Week 2: What Evangelism Isn’t
Evangelism: How the Church Speaks of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 52:18
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In the 1970s, a college student brought his friend John to church.
John had recently accepted Christ,
and when the pastor gave the invitation to come forward, John whispered,
“Do you think I should go up?”
His friend said, “Sure, I guess it wouldn’t hurt. I’ll go with you.”
The pastor had just finished saying: “If you have to leave, I’d rather have you leave during my sermon than during the altar call.”
And so when the altar call came,
the two men stood up, walked the aisle, and joined dozens of others at the front
most of whom, they later realized, were just ushers.
The pastor came over, put his arm around them, and asked why they’d come.
When he learned John’s friend was a new believer, he celebrated it.
But then turned to John and asked if he was a Christian.
“Yes,” John said.
The pastor thought for a moment, and then said:
“Young man, would you like to rededicate your life to Jesus?”
Unsure what that even meant, John shrugged, “Sure, I guess.”
The pastor turned to the camera and announced,
“Praise God! These two young men have come to give their lives to Jesus.”
So here’s the question:
Was this evangelism?
Now, before we answer, we need to be careful.
Many people have become Christians when they walked an aisle after hearing an altar call.
So we need to have some humility when it comes to evangelism.
We need to acknowledge that God is sovereign and can do as He wills to bring people to himself,
even through evangelistic practices, ministries, or churches we disagree with.
As one theologian puts it:
“God draws straight with crooked lines.”
The truth is, we’re all crooked in some way.
And when people come to faith through unusual or questionable means,
we should take heart that God can grow true gospel fruit from even the smallest seed of truth.
That said, just because something occasionally produces results doesn’t make it biblical.
The ends never justify the means.
For example,
as I’ve shared before,
if I wanted to pack out a youth group with 200 teenagers next week,
I could do it.
All I’d have to do is throw a kegger.
It’d be packed.
And some might even hear the gospel and respond.
But it still wouldn’t be right.
Because evangelism isn’t ultimately about results.
It’s about faithfulness.
Our primary goal is not merely to see lost souls saved.
Our goal is what?
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
That includes evangelism.
So if we want to glorify God in the way we share our faith,
we need to make sure our motives and methods are rooted in Scripture,
not in a “Hey, it works,” mindset.
So when it comes to evangelism, we have to start with a biblical foundation.
Because those foundations will shape, guard, and inform how we share our faith,
and even to some degree, what faith we are even sharing.
So to have a good foundation we need to examine both the METHOD and MOTIVE of our evangelism.
So let’s talk about METHOD for a minute.
QUESTION
How much of the altar call I described biblical evangelism or was it something else?
Here are some questions worth asking:
Did the pastor truly believe that the most important part of the service was the invitation rather than the preaching of God’s Word?
Where in Scripture do we see anyone raising a hand to ask Jesus into their heart? And when did walking an aisle replace baptism as the public act of faith, especially in a Baptist church?
Was it manipulative to have ushers slip out of their seats in a way that made it appear like dozens of people were responding to the invitation?
What about the language used? “Rededicate your life to Jesus” isn’t even a biblical category. Doesn’t that kind of phrase cloud the truth rather than making it plain? (2 Corinthians 4:2)
Did the pastor knowingly misrepresent what happened when he looked into the TV camera and said, “These two young men have come to give their lives to Jesus”?
Were these two brothers men, who were already saved, used as a prop to create the appearance of spiritual fruit?
Whether all of this was intentional or not,
that altar call moment communicated things that are untrue.
And moments like that are worth examining.
Because it’s possible to have the right goal, but the wrong method.
And when it comes to evangelism, the method absolutely matters.
2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
Alright, so let’s look at wrong methods and what evangelism isn’t.
What evangelism isn’t:
Evangelism isn’t imposition.
Some people object to evangelism by saying,
“Isn’t it wrong to force your beliefs on others?”
But biblical evangelism isn’t about forcing anything.
