Two Types of Evangelism
Worship, like marriage, is a life lived in a permanent relationship with the Lord Jesus that brings deep responsibilities. It is certainly not a feeling that is aroused in conducive circumstances. The Christian message has always been presented as God’s one and only truth. The reason people are culpable before God is that they reject the evidence for God and for his Son and so live without him. Too often today, in our post-modern world, a different message from that of the apostles is portrayed in churches. This message appeals to the emotions and not the mind; it is primarily about life now and is therefore a very different message. Jesus and his apostles taught us to focus on living for eternity. Moreover those who respond to an emotional message seldom persevere in the faith to become devoted disciples for the rest of their lives as their focus remains on what satisfies them.
Jesus
Jesus repeatedly gave reasons why people must believe in him. He gave people various types of evidence for why people should believe he is God’s one and only Messiah. He performed extraordinary miracles, he repeatedly explained how the Old Testament Scriptures spoke about his life, his birth, his death and his resurrection, and what he taught resonated with peoples’ consciences. After his resurrection, he said to his disciples,
“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’” Luke 24:44-48
He gave abundant evidence to his disciples that he had indeed risen from the dead. They were clearly convinced because they subsequently gave their lives to tell the world that Jesus really is the Christ, God’s eternal universal king. This faith is based on facts.
The above passage also recognises another type of evidence, an innate knowledge of sin. This sense of sin is an awareness that I have fallen far short of living the God-centred life that I was created for. Often, in the Bible, this subjective evidence is appealed to alongside the objective evidence for Jesus being God’s chosen king. The only proof that a faith is genuine faith is obedience, that is worship. This what Jesus emphasised:
“If you love me you will obey what I command. . . If anyone loves me he will obey what I command.” John 14:15,23
Another type of evidence that the Bible gives for there being a God comes from nature or what today we might call the sciences. How can anyone look at the birth of a baby, the joy of families, the beauty of plants and the countryside and not praise our creator. How can all the constants of physics, that must have been set as the universe was just beginning, be set so precisely right for us to exist? How is it that we live on a planet that is clearly tailor-made (or better God made) so that man can exist safely?
The Bible teaches that people must belief because of all the evidence. We are members of the jury, the only difference being that the decision we make affects our eternal fate, not that of Jesus. We are in the dock, not God. Psalm 19, a psalm of David, gives all three groups of evidence as the reason why people should glory in God.
Paul
Paul did not use emotional tricks to seduce people into believing in Jesus, he presented the evidence for faith in him. In Thessalonica,
“ . . . he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. This Jesus I am proclaiming to you in the Christ.” Acts 17:2-3
The reaction is striking,
“Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined . . .” Acts 17:4
Paul them moved to Berea where the Jews:
“. . . received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures everyday to see if what Paul said was true.” Acts 17:11
Truth was fundamental. When he moved on to the secular city of Athens he ridicules the idea of worshipping inanimate idols. They are culpable because of their wilful ignorance:
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice.” Acts 17:30
Paul then moved on to the cosmopolitan city of Corinth. He first visited the Jewish synagogue:
“Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue trying to persuade Jews and Greeks . . . testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.” Acts 18:4-5
This rational approach was not always successful and Paul himself was tempted to use other means to draw people into the church:
“Therefore, since through Christ we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2
The Priority for Today
Today people are dying of Biblical malnutrition. Few are persuaded about Jesus, largely because they do not know the evidence. How we Christians need to start sharing the evidence again but our teaching must be urgent and passionate. My book, ‘Cure for Life,’ now in its fifth edition outlines these reasons why all people must be Christians.
Preachers need to be discouraged from using what are primarily emotional techniques to encourage people to join the church. Crowds can be ‘softened up’ by using well known psychological tricks. Loud rhythmic music may help people enjoy a pop festival atmosphere but will do nothing to convict people’s minds that Jesus is truly God’s Messiah whom we all need. How we need the Holy Spirit to return to our churches:
“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment.” John 16:8
There are today popular church courses that are deliberately light in their teaching about sin because they fear this would stop people coming! True evangelism is not stirring people’s emotions, it is convincing their minds about Jesus who alone can forgive our sin. Jesus continues to explain what sin is:
“. . . in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me . . .” John 16:9
The truth is that we will all stand one day before God in judgment and if we have not been received into God’s kingdom through a lifelong submission to Christ as our Lord and King we will bear the consequences for the godless way we have lived. A permanent relationship with Jesus does require people to be convinced about who he is! Conviction about Jesus and turning to him will surely have an emotional effect on us emotional beings, but these emotional consequences must remain secondary to the deep-seated conviction.
BVP December 2021
