Lifestyle Evangelism!

 

Times are such that I cannot but emphasize on Evangelism and our response to the edicts of Christ, i.e., our obedience to Great Commission and Great commandment. It's  imperative that we show our fervor and aggressiveness in taking the Gospel to the world like never before. The world is in such turmoil with the pandemic and it's new variants threatening globally. Though the world leaders are trying out best solutions, the challenges outnumber. Extreme and erratic weather conditions, political unrests, Bio wars are some challenges. In all of these should the priority of the Churches alter? Absolutely not. The focus of the Churches and every Christian should remain the same, i.e., reaching out to the people dying without Christ, more precisely 49 people per minute.

It's an encouraging fact that Churches and Christian Organizations are demonstrating the Love of Christ in action by meeting the physical needs of the poor; thereby, fulfilling the demands of Great Commandment which says, “Love your neighbors as yourselves.” Mark 12:29. But the question remains as to what extent the Gospel is shared with the same enthusiasm? I fully believe social intervention does open doors to present Christ to people, but are the Christians prepared to present it effectively? Krish Dhanam underscores on obeying to His mandate, “If you practice Great Commission and share about Christ you are an irritant, and if you practice Great Commandment and talk about the love of Christ you are interesting, but if you do both Great Commission and Great Commandment together you are irresistible.”.

A lifestyle of Evangelism is when you are not just seen as a believer or a Pastor but one who is able to share His faith in a convincing way that wins a soul for Christ. Many are just a little better than a good Christian but failing to present the Savior to the world. It is observed, many Christians who claim to be His disciples are blissfully ignorant. They try to proclaim a heaven they can’t prove while here on earth. Lee Strobel states, “I’m all for lifestyle evangelism, but I’m also in favor of intentionality, where we seek out opportunities for spiritual conversations and are equipped to explain the gospel and why we believe it”.

Each one of us are under the obligation to present the Gospel. It makes heaven rejoice. The alarming fact is that mathematical calculations of big number does not bring glory to God but on a contrary invites His indignation on us. Luke 15:7 says, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.”. Intentional sharing of the Gospel takes time and energy in relationship building to induce honest commitment. It is doubtlessly the work of the Holy Spirit, but there are umpteen components that comprises Gospel sharing. This has been addressed in one of my previous blogs, which you can check HERE. It's appalling to observe that big organizations and Churches fall into the temptation of brandishing huge numbers of Gospel shared and people making commitment to Christ assuming heaven will be impressed, disappointingly cheating themselves.

 It is good to note how the Gospel numbers were calculated in the Bible. It was done with stunning accuracy. For example, in the case of people who were fed with seven loaves and few small fish, Matthew records four thousand men ate, besides women and children (Matthew 15:34-37). If it were to be us, we would have calculated big numbers hoping to bring glory to God. Numbers keep exchanged, duplicated, over calculated but heaven is still waiting to rejoice over one sinner making an honest confession and committing to follow Jesus. While Churches and organizations are looking for number of decisions made, Jesus is looking for disciples. We need revival. Let me close with the words of Leonard Ravenhill, "There’s no blueprint to revival. But there’s one thing that’s always there and it’s what the Apostle Paul said: “My little children, for whom I travail in birth.” For what? That you become Evangelists? That you become Missionaries? No! He says: “that CHRIST may be formed in you”!" And after Christ is formed in a person he /she cannot contain himself/herself.

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