Evangelism 101 - Start To Speak

If you have your Bibles turn to Romans chapter 10

Have you ever gone cliff jumping? Where you jump off a cliff into a body of water?

About the highest I’ve jumped from was around 12 feet, I’m not crazy about heights and I’m not a strong swimmer so I don’t want to go any higher than that.

To get started with jumping off the cliff, I made a major mistake: I walked up to the edge and leaned over and looked down. Suddenly I wasn’t sure I wanted to jump anymore. I felt a great fear in the pit of my stomach, a my body clenched up and my breathing got shallow. I closed my eyes and contemplated not jumping. I stepped back from the edge to where I couldn’t look over anymore and took a breath.

And then I ran forward and jumped. And as I dropped through the air, entrusting myself to gravity, the cushion of the pool of water below, and the Lord’s protection, screaming the whole way down, I realized something. This is fun! This is exhilarating. This is life-giving! Why didn’t I do this earlier??

I hit the water, which was shockingly cold but it just added to the fun and excitement, and popped out of the water, fists pumping into the air shouting in triumph!I immediately climbed out and ran up to do the whole thing again.

Sharing the gospel is a lot like that.

If you notice an opportunity to share the gospel and you go look over the edge and think about what you are going to do, then your fear is going to build, you will suddenly remember all sorts of reasons why you shouldn’t do it and reasons why it actually is a bad idea, and as you stare down the gospel opportunity your fear will keep you from acting until the opportunity passes you by.

But if you face your fear, make the decision to jump into conversation with someone, maybe clench your eyes tight, and run and leap into it, squeaking out a “Good morning, how long have you worked here?” to get the conversation started, you’re going to find that most of these conversations are actually pleasant experiences. You’re probably going to find that you enjoy it more than anything in the world. You might make a new friend and find something new about your community, but more than that, you might win a brother or sister in Christ! You might bring unending glory to Christ in one more person’s life! How rewarding, how worth it!

We are in week 5 of our evangelism series and we have spent the past 4 weeks in preparation for how we are to share our faith. We’ve looked at 4 steps toward sharing the gospel

Grasp the Gospel

Check your Context

Love the Lost

Face your Fear

And we are now on the fifth and final point: 5. Start to speak.

If we never get to step 5, if we never start to speak the gospel message, we have not done evangelism. But don’t take my word for it, let’s read Romans 10:13-17 together.

Romans 10:13–17 (ESV)

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

You may have heard the phrase “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

This statement is commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (the one that our local Catholic University is named after), though there is no evidence of him actually saying that. It’s a catchy saying that has made the rounds through social media and every couple of years it finds life again and gets shared around again. It’s catchy and it seems to be profound, in fact for some time I used it a lot myself.

But there’s a big problem with it: it’s not biblical. And when you understand what the gospel really is, you realize that it’s actually a bit of nonsense.

As Paul said - “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”

BUT How will they call on his name if they do not believe?

How will they believe if they have never heard?

How will they hear without someone speaking?

How will someone speak without being sent?

The gospel is a message, a message requires words, meaning, and intention. For the gospel to be preached, words are necessary.

Words are always necessary. Words are what the Gospel consists of and words are what God uses to save people.

So then saying “preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” is kinda like saying, “feed the hungry at all times. If necessary use food.”

One quick disclaimer, all of this is being said with the assumption that you actually are a Christian and living accordingly. All of this is being said with the assumption that your physical reality (including your sexuality) is glorifying to Christ. That you’re not a domineering boss, a complaining employee, or an antagonistic family member. That you’re not engaging in sexual acts with anyone who is not your husband or wife of the opposite gender. That you’re not gossiping, or slandering, or casting a holier than thou judgement upon others.

If you are claiming to be a Christian then you are expected to act like a Christian, because if you’re a hypocrite, calling people to reject their sin and respond to the good news of Jesus with repentance and faith, while you sin openly and unashamedly then Jesus will be reviled because of you. People will hate Jesus, not because they hate the Gospel, but because you like to tell others to respond to the gospel while you ignore it yourself. Yes, you must speak the gospel, but you must also live as a Christian so that others may know that Christ really does change lives.

And if you call yourself a Christian and you are living in unrepentant sin, taking our weekly times of confession lightly, and making a mockery of the Christ and his people, then you need to respond to the gospel by repenting of your sin and believing Christ when he says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” You need to believe and love the gospel first yourself.

But if you are living a life of repentance, naming and rejecting your sin and turning to Christ to save you, then your changed and still changing life will give you the foundation to start to speak into other people’s lives. To make sure this point is clear, your actions do not save you, but they are a way to verify that you have been saved by the good news.

We have to keep moving on.

Jesus himself says this in John 10:

John 10:27–29 ESV

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Faith comes from hearing! From hearing the WORD of God, the voice of Christ! And when we are faithful in proclaiming the Gospel with words, by starting to speak, Christ is supernaturally calling his sheep to come home through our voice! And his sheep will respond to his voice. They will listen and follow! We don’t have to be masters in apologetics, having every answer to every possible question, to be faithful to Christ, to see people repent of their sin and turn to Christ! We just have to be faithful to understand and love the gospel, to know and love the lost in our lives and communities, to face our fear, and to start to speak!

So let us pray for one another in the way Paul requests from the Ephesian church in Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6:19–20 (ESV)

19 Pray also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

And let’s prepare by practicing proclaiming the Gospel.

Gospel Aid 1: 4 R’s

1. The Ruler

2. The Revolt

3. The Rescue

4. The Response