Remember, we aren’t selling a product…
what are we doing?
We are PROCLAIMING a message…
And it’s not our message, it’s God’s.
So.
Evangelism is not about imposing our beliefs but about faithfully proclaiming the message of God.
When you evangelize, you are not merely saying,
“This is how I like to think of God,”
or
“This is how I see it.”
You’re presenting the Christian gospel.
You didn’t invent it,
and you have no authority to alter it.
According to the Bible, evangelism is simply telling the good news.
It’s not making sure that the other person responds to it correctly.
I wish we could, but according to the Bible, this is not something we can do.
According to the Bible, the fruit from evangelism comes from God.
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Because salvation is God’s work, and not man’s,
It is literally IMPOSSIBLE for us to impose our Christian beliefs onto another person.
Yes, Islam can force people to convert by the sword,
But Christianity cannot,
because the message of the gospel isn’t:
“Do these religious things and God will accept you.”
Instead, it’s: “Here is what God has done.”
This means that all I can do is present the good news accurately,
live a life of love toward unbelievers,
and pray for God to convict them of their sins and give them the gifts of repentance and faith.
What evangelism isn’t:
Evangelism isn’t imposition.
Personal Testimony
Now don’t hear me wrong: your story matters.
A testimony can be a powerful window into how God works in a life.
But your story is not the gospel.
Your story can show the beauty of the gospel of grace,
but it can’t fully explain the need for it.
It can display the fruit, but it can’t define the root.
Here’s the problem:
In modern church culture,
many people have come to believe that evangelism just means sharing “what God means to me.”
But if we only tell people how our life got better, or how we found peace,
and never tell them about sin, the cross, and resurrection,
we haven’t evangelized.
We’ve just shared an experience.
That’s why Mark Dever says:
“A testimony is not the gospel. It may accompany the gospel. It may explain the gospel. But it is not the gospel.”
Mark Dever
Paul didn’t walk into synagogues and marketplaces and say,
“Let me tell you how I feel about Jesus.”
He said:
“This Jesus, whom you crucified, God has raised up… and there is salvation in no one else.”
That’s not testimony.
That’s proclamation.
Again, there is real value in giving people a window into what God has done in your life.
But don’t confuse that window with the substance of the gospel message we are called to proclaim.
Because faith doesn’t come by hearing your story.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
So, by all means, use your story.
But make sure it leads to His.
Because your testimony might get someone’s attention.
But only the gospel can save their soul.
What evangelism isn’t:
Evangelism isn’t imposition.
Personal Testimony
Social Good
Now don’t misunderstand me here,
Christians should care deeply about the good of society.
We’re called to feed the hungry,
speak for the voiceless,
defend the vulnerable,
and love our neighbors in real ways.
That’s not extra credit.
That’s basic faithfulness.
But NONE of those things are evangelism.
You can fight for clean water, racial reconciliation, or pro-life legislation
and never once mention the name of Jesus.
You can serve in the soup kitchen, advocate for the oppressed, and transform a neighborhood,
and still leave people spiritually dead.
Evangelism is not about making the world better.
It’s about calling people to be born again.
Because the world’s biggest problem is not inequality, or poverty, or broken systems.
The world’s biggest problem is sin.
And only one message can deal with that.
The gospel of Jesus Christ.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Do you see that.
Not our social or political causes.
Not our influence to help others.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation.
So serve the world.
Yes.
But never confuse serving the world with saving it.
Because evangelism is not showing people that Christians care - though we should care.
Evangelism is telling them that Christ saves.
And if people don’t give people Jesus,
It’s like feeding them a delicious dinner on the Titanic as it sinks…
Sure, it’s nice to not be hungry,
but their greatest need isn’t food, it’s a lifeboat!
And Christ is that lifeboat.
What evangelism isn’t:
Evangelism isn’t imposition.
Personal Testimony
Social Good
Apologetics
Yes, apologetics matters.
