Luke 6:46 – “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?”
Matthew 28:18-20 – “18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Luke 10:2 – “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Why don’t more Christians take Jesus seriously when it comes to reaching out to others?
I am going to ask my outreach group tonight what motivates them to reach out to others. I will let you know what they say.
3 Responses
i think the main reason people are hesitant to do evangelism is that they don’t feel qualified. part of this could likely be taken care of by modeling/teaching people how to share spiritual thoughts with others in non-threatening ways or — perhaps even better — how to lead a small group (or one-on-one bible study).
but the core of the problem is not a lack of preparation, but a lack of understanding (or of faith, depending on how you look at it). most of our christians believe successful evangelism will flow from their own abilities; hence the reason for concerns about whether they’re qualified or not.
the matthew 28 passage addressed this, though. too bad we often skip over verse 18 and the end of 20 (and i’m glad you included them, matt). because all authority has been given to Christ and he will be with us always, we’re not relying on our own authority, talents, and abilities. let me tell you, this is the best news in the world for someone working as a missionary in east africa. it is not by my power that i seek to disciple people, but by God’s.
i wonder if we focused less on commands for evangelism and more on texts which demonstrate how it works — we model life in the kingdom and God draws men to Christ — would we be more successful in persuading others to be involved in evangelism? the heart of this problem, i believe, is that people think they are responsible for saving others, or at least for persuading them to be saved. and when we focus on commands to do evangelism, i fear that we emphasize the already wrong belief that they are indeed responsible for such things.
Doesn’t Paul say that not all of us have been given the gift of evangelism? (Eph 4: SOME have been given the gift. Are we all the mouth?) Is Matthew 28 speaking about a 21st century construal of evangelism? Or is Matthew 28 evoking the language of Daniel 7 wherein the Son of Man is given a kingdom – not just a JEWISH kingdom, but a kingdom encompassing the whole world? Are we not being told that the way THIS King conquers is by baptism ( and suppering, singing, giving, storying, etc), as opposed to conquering by military might?
Sure some people are gifted for evangelism but that doesn’t mean we all can’t play a role.That is why some sow seed, others water and God makes it all grow.