Think about your experience of coming to faith in Christ. If you are like most people, including our friends in the New Testament, I expect it involved a process with the following involved.
- Time
- People
- The Word
Whether you are a government official returning home, a correctional officer whose prisoners have escaped or a young man with godly parents and grandparents, there was a process in you getting saved by the death of Jesus. It may have involved a decision and an immersion into Christ but there was a lot that went on before that public event.
Evangelism isn’t just a big outreach event, or that doorknocking campaign or visitor Sunday at church. It is a process that began when God began pursuing you.
When that process hit our lives it involved a lot of time, people and His Word. Here are some of the ways that God says that this process reveals itself.
SHINING
Ephesians 2:7 “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Did you hear what God says His plan for you was? He planned to save you and His plan was then to use YOU (and me) to show this grace to everyone in our world through US. What is the best evidence of a good doctor? Happy healthy patients. It is the same with God. What is the best evidence of God’s grace? Sinners (read in Ephesians 3:1-4 about the true ugliness of that) living forgiven lives based on God’s grace.
God needed a great preacher to take the good news to the rest of the known world (the Gentiles). Notice how that preacher, Paul, describes his qualifications for that task. “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” 1 Timothy 1:16. Paul could preach (and God wanted him to preach) but His life as an expression of God’s patience and grace preached even louder and more persuasively.
Here is one of the most powerful examples that God gives of this part of the evangelism process; wives with unbelieving husbands. “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” . 1 Peter 3:1, 2.
All this is not a reason to not speak. It is a revelation that the process of evangelism involves more than just speaking. It’s called SHINING. “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.
Don’t do things to be a good example. That is just fake and unworthy of the gospel. Be a disciple of Jesus and you will shine into people’s lives. You may not have intended to shine. Just as a flower doesn’t decide to shine its beauty. It just does. It is the same with Christians who simply live for Jesus. They shine. They can’t help it. It is in their spiritual DNA
SPEAKING
As we shine we also speak. We can’t help ourselves. We are like a certain grandfather I know who won’t stop talking about (and showing photos of) His grandson. Ok, I confess, I speak of myself. No one forces me to speak. I didn’t take courses in it. I don’t have to psych myself up to do it. Speaking about Jesus is a lot like that. It is not the same, but it is a lot like it. Listen to what God says on this. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20.
You and I are representatives of Jesus. We all wear a T-shirt that says “property of Jesus”. As his ambassadors we speak for Him. Seriously. God knows what He is doing, even if it sounds like a bit of a bad idea. He asks us to speak for Him, to make His appeal through us. Personally, I would have chosen someone else, but despite my misgivings, the truth still stands. He chose us to implore the world to be reconciled to God.
He doesn’t leave us on our own. He empowers and strengthens us (Ephesians 3:16). He walks with us. He brings people into our lives (Acts 18:4).
Speaking involves many things. We, too often, think it only refers to preaching the good news or studying the Bible with someone. Yes each of us can speak the Word. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” Acts 8:4. But before we can speak the Word we have to have someone to speak that Word to.
That’s where the Andrews of the kingdom come in. I speak of the lesser-known brother of Peter, the extraordinary preacher, who spoke to thousands. We don’t hear of Andrew speaking the Word much but we do have this small sound bite from his life in John 1:41 “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).” Andrew was an inviter. He spoke what He knew (which wasn’t much) but He did introduce Peter (Simon) to Jesus and the rest is history.
You may not be a preacher or teacher but you can be an inviter and an introducer.
BECOMING
In this process of helping others to come to a saving faith in Jesus, there is a method that Paul used that I think has been overlooked by many of us. Maybe it was because in the past our culture wasn’t that different to the kingdom of God.
However, today in the once bastions of faith in Jesus like Europe, the USA and Australia, there is an increasingly secular culture. A generation has grown up that do not value Jesus, the Bible or the God of the Bible. They don’t even understand our language when we speak of the kingdom. Our world has turned into one very similar to the first century world of Paul, Peter and the early church. How did they handle this huge chasm that existed between their culture and kingdom of God? Exactly the same way Jesus did.
Listen to Paul as he explains what He did. “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:19-22.
Paul, how did you reach the Jews, whose religion you had left (because it was fulfilled in Jesus). You became like a Jew. What did that look like?
Paul, what did you do to reach the Gentiles (those without the Law)? You became like a Gentile? What did that look like?
How about the weak? How did someone so strong as you become like the weak?
Now, we need to understand that Paul wasn’t trying to trick those He was trying to reach. He was seeking to identify with them. Alan Hirsch, an Australian Christian writer I highly recommend, puts it this way. When approaching those who are so different to us we need to ask the question, “What is good news to these people?”
I will write on this more in another note, but I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Keeping on shining, speaking and becoming.
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