The Role of Evangelism in the Christian Life (Romans 10:14–21)

Introduction

We're continuing our series in the Book of Romans and today we're going to be taking a look at the role of evangelism in the Christian life. Specifically, what is the responsibility for the Christian in the work of the evangelism?

I remember in 2011 my wife and I packed everything we could into a red 2007 Ford Focus and drove from the Bronx, New York, to San Diego, California. I had quit my job in the NYPD and we were moving to San Diego to start helping this small church plant in an area of San Diego called Paradise Hills. I remember it was during that year we got to know a church in the area of Paradise Hills called Paradise Hills Southern Baptist Church.

And part of my role in this church plant was to help the church with evangelism. This church plant had a number of younger people and there was a unique interest in hip hop music. I found out that a secular hip hop artist was coming to Chula Vista. So I organized a group of us to go to the concert before the concert started. We didn't buy tickets. When we got there, people were hanging around in the parking lot. by the cars just waiting for the concert to start. So the group of us went to people around the parking lot and started telling people about Jesus. And I had fasted and prayed about this event.

Now, I remember there was one particular young gentleman I was talking with about Christ. And I remember kind of feeling like, maybe this was the end, but I felt this pressure to pray the prayer with him. If you've been in church for a while, you know what I mean. So I asked him, can I pray with you? And he said, no. Walked away, just went to somebody else really.

We were all young, and we made mistakes that day. But the young Christians that were there that day sharing the gospel grew in their faith. They got excited to tell more people about Christ.

Evangelism has a real impact on our faith. We want to see our family members and our friends and our community come to Jesus. And it's amazing when some do. But it's also sad for us when others don’t.

But what does the Bible actually say about the role of evangelism in the Christian life? We're going to take a look at that as we look at the Book of Romans 10:14-21.

Remember, in the context of Romans 10, Paul is struggling with the unbelief of the Israelites. Paul, remember, is a Jewish man bringing a message of hope that really is a message of hope for the Jewish people. We speak about a Jewish Messiah, the son of God, who came to the Jews to tell them about the Kingdom of God and then announced that the Kingdom of God is here. Yeah, what's happening here is that Paul, a Jewish men bringing a Jewish message finds himself in a situation where the people accepting the message are Gentiles, and not his own community, not his own flesh and blood, the Jews.

So we get into the word “they” that he's using in this text, within the immediate context he's referring to the lost people of Israel, but one could also take this as in a wider scope to mean lost people in the world. Let's start at verse 14.

Scripture Reading

Romans 10:14–21 CSB

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. 16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. 18 But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. 19 But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding. 20 And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me. 21 But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

Pray

As we get into this text, the main focus or topic of these verses is around proclaiming and hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. And all of that is tied together under the umbrella of what we would call today evangelism. Now evangelism is the teaching or proclaiming of the gospel to others with the hope of seeing the desired effect of conversion, of people coming to faith in Jesus.

The gospel, of course, is the good news of Jesus Christ. that God sent his son in human flesh. The Son of God lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead, and that through faith in him, you and I can have our sins forgiven and be saved and live eternally with the Lord forever.

Now it's important to note about evangelism is that evangelism is not defined by its success. Salvation is ultimately between God and the person receiving the message. But evangelism is the tool through which God chooses to use to bring people to faith.

And that brings us to our first point,

1. Christians are called to proclaim the gospel so people can come to faith.

Now, as this starts off, Paul has just told us in verse 13 that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, quoting from the prophet Joel.

As we get into this text, Paul is definitely still struggling through the fact that his community, his family, the people he grew up with, are rejecting the good news that God has brought for them.

What was interesting in Paul's life is that a man who has grown up in the Jewish system, rose up among the Jewish ranks, God has called that man out of his context, out of the bubble that he was used to, and into a new context, into a new world that he was not as familiar with, with the purpose of sharing the gospel with new people.

