The Gospel is such great news that it must be shared to the ends of the Earth. The eternal urgency is that Christ is coming back, and when that is nobody knows.
“For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” 1 Thess 5:2
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” 2 Peter 3:10
Therefore since we know Christ is coming back, we must act sooner rather than later. Our desire is to share in the same blessings and promises that are only found in the Gospel. In order for that to happen, we must be making Christ known every day to every nation for the advancement of the Gospel. Below we will talk about few different ways that this can take place.
Making disciples
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18
We see multiple ways of sharing the gospel, with one major way being the process of making disciples. Making disciples consist of living life together. Jesus started His ministry with the call of the disciples, those whom He chose to live life with for the next three years of His ministry. The disciples were tasked with learning and listing to the teaching of Jesus Christ. Along with this, they were given the authority to baptize, teach and heal in the name of Jesus.
“Discipleship is intentionally equipping believers with the Word of God through accountable relationships empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to replicate faithful followers of Christ.”
In today’s world, it is crucial to be both a disciple and to disciple others. Every Christian is called to be both Paul and Timothy. Paul was disciplining Timothy, while Timothy was being disciple by Paul. There will always be someone wiser than yourself in your spiritual walk. Just like there will always be someone who could benefit from your wisdom and maturity in Christ. We can only lead others as far as we have been lead.
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Prov 27:17
The basic role of disciplining others, is to teach them one on one the teachings and commandments of Christ. There are many shapes and forms this can come through, anything from book studies to studying chapters of the Bible to breaking bread together. Studying the commandments and teachings of Christ, is a life long journey one which was meant to be done together. Discipleship usually tends to lead to life long relationships. With relationships like that, comes bearing one another burdens in pain and joy.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal 6:2
“The one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians.”
A Calling To All Nations
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb….” Rev 7:9
When we take a look at disciple making, we realize that it is global call uniting all nations and people to Christ. There is no distention, when it comes to those who Christ draws to Himself. Along with this global call comes barriers, such as language and culture. People are working day and night trying to translate the gospel into as many languages as possible. God is no longer just seeking Israel, His call is no longer exclusive to the Jews. His call has now been extended through Christ to the ends of the Earth.
The truly incredible thing is that God has chose us to be trusted as messengers of the Gospel. He chose a broken people such as us to share His redemptive story of the Cross. Along with being chosen, humility and thankfulness should flow from the grace that we have been shown. We are not irreplaceable, it is a gift and a blessing to be able to share the Gospel. We should never forget this, least pride seep in and replace thankfulness with entitlement. The world’s salvation is not dependent on us, for God is the one who ultimately calls and provides growth. Never the less, God has tasked us with planting seeds and care taking of His harvest.
“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” 1 Cor 3:7
“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2
May we pray to God to send many into the world for the advancement of His kingdom. May we be able to serve any way possible, for harvest is plentiful, and labors are few. May God also be glorified both by his harvest and labors. Let us be thankful for the opportunity to partake in the Lords harvest.
“The best measure of a spiritual life is not its ecstasies but its obedience.”
Witnessing vs Evangelism
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” – Acts 1:8
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8
We as Christians place a high role on evangelism, sometimes not high enough though. However, we tend to place so much pressure on evangelism that we forget to bear witness to all of Gods glory including Christ.
Whenever we think of evangelism we tend to think about sharing the gospel in telling others of Christ and salvation in Christ. Which is needed because faith comes from hearing. But what we forget to do is also bear witness to these things, meaning to live as Christ lived. Our life should be a witness to the power of Christ and the work that He has done in us. Yet let us not live preaching one thing and living another. So many Christians now days are hypocrites because they preach one message and yet they live out a completely different message. By doing so they damage their witness and give Christians a bad name. We are called to witness everywhere, Christ commanded us to witness in Jerusalem (our local city), Judea and Samaria (our local nations) and to the ends of the Earth. Our main goal of witnessing is to become imitators of Christ.
“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” 1 Cor 11:1
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Cor 5:20
Part of witnessing, is becoming an ambassador of Christ. To live as He did, to stand for what He stood for. We are to become models of Him, representing Him in all things at all times.
In order to be effective at witnessing one must learn to contextualize the gospel. Becoming like others so that others might become like Christ. To integrate ones life into the community of others for the advancement of the gospel. We see Paul was an expert at doing this, adapting his witness based on those whom he was surrounded by. All for sake of the Gospel, desiring to share in the blessings of the Gospel with them.
“To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” 1 Cor 9:22-23
I hope this short and brief article on evangelism has been helpful. My hope was that it would shine a light on an area of our life, that we tend to neglect (myself included).
The greatest joy is to know Jesus Christ. The second greatest joy is to make Him known. – Steven Lawson
“We email, Facebook, tweet and text with people who are going to spend eternity in either heaven or hell. Our lives are too short to waste on mere temporal conversations when massive eternal realities hang in the balance. Just as you and I have no guarantee that we will live through the day, the people around us are not guaranteed tomorrow either. So let’s be intentional about sewing the threads of the gospel into the fabric of our conversations every day, knowing that it will not always be easy, yet believing that eternity will always be worth it.” ―
Thoughts In The Light Of Eternity 
Love the material, man. I’m not the best at this in the least but, and it’s nice to find encouraging words and actual commands pointed out in the scriptures to remind me! I always want to put it off, or make just one wrong decision in front of others that aren’t saved, thinking I can come back and rectify the issue later. Thank you for the encouragement. Keep up the awesome work man! Love you brother.
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