The very word evangelism refers to the preaching, or the proclamation of the gospel. Sometimes we forget what the gospel actually is, and what it means to have benefited from it ourselves as beleivers. The Puritan Richard Sibbes said it so well in his book The Bruised Reed, "Christ chose those to preach mercy who had felt most mercy, as Peter and Paul, that they might be examples of what they taught." What a beautiful insight into evangelism! It is simple, those who have personally felt the mercy of God, sharing this hope with others! Preaching this hope, not in theory, but as examples of what they preach!
A few months ago I preached on 1 Peter 1:3-5 at the evening service at our campus in Owasso, and as I preached, I was overwhelmed with sweet thankfulness, and humility recognizing that I was unqualified to be there if it were not for the sweetest mercy of God. I think this passage is a clear gospel narrative and explanation of the gospel. The passage is so rich with the gospel truth, starting with showing that God is worthy of praise because he caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus. The text makes it clear that this causal activity was motivated by God's great mercy. When we miss the fact that it is the mercy of God the Father that initiates our being born again, we miss the gospel. John 3:16 clearly tells us that it was the love of the Father that sent the Son. Not that it was Jesus first doing something to make us more attractive and worth saving, but rather, in our worst state God had mercy and sent his Son Jesus to complete the act of redemption through his perfect life, bodily death and resurrection. Stop and think about that. Before you did anything good, and before Christ had died for a single sinner, God was moved according to his great mercy to make a way for us to be saved from our filth and certain death. Apart from the resurrection we have no hope, but apart from the great mercy of God, there would be no ministry of the cross, and therefore no eternal life to be born into through the resurrection of Christ. The gospel is something outside of us, that happens to us, that then gets inside of us and changes us! But we must never leave behind the clear biblical teaching that it all starts with God loving broken people who are desperately in need of change, desperate in need of having an encounter with the living God who can actually bring life from death.
After preaching that night a few months ago, an older gentleman came up with tears in his eyes and thanked me for the message on the gospel. He said it was the best sermon he had ever heard, and he had attended church for decades, as well as graduated from seminary. I told him to stop flattering me as I uncomfortably tried to shift the focus, but I could tell God was doing something in his heart. I held on to his weathered hand and looked him straight in the eyes as he searched mine. I told him with confidence and conviction that I believed God was doing something powerful these days. That he is awaking us from our comfort and callous towards the gospel as believers. And that he and I needed to be models of the gospel, so desperately seeing our need for God's grace, and from the sweetness of knowing what it is like to be forgiven of real failures, we then proclaim the gospel to others knowing it well first hand. He agreed by nodding and thanked me for blessing him, and he thanked God for speaking to him that night. I walked away feeling a deep sense of love for God, and a deep sense of compassion and love for this man who clearly was doing work with the Lord. It was a glimpse of the active and literal work of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit messing me up and at the same time loving me deeply was the same Spirit I sensed was working on this sweet man. It was powerful to see. It made me aware of how real the gospel is, and how boring we make the Christian life when we have a form of godliness but deny its power. But when we are truly walking in the light, the power of the Holy Spirit is evidenced in hearts changed...This is evangelism, the proclaiming of the love of God for broken people who actively brings sinners to saving faith according to his great mercy.
Rob
