You are quick to agree you matter the most to God. Perfect! You want to also believe that you are the apple of His eyes, you are engraved in the palm of His hand and God loves you most. That’s a great assurance. Every single person who demonstrated his obedience to accept Him as the Savior and lord of his/her life should have the confidence that he/she is loved by God immensely. But do we believe the same is true for others? As much as you matter to God others matter too, more specifically the person who is lost. If you are concerned to what matters to God, then you are already part of Christ’s Mission.
If evangelism matters to God, then it should matter to you too. Every lost sheep from the herd is described in Luke 15 in the parable of the Lost sheep and the lost sinners that they are His top priority. Luke 5:32: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.". If this is not the priority of the Church and the believer then I wonder what is? The gospel writers and in the epistles cited the purpose of Jesus:
Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
Mark 2:17: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
1 Timothy 1:15: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
I can’t help but notice the decline of intentional evangelism in Churches. Majority of the churches are not evangelistically effective. This truth is hard because of what God desires of his church. Sam Rainer states, ‘The church is not a destination for crowds but rather a vehicle to take gospel-sharing to the ends of the earth.’ Evangelism is falling off the radar from many churches. Intentional evangelism is not easy. Like most good disciplines, intentional evangelism requires work. You must work to get in front of people. You must work to build the trust. You must share Jesus with them. Sam Rainer in his writing states this, “The most evil thing a person can do is intentionally prevent another from hearing God’s truth. Be good. Be an ambassador of Jesus. Share Jesus.”.
Churches do not have a strong record of reaching non-believers. Church goers commit their entire life to belong to a Church without fulfilling the real purpose of church Christ desires. 2 Timothy 3:7 Paul states, "always learning, but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth" The passage serves as a warning against pursuing knowledge for its own sake without submitting to God's truth and allowing it to impact one's life. Believers never find an opportunity to truly graduate and be a Church at some point in time. I don't mean that believers should run away from fellowship but have a space, a place for unbelieving family members, neighbors and friends to be part of their reach. Most of the believers are conditioned to die like the person who hid his one talent safely and was later rejected for the same (Matt 25:25). Such person, Jesus calls, as good-for-nothing. Matt 25:30 “And throw this good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Church prioritizes men’s fellowship, women's fellowship, family bonding programs, prayer meetings, youth get together, worship program, musical extravaganza, mission trips, fund raising campaigns and many other activities yet have not truly found what matters to God.
Amidst today’s craziness, all of us need to see transformed lives. No matter what we face culturally, watching God transfer a non-believer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His Son - “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the son he loves.” (Col 1:13) - is amazing indeed! How can you learn to share your faith as a believer? As a Church, find out how you can train and equip your believers to share the gospel to their unbelieving family members, friends and colleagues. In the end, evangelism is not optional for believers. We’re the only plan God’s given to get the good news to our neighbors and the nations. Not doing evangelism is nothing less than disobedience—and none of us wants our congregations to be disobedient.
You may read the last blog HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment