TEXT: Acts 2:14-24
TITLE: Is
every Christian an Evangelist?
DATE: 2nd
June 2013
We continue with our
reflections upon the subject of
Evangelism. The Great Commission
in Matthew 28:18-20 is an explicit command of Christ to all His disciples : ”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...”.
This commandment forms
part of our church’s mission statement.
Today I want to focus on an important question: Is every Christian an evangelist?
Many would say, ‘no’ because it is commonly thought that since evangelism is a spiritual gift, and that it
applies only to those who have been
gifted by God in this area. The problem is that
the NT only mentions the word ‘evangelist’
three times:
1. It is mentioned among the foundational ministries of the church in Eph.
4:11.
2. Philip
, one of the 7 deacons in Acts 6:1-7 is
also called “Philip the Evangelist”
in Acts 21:8. It is not difficult to see
why. In Acts 8:4-8 we read how he preached Christ to the city of Samaria and
in Acts 8:26-40 we read how
he helped the Ethiopian eunuch to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ .
3. Paul
exhorts Timothy in 2 Tim 4:5 , “do the
work of an evangelist“. Timothy was the Pastor at Ephesus.
So then, how do we combine this specific call of an evangelist with that general call to evangelism? It is clear that if
evangelism was only based on the
work of
a specific class of evangelists, the work of getting the witness about
Jesus out into the world could have
never happened as it did. The book of
Acts reveals to us that
every believer was busy
testifying about Christ and the gospel. Acts 8:4,5 says : “Now those who were scattered went about
preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to
them the Christ…”. From the very beginning, becoming a disciple of Jesus always included becoming a ‘fisher
of men’ (Mk 1:17). This work did not belong
to a class of gifted people. It
did not belong to the bold and
to the extroverts . This work
belongs to everybody! Everybody who is truly born again can
testify to Christ! Think about this in another way. Can
any Christian say: “I am not
gifted in prayer. I will leave that work to the
spiritually gifted praying
people!” ? Or can any Christian say:
“I am not gifted in giving. I will leave
that to the rich and the generous and to those who are gifted to give.”? Can
anyone say : “ I don’t have the gift of
faith. I will leave that to those who have
received such a gift from God” , or “I won’t engage in personal Bible study – I will leave the spiritually
gifted to teach me ?” You have never heard this said because
you know that such arguments are
ridiculous. But one does hear Christians
saying from time to time “I am
not gifted to be an evangelist”, and
the implication is therefore – “leave it
to those that are gifted”, thereby leaving
the great commission to a few- a professional group of evangelists.
Let’s try to
get the perspective right. Where the
Bible does speak about the evangelist, one may assume that they have been gifted by God in a larger measure and with more visible
success in this field. One may also
assume that these are the ones that encourage
and equip the saints for the work
of such ministry (Eph. 4:11-12) since
they are mentioned here in that context. So the point is that we as ordinary Christians do not need to be uniquely gifted to evangelize. But we need
to be encouraged and we need to be equipped to do this work which, like praying and giving and worshipping, and exercising of faith belongs to all. After all, one of our main
callings as followers of Christ is
to help others to become
followers of Christ!
So you need to
see evangelism not only as a spiritual
gift, but also as a spiritual discipline.
Every Christian an Evangelist
Nowhere is this
point made clearer than in Acts 2:16-21, which is a quote from the prophet Joel 2:28-32 : ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my
Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even
on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I
will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and
fire, and vapour of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to
blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it
shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.’
The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost
had one major purpose: to equip all kinds of believers with power to be effective witnesses to Christ, in all the
world (Acts 1:8). The prophet Joel foresaw this, and the apostle Peter understood this when he spoke
to the assembled multitudes on that Sunday, when the Holy Spirit came, and when the promise of Jesus to them was fulfilled (Acts
1:5). The people dwelling at that time in Jerusalem were enabled to speak in other languages. What were they
speaking about in these other languages?
Acts 2:11 tells us: “they were
telling the mighty works of God“.
What were the mighty works of God? They
were the works that Jesus displayed in
His life and in His death and in His resurrection. He came as the Lamb of God
that takes away the sin of the world and
to reconcile those who would believe in
Him with Almighty God the Creator of
mankind and of the heavens and the earth. Everybody was talking about this, and
as a result of this first witness by the church, ‘those who received his word were
baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.’ (Acts 2:41).
