Evangelism 1- Why Do We Go?
We will take a short break from our series, Jesus' Lessons for Life, in order to talk for a few weeks on the topic of sharing God's Word and Truth. We have just returned from a mission trip to Guatemala. (click here if you would like to see the trip report)
My head and heart are filled with fresh emphasis on our responsibilities to share Christ around the globe (which also include right here at home).
As Christians, we can sometimes fall into a pattern of attendance and participation in church activities, but neglect the responsibility to communicate God's love through Christ to others. So, the next several posts will be themes related to evangelism.
As we begin, I do not know exactly how many posts this series on evangelism will include, but these are a few of the themes to be shared:
- Why do we go? Why do we share Christ?
- Jesus' metaphor of planting and harvesting
- How do we effectively share and communicate the good news of Christ?
o To those who have never heard the name Jesus?
o To those who have heard of Christ, but not yet accepted?
o To those who have heard of the Lord and have hearts ready to receive him?
- Common threads for presenting the message of Christ
- Serving people's physical needs in order to reach their hearts for Jesus
- Don't forget the Christian witness while we serve
Please participate in the discussion by adding your comments.
Today we begin with the question, "Why do we go?"
We will allow the Bible to clarify God's Will for us to go. We will start briefly today, then continue with the question of "why?" when we return next time.
God from the beginning of his recorded Word, the Bible, has desired for the earth that He created to be filled with people who know him, who bear his image.
Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
That was a command, the very first command in the Bible -- "fill the earth..." God had made man in his own image and desires his image to fill the earth.
As we know, sin then entered the story and things became complicated. Even with man's failure through sin, God's desire for the earth to be filled with man, those who bear his image, did not change.
At one point early on God was so angry with the sins of man that He was ready to start over, and He did, with a single family -- Noah's family.
Even so, His command to Noah and his family after the great flood was the same, "fill the earth..."
Ge 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
This emphasis continued. The "father" of the nation of Israel, Abraham, received his orders to go.
The command had the same purposes -- to fill the earth with people who bear God's image. God connected that command with great promise.
Ge 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
We can easily see it confirmed over and over, God was sending people with the intention of representing his great image in the world, to the world.
Next time we will consider still more verses with this emphasis to go and represent God, including the great commission from Christ himself. This is building for us the background about why evangelism work is so important and so desired by God. As scripture reminds us, it is a command -- Go.
Blessings, and please reflect this week about how you are representing God to those you meet each day.
Larry
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