In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia finishes examination of the spiritual discipline of evangelism. After reviewing the first main principle, Pastor Dave then explains the other five of six main principles from the Bible for maximizing your effective in evangelism:
1. Evangelize Biblically (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
2. Evangelize Strategically (Acts 17:1-3)
3. Evangelize Holily (1 Peter 2:11-12)
4. Evangelize Humbly (1 Peter 3:15)
5. Evangelize Boldly (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, 12)
6. Evangelize Expectantly (Matthew 13:1-23, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, 2 Timothy 3:12, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
Full Transcript:
Lord God, we come to feed on Your word. We need You to teach us. We need You to teach us even when it comes to this discipline of evangelism. You told us why, You told us what, You told us how. Help us to put it into practice. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Preparation for the message today, I’ve been thinking a little bit this week about language. Isn’t it interesting that how you say something can totally change what you end up communicating to another person? Take, for example, the simple sentence, I am happy to see you. We all know what these words mean when said together, but depending on how you say those to another person, you’re either going to reinforce or undermine the meaning of that statement. If you say, I am so happy to see you, quiet monotone, your eyes looking away, well, people will probably not believe you and actually wonder what’s got you so down. Or if you say, I am so happy to see you, with an exaggerated intonation and rolled eyes, well, they’re probably going to take offense because they can see you’re being sarcastic. You are communicating the opposite of what you’re actually saying. But if you say, I am so happy to see you, with a cheerful voice and a sincere smile, well, people are inclined to believe you and they may even be touched by the warmth of your statement.
There’s a similar principle at work when it comes to our evangelizing, giving the gospel of Jesus. By now, in our study of evangelism, we know that the Bible commands us Christians to discipline ourselves for the task of making new disciples of Christ. We’ve looked at together why we should do this. It’s not only a command. It’s a matter of love to others, love for God, and trusting in His power. But how are we to do this? How are we to speak the gospel of Christ? How are we to speak and act in such a way that we commend the gospel to people instead of undermining it or even contradicting it? That’s what we’re going to finish talking about today. So this is Disciplines of Grace Evangelism Part 3.
You may remember that last time I told you that God does not leave us in the dark about how we are to fulfill His commission to go into all the world and make disciples. He actually tells us how to do it in the Bible. I see six main principles from the Bible to maximize your effectiveness in evangelism. And we look at the first and most important one together last time. And that was number one, you must evangelize biblically. Evangelize biblically. You are not free to improvise or improve upon the gospel’s fundamentals. You must evangelize the way that God actually told you to do so in the Bible. That means, crucially, you must get the one gospel message right. You must proclaim Christ’s death, His burial, His resurrection in order to save His people from their sins. You must get the Bible’s one gospel response right – repentance and faith. There is no other saving gospel response besides that one, as declared in the scriptures. And you must get the one gospel means right – preaching. You must proclaim and explain God’s word to people. That is the ordained means that God has for saving souls.
That’s important, that’s crucial, that’s fundamental, but there’s more. The Bible also tells us how His messengers are to conduct themselves as they go out with this message. So what other principles should you embrace from the Bible to maximize your effectiveness in evangelism? Let’s talk about the other five. Number two, evangelize strategically. Evangelize strategically. Even though God makes clear that there are certain gospel fundamentals that must be the same for every Christian, for every evangelist, the exact presentation of these fundamentals is actually going to vary. In other words, you are not necessarily going to evangelize the same way as someone else. And that’s not a bad thing.
To see this from the scriptures, let’s examine further a passage we actually mentioned last time. Acts 17:1-3. Go ahead and turn there in your Bibles. If you’re using the Bible in front of you, the Pew Bible, it’s on page 1109. Know that the book of Acts is not only a record of the church’s first growth after Christ’s ascension, but it is written as an implicit defense of the Apostle Paul’s gospel ministry. He was a faithful apostle to the Gentiles. And in Acts 17:1-3, we see Paul arrived at the city of Thessalonica in Macedonia to preach the gospel. I want you to notice how it says Paul went about his mission. Acts 17:1-3,
Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”
Now we mentioned this text last time, an example of our need to explain, even reason from the scriptures in proclaiming the gospel. But I want to draw your attention to something else in verse 2. Notice how it says, according to Paul’s custom. So what’s described here is actually something Paul was accustomed to do. We see him following this custom, this strategy again and again for making disciples. We actually see this in other places in the book of Acts as well. Paul would travel with at least one other Christian companion to a major city that had not yet heard the gospel. He would then visit the synagogue or the closest thing to it in that city on the Sabbath and he would proclaim there the gospel of Jesus to the city’s Jews and to the Gentile God-fearers who also gathered. Some Jews would be persuaded and they would believe. Others would resist and debate and eventually come to persecute. When the opposition grew too much, Paul would withdraw from the synagogue with the new believers, establish a Christian church, and begin preaching to Gentiles in another location, sometimes the marketplace, sometimes a school, somewhere else. And once a new church of Jews and Gentiles was well established and/or Paul’s life was threatened, nearly taken, Paul would move on from that city to begin again in another city.
