we need to do is what the verse tells us to do set apart in your hearts Christ as Lord. Um the hope of the gospel. Um which is why I I always tell people, you know, before before you tell non-Christians the gospel, do you tell Christians the gospel? And do you allow other Christians to tell you the gospel? Um You know, we're we're not we're not very good actually at even talking to Christians about the gospel.
SPEAKER_01No, I was uh thinking that uh you know, after as soon as the service is finished, talk about the weather or the everyday stuff. And uh yeah, you're right, we kind of reveal ourselves when we talk.
SPEAKER_04Out of the overflow of the heart, yeah. The mouth speaks. And you know, if my my Christian friends hopefully don't mind me talking to them about Jesus. Um hopefully, you know, it's quite welcome for me to talk about Jesus. So let's at least practice on each other. And and as we put words to to our Christian hope and as we hear our friends tell us about Jesus, you know, that that's what feeds our hearts so much. And then, you know, it's it's no wonder if if we stutter in talking to non-Christians about Jesus, when we stutter talking to Christians, we we don't have the practice talking to Christians. So yeah, maybe maybe that's something that we can do in in terms of w you know maybe even before tell your neighbour the gospel why don't you tell your Christian brother or sister the gospel this week, you know? Um and give them that hope. And and I I think I I'm always quoting um uh Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his little book called Life Together. He he says, um the reason why we have Christian community is because the Christ in the word of my brother is stronger than the Christ in my heart. Um you know, I've the Christ in my heart is so weak and feeble, I need my brother to keep or my sister to keep telling me about Jesus and that feeds me, that builds me out. And if we have those kinds of communities, then we might start to be those priestly communities that go out on mission.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we we need each other like the the coals in a fire, you know, if we fall out of the the fire, yes, you know, it's hard for a coal to keep warm. Yes. Uh we need to keep keep that community. Yes, exactly. And there's when we're we're looking at obstacles to evangelism, sometimes there can be a real spiritual resistance. You know, you can sort of go out onto the street and you think I really don't want to do you know there's almost like a an invisible barrier between speaking to people. And that I think you know that's a very spiritual thing that needs to be approached with prayer. You know, and as you say, community and and praying with somebody and and that really helps get over these these obstacles.
SPEAKER_04Yes, I mean we're so I mean we're such creatures of comfort, aren't we? And stepping out of the comfort zone. Whether it's having a difficult conversation with a family member, or whether it's you know, going out to the prayer meeting at night, or whether it's whether it's raising Jesus with my neighbour, there's a there's always that sort of reluctance to kind of do that. But but if if our Lord really does have arms outstretched, if that really is his character, then actually as we unfurl our arms and go out and do that, you know, we get in touch with something deep about God and about ourselves. Um but yeah, absolutely we need to be praying um that we would cross those those boundaries, because those boundaries are no good for us. They really they really aren't. And it it is a spiritual battle to do evangelism, you know, no no wonder. Um when Paul talks in uh Ephesians chapter five of uh of six rather, of um the spiritual armour, uh at the very end of it all he says, pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, be alert, always keep on praying for all the saints, pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me, so that I may fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Um, at the end of all that you know, spiritual armour, spiritual warfare passage, evangelism is right there. Pray for me, you know, as I cross these boundaries.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, as we've uh covered several things uh regarding obstacles to evangelism, uh perhaps you could just sort of summarise for us just to to give us a reminder.
SPEAKER_04Well, I think we need to we need to change our view of God. God is eternally and originally outgoing, and he invites us into his life, and it's an enjoyable thing to stand with Christ in the unclean place, in the place outside the city walls, to have our arms open like Jesus and to invite people to Jesus. That's a that's a godly thing. So we need to we need to see God differently, we need to see the world different. Differently, um, as as a place that doesn't define us. I'm not defined by being clever or powerful in the world's eyes. Um I'm defined by Jesus and He sends me into the world with a gift to give. And it really is the power of God for salvation. You know, I ha I haven't just been called to go and be unpopular. I haven't just been called to go and look foolish or to look weak. I've been called to to take the gift of Christ into the world, and it's a powerful thing that can save and that does save. Uh and and I need to uh see myself rightly as well. Uh you know, I I need Jesus on a on a daily basis. And I need to I need to stop being the self-reliant, you know, Maundy Thursday Peter. And I need to be the the Christ-loving Easter Sunday Peter who who is filled by the love of Jesus. And and that's where we need each other. We need each other to speak gospel hope to one another. We need to prayerfully ask that uh in Ephesians 3 terms that we are filled with how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge so that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, and it's from that fullness that our that our mouths will speak. If the words aren't coming, then we need to we need to go back. Uh we need to reconsider who God is, who the world is, who we are, and I think that will give us strength to move on. In in this difficult task, we're not gonna we're not gonna look amazing uh at evangelism. And if if anyone gets anything from this series, I I hope it's that you know the idea is not to be the polished evangelist, please no. Be the faltering, feeble, fearful even evangelists like Paul was, like Peter was, but relying on the grace of God that's given to you. That's what'll make great evangelists.
SPEAKER_01Okay, Glenn well that's that's summed it up nicely. Um and uh next time we're gonna be looking uh taking a new uh series of programs.
SPEAKER_04Do you want to just introduce it? Yeah, very exciting. We're gonna be looking at 321, the gospel presentation. We're gonna be thinking about um the reasons behind it and how to use it and um yeah, and how it can bless you as an individual, how it can bless your church. Um but but yeah, but also um how the the the various aspects of three two one can actually train us in being better evangelists.
SPEAKER_01Okay, sounds intriguing. So if you have any comments or questions about today's show, or if you'd simply like to share it, go to revivalmedia.org/slash TEP25. Thanks for listening to the Evangelist Podcast. Just before we finish, I want to tell you about our 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 church in Egypt is uniting in prayer despite the recent unrest? Or that the Weyu tribe in Colombia are enrolled in Bible training? Well you can hear more about it in our prayer bulletin. You can get it free of charge by going to revivalmedia.org slash bulletin. If you like listening each week, we'd really appreciate a rating and review on iTunes. It helps us get seen by more people. Just go to revivalmedia.org slash iTunes. That will forward you to the podcast page where you can leave us a review and rating. And we'd be really grateful if you could do that. So again, the web address for this episode where you can comment on this specific show along with any relevant links is simply revivalmedia.org slash tep twenty five