It was interesting, is that process still continues today as believers are called by God and sent out from the church to reach their communities for Christ. And Paul is going to walk us through this evangelism process of someone coming to faith in Christ.

He says in Romans 10:14-15:

Romans 10:14–15 CSB

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

Now, the way he's outlined this for us, I believe this is a little clearer. If we look at this backwards, basically starting from verse 15 and then working our way backwards through verse 14.

The first step in this process of evangelism is that:

A. God sends people out through his church to proclaim the gospel.

We see this process play out in the book of Acts. In Acts 13, there's a church in Antioch and God gives that church specific instructions to set aside some people and send them out for the work that God has called them to do. Look at Acts 13:2-3:

Acts 13:2–3 CSB

2 As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.

You see there God using the church to send people out to proclaim the gospel. You also see this in Acts 8. In Acts 8, the church in Jerusalem hears that Samaritans had received the word of God, and they send people out to proclaim the gospel to them. In Acts 8:14:

Acts 8:14 CSB

14 When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

What's interesting in Acts 8 is that the proclamation of the gospel is what happens when the church is dispersed. Acts 8 begins with the church in coming under a persecution thorough a man named Saul, who would later become Paul, who we’re reading in Romans. The church is persecuted and Christians are dispersed into the communities around them. And look at what happens in Acts 8:4:

Acts 8:4 CSB

4 So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.

God sends people out to proclaim the gospel through the work of his church.

That is what happened even in my own life. In 2010 to 2011, I had been praying and seeking the next step of where God was moving me in my life. Certainly felt that there is movement towards something. It became clear to my wife and I that God was moving everything and pointing us to San Diego. We were attending a church in New York City called Calvary Baptist Church. The Reverend David Epstein there had been my mentor, a godly man. I had been sharing with him what God was doing in my life for a few years at that point. When it had become clear that God was moving us to San Diego, he brought my wife and I and our family up before the congregation, and they prayed, and the church sent us out to an area of San Diego called Paradise Hills.

God continues to send people out through the work of his church. And God is building his kingdom, and I'm sure that he will use people here as missionaries to reach the communities around us and the world for Christ, as God continues to use his church to proclaim the gospel and reach people for Christ.

The second step in this process of evangelism is that:

B. Sent people proclaim the gospel.

He uses the term “preacher” in Romans 10:14 when he says, “And how can they hear without a preacher?” You might think of that term in a modern context today to mean some sort of professional person in ministry. But really that term just refers to someone proclaiming the good news to someone else. It means to proclaim, you might think of in old times where they would have a town crier, someone who came out to bring news.

People are saved through the proclamation of the good news. And that was true 2000 years ago. And it's still true today.

What's important to note is that salvation does not come simply through the example of your good life. Sharing the gospel can be scary. It feels like that might be particularly so here in California, where people are worried about being canceled.

And so sometimes Christians just think, “Well, I'll just act in Christian ways and someone will eventually come up to me and just say, hey, there's something different about you. And and then at that point, I'll be able to tell them about Jesus.”

But it doesn't work that way. People are not going to assume that you are a Christian simply because you don't cuss. Or maybe you don't get into some of the talk, some of the gossip. In fact, people today are going to attempt to attribute that to anything else other than Jesus. Maybe he or she is in therapy, or maybe they just grew up in a good household. People naturally want to find some other solution other than Jesus, because they want to control their own autonomy, they don't want a God telling them what to do.

People need to know that all of the solutions in the world don't compare to the power of salvation in the human life through faith in Jesus Christ. And don't think they're going to Google that. Salvation comes through one person connecting with another person, and sharing with them that Jesus is real, that faith in him has a real effect, and that they can be saved through him.

So, the process of evangelism: God sends people out through the church, sent people proclaim the gospel to others. And then,

C. People hear the gospel, believe the gospel, and call on his name, Jesus.

This is the way people are saved. God uses the church to send out people to connect with other people and tell them about Jesus, so that they would hear the gospel, believe the gospel, and call on Jesus.