Now, did Jesus ever command Paul to follow this exact strategy for making disciples? Not that we know of, but it made sense according to who Paul was and the opportunities that were available to him at that time. Paul was a Jew, even a former Pharisee, and Jewish people as a whole had not yet heard about Jesus or become hostile to Jewish Christian messengers. So Paul very strategically brought the gospel straight into the synagogue as a starting point for establishing a church in the city. Should Christians follow this exact same strategy today? Probably not, because we are not in the same situation. There simply isn’t the same openness to the message of Jesus in synagogues now. There’s been a decided turn away from the Christian message in Judaism as a whole. So if you try this, you’ll probably get thrown out of the synagogue and maybe even arrested.
So rather than adopt Paul’s exact same strategy, we want to adopt similar strategies. We want to adopt strategies that make the most of the opportunities we have while still being faithful to the Bible’s fundamentals when it comes to evangelism. There is more than one right way to preach the gospel. You might set yourself up on a busy street and preach to whoever passes by. You can have a booth at the mall or at the beach with some thought-provoking signs, and then you speak to whomever comes up. You can go knocking door to door in your neighborhood. You can offer a biblical counseling ministry to your local community and then give the gospel to people who come to you with their life problems. You can take a co-worker or a neighbor out for lunch and give them the gospel. You can write a letter to a family member that you haven’t seen in a long time, explaining the gospel. You can make a video explaining the gospel and put it on the internet. There’s many ways that you can evangelize.
So which way are you going to do it? What is your strategy in evangelism? What works for you? What are the opportunities that you have? Have you ever even taken time to come up with a strategy?
Now, be aware that not every strategy is going to work equally well in giving the gospel. Effectiveness and actually getting into conversations with people and making true disciples, that’s going to vary by time, place, culture, and person. For example, using door-to-door evangelism. In many neighborhoods in the American Northeast, people are increasingly hostile to strangers coming to their door. They don’t want to be bothered at home. So you might say, well, I guess I’m not doing door-to-door evangelism. Well, if you go to another place, another culture, door-to-door evangelism might be quite effective. People are quite welcoming to strangers. They want to welcome you in and have a meaningful conversation with you. Actually, when we were at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles while I was in seminary, the church had a door-to-door evangelism ministry in the community close by, and it was proving quite effective. But it was just a different kind of community with people from a different cultural background.
So we want to be strategic, being aware that some strategies are going to work better in different contexts. We want to ask how to best take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to us. And there’s going to be some trial and error in this. That’s okay. You’ll probably need to adjust, refine your approach, check to see how effective it actually is in bringing you into gospel conversations, actually making disciples, because you’re going to need to improve. But that’s okay. You get better by doing it.
Also, in terms of strategizing, this should include even how you’re going to present the gospel from the Bible. You should have a strategy for the conversation itself. And there’s more than one way to do this, but you need to have something prepared. You could focus on explaining just one verse from the Bible, one verse that seems to summarize the gospel, like John 3:16 or 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. Say, okay, when I get into the conversation, this is where I’m going. Or you might use an outline like provided in the Grace Evangelism curriculum, which many of us have studied here at the church, where you have four main points that are all supported with scriptures, and you go through them. You try to go through them in each conversation – God, man, Christ, response. Or you might use the verses of the Romans Road, which Greg took us through not too long ago. They can be your way to explain the gospel. Or you could tell your testimony and tie it in with what the scripture says. Don’t simply tell your testimony. You want to actually explain the gospel and call for repentance and faith, but you can use your testimony as a springboard. Or something else. Again, there’s more than one right way to explain the gospel from the Bible. Which way do you use? Whatever way that is, you’re going to need to prepare, and you’re going to need to get better by practice. That is, by actually doing it.