After all, 1 Peter 3 says:
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
So yes, we are commanded to be ready to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ
So if someone asks you,
“How can you believe the Bible?”
or
“What about all the suffering in the world?”
you should be ready with an answer.
Because apologetics can remove obstacles and soften hearts.
And when done rightly, it creates space for real conversations about eternity.
But it isn’t evangelism.
Answering someone’s doubts is not the same as announcing Christ.
Defending the truth is not the same as declaring the gospel.
Evangelism is not a debate.
It’s not defending our worldview.
It’s proclaiming the finished work of Jesus Christ.
The virgin birth.
The perfect life Christ lived.
The substitutionary death.
The bodily resurrection.
The call to repent and believe.
That is evangelism.
Sure, apologetics can help get there, and often does.
But if we spend all our time defending Christianity and never declaring Christ,
we’ve missed the mark.
At worst, apologetics can actually distract from the gospel.
We end up arguing our friend into silence rather than inviting them into faith.
So yes:
use apologetics.
Answer questions.
Engage hard topics.
But don’t forget your aim:
It’s not to win a conversation.
It’s to win a soul to Christ.
Evangelism isn’t explaining your worldview.
It’s proclaiming your Savior.
What evangelism isn’t:
Evangelism isn’t imposition.
Personal Testimony
Social Good
Apologetics
Results
A lot of people think Evangelism is successful when the person accepts Christ.
But again,
that’s good…
but it’s NOT evangelism.
That’s the fruit of evangelism.
But where does that fruit come from?
God or us?
God.
Our job is to plant and water,
It’s God’s job to grow new life.
This is one of the most common and dangerous mistakes we can make,
especially in a church culture that values:
numbers,
decisions,
and visible & measurable fruit.
But the Bible is clear that evangelism is not defined by how people respond.
It’s defined by faithfulness to the message.
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
The point is: Fruit is God’s job. Faithfulness is ours.
Again 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
The truth is, we can’t save one single soul.
Not even our own.
Only God can.
We’re called to plant and water by sharing the gospel truthfully, clearly, and lovingly.
But conversion is a supernatural act of God. It’s not something we can manufacture.
That means we can’t measure the success of evangelism by the number of people who raise their hands, walk an aisle, or pray a prayer.
We can’t conclude that our VBS was successful evangelistically because kids got saved.
Question:
What happens if we confuse evangelism with results?
We start chasing numbers instead of trusting in the Spirit of God.
As Dever puts it, when we do this,
“evangelism becomes emotionally manipulative.”
We try to produce decisions, not disciples.
We aim for speed, not sincerity.
And the temptation to manipulate is very real.
Some pastors cue the lighting,
slow the music,
and ask for raised hands with every head bowed and every eye closed.
Some churches line the aisles with volunteers to create a sense of movement when an altar call is given.
One pastor even admitted to hiring seminary students
and requiring each of them to bring two people forward every Sunday to be baptized,
regardless of whether the gospel had taken root.
It’s pragmatic.
It looks effective.
But it’s not faithful.
As Stiles writes:
“If we seek to impress people into the kingdom of God rather than trust the Spirit of God to bring them, we will surely impress them out of the kingdom later.”
He’s right.
Because whatever we manipulate people into,
they will likely need to be manipulated to stay in.
And that’s not what true conversion is.
“What we win them with we win them to.”
And if we win them to a self-help, prosperity gospel.
We pat them on the back as they walk over the cliff right into hell.
As styles says:
Unbiblical evangelism is a method of assisted suicide for a church.”
Joel Osteen’s Service I watched.
Many churches today have traded biblical principles for worldly desires
replacing gospel proclamation with self-help slogans, or exchanging repentance for emotional appeal.
Conversion is not a moment of raised emotion, or a quick decision.
It is the work of God, producing new life in a dead heart, bringing someone to repentance and faith in Christ.
That’s why manipulation and evangelism do not mix
The 19th century evangelist Charles Finney was a key leader in the Second Great Awakening,
And he was known for pioneering the modern-day, emotionally-charged revival meetings.