This is what happened to you in your life. Someone proclaimed the gospel to you. None of us here were born Christians, including me. Someone proclaimed the gospel to you. You heard the gospel, believed it, and called on Jesus. And then, in essence, you are called to be someone who pays that forward. In Matthew 10, the Lord sends out his disciples to preach the kingdom, and as he tells them in Matthew 10:8, he also tells you, “Freely you received, freely give.”

At the end of Romans 10:15 he uses an interesting phrase when he says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” This is a quote from Isaiah 52:7. It's an interesting picture. What he's describing there is that there is nothing more beautiful than seeing someone come to Christ.

And the messenger is blessed as well as the person receiving the message. We think of evangelism and the purpose for it as being for other people, and it is. But it is also a reminder for the person delivering the good news of the good news to his own soul. I am blessed every time I share. the testimony of what God has done in my life. The fact as I attempt to playback those stories. they're most vivid to me because I lived them. and every time I remember what Jesus has done, I just say thank you, Lord.

An evangelism is important for you because you need that reminder for your own soul of who Jesus is in your life.

Do you remember that hip hop concert that I told you about earlier, about that group of young Christians that went out there? You know, as I prayed and fasted for that event, we planted seeds that day, and I don't know what happened of them. But I do know that those Christians that came out of that event left more blessed than they came in. I remember receiving a text that day from a young man who was in that group. He was so excited about evangelism and telling others about Jesus, because his obedience in evangelism was a blessing to his own soul as he was reminded about who Jesus is in his own life.

And the proclamation of the good news is not just the work of some Christians. The proclamation of the good news is the work of the church, all of God’s people, the work of every Christian. We're reminded of this in 1 Peter 2:9, when speaking to the church, he says,

1 Peter 2:9 CSB

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

God's people are a people chosen by God, a holy nation that God raises up to be sent out to proclaim the good news to the world that he loves them, that he sent his Son for them.

Take a look at how God uses his church in 2 Corinthians 5:19-20:

2 Corinthians 5:19–20 CSB

19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

God has committed this message of reconciliation to the church, to us, so that we as a collective body of believers would be ambassadors for Christ to the world. And that through God using his church, proclaiming the gospel to others, God would make an appeal to them through us that they would be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

This is how the church is built. Ambassadors for Christ go out to proclaim the gospel. God makes an appeal to them through us and as a result, changes their life, and they become ambassadors for Christ, and they go out, and on and on it goes. The church is built through his people being ambassadors for Christ.

God wants to use you to bring people to faith.

Second and last.

Christians are called to persevere in proclaiming the gospel because God is always working to reach people.

In our text in Romans 10:14-21, some of this is really painful. You can hear the pain in Paul as he's struggling to understand how the most valuable thing in the world, that God sent his Son so that people will be saved through him, he is in pain because people are rejecting this treasure.

And this is especially painful because people who had all the revelation in the world should be coming to the message of Christ, but they're not.

In Romans 10:18 he answers the question, “Did they not hear?,” by quoting from Psalm 19:4. Psalm 19 is a psalm about both the natural revelation and the special revelation that is available to Israel. In Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.” In Psalm 19:7 “The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise.” So in that sense, the message, the totality of God's revelation, has come to Israel ultimately in Jesus. They have heard the gospel. because God has clearly shown it to them. through creation and through his word.

Not only that, but in Romans 10:19-21, he answers the question, “Did they not understand?,” by quoting from Deuteronomy and Isaiah. Now here's the core of what he's saying in these verses, is that the gospel is so understandable that the Gentiles are coming to faith! If even the Gentiles, a people who did not grow up with the special revelation given to them by God, if even the Gentiles understand the gospel, the Jews understand the gospel. In fact, he describes the lost people of Israel as angry and jealous. They’ve understood the gospel, and they don't like it. Paul is struggling because the gospel has been proclaimed to the Jews, and they have rejected it.