Now someone might say, oh, but I don’t need to prepare. I don’t need to strategize. I’m just going to trust the Holy Spirit to tell me what to say, give me what to say. Well, we did read Matthew 10:19 earlier in the service that says we don’t need to worry about our giving testimony for God. And you know what? That’s true. The Bible says we’re not to worry at all, and that includes in evangelism. But understand the context of that statement in Matthew 10:19 is actually about persecution. Jesus says when you’re put on trial for your faith and you’re facing the prospect of death for My name, don’t worry about what you’re going to say in defense because the Holy Spirit will be with you. You’ll be empowered to give testimony for Me at that time. I’ll help you. Actually, 1 Peter 3:15, which is another statement given to believers facing the possibility of persecution and giving testimony for Christ in the midst of it, says this,
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
You don’t want to worry, but you do want to be prepared. Be ready to make a defense. Any faithful ambassador makes sure that he knows his message and is ready to give it. And it’s no different for ambassadors of Christ. You need to have at least some preparation for what you’re going to say. Now it doesn’t mean that the gospel conversation is going to go exactly the way that you planned. If you’ve ever actually tried to evangelize somebody, you know that this is how it goes. It often doesn’t go according to your perfect outline. There are tangents and questions, and you’ve got to be prepared to adapt, prepared to adjust. That’s fine. You get better at that with practice. But being basically prepared, having a plan as you go into that conversation, that helps you a lot. It’s kind of like what Dwight Eisenhower, the commander-in-chief of Allied forces during World War II, once said. He said, In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. When you’re prepared by some kind of plan, you can adapt in the situation instead of just staring like a deer in headlights.
Now a few other ideas to mention when it comes to evangelizing strategically. Remember that you should beware continually evangelizing those who are not really listening. Jesus says in Matthew 7:6,
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.
Sometimes you’re going to encounter people in your evangelism who don’t really want to hear your message, and they only respond with hostility and mocking. Don’t keep trying to force it with these people, because not only will you waste your time, but you will probably secure a fair amount of suffering for yourself as those people respond negatively to you. Hostility and resistance by itself doesn’t mean you should automatically just stop, but when it’s clear to you, when you’re getting a very strong impression that the other person isn’t really listening to you, it’s okay to move on. Move on to someone else. The apostles themselves were not afraid to do this, and Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10, as we read earlier, when they persecute you in one city, flee to another. Because you know what, there are a lot of cities, and you’re not going to finish going through them all. You can circle back with this resistant person at another time, see if they’re more open, see if God has done a work in that person’s heart, but don’t needlessly get torn apart by continually casting pearls before swine.
Really, we would do well to heed another directive that Jesus gives in another place in Matthew, one we’ve been referring to already, Matthew 10:16. Jesus says,
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.
There’s a lot of ways we can get ourselves into trouble when it comes to evangelism. You can lose your job, you can lose money, you can lose relationships, you can even lose your life. Though we shouldn’t be afraid of losing these things for the Lord’s sake, we also shouldn’t try to do so. For example, you can preach the gospel at your workplace in such a way that you will get fired, but perhaps there’s a way you can still preach the gospel at your work without getting fired. Try that first. Be both innocent and clever for the Lord’s sake. Sometimes simply asking someone permission before giving the gospel can spare you a lot of unnecessary backlash. Hey, is it all right if I share something important with you? Harder for them to get offended.
Finally, realize that evangelizing strategically involves not just a sector of your life, but really your whole life. As a disciple of Jesus, you should be asking yourself the same kind of questions that Paul asked himself, as is evident in 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. This basic question, how can I orient my life to become a slave to all so that I might win more for Jesus? What opportunities can I create for myself? What cultural hindrances can I remove? As an example, according to Acts 16:3, Timothy allowed himself to be circumcised as an adult just so that there would be less of a gospel hindrance for him to minister to Jews. What might you strategically give up or adjust for the gospel’s sake?
I heard a pastor mention one time about how he strategically signed up for a martial arts class. You might say, why would a pastor sign up for a martial arts class? Well, partly it’s because he thought he would enjoy it, but partly it was so that he could meet unbelievers and give them the gospel. I don’t know about you, but there’s a way that we can get into a Christian bubble where we actually stop meeting unbelievers, and then we’re like, I’m not giving the gospel to anybody. Well yeah, because you’re not interacting with unbelievers in meaningful way. What are you going to do to change that? You’re going to need to create some opportunities. You’re going to need to be strategic. You may need to adjust some things in your life. Maybe you don’t go to the Christian doctor or Christian barber, just so you can meet unbelievers. We are called to strategic living, strategic evangelism. If we want to be effective for the Lord, that’s what we must do.
