Evangelism – Its Challenge

Evangelism – Its Challenge

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:1-10)

Evangelism is one of the most beautiful words in the English language. In the New Testament it is clothed with the garments of God’s love; it is shod with the shoes of brass that carries it unto the highways and byways, into the briers and brambles, over hill and dale; it is crowned with God’s highest praise and commendation.

 Yet it is the word which we shy away from, which we use in a more or less apologetic tone of voice. One reason for this may be traced to our revolt against a sensational type of evangelism which has prostituted religion to the service of a religious racket. A revivalist radio preacher in a southern state admitted on the witness stand that in five and a half years he had reached in gifts of $370,000. Recently a large tabernacle was erected in the town of Richmond, California, bearing a huge sign which extended across the full length of the tabernacle, announcing itself as “The End of Time Tabernacle.” On the left side of the poster was printed an hour glass, showing that but a few grains of sand remained in the upper half. On the other side of the poster was a clock face, announcing that it was much nearer than one minute to midnight in the story of mankind. Above the poster were indicated jagged flashes of lightning. It does not need too violent an imagination to picture the kind of preaching which was being poured night after night from the rostrum of that tabernacle. In sheer self-respect we have felt it necessary to dissociate ourselves entirely from this travesty of the preaching of the gospel. This self-respecting revolt against a spurious evangelism has carried away many from the thought of evangelism. The time has come when as followers of Jesus Christ we must each take up the gauntlet; accept the challenge to become heralds of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Evangelism is one of the most challenging words in the New Testament. It is a word and a work which challenges us to “publish abroad tidings, tidings of peace, tidings of Jesus, of redemption and release. It challenges us to go to a sin sick, soul-needy world and tell the sweetest story ever told: “God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The challenge of Evangelism is the challenge of doing a Christ like work. Why did Christ come into the world? Did He primarily as a healer of men’s body, as a teacher of their minds, or as a redeemer of their souls? Turn to the second chapter of Mark and we behold a man incurably ill brought to Him, borne by four friends. What were the first words to this helpless and hopeless cripple? “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” How often He spoke this same word to those who were brought to Him whose bodies and minds were sick. He would heal these diseases by striking at the root of the disease. For it was sin that marred God’s perfect creation and permitted disease and death to do its worse.

Listen to His teachings. One day they complained because He was mingling with the publicans and sinners, the social outcast of His day. The answer that He gave to those self-righteous Pharisees was not a sermon on social justice, or economic sharing, or political purity. He said, “They that be whole need not a physician. I come not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance. “He knew that when men repented of their sins, received the forgiveness of sin and brought forth fruit from repentance then these attendant evils would be righted. He said, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep.” “I am the living bread … and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world.” John 3:16-17. By many teachings Jesus clearly taught that He came into the world to save man from sin.

What was the message of the eleven Apostles? Turn to the opening chapters of Acts of the Apostles and read anew the sermons of Peter. The burden of his message was Christ, crucified and risen. The passage of his message was: “Repent and receive the forgiveness of sins.” What was the burden of the Apostle Paul, admittedly the most Christ like man to ever walk the face of the earth? Listen to his message to the Churches, to the rulers, to the philosophers. No word is spoken in regard to the slavery of his day, to the political tyranny of Rome; no attempt is made to rouse the masses of down trodden men to revolutionary action. Over and over again he tells the old, old story of Jesus and His love manifested on His death on Calvary. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all accepting that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Paul had full confidence that as these sinners were regenerated by the redeeming love and sovereign matchless grace of God that they in turn would become the light of this world, the salt of the earth which would turn the world upside down.

These men went forth to evangelize in obedience to the command of Christ. This is the challenge that comes to us today: to arise in obedience to the last command of Christ and to carry on to its completion that which was begun nineteen hundred years ago on a hill called Calvary.

The challenge of evangelism is the challenge of an enduring work. Jesus said, “Lay up not for yourselves treasures on earth, were moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steel but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steel.” Job said, “Naked came I into the world and naked I will leave it.” The only thing we can take with us into the presence of God, into that new heaven and new earth are the deeds of love and mercy that we have done in the name and for the sake of Christ.

Have you heard a kindness shown? Pass it on;

‘Twas not given for one alone, pass it on;

Let it travel down the years, let it wipe another’s tears,

Till in heaven the deed appears pass it on.

The greatest kindness shown to anyone here was that day when somebody came and said, “Come see, we have found the Messiah,” and then pointed you to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. How wonderful it will be to stand in the presence of God in the company of those whom we have had the privilege of influencing for Christ.

Have you found the heavenly light? Pass it on;

Souls are groping in the night, daylight gone;

Hold thy lighted lamp on high, be a star in someone’s sky,

He may live who would die, pass it on

The challenge of evangelism is the challenge of rewarding work. It was James our Lord’s brother who wrote: “Let him know, that he who covereth a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

We know that it is God who gives the increase but the same God has given unto us the privilege of sowing the seed of the word and of watering the seed that another has sown. The most rewarding and satisfying work in all the world is that of having had a part in the redemption of human souls from destruction. The most rewarding work in my ministry, is the ability to look back and see here and there a life that God has given me the privilege of touching for Christ. I am not thinking only in terms of lives that have been steeped in the darkest depths of sin. Thinking of those who had been living for self and who are now living for Christ and others, of those who had been beset with fear, worry, quite but now live for the free air of God’s grace and love and mercy.

This era in which we live will probably be known by historians as the era of man’s search for new order. We have witnessed the struggle of Germany and the rise of Nazism, of the rise of Fascism in Italy; we have beheld the struggle in Japan, China and India for a new way of life; there is the rise of Communism and in our own beloved country we seen the emergence of the New Deal. Man is seeking, grouping, grasping for a better way of life, for a New Order of things. Poor deluded humanity, why do they not know that nineteen hundred years ago a lowly Nazarene laid the foundation of a New Order, the fellowship of the redeemed. Those who in complete abandonment of self gave themselves to Him find complete supply of physical and spiritual needs. When He becomes King of men’s lives then social inequalities vanish. We live in a day when young men and young women are devoting themselves with great zeal and devotion to the establishment of Satanic rule of Communism, to the establishment of a rule that issues forth in lie and deceit, the destruction of personal rights and property rights, in war, strife and bloodshed. What a challenge for us to have a part in the establishment of a Kingdom of Love, joy, peace and righteousness.

Those who accept such a challenge have a reward of knowing that their labor is not in vain. “Earthly kingdoms may rise and fall but His Kingdom is constant and will remain.” We know, on the authority of God’s Word that there will come a day when the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and that the kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of Christ. He who is engaged in the work of Christ is on the winning team.

Now let us get down to reality. Let us each personally face this question. Have I accepted the challenge? Am I obedient to Christ? Am I a winner of men? If not, what is the cause of my being a fruitless branch on the vine? Once we have found the cause of our failure, let us confess it, get right with God and begin to work for Christ in winning men. Here is the greatest work in the world. It was central and fundamental in the life of Christ, in the lives of the Apostles and all through the centuries since. It is the need of our community, our country, our civilization today. Here Jesus as He says to you: “Simon, son of Jonas, do you me? Feed my sheep.”

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

First Presbyterian Church, Saint Albans, W VA, September 9, 1951