You can hear him struggling with this as he quotes the Prophet Isaiah in Romans 10:16,

Romans 10:16 CSB

16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?

Lord, who has believed our message. And I think that struggle is so real. I mean, do you feel like that sometimes? You say, Lord, why haven't my friends or my community believed the message of the gospel? Why haven't my family members believed the message of the gospel? Why haven't my children believed the message of the gospel? And it is painful and tragic, as you see them bumping their head against the wall, just as you did when you were younger. And you pray that they would just hear, believe, and call on the name of Jesus.

But let me tell you that there is hope in this chapter. And it is hope that doesn't sound like it at first glance, but as you think about it, look at what he says in Romans 10:21,

Romans 10:21 CSB

21 But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

All day long I have held out my hands. And here is the beautiful thing about that message. The day is not over yet. God is continuing to hold out his hands to you. And saying as in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Christians should persevere in proclaiming the gospel because God is continuing to work to reach people. The day is not over yet. His hands are still out to a disobedient and defiant people.

This is the core of the gospel message. We were a disobedient and defiant people until God did his incredible work of salvation by someone planting the seed of faith in our life and God using the gospel to bring us to him, bringing us to a place where we would be obedient to the gospel.

There is still hope for the Jews, and there is still hope for all of mankind, because the day is not over yet. You want to see people come to faith. Let God use you to proclaim the gospel to them. Unfortunately, some will reject. But some will listen. And God is the Savior. He will draw people to him. The burden of salvation is not on our shoulders. It is on his. We act as a Christian said a long time ago, we act as one beggar telling another beggar where to get the bread.

I was remembering. when my oldest son joined the Boy Scouts. Now he grew up like I did in the Bronx. And if you're not familiar with that is there's not a lot of not a lot of forest. Not a lot of trees and greenery. It's a lot of buildings, a lot of cement. But the leaders of this Boy Scout troop were taking the boys out. to the forest, the woods. finally get away from the cement to see the trees and the greenery and the dirt. And they started a campfire. They got some wood, put it together, started a campfire in the. kids liked it, but my son was particularly drawn to this campfire. Now I don't think my son had ever seen a campfire before. We it's not something. we ever did in the Bronx. And he was drawn to this fire. He had to. We had to. tell him. Be careful because he was just drawn to it. Not all of the kids were that way. Some of the kids were ignoring it, doing their own thing. But my son was drawn to it.

And it's a reminder that when you proclaim the gospel to others, there will be some people who have never heard that before. It's tough for us to think about it because we're like people who've grown up in the woods and have seen campfires. And it just gotten used to that context. And we forgot that there's still. city kids have never seen. a fire before. There are people who have never seen someone impacted by the gospel before face to face. They have never truly heard. that Jesus can change a life.

And let us not be people who grow weary in proclaiming the gospel because God has not grown weary in holding out his hands to us. We’re reminded of this in Galatians 6:9:

Galatians 6:9 CSB

9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

God is calling us to continue to sow seeds of faith persevering to proclaim the gospel to our family members, our friends and our world.

And we're reminded how Christians before us continued to proclaim the gospel despite opposition. The apostles were ordered by the Jewish leaders to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, and did they stop? No. Look at what it says in Acts 5:42,

Acts 5:42 CSB

42 Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

As a church, we will not grow weary in proclaiming the gospel. The fact we're dedicating this summer. to meditate on this and to. think about new ways our church can reach our community. our city and our world with the good news of Jesus Christ. We will not grow tired because the only hope for mankind is Jesus. and we will continue to teach and preach the good news of Jesus in California and to the world, so help us God.

My prayers that God will raise up missionaries from our church. that he will raise up an army of people who will go out. into their community, city and world. as ambassadors for Christ to reach the world for him. Brothers and sisters, let us continue to be ambassadors for Christ and reach our world for Jesus. And all the ambassadors of Christ say, “amen.”

Conclusion

Prayer

Last Song

Doxology

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’

Jude 24–25 CSB

24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!