A third principle from the Bible for maximizing effectiveness in evangelism really flows out of the previous one, and that’s number three – evangelize holily. Evangelize holily. That is a word, look it up. It fits well in this category. If we are concerned about being most strategic in preaching the gospel, then you need to speak and act in a holy way before the people of the world. A great set of verses for seeing this truth is in 1 Peter 2:11-12. A lot of verses today come from this book.
Remember that the letter of 1 Peter, it is written to encourage Christians who are suffering. Many of them are suffering for the gospel’s sake. This is written to encourage them and call them to holy living in the midst of suffering. Actually, in chapter 2, Peter explains that one of the ways that believers are going to suffer well for the Lord is they are going to submit to and to do what’s right to God ordained authorities that are actually mistreating Christians. It could be governments. It could be slave masters. It could be husband. It talks about each in chapter 2, going into chapter 3. By doing what’s right and continuing to submit, Christians are going to suffer well. Peter explains why this is. Not only will this follow Christ’s own example, not only will it fulfill Christ’s calling, but it will be a powerful testimony to an unbelieving world. Look now at 1 Peter 2:11-12,
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Notice the purpose statement Peter gives in verse 12. When you keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, that is those who do not know God, you will one day turn their slander against you into glorification of God. And it’s pretty easy to earn slander as a Christian. When you proclaim the gospel, call for repentance and faith, when you live a life that no longer pursues the idolatry and sins of the world like everybody else around you, people of the world are going to think you’re weird. They’ll speak bad about you. They are going to slander you. Peter says this again in 1 Peter 4:4 – they are going to malign you. But in response to that, if you continue to do good, if you practice what you preach, when you follow the Lord in holiness even amid suffering, people’s slanders and their objections to your message, they are exposed as empty, as unjust. They become ashamed of what they said of you. This is even how some otherwise stubborn sinners become converted. Notice what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:15,
For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Or 1 Peter 3:1-2, this was spoken to wives but there’s a principle for us here,
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
Brethren, I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet, but once you preach the gospel to somebody, and even before that, that person begins to pay very close attention to how you behave. They especially want to know how you deal with trials, how you live when you’re under pressure. And when you live a life that is not holy, and you act just like them, you give unbelievers every reason to disbelieve the gospel message. I knew what they said, Christians are hypocrites, and their message is a lie and ineffective. I’m fine just the way I am. Maybe I’m not that fine, but he’s no better than me. But if you do live a holy life, not a perfect life, a life that is truly characterized by love for God and love for other, a life that is growing in sanctification, a life where you have a habit of repentance from sin – you do sin sometimes but you turn away from it and you make things right with those who you sin against, when that’s the pattern of your life, life becomes a powerful and convicting testimony to unbelievers, and presses the gospel message you preach back onto their consciences. They have to deal with the holy life you’re living before them.
Therefore, brethren, let us resolve, just as the apostle Paul did in 1 Cor 9:12, to put no hindrances to the gospel of Christ before people, especially not by our own sin. Let us not unsay with our lives what we say with our mouths. Let us not sin against the very ones we are trying to reach with the gospel, and thereby murder God’s saving message before it can reach anybody’s heart. Instead, let us live holy lives. Let us adorn the doctrine of our Savior in every respect. To evangelize effectively, you must evangelize holily. Now brethren, are you doing that? Or do you need to repent before you call others to repent? Sin in your life will definitely take you away from evangelism.
Maybe you say, no I don’t want to be a hypocrite. I guess I won’t evangelize. That’s not the response you ought to have. You ought to say, you know what, I do need to evangelize, which means I need to get holy. I need to turn away from these sin habits in my life. Yes, that’s the right response before the Lord.
The fourth principle from the Bible for maximizing effectiveness in evangelism is number four – evangelize humbly. Evangelize humbly. As much as we should be strategic in preaching the gospel, we must always remember who this is really about, and from where the real power comes. This is about God. This is not about us. We are already in 1 Peter, just look over at 1 Peter 3:15 for a moment. We actually mentioned this earlier, but I want you to notice something else now. 1 Peter 3:15,
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
Let’s face it. We Christians have an offensive message to preach. It is a good message. The gospel is good news of the sure hope of salvation in Jesus Christ to all who believe. It’s the most loving, most wonderful message we can give, yet in its necessary confrontation of sin and its warning of God’s wrath due to sinner, and it’s assult on man’s prideful self-righteousness, the gospel message will always be offensive. That being said, we must not add to the offense of the gospel message by the way that we say it. Notice Peter’s exhortation to these Christians who were standing up for the gospel even amid persecution is to do so with gentleness. Of course, when I think about gentleness these days, one of the things I’m thinking about is babies. You can’t be rough with a baby because you might unnecessarily upset the baby or injure the baby. He’s just a baby. A baby needs extra consideration, extra love, extra care. A baby needs your gentleness.