Pentecost was
first the corporate witness of those present to a watching world, who initially thought
that they were drunk. This was followed by the Spirit empowered preaching
of Peter, a direct, clear, evangelistic sermon which moved many people to repent of their sins by turning to Christ God’s Mediator for the forgiveness of their sins, testifying to the same in baptism and being added to the church,
the sign of God’s kingdom on earth.
But notice the emphasis of Joel’s
prophecy: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my
Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and
they shall prophesy.
Try not to get lost in the words prophecy
… dreams … visions… Rather ask
yourself : What is all this for? And the
answer is plain – all flesh, that is sons, daughters, young men , old men, male
servants, female servants, all who are born of the Spirit, are empowered
to bear witness to the
Lord Jesus Christ and to the mighty
works of God. Pentecost was not
primarily about tongue speaking. It was not about
being able to dream dreams and seeing visions . These are all secondary
matters. You have to ask yourself:
What was the purpose of these abilities? The answer is that
prophecies, dreams, visions (or if you would like to add -sermons and
testimonies) are simply tools which the Holy Spirit chooses to use in testifying to
the person and work of Christ. The rule in 1 Corinthians 14 is this : the plainer the speech , the easier
the testimony is to understand. The primary
concern is that an effective witness is brought
to sinners.
The effect of that
witness in Acts 2 is seen in this statement: ‘…they were cut to the heart.’ (2:37). And what was the response? “…Brothers
/ sisters what shall we do (in response to this) ?” I want you to see that this is not a movement
of evangelists , or of pastors
and elders- that is people who
would naturally lead by example. I want you to see that alongside these spiritual leaders (and we need them to lead
us!) there is an army of people that are
equally committed to testify
about Christ.
What then is the relationship between the pastor or the evangelist and the rest of the church? The context in Eph. 4 makes this clear. The pastor- teacher, the evangelist, the
prophet and apostle exist to encourage
and equip the saints for the
work of ministry (Eph. 4:12). The ministry of sharing the gospel of Jesus does not belong
to the pastor or to the evangelist. It
belongs to the whole church, of which pastors and evangelists are a part.
Evangelism is a
natural response to the good news! You cannot help but
share it.
This is at once a liberating truth, but also a worrying concern.
The liberating aspect is that you do not have to wait for anyone to give
you permission to share the gospel with
all you come in contact with. If you
have been born again , then tell the world ! May the Holy Spirit seal this truth to your hearts, brothers and
sisters, and be bold!
The worrying
concern is that there seems so
little desire to share the gospel , the
truth as it is in Jesus ( to borrow a phrase from Eph. 4:21) SO THAT evangelism
is no longer a lifestyle in our
modern church. There is little exporting
of our faith. This is not right and it is certainly not normal .
To illustrate this
from the testimony of the Thessalonian church: Paul says :”…
not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from
you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone for the everywhere…”
(1 Thess. 1:8). Understand this : The
gospel had come to them ‘ not only in
word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…’
(1:5) but it worked through them and influenced their world and beyond – everywhere! That is Christian evangelism, and this fact l
has led to the quick expansion of the early church (see Paul’s testimony in Rom 15:19). The point is this: No one forced them to evangelize. This was the spontaneous expansion of the church through people who were utterly convinced
that the world was in a terrible spiritual crisis, and they believed that Jesus was who He said He was; they
believed that He was the only solution
to everyman’s dilemma . And so I say to you: The Christian without an
evangelistic or a missionary heart is an anomaly!
What is an evangelistic- missionary heart?
Here are a few pointers :
· 1. a heart that regularly prays for the lost in this world. Join us as we pray for the world every Sunday
night! Join us for our week of prayer for Missions and revival this coming week.
· 2. a heart
that has a loving concern for the eternal welfare of every person we meet ;
· 3. a
heart that seeks to
turn every conversation with the lost
to a gospel conversation – be it ever so brief or long ; in different ways and contexts and yet
the same message.
· 4. a
servant heart that spends itself for
others for the sake of Jesus ;
· 5. a
gracious heart, and yet a provocative
heart that causes the lost to examine
themselves to seek answers to ultimate
questions.
· 6. a
heart that brings light into a dark world ; a heart that ‘ salts’ this world’s putrefying effects.
· 7. a heart grounded in sound doctrine , and which also
knows how to make Jesus attractive to the world.
a 8. a holy heart that issues in a holy life and
a good testimony
We have to
conclude that a Christian with no passion for the lost is in serious need of self examination and
repentance. How is the Holy Spirit
applying this to your own conscience today?
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