The Truth About Evangelism: Why We Share the Gospel (and Why We Don’t)
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” — Romans 10:14-15 (ESV)
In extraordinary grace, the Lord has chosen to use His church to advance His gospel. We have been entrusted with the best news anybody could ever hear.
And yet, many of us approach the topic of evangelism with more trepidation than excitement. As Michael discussed in our last post in this series, sometimes evangelism hurts. To find the hunger, we have to be willing to cross the painline.
In this post, I hope to encourage and challenge us with three truths from Rico Tice’s book, Honest Evangelism. But first, let’s ask ourselves: Why don’t we evangelize? Such an amazing opportunity is surely worth the momentary sting of rejection.
The honest answer doesn’t flatter us. We’re slow to evangelize because idolatry lurks in our hearts. Ask yourself: “Are there moments when I care more about the approval of man than the glory of God?” When we catch ourselves avoiding hard conversations because they might make relationships awkward, it exposes this idolatry in our hearts. You see, anything we treasure more than God — even if just for a moment — is an idol. We need to see and repent of this sublte idolatry so that we don’t allow it to silence our witness.
After we’ve repented of idols lurking in our hearts, let’s take courage! The gospel is good news, and we have good reasons to share it.
1. The glory of God
This is the chief motivation for evangelism. Hopefully, we find this most compelling.
Tice defines glory this way: “The glory of something is its weight, its unique worth. It’s what sets something apart in an inimitable way.”
When it comes to Jesus, words cannot capture the weight of His glory.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism famously states that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This truth needs to be present not only in our heads, but our hearts. Our love for Christ should make us long to see Him adored and worshiped. It should grieve us when our God does not receive the honor He deserves.
As Tice says, “This needs to be personal. This needs to be emotional.”
Let us pray for greater love for our Lord.
2. The reality of the new creation
When it comes to eternity, Tice asks two questions: ”Are you certain about eternity? And, perhaps more importantly, are you excited about eternity?”
We might find less motivation to share with others the hope of eternal life if we, ourselves, don’t get excited about it. Contrary to what many believe, Christians will not live as disembodied spirits in heaven for the rest of time. Rather, believers will worship God on the new earth, and will enjoy renewed, resurrected bodies (see Philippians 3:21).
On the new earth, God will dwell with His people. What an astonishing promise! We will live in a place centered on our glorious Lord, and we will worship Him forever — not in passive monotony, but in active, vibrant life, apart from the presence of sin.
3. The grim reality of death and hell
Jesus spoke repeatedly about hell, and we must listen to His warnings. Hell is a place of torment. Those who suffer in hell will forever receive God’s righteous wrath. Knowing this, we should be urgent to share the only way of salvation.
We should also remember that some unbelievers take offense at Christians not evangelizing to them. Tice noted instances of unbelievers thinking this way. After all, if we believe hell is real (on which Scripture is clear), then why wouldn’t we warn people? We might step on people’s toes if we share the gospel, but it would be truly unloving to remain silent.
As Tice says, “My willingness to tell people the gospel is a test of my love for them.”
I hope these reminders from Tice encourage and challenge you the way they did me. We can trust that crossing the painline, though not always easy, will always be worth in sharing the hope of the gospel.
Honest Evangelism by Rico Tice can be purchased here.