So it is with these weighty matters of the soul. We must demonstrate gentle care to others as we attempt to evangelize them. As we proclaim a confrontational message, it is still to be with care. Yes, we must preach about hell, we must preach about God’s wrath, but let us not do so cavalierly. let us not do so from a high and mighty place of callousness, but with tears and with sincere pleading. Let’s not respond to unbelievers’ sins against us or their stubborn unbelief with impatience or with our own sin. I’m so sick of this person. I’ve given the gospel five times. He still doesn’t believe. I hate that guy. That’s not the way we are to respond. We respond with gentleness. We respond with patience, grace, forgiveness, respect. After all, Paul says in Titus 3:3, we were once foolish ourselves and disobedient. Come on, that’s the way we were. And what was the difference? Titus 3:4, but when the kindness of God our Savior, God and Savior appeared, He saved us. You weren’t smarter than that guy who’s resisting you. God just opened your eyes. God was gracious. You be gracious.
Really, it is appropriate that gentleness and reverence are paired together because one really flows from the other. If you really revere, or more literally fear God, for the great God who is, you won’t be proud before Him. You won’t be proud before others. You’ll instead be humble as you ought, knowing how patient God was and still is with you should make you patient with others, even though they ought to repent right away. They should not persist in sin. Remembering God’s patience with you should make you patient with them. You don’t want to make evangelism about yourself. Like John the Baptist, you’re concerned with pointing people to Christ. He must increase. I must decrease. Let Christ be exalted. Let people not even worry about me. You know, the ability to change a sinner’s heart is not in you. God must grant new birth by the Spirit. You must humbly rely upon God.
And you know what’s one of the most basic ways that you must do so? You must pray. Evangelizing humbly means that you pray continually, fervently. Evangelism without prayer is dead on arrival, because you’re not relying on the one who has the only power to change a sinner. Again and again in the New Testament, we see Christians praying or asking for prayer when it comes to evangelism. And just to give you one example, Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6:19-20. This is Paul. He says,
and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Just hear from Ephesians 6:19-20, how Paul asked specifically that believers pray for his evangelism. He’s asking that he might be given words to say, that he might speak boldly as he ought, even though he’s imprisoned. We might think, such a seasoned evangelist like Paul? He’s got miraculous powers. Why does this guy need prayer? Paul tells us from those verses, you got it all wrong. I need prayer just as much as you do. I must rely on the power of God in evangelism just as much as you should. Paul’s a man just like us. Perhaps one of the main reasons our evangelism is not more fervent and not more effective is because we do not pray, or we hardly do. We’re not expressing humble dependence on the Lord by continually praying for the lost and continually praying for one another.
May God make us no longer to be like this, but to be like the believers in Acts chapter 4, who amid persecution, they prayed fervently to God that he would grant them utterance and boldness. You know what God did? He did grant them that, even showing it by shaking the place in which they had gathered. It says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they went and proclaimed the message with boldness. That came by prayer. We need to pray. We need to express our humility before the Lord through prayer. To be effective, we must evangelize humbly.
Now interestingly, there is a connection between humility and boldness, even as we just saw in the passage from Paul. And that leads us to our fifth principle for maximizing effectiveness in evangelism, and that is number five, evangelize boldly. Evangelize boldly. Understand this, brethren, humility is not the same as timidity, a lack of courage or a lack of confidence. Now Paul actually tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7, God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. So when we are proclaiming the biblical gospel, prepared in strategy, holy in life, reliant on God’s strength and promises, we ought to proclaim Christ’s gospel with boldness.
In fact, turn to 2 Corinthians 3:4-6, and listen to the way Paul describes gospel ministry. This is on page 1156 in the Pew Bible, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6. Throughout these messages, we’ve been referring to 2 Corinthians several times. That’s because so much of this book is just Paul defending and explaining his gospel ministry. Paul, why do you keep doing this even though you’re suffering so much for it? Well, he’s explaining. He’s like, guys, you don’t understand how wonderful it is to be an ambassador of Christ. Let me explain. In the beginning of 2 Corinthians 3, Paul clarifies that God put a mark of commendation on Paul’s ministry in the way the Corinthian believers were transformed by the gospel message. They were turned from idolaters into true Christ followers. This was encouraging to Paul. This was a reminder that God was with him and with his companions, and that gave him confidence, which is what he explains in the passage I want to read to you, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6:
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
If you’re hearing what Paul’s saying in these verses, he says that the source of his confidence as a gospel preacher is not himself, but God. And the ministry he has to fulfill from God is amazing. It is a life-giving one. He goes on in the next few verses to describe how the ministry of Christ’s gospel, it displays a glory far beyond anything that was ever displayed in the old covenant under Moses. Thus, it was Paul’s hope, rather his confident expectation, that God’s glory would be magnified in Paul’s evangelism, and therefore, look at 2 Corinthians 3:12, Therefore, having such a hope, I know God’s going to be glorified in this, we use great boldness in our speech.
