The Truth About Evangelism: The Painline vs. The Hunger
Christians holds some pretty controversial views. We believe there is only way to God and that way is Jesus Christ. We also believe human being are all sinners and in need of forgiveness, which only comes through Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. And, if that’s not enough, we believe Jesus’ rose from the dead and will one day come again; therefore, everyone must give an account to Him. In the final analysis, no amount of moral effort can make us pleasing in God’s sight. Our standing must be based on repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ.
Rico Tice aptly observes, “Many people really don’t like the gospel. Sometimes they express that politely, sometimes not politely at all; but they don’t like…So if you are going to talk to people about Jesus, you’re going to get hurt.”
Did you catch the uncomfortable truth about evangelism in Tice’s words? Evangelism can be hard, but it’s hard because sometimes it hurts.
It’s the best news in the world, and yet it steps on our toes. It tells us that we’re needy and guilty before God. For the most part, our experience of hurt is largely social in nature. Our friendships may become weird or even be severed. We may receive a harsh response or even be mocked for our beliefs. Sometimes, just the thought of how we might be hurt is enough to keep us silent. The bottom line is if you get hurt doing something or think you might get hurt doing it, odds are you might rethink doing that thing.
Think of this as the painline.
Talking to others about Jesus requires us to risk crossing the painline.
Jesus told us as much. When he sent the disciples out share the gospel, he told them: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” - Matthew 10:16
In light of this truth, we are tempted to come to one of two conclusions:
“Either you don’t think it’s working, because you got hit; or
[You] don’t think it’s worth it, because you got hit.” (Tice, 17)
I know I can relate to feeling these temptations. We must not stop here though. While we can expect to get hit, there is something else we can expect:
When you share the gospel, you can expect to find people who are hungry for the truth, for hope, for forgiveness, and for restoration.
I love the insight Paul gives us as he came to Corinth. In two places, we find Paul feeling overwhelmed and weak. In his weakness though, he did not retreat. He trusted God and risked crossing the painline.
In Acts 18:9–11, we get a glimpse of how overwhelmed Paul must have been in coming to Corinth. We are told that God ministered to him in a vision one night.
And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
In Paul’s letter to Corinthians, he put it this way:
“I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words.” - 1 Corinthians 2:3-4
Tice says, “We must be honest about the hostility, or we’ll have wrong expectations and give up on evangelism. But we must also be excited about the hunger, or we’ll have no expectations at all, and never start evangelism.” (23)
Bottom line: you have to risk the hostility to discover the hunger.
In our next post, we’ll look at why this risk is worth it.
The post above is Pastor Michael’s interaction with and encouragement to our church from Rico Tice’s book Honest Evangelism. A lot of the content from this post can be found in Honest Evangelism. It is a great book that we commend highly to our church family. Want to read more? Check it out here.
