{"id":64688,"date":"2018-08-08T10:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T15:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/us\/?p=64688"},"modified":"2018-08-07T05:50:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T10:50:51","slug":"evangelism-starts-with-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banneroftruth.org\/us\/resources\/articles\/2018\/evangelism-starts-with-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelism Starts With God"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest mistakes I\u2019ve made in evangelism is telling people the good news without telling them the bad news. No wonder I\u2019m met with blank stares or \u201cThat\u2019s nice for you, but not for me.\u201d When we don\u2019t tell unbelievers about sin and wrath, they often think grace is irrelevant. They don\u2019t see their need for a Savior.<\/p>\n

I know I\u2019m not alone. Myself, I suspect I don\u2019t like sharing the bad news because of fear of man. I don\u2019t want to offend people or bring up words like hell and wrath and sin because then the conversation may get weird. I don\u2019t like awkward moments. I want to seem cool. I want to win people to Christ simply by telling people only about Christ and avoiding all the difficult parts.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Defining Evangelism<\/h3>\n

But true evangelism requires more. As it\u2019s been said, evangelism is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with an unbeliever with the aim of persuading them to repent and trust in Christ. So you\u2019re not just sharing your testimony (although that can be helpful). And we\u2019re not just telling people about Jesus aimlessly. The goal \u2014 which only God can produce \u2014 is repentance and trust.<\/p>\n

Any gospel message that doesn\u2019t talk about hell and sin and wrath is incomplete. Not wrong, just deficient. In order to be faithful to the gospel message, we must be willing to talk about the hard parts of our faith. Talking about the hard parts of the Christian faith is an act of loving our neighbors. But of course, you want to do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

John MacArthur and Evangelism<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m assuming some of these thoughts already mentioned were also on John MacArthur\u2019s mind when he wrote, The Gospel According to Jesus<\/em>. Recently, I\u2019ve been reading through Iain Murray\u2019s<\/a> book on some influential evangelical leaders, Seven Leaders, Preachers and Pastors<\/a><\/em>, \u00a0and last but certainly not least, he covers MacArthur.<\/p>\n

Murray mentions a few thoughts about evangelism from MacArthur\u2019s book: ‘This opens a question fundamental to the whole understanding of evangelism. The opponents of MacArthur\u2019s book, The Gospel According to Jesus<\/em> were correct in seeing that he was proposing teaching which was very disruptive of the popular evangelistic practice. He was saying that the presentation of the gospel must begin with God. The starting point is not what Jesus can do for you. The message must start with bad news, namely that God is holy and in light of that holiness the sinner stands condemned and worthy of hell. The first thing men need to hear is how contrary they are to God and that \u2018repentance towards God\u2019 is demanded of them. \u2018Trust in Jesus\u2019 is not the starting point.’<\/p>\n

This line stood out to me: ‘the presentation of the gospel must begin with God.’<\/p>\n

Here I am trying to tell people the good news without the bad news. But the message begins with God.<\/p>\n

To be sure, the purpose of all of this is not to purposely go around offending non-Christians, and then self-rewarding with a badge of honor, thinking you made a difference for Jesus. I don\u2019t even think that you need to always<\/em> start with the bad news in every<\/em> evangelistic conversation. Sometimes sharing your testimony or inviting people to your church is a good start. But at some point \u2014 whether it is through the preaching of God\u2019s Word or through the Spirit convicting your non-Christian friend of their sin as they read the Bible you bought them or you personally telling them the gospel\u2014 the unrepentant sinner must hear of the bad news. Again: it\u2019s an act of love.<\/p>\n

We keep telling people to ‘trust Jesus’ and ‘accept Christ’ and ‘look to Jesus.’ These are true statements, but I imagine a non-Christian who hears those words without also hearing the bad news thinks, ‘why?’ or ‘what in the world are you talking about?’ We\u2019re so used to using Christianese that we don\u2019t stop to consider that people don\u2019t know what we\u2019re talking about when we use these expressions.<\/p>\n

Penn Jillette, the atheist illusionist and comedian,\u00a0says: ‘I don\u2019t respect people who don\u2019t proselytize. I don\u2019t respect that at all. If you believe that there\u2019s a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that it\u2019s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward\u2026 How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?’<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a good evangelist. But I want to get better. I want to be loving and bold and share both the good and bad news. I\u2019m encouraged by the fact that the number of God\u2019s elect cannot be increased or diminished. The pressure is not on me (or you). God will save whomever he wants, whenever he wants. But it\u2019s not like we don\u2019t have a part to play. We do. In fact, our evangelistic efforts are usually the means by which God uses to save. One way to improve in our churches and in our personal evangelism is simply by not being ashamed of talking about both the bad and good news.<\/p>\n

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David Qaoud is a husband, writer, and blogger from St. Louis, MO. He is also an MDiv student at Covenant Theological Seminary and blogs at Gospel Relevance.<\/a>\u00a0This article was first published on his site<\/a> and has been reproduced with permission.<\/p>\n

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Evangelism Helps<\/h3>\n