That’s a good thing for Paul, but do you realize that what he’s saying about his own gospel ministry is true or ought to be true of yours? Like we just said, Paul’s not really different from us. He’s just a man, but he was relying on God. He realized his adequacy came from God for this new covenant, this gospel ministry, and you know what? That’s true for you too. You are adequate as an evangelist by God’s Spirit and by God’s Word. You can, you should, you must do this with boldness, with great boldness. God is with you, if you are a Christian, just as he was with Paul. He has also given you this amazing, this life-giving ministry. Therefore, you ought to be bold for the Lord. Go out with courage, go out with confidence, and how many scriptures can we quote along these lines? Psalm 118:6,
Yahweh is for me, I will not fear, what can man do to me?
Isaiah 2:22
Stop regarding man whose breath of life is in his nostrils, for why should he be esteemed?
Brethren, we are not to be ashamed of the Lord or of His Word, we are not to be afraid of men. If God is for us, who can be against us? We need to remind ourselves of these truths continually because so often we end up like Elisha’s attendant in 1 Kings 6. I don’t know if you remember this, 1 Kings 6, Elisha’s attendant with him, their town is being encircled by an Aramean army. The attendant’s like, oh, we’re toast. And Elisha says to him, those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And then he prays, Lord, open his eyes. And what does he see? The mountains are filled with the horses and chariots of fire of Yahweh. Brethren, the same is true essentially for us. If Yahweh of armies, Yahweh of hosts is with us, why should we be afraid? Why should we shrink back from declaring the whole gospel of God? Yes, it’s got an offensive and a confrontational part to it, but you know what? God is with us. And this is how He’s going to save people. This is how He’s going to glorify Himself. We have God’s Spirit. We have the glorious life-saving message. We have God, so why are we afraid? We can be confident going out as God’s ambassadors. And you know, when we are, that courage itself commends the gospel message. It makes people, it forces people to pay even more attention to what we’re saying. We show others that we really do believe the Lord. That’s why we’re going out in boldness. That’s why they should listen.
I actually mentioned Acts 4 a moment ago, but go back to that passage to show you or report to you something else. Do you remember what was taking place at the beginning of that chapter? Acts 4, Peter and John have just miraculously healed a lame beggar and preached the gospel to the people who gathered around because it was so amazing. Well, the Jewish leaders learned of this and they come and seize Peter and John. They arrest them and they bring them before the Sanhedrin. Now what’s the Sanhedrin? Remember, that’s the highest governing body in the land. It’s like the Supreme Court and the Congress mixed together. This Sanhedrin, not too long before, condemned Jesus to death and conspired with the Roman authorities to kill Him. This is a powerful body. This is a serious body. They’ve got Peter and John on trial. They ask them to explain themselves before the council, before the court. And you know what? Peter and John are not intimidated. They instead speak to this highest Jewish governing body. You want to know how that lame man was healed? Jesus, the One whom you crucified, the One you rejected, who’s actually the Messiah, who actually rose from the dead, He’s the one who made that lame man now walk. In response to that, we read this in Acts 4:13,
Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
The confidence, the absolute confidence of Peter and John was nothing short of amazing to the Sanhedrin. Two uneducated bumpkins from Galilee standing before the highest court in the land, yet completely sure of what happened, completely sure of what they believed, and unafraid to declare to even this group that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the only Savior. And then there’s that line at the end, and they began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. There was something about the courage, the conviction of these two men that finally made it click with the Sanhedrin that these were two of Jesus’ closest disciples.
The same ought to be true of us when we evangelize boldly. It should be our goal that we speak with such courage and faith in the Lord that people will similarly become amazed at us and even conclude there’s only one explanation. This person, these people, must have been with Jesus. To be effective, to be most faithful and effective for the Lord, we must evangelize boldly. Don’t shrink back from any part of the gospel message. Tell it like it is. Tell it with grace, but speak the Lord’s message with conviction.
