Evangelism Out of Grace, Not Guilt

If there is one word in the Christian vocabulary that needs an extreme makeover it is the word “evangelism.” The attitude behind the word is one reason why only a small percentage of believers ever lead someone to Christ. The situation is compounded by the fact that even when Christians do evangelize, they often do it out of guilt – feeling that they have to, not that they want to. This begs the question: “Do you ever get to the point that you do evangelism out of grace, not out of guilt?”

The answer is found in a biblically sound perspective on evangelism. A careful study of scripture reveals that our God of grace wants us to witness out of grace. He wants us to approach taking Christ to the lost with excitement and anticipation. Evangelism can become an enjoyable experience, not an endurable episode. Join the conversation this week at Evangelism.net and offer your thoughts on the importance of doing evangelism out of grace and not guilt.

Evangelism is a Privilege, Not a Pain

The first thing that Christ taught His disciples was not how to manage money or raise a Christian family, as important as those are. It was something bigger. Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). A fisher of fish takes something alive and makes it dead. A fisher of men takes something dead and makes it alive. Jesus was in essence saying, “With Me, your life can have eternal perspective. It will count for something that will last forever.” Furthermore, “I will make you” implies, “I’ll teach you everything you need to know. Just follow. I’ll do the teaching if you’ll do the learning.”

“Wait a minute,” someone might say. “I grew up in a church where evangelism was a means of determining if you were a Christian. You had to evangelize or you weren’t saved.” Another might say, “I was made to feel that I had to present the Gospel to everyone I met. One man I knew pigeonholed people and immediately confronted them with the Gospel. I just can’t do that.” Remember that we do not have to live by the impression we receive from others, especially if those impressions are unbiblical. God tells us to follow Scripture as our guide and gives us freedom to be ourselves.

A biblical perspective on evangelism will help us develop healthier attitudes toward it. We can learn to profit from the good in our past experiences (such as recognizing a person’s concern for the lost), while freeing ourselves from mistaken assumptions. Too often people bring baggage into evangelism that isn’t biblical. Seeing evangelism from a biblical perspective can really set a person free.

God is in the business of populating heaven. If you’re interested, He will let you in on the privilege of assisting Him. The fruit of your life will last into eternity.

Bring the Lost to Christ or Bring Christ to the Lost?

By nature, we take things on our shoulders God never intended us to carry. That’s one reason we approach evangelism with so much anxiety and guilt. We take God’s responsibility on our shoulders and then wonder what went wrong if the person does not respond to the claims of Christ.

It is important to remember Jesus’ words, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). We should say, “I can’t bring people to Christ. Only God can do that. I can only bring Christ to people.” That’s what makes evangelism so exhilarating. With each individual, we need to try to see where we fit into God’s plan for bringing that person to Christ. You might be the tenth of fifteen people He will use, or the fourteen of twenty-six. A taste of heaven is when we are the twenty-first of twenty-one!

Sometimes a person might say, “I just need time to think about it.” We need to be sensitive to those that need just a little more time to process the freeness of God’s grace. In situations like this we have to realize that we have done our part. You must do our part and trust that it will now be up to someone else to pick up where we left off.

God will never ask us how many people we led to Christ. Stop counting and concentrate on conversing! God knows that apart from Him we will never lead anyone to Christ. He simply asks us to take Christ to them. As we do, sooner or later we will have the life-transforming opportunity of leading someone to the Savior.

God is Asking You to Walk Through Open Doors

One thing that worsens our guilt-driven approach to evangelism is the mentality that we must present the Gospel to every person we meet. They will be receptive; otherwise, we have failed. The fact is that we will run into closed doors. Don’t let that discourage you. Simply keep looking for the open doors. It takes prayer to open the door. The apostle Paul asked the Colossian believers to pray that God “would open to us a door for the word” (Col. 4:3). While in prison and upon his release from prison, Paul invited people to pray that God would give him and his co-workers doors of opportunity for the Gospel.

How do we know who is open and who is not? If someone is open to me you as a person, assume that to be an open door for the Gospel. Go as far as you can through that door. If nothing else, you can usually give a tract or booklet for the person to read later.

The door may not open today, but knowing how God works, it would open next week. Until then we can only pray, and avoid the tendency to live in guilt.

The Presence of Fear Does Not Mean the Absence of Love

It’s been said there are two great hindrances to evangelism – a cold heart and cold feet. The problem is that we see one as the symptom of the other. We assume cold feet are proof of a cold heart.

The apostle Paul’s entire ministry has driven by love. He testifies, “For the love of Christ compels us” (II Cor. 5:14). Knowing the abundant love of Christ, Paul felt compelled to make a priority in his life what is a priority with God – the people for whom He died. Paul’s heart was obviously attuned with the Savior’s. So deeply concerned what he for the salvation of his own people that he testified, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Rom. 10:1). He even stated one chapter earlier that he could with himself separated from God if it would secure the salvation of his people. He explains, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3). Paul was so captivated by the love of Christ that His love radiated through him to others.

Nevertheless, that never prevented him from having moments of fear. He still sensed the need to pray for boldness. He requested prayer “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19).

Nowhere does Scripture state of even imply that the presence of fear means the absence of love. The presence of fear, however, often says more about how much we are moved by His love than how much we aren’t. Torn by fear, yet knowing the person must meet the Savior, we do what we can to make the Gospel clear. Fear is an excellent reason to fall to our knees in prayer – not a reason to jump into a pool of guilt.