Evangelism & The Gospel
J. Mack Styles, a pastor of an international church in the middle east and a writer for 9marks, defines Evangelism as “teaching the Gospel with the aim to persuade.” The starting point for evangelism has to therefore be an understanding and delight in the Gospel of Jesus. Consider the market stall holder, speaking loud and fast. “A punnet of strawberries for a pound, the best strawberries you have tasted, from British farms, juicy, red and delicious.” You are enticed in, the stall-holder is passionate and believes in his strawberries, you take a tester, and you are astonished to find all he is saying is true. These really are the best strawberries. You see, the Gospel and evangelism are the exact same. Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
It wasn’t the strawberries that enticed you to the stall, it was the stall holder. His passion, his enthusiasm, his belief in what he had to share! The strawberries themselves then confirmed all of that was said. For the Christian, the same is true. Evangelism is about persuading people in what you believe to be good news. By your enthusiasm, your passion, your love and your faithfulness, people will taste and see and find out that everything that has been said is true! We see that behaviour in the calling of the Disciples. In John 1:43, we read “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip got up and ran to his brother Nathanial, declaring that he had found the Messiah, the one the scriptures had declared was coming. He persuaded his brother to come and meet Jesus and in verse 49 we read “Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
If we are to do “evangelism” then we need to first delight in Jesus. To be captivated by him, to be drawn in by his Spirit, to be enthralled by his teaching and to be in awe of his love for us. We need to be completely surrendered to the Gospel if we are ever to be effective in our ministry of evangelism. As the lyrics go “King of kings, majesty, God of Heaven living in me, gentle Saviour, closest friend, strong deliverer, beginning and end, all within me falls at your throne.”
Yet in our enthusiasm, we can fall into the trap of manipulation by teaching an undervalued Gospel or an inflated Gospel. The undervalued Gospel is one which simply says if you say a prayer then you will be saved for life, go and live in peace. The sense of awe in Jesus is lost. His majesty has been reduced to a mere process. There is no repentance, no humility, no recognition of Jesus as Lord.
Yet, just as dangerously, you can oversell and manipulate using an inflated Gospel, usually known as prosperity teaching. This is a Gospel where you go into a situation and declare that God will heal physically, God will give riches and wealth, God will make your life great, that it’s your year and blessing upon blessing will flow. The people listening are enticed by the nice life, rather than the truth of the Gospel.
So, it is important that we know what we are sharing, and to help with this, I want to go give you what I call the 10-point Gospel message. You can use this method of sharing in your evangelism this week:
Point 1 – We are God’s creation (Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.)
Point 2 – The fall of man (Genesis 3:13 - Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”)
Point 3 – We are all sinners (Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.)
Point 4 – We face punishment (Romans 6:23a - For the wages of sin is death)
Point 5 – God’s solution (John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life)
Point 6 – Only through Jesus (John 14:6 - Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.)
Point 7 – Repentance (Acts 2:38 - Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.)
Point 8 – Believe and receive (John 1:11-12 - He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God)
Point 9 – He is faithful (1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness)
Point 10 – Jesus is waiting (Revelation 3:20 - Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.)
Pastor Ross Ferguson