Why should we evangelize the unsaved?
If for no other reason, because we’re TRULY saved. 1 John 3:14-18 desribes one of the characteristics of someone who’s truly saved; they have genuine love for people, and they show it through their actions, not just through their speech. If you know someone’s not saved, you should be jumping at the chance to talk to them about Jesus. Is there a better way to show someone that you love them?
In John 14:15, 21, 23 Jesus mentions that if we truly love him, the evidence of that love is our obedience to his commands. Immediately before mentioning this, he gives a command to love one another (John 13:34-35). Jesus also gives us the Great Commission, an instruction to go out and witness to the whole world (Mat. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47). Witnessing to people can be scary. It’s not normal to approach a stranger and begin a conversation about their eternal destination. I remember a point in my life when I believed the Great Commission was meant just for the 11 disciples. That’s the conclusion you come to if you just read Mat. 28:16-20. Read the context of all three synoptic gospel accounts of this commission, and you’ll find this instruction wasn’t given to just the 11 disciples, but it was given to a large group of people, indicating that it’s every believer’s job to take the gospel message to others. Sorry to everyone who just read this. Now, you’re held to a higher degree of accountability!
What about the gift of evangelism?
Eph 4:11 shows us that God apparently gives some people a spiritual gift of evangelism, but that doesn’t mean those people are the only ones who need to evangelize. This particular spiritual gift is listed among leadership gifts, and the gift mentioned here appears to be an elder’s position (1 Tim. 3:1-7).
Philip is the only person in Scripture who’s called an evangelist (Acts 21:8), so we don’t know much about the gift of evangelism. If you’d like more information, you can read about Philip, the evangelist, in Acts 8:26-40 and Acts 6:5-7, and you can read Paul’s instruction to Timothy about evangelism in 2 Timothy 4:5. That’s the extent of the use of the word in Scripture, or its variations.
Tags: spiritual gift of evangelism, spiritual gift of evangelist, why evangelize, why should we evangelize the lost
Why evangelize if God has already determined who will end up in Heaven and Hell via unconditional election? We can’t really save anyone who is going to end up in Hell because God has already written them off to eternal torment and every Heaven-bound soul will get saved whether we preach or not, so why bother?
@Darryl: Good question. The following questions are what weighed on my mind when I asked myself the same question you asked:
-Do you know who is going to be saved and who isn’t?
-Do you know if you were supposed to be the one to share the gospel with them?
-Did you know that the Bible talks about Christians who will be rewarded richly for their obedience to Jesus and Christians who will be ashamed when He comes back?
you evangelize because God commanded it in Matthew 28:18. He uses our preaching of the gospel as a medium to save the elect. We evangelize because we are commanded to.
We evangelize because
* it is part of God’s plan to bless the world (Gen. 12: 1-3).
* it is a great privilege that God grants us, that He includes us in the divine work of informing people of their true identity as God’s own images, so that the earth will be filled with the good works that He has planned for us to do (Eph. 2: 10).
* Evangelism helps restore people to their divine status, the purpose being, that God’s will be done on earth (where man’s will distorted by the devil prevails) as it is in heaven.
* Evangelism is the most gracious thing for a man to do and his feet are beautiful when he teaches the world the way to peace and well-being and declares that our God is KING, the ruler over all the universe (Isaiah 52: 7).