Daily Devotions - Entries tagged "Evangelism"

“but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him”

Here we come to the pinnacle of Paul’s prayer. Although, as we noted before, the mystery of God’s purposes in Christ were hidden until the time of Jesus, nevertheless Paul could assert that “the prophetic writings” attested to them. For Paul, now that the mystery had been revealed, could look back at the books we would call the Old Testament and see Christ everywhere. Again, the point here is not Paul’s personal growth in knowledge and wisdom, but the spread of the gospel to the entire world (“so that all nations might believe and obey him”).

In fact, as Wheaton College Professor Doug Moo notes in his commentary on the Book of Romans, Paul begins and ends his letter with the same focus, namely, the universal nature of the gospel, which goes out to everyone, both Jew and Gentile. In Moo’s personal translation of Romans 1:5, the opening words of this long letter, Paul says:

“through whom we received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among the Gentiles for the sake of his name,”

And now, here at the very end of the letter, Moo’s translation of Romans 16:26:

“according to the command of the eternal God for the obedience of faith for all the nations,”

This desire to see “all the nations” come to the “obedience of faith” is the driving force behind Paul’s missionary endeavors. This is the commission he received from God and the calling he pursued throughout his Christian life. And now this is also the reason that Paul is praising God. (Remember, although we are studying the Scripture phrase by phrase, Romans 16:25-27 is a doxology, a song or prayer of praise and worship to God!)

May we, too, be driven by this same desire to see all nations, all people, come to faith in Christ. May our hearts be transformed as we look upon God’s Word and realize that His plan has always been for the world to know that Christ is Lord and Savior. May we be encouraged as we seek to turn our own humble prayers into action and see those nearest and dearest to us come to faith in Christ.

(Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, 39, 936ff.)

The astute reader will realize at this point that something is missing. The story began with the wondrous peaceful perfection of God’s Creation, and although Jesus’s death and resurrection paid the penalty for our sin and allowed us entrance into the presence of God, we still live in broken bodies stumbling through a broken world. We have yet to reach our “happily ever after.”

As we consider the grand sweep of cosmic history we have briefly traced a line from Creation through the Fall and into Redemption, but the final piece that’s yet to come is Restoration. For the story to come to a close we must return to the garden from whence we first came.

Author and theologian C.S. Lewis describes this tension as follows:

At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in. (from his essay, The Weight of Glory)

Although we can rejoice in the new life that we have in Jesus, and revel in the idea that God has adopted us as sons and daughters, the truth is that something is still missing. We are not home yet. However, as C.S. Lewis puts it, the New Testament is filled with “rumours” of the return of the King; a return that will usher in the ultimate renewal of all things. This is the move from Redemption to Restoration. It’s the happy ending that all other happy endings point forward to. Jesus is coming back. As the apostle John says:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Rev. 21:1-7)

The gospel story ends here, as the Bible does, with the return to Eden, the final and complete restoration of everything that was lost as a result of the Fall. The grand story comes to a close with Jesus’ powerful and definitive words, “It is done.”

Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration. It’s God’s story. And it’s the “back story” that we need to share with those far from Christ in order that they might understand their need for a savior. Think about it, practice telling it, and may God bless your attempts to share this gospel story with the people you have been praying for this week.  

We don’t have to live long in this world to realize that things are not the way they’re supposed to be. Something has clearly gone wrong. What God once declared to be good has since become twisted and broken. Oceans unleash tsunamis. Earthquakes tear apart cities and towns. Cancer creeps silently through our bodies, killing indiscriminately. Malaria, AIDS, poverty, hunger and every kind of evil imaginable threaten to destroy us at any minute. Even wealth, power, fame and fortune can do little to stem the tide of destruction which oozes across the face of the world. Sooner or later everyone must die, and the majority of people will endure significant suffering in between.

This horribly depressing picture stands in bleak contrast to the joyous wonder and glorious peace and perfection enjoyed by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. So what happened?

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

  “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Gen. 3:1-7, NIV)

Although we commonly refer to this event as “the Fall,” that phrase hardly seems to do justice to the magnitude of that moment.  The results of that one moment of rebellion were not just bad, or frustrating, or “less than preferable,” but calamitous, catastrophic, cataclysmic. Adam and Eve’s self-centered turn away from God had ruinous, eternal, universal implications for every part of Creation. In that one awful moment sin entered the world, ensuring our own physical and spiritual death and setting in motion a story that would play out over the entire course of human history.

There are countless books and movies which revolve around the idea of going back in time to change a bad decision we made or otherwise alter the course of our lives. We all carry around regrets, wishing we could get a do-over. However, the Biblical storyline reminds us that the problem is far bigger than our own missteps and mistakes. Even supposing I could rent a time-machine and go back to fix many of the bigger, more egregious sins I have committed in my life, the fundamental underlying problem of sin would still remain.

