Evangelism has today been packed as a gift for the super Christians. Evangelism is seen today as the work of only those who are gifted in it, sadly to say that even some pastors would claim to have the gift of shepherding the flock but not evangelising the world. The entire idea of evangelism comes with the picture of a white man in a bush, somewhere deep in Africa, Asia or South America. Or men and women who have gone far from the cities and into a foreign land with an indigenous tribe; learning their language, suffering malaria and eating the tribe’s traditional food so that they may fit in and evangelise to them. Evangelism sometimes looks like that, but not all the time.
The word evangelism which we get the noun evangelist has its origin from the Greek language (euangelion) which literally means ‘gospeling’. Evangelism is, therefore, spending or preaching the gospel of Christ. The gospel is the good news that God is saving man because the entire humanity has sinned against God (Romans 3:23) and therefore deserves to be punished by God (Romans 6:23). But because of God’s grace and loving-kindness he sent his son to die for the sins of man so that all who believe in Jesus will be saved from the wrath of God because Christ has given them his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) and was punished for their sake.
The reasons for sharing the gospel are the very reasons why we fail to share the gospel. If we do not believe in the reasons for sharing the gospel, these very reasons become the reasons we do not share the gospel if we look at each of them sinful eyes.
1. We share the gospel because it is a command from God. The command is that we should make disciples of all nations, teaching them everything that Christ he has taught us (Matthew 28:17-21). The charge that Christ is positing to us is not merely for the disciples, but entirely for everyone who Christ has called to be part of the sheep of his pasture. It is the will of God that you spread the word of God to all people. If you do not share the gospel, you are in defiant of God’s will, and if you are rebelling on God, you are sinning against God. Every single day that we do not share the gospel, you pile up judgement on yourself.
2. Evangelism is one of the ways of walking in obedience to Christ; it encourages holy living. It is in obeying Christ that we bear much fruit for apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Whenever we share the gospel, the person or people we share to reminds us of who we were before coming to Christ. They remind us of how sinful and desperate we needed the saviour. This constant reminder helps us not to live in condemnation but in hope and holiness as we eagerly await for the second coming of Christ. (Ephesians 5:8-14)
3. A true believer of Christ has the light of Christ in him. The Holy Spirit burns the fire of Christ from within us. The light that he shines in us shines so brightly that the Christian cannot hide it from the world, but by his conduct and words, he shares the light to everyone he comes in contact. (Ephesians 5:13). If today you get a call from the USA embassy asking you to bring as many people as you can with you so that they may give each of you free plane tickets to the USA, houses there and give you a job salaried at 1 million dollars a month. How many people would you bring? Who would be the first persons you tell? The kind of excitement you would have for such news that is sure in you, and while sharing it with all the assuredness from the USA embassy. In the same and more intense manner, the light that Christ has in our hearts as believers shine in us and compel us to share the gospel. Not just as a duty, but as a delight.
4. We must evangelise because hell is real. Sharing the gospel, which is the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ that he came on earth to save the lost souls of men. But not just lost souls, condemned souls (John 3:18), condemned because they have sinned against God and God will punish sinners in hell (2 Peter 2:4). Salvation is from the wrath of God that He will pour out in full measure on all who have rebelled against him (Isaiah 13:9). Take, for example, that there is war in the country. Everywhere people are fighting and killing each other. The government has given you the RECCE squad and trucks to go and bring out as many people as possible before they blow up the village. How many will you try to save from the war? Will you even catch sleep knowing that there is a bomb about to kill everyone? Hell is worse than any other fire; it’s not just a fire that would burn out, or will burn out whatever is thrown in it. It is the fire that will last forever, and sinners will burn in it forever.
5. We share the gospel because heaven is real and that the only way to enter it is through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:5). There are two options that man has in this life. To make the earth his heaven for his glory, or to make it his hell for the glory of God. No place on earth can be compared to heaven. The apocalyptic books in the bible are filled with similes for us to try to make sense of the vision of how heaven is like. Christ gave John a vision of heaven in Revelation. John wrote that it is a place that is surrounded by a perimeter wall that is made of jasper. The entire city is pure gold, the foundation of the wall is decorated with every kind of jewel, The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald (Revelation 21:18-19). And at the same time, it is a place where all the limitations of this body exist no more. There will be no crying no pain, no injustices. And most of all, heaven is where we will be in person with God.
6. We share the gospel because we are moved with compassion. In cases of war, we have the propensity of saving the ones we love the most. Then we move to those who are weak, women, children and the disabled. All these we do because in us we are moved with compassion and love. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. We love people because God has poured his love for his people in us. The very compassion Jesus had for people (Matthew 15:32) while on earth we have since we are his followers (Romans 5:5). There is nothing as loving as sharing the gospel to someone. Do you love people too much to want to help them be saved from hell to be in heaven?
Conclusion.
There are more reasons for sharing the gospel. But do you believe that these reasons are true? Do you believe that the word of God is true? If from your heart you believe then you will share. You must want to have the word of God to guard you and all your ways. You must ask God to keep you according to his word and seek him wholeheartedly (Psalms 119:9-10). Then, you will store up God’s word in your heart so that you might not sin against him (Psalms 119:11). You will find God to be blessed based on the word you’ve hidden in your heart, for by it, he will teach you his statutes. And if you are taught of God, you will declare all the rules of his mouth (Psalms 119:12-14).
You must be a Christian to share about Christianity. If you don’t believe in Jesus as the only one who will save you from the wrath of God and you want to believe in him and all of his words, please click the button below and contact us we would love to hear from you. If you are a believer and you haven’t been sharing the gospel, know now that you must, and you should, repent of the sin of not sharing, and begin evangelising today.