Finney introduced tactics like altar calls,
week-long meetings,
and emotional music to stir quick public responses.
Rather than relying on the Holy Spirit’s sovereign work,
Finney believed revival was a predictable result of using the right methods.
He once wrote,
“A revival is not a miracle… It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means.”
Charlies Finney.
In other words,
if the preacher does it right, people will respond.
And this man-centered approach has shaped much of modern evangelism for the worse.
it deeply unbiblical.
In fact, the Apostle Paul rebukes it directly, saying:
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
Notice what Paul says here:
“setting forth the truth plainly”
Not tricks.
Not tactics.
Not pressure.
Just the gospel: spoken plainly, truthfully, humbly, and clearly.
Martin Lloyd-Jones once told the story of a man who came to him after a sermon and said:
“If you had asked me to stay behind last night to saved, I would have done so.”
Lloyd-Jones replied,
“I’m asking you now. Come with me.”
The man hesitated.
“No, not now. But if you had asked me last night, I would’ve.”
Lloyd-Jones then responded:
“If what happened to you last night hasn’t lasted 24 hours,
I’m not interested.
You don’t see your need of Christ.
What affected you last night was only emotional: it wasn’t conviction.”
Lloyd Jones was right.
True conversion doesn’t disappear when the music stops.
If someone is truly broken over their sin and convicted by the Holy Spirit,
they will come to Christ because they see their need for Him,
not because of a mood,
a moment,
or a manipulated emotional environment.
That’s why I don’t do altar calls.
It’s because if the gospel truly takes root,
NOTHING will prevent that person from embracing Christ.
So instead, I preach every sermon with the gospel in it.
It’s not a cheap-tack-me-on at the end.
It’s the life blood of every sermon!
It’s the crescendo of every message.
And if the listener hears that message what are they to do?
Simply LOOK and LIVE!
(Moses in the Old Testament.
In our culture, it’s easy to feel pressure to produce results.
To want to prove our ministry is fruitful.
To count numbers.
To celebrate decisions.
But we must remember:
We don’t fail in evangelism if we share the gospel and someone rejects it.
We fail in evangelism only when we don’t share the gospel faithfully.
Our job is not to make converts.
Our job is to be faithful messengers.
One of the draws to revival ministries and altar calls,
is it’s flashy.
It’s quick.
It’s like a microwave.
It makes it feel like what you’re doing works and matters because you can measure it.
But what do we walk by church?
By faith or by sight?
By Faith…
The truth is,
Most people come to Christ months or even years after first hearing the message.
In fact, studies show,
Most people need to hear the gospel at least 7 times before they accept it.
And for many, it’s way more than that even!
And often, they don’t respond right away…
Luke Short, was a farmer in New England who was converted at the age of 100 years old,
Do you know how?
He happened one day as he was reflecting on a sermon he had heard 85 years earlier as a child.
Eighty-five years!
The preacher, John Flavel, never saw the fruit: but he had to wait faithful.
We have to remember this.
You or I might plant the seed.
Another might water.
But only God gives the growth.
So let’s resist the urge to measure our faithfulness by someone else’s response.
And let’s make sure we define evangelism rightly.
Not by results, but by gospel proclamation.
Because Evangelism itself isn’t converting people;
it’s telling them that they need to be converted and telling them how they can be.
Question 1:
Is this the gospel?
“Preach the gospel, use words if necessary.”
Question 2
Should we assume someone is a Christian simply because they prayed a prayer as a child or “asked Jesus into their heart”?
Question 3
In what ways are we tempted to make the gospel more appealing?
Question 4.
What happens when we rely on emotional experiences, music, or atmosphere to move people rather than the truth of the gospel and God’s Spirit?
Why is this such a temptation?
Question 5.
What are some ways we’ve equated evangelism with getting someone to make a quick decision, instead of aiming for real, lasting discipleship?