We are all enemies of God, and the punishment for such treason is death. There is no avoiding it. Every nook and cranny of God’s good and perfect Creation has been desecrated and defamed. Moreover, while we may yet catch glimpses of God’s glory all around us (as we discussed yesterday), ultimately we are utterly powerless to restore either ourselves or this world back to the perfect state in which it was initially created.

So, as we continue to trace the gospel story we move from the awe-inducing wonder of the Creation to the desolate darkness of the Fall. But thankfully all hope is not lost, for the story does not end there, as we’re about to find out.

We began our discussion about evangelism last week by emphasizing the importance of prayer. Sharing the gospel with other people is challenging enough as it is, but we make it even harder if we fail to engage the Holy Spirit in the process. We do this through prayer. Prayer is the vital first-step for all our attempts at reaching out to others with the life-giving message of grace found in Jesus Christ.

As you pray today, be sure to ask God specifically for help in sharing the gospel with those closest to you. Pray for boldness. Pray for opportunities. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be going before you, preparing the way. Pray for the right words to come to mind when you engage people in conversation. Pray for your heart to be so filled with wonder and amazement at the free gift of salvation that the gospel message just spills out of you. Our prayer as pastors is that you would be so bowled over by the experience of God’s grace in your own life that it would be hard not to tell others about what God has done (and continues to do) for you.

But as we continue in prayer this week we change gears slightly to consider the gospel message itself. In his book, Counterfeit Gospels, author Trevin Wax has helpfully noted that, while the gospel contains certain propositions about God, man and Christ that demand a response, the gospel is also a story that encompasses everything and everyone from the dawn of Creation until the final consummation. In other words, the gospel is both an announcement and a story. In fact, some might argue that the announcement really only makes sense when set within the context of the story.

For example, although “The Four Spiritual Laws” is a great tool to help in evangelism, we would no doubt all agree that there is far more to God’s story than just a handful of propositions. After all, one of the central tenets of our faith is that God has revealed Himself not just in the person of Jesus but also in the words of the entire Bible (all 66 books).

Quoting Trevin Wax again, “Of course, there is only one gospel. At its core, that gospel is the specific announcement about what God has done through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to bring about our salvation. The announcement of Jesus is the gospel. Yet this Jesus-centered message needs context.” (Counterfeit Gospels, 26)

This week we’re going to look at that context, which we might summarize under the very broad terms, “Creation,” “Fall,” “Redemption,” and “Restoration.”

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6, NIV)

The bad news is that many of our friends and family members are lost in sin and rebellion against God. They may live normal, upright lives and be raising normal, upright children, but “good” is not enough when the standard is absolute holiness. We have all gone astray, all turned our own way. However, the amazingly good news is that our sins, our “iniquities” have been put on Jesus. He has borne the punishment that we deserved. As a result, there is hope now, not just for us, but for all those who are still far from God.

The daunting part is figuring out how to connect those lost people with the living hope they might enjoy in Jesus! So, ask God. Ask God to open up opportunities for you to step out in faith and invite them to church with you. Don't let doubts or cynicism keep you from responding to God's direction.

Evangelist Rick Richardson suggests we need to pay more attention to nudges from the Holy Spirit (read John 16:13-14). Richardson challenges us to pray when we are at work, the store, the gym, or the coffee shop, constantly seeking God's leading: "Jesus, where are you already at work? Lord, lead me to people who are receptive. Is there someone you want me to talk to, care for or pray with? Is there someone here who is hurting?"  Commit to praying along these lines today, and then acting when God answers. We have nothing to fear when the Holy Spirit, our guide, leads us into conversation with others.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Matthew 15:21-28, NIV)

Prayer is the driving force behind evangelism, and as part of Lon Allison's sermon on Sunday we will once again write down the names of some people we long to see come to faith in Christ. This is an exercise we go through every January, and indeed, you may still have your prayer list from last year. Keep praying for these people. Do not give up.

Don't get discouraged by a lack of response from the people on your list. The Canaanite woman in the passage from Matthew 15 pursued God's intervention in her life boldly and continually. The Canaanite woman knew she couldn't heal her daughter, only God could to that. A similar story appears in Luke 18:1-8. The widow knew she couldn't get justice by herself, only the judge could do that.

Similar principles are in play with evangelism. We cannot "convert" anyone. We are powerless to directly change someone's heart. Only God can do that. As such, prayer is perhaps the most significant thing we can do. As Rick Richardson notes, "Here is Jesus' secret to powerful evangelism. He is a collaborator, a partner. He does only what he sees the Father doing...Our evangelism is often ineffective and guilt ridden because we think it all rides on us. Jesus reminds us that we can do nothing on our own. The only witness that bears fruit is collaborative witness, directed by the Holy Spirit."