The sixth and final principle from the Bible to maximize your effectiveness in evangelism is number six – evangelize expectantly. Evangelize expectantly. One of the reasons we can evangelize boldly the way that we ought is because God has told us in His Bible exactly what we can expect as we go and evangelize for His sake. What can we expect? Well, four different things. I’ll give you these as four quick subpoints.
What can we expect in evangelism? 6A – people will respond differently. People will respond differently. Uncertainty about how others are going to respond to the gospel, that’s one of the things that paralyzes us, right? Oh, I don’t know how they’re going to react. I don’t know what they’re going to think. But we don’t have to be anxious because Jesus told us in the Bible how people are going to react. One of the places He tells us that is actually the parable of the sower, also known as the parable of the soils. We won’t read through that. I’ll just summarize it. But do you remember this in Matthew 13:1-23? It’s pretty famous. Jesus explains that some will respond to the gospel like seed that lands on a packed path, packed soil. The gospel message never penetrates. Satan prevents any real understanding, takes it away. So these persons, they reject the message outright, either politely – oh you know, that’s good for you, or hostilely – how dare you. That will be the response some of the time. Some others will respond to the gospel like seed on rocky soil. They will believe. They will become zealous disciples for a time. But when the cost of discipleship hits them in a way that they weren’t prepared for, didn’t expect, they will fall away. Don’t be surprised by it. Jesus said that’s one of the ways people will respond. Some will respond to the gospel like seed on thorny and weedy soil. These will accept and believe the gospel, but it never really changes them. They continue to be drawn away by the cares and pleasures of the world. They always seem to be like carnal Christians. Don’t be surprised by that. Jesus said that’s one way people will respond. But finally, Jesus says, this also will be a response. Some will respond to the gospel like seed on good soil. They will understand. They will believe, and they will persevere until the end. And unlike all the other types of soil, these will bear supernatural fruit of a changed life. These are truly saved person. These are God’s flock. These are God’s chosen.
So don’t have this doom and gloom outlook to evangelism. Oh, it’s just all going to be people who reject. All people who just fall away after believing for a time. No, there are going to be good soil out there too. And you’re going to bring them to faith. We are together. There’s going to be some who truly believe and persevere. And that’s it. Just the four main types of responses. We should know what to expect. Be sober, but be hopeful. God’s chosen will be saved.
However, 6B, something else to expect. 6B – harvest will take time. Harvest will take time. I think something that discourages us in our evangelism is that we have various gospel conversations with people and they don’t yield immediate fruit. We don’t see someone repent and believe right there as a result of our conversation. And we get discouraged. But you know what? We probably have the wrong expectation. Because consider, if you’ve been in the faith anytime at all, how many people do you know who believed the very first time they heard about Christ and the gospel? I don’t think I can think of anybody. If you can, it’s probably only a few. God is certainly capable of doing that, but that doesn’t appear to be the way that God works, most of the time.
And this fits with the farming metaphor we see used throughout the New Testament in places like 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. I won’t read that, just kind of refer to it. With the gospel, so often the case is, one person plants, another person waters, and still another person harvests. And God is the one who causes the growth. The servants can’t do it. People can’t do it. It’s God who causes the growth. He’s the one who does the work in the heart, and He could do that over a long period of time or a short period of time. So let’s not be surprised by this. Let’s be ready for God to work according to His timing, realizing we may be taking part in any one of these three phases for a person. Don’t say, oh, they didn’t repent and believe, that was useless, it was wasted. No, so often it was God planting a seed, watering that seed, and very shortly there will be a harvest. Who knows God? The Lord of the harvest knows. We pray that he would grant the harvest, but we want to be faithful for whatever part we’re playing in that gospel growth.
6C, something else to expect, not be surprised from. 6C – persecution will surely come. Persecution will surely come. I know there was a time as a young Christian that I thought I had discovered a way to faithfully preach the gospel without being persecuted. Because that seemed to be my experience. I was given the gospels, explaining God’s word to people, and nobody, or seemingly nobody seemed to be getting upset. I was like, I’ve cracked the code. I’ve found the secret. Well, then I went to college, and I found that that was not true. I experienced persecution. While it is true that God may grant us seasons of favor, seasons of little to no persecution, we cannot get away from what God actually promised in His word, like in 2 Timothy 3:12,
Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
That just comes with the territory. So don’t be surprised when you’re persecuted for following Christ or for preaching His gospel. Jesus said it would come. Jesus said they hated Him first. They’re going to hate you too. Don’t be surprised when your family is in all conflict because you preached the gospel to them. Jesus said, I’m going to divide families. I came to bring a sword, not peace in one sense. Don’t be surprised by that. If you’re not experiencing any of this, if there’s no disruption in your relationships because you’re preaching the gospel, or if you don’t experience any persecution because you’re not preaching the gospel at all, well, there’s the problem. Remember the experience of the false prophets versus the true prophets. Everybody loved the false prophets. Not many people like the true prophets. Check. If you’re not seeing any persecution in your life, check that you’re actually being a faithful evangelist. It could be that you’re not.
But when you are persecuted, don’t despair. Actually, the Bible says persecution, as painful and as grievous as it is, it should become a source of joy for you. You say, what are you talking about? 1 Peter 4:13-14 says, remember, this is written to suffering Christians,
but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
When you’re persecuted for doing right rather than doing wrong, that should give you comfort. You say, I’m being faithful to the Lord. He’s pleased. I have a reward with Him. That’s how pain becomes a pleasure for us.
And that flows right into our last expectation, 6D. Finally, remember, faithfulness will be rewarded. Your work is not in vain. Faithfulness will be rewarded. Your suffering is not in vain. More joy-bringing than escaping persecution or even seeing someone respond favorably to the gospel, and there’s joy and relief in those things, more than that is the assurance that you’ve been a faithful witness of Christ. Knowing you’ve been faithful, knowing that He’s pleased, that’s where your real joy comes from. Truly, in the end, it’s all about Jesus. It’s all about pleasing Him, glorifying Him. So if we accomplish that, it is enough for us. But beyond that, He promises that there will be a reward. He doesn’t just say, you’ll please me, I’ll reward you. Not for how many people you led to believe in Me. You don’t really have that power. Not for how popular you became with people or with the church, but for how faithful you were in declaring My word. I’ll give you one scripture that mentions this concept, but there are many. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18,
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
One of my seminary professors, he’s kind of an interesting guy, he loved to quote the movie “Gladiator” in class. Especially that line, what we do in life echoes in eternity. You know what? The Bible says that’s true. If we will be found to be overcomers, faithful athletes, faithful soldiers even of Christ, then we will receive His commendation. We will know His joy. We will experience His reward.
So how should we respond? For the sake of obedience, for the sake of love, for the sake of God’s glory and God’s power put on display, let us then discipline ourselves for evangelism. How are we to do this to be most faithful and effective for Christ? This is what we’ve seen over the past two weeks. Number one, evangelize biblically. Number two, evangelize strategically. Number three, evangelize holily. Number four, evangelize humbly. Number five, evangelize boldly. Number six, evangelize expectantly.
Brethren, this is not optional. This is not for the super Christians, the professionals. This is the calling for each of us. We have all been called to make disciples, to be ambassadors of Christ. So, let’s do it. If you say you believe in Jesus, go make new disciples. Let’s have faith in the Lord. Let’s strategize even together. Let’s encourage one another. Let’s remember Christ’s reward. Bottom line, let’s actually do it. Let’s go out and preach the gospel. You’ll be taking a risk in doing this, to be sure, but this is the right kind of risk. After all, your God is with you. And is there any better way to live out your quickly passing life than in sold-out service to Jesus Christ and His gospel? 19th century British missionary C.T. Studd once wrote memorably, only one life will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last. May the Lord help us to live by that maxim together.
Let’s pray. God, we say with Paul, it is a glorious ministry that You have given to us, this ministry of reconciliation. And yet, we are not adequate in ourselves. We need You to make us adequate. And You promise in Your word that You will and You do. We can obey You. We can be faithful as Your ambassadors. If You will go with us, God, then we will go to the work. And You have promised that you do go with us, so we promise, God, we will make disciples for You. Forgive us, Lord, for where we have been fearful, where we have trusted in ourselves, where we have feared man. Lord, I pray that we would fear You instead and that we would love others enough, love You enough to give Your life-saving message. Oh, Lord God, You have freely given to us. Help us to freely give to others and use the people of this church with the people that they know, with their friends, with their family members, with their neighbors, with their co-workers, with the people they just meet in various interesting ways. Lord, use us to draw those people to You. I pray, Lord, that those people be saved. God, give us the words. Give us the boldness. Give us true faith in You. But, God, you’ve got to do the work. You’ve got to make the seeds grow. So, God, do it for Your own glory. We want to see it, God. We want to see You put on display. Be pleased to work in us, God. Do a mighty work even this year with the members of this congregation. The results are up to You, but help us to be found faithful, and we trust that You will help us, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.