Theology in Evangelism
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What is Evangelism?
What is Evangelism?
Evangellion, the same root that we get the translation, the gospel
Evangelism is bringing the gospel. To bring the good news.
Luke 2:9-11
The angels bringing the good news, for ALL peoples.
Their was a savior born
One who would save His people from danger and destruction.
Christ
Anointed one.
This anointing referring to the one who would be a redeemer. But the anointing referring also being a term referring to the high priest.
This points to Jesus being our high priest.
Lord
Kurios, the master, the Lord.
We see the gospel that at the time of Jesus birth, the good news is He would save us, He is our high priest, He is our Lord.
This news hasn’t changed.
Why Theology Matters
Why Theology Matters
Why do we need to have good Theology?
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” A.W. Tozer
What we believe about God will result in the way we live for Him.
Do we realize that He is there in the bad times as well as the good.
Do we realize He is there not just on Sunday, but the rest of the week.
Do we realize that God tells us how we are to worship, raise our kids, conduct ourselves with our spouses, handle our finances.
What you believe about God will shape your future.
What we believe about God will effect the way we tell others about Him.
Whether you believe it’s actually good news.
What we tell people to spread the good news.
How urgently we tell people about Jesus.
I don’t think many people believe in hell.
Products of bad Theology
Bad theology results in a bad gospel, which contributes to bad evangelism.
To some, the result of the gospel is a true realization of who we are, to feel good about themselves, or to realize our happiness rather than our reconciliation with God.
This makes for weak and untrue evangelism.
Why? They have made the gospel about them, not God.
The gospel as a lottery ticket. Coming to Jesus is a way in which we obtain wealth.
People come to Jesus hoping that it will benefit them.
What happens when we aren’t wealthy?
What happens when we encounter serious trouble?
What happens when your husband has a stroke; or your wife gets cancer?
This gospel serves a god made in your own image, not the sovereign one.
Fire insurance; Salvation is being seen as freedom from hell rather than a call to a personal relationship with the living God.
The first and greatest commandment....love God.
With this mindset, you don’t love God; you don’t want to spend eternity with Him.
You just hate punishment.
Minimizing the exclusiveness of Christ.
Teaching that there are many ways to salvation, or many ways to God.
If we believe that other religions are legitimate, why would we preach Christ?
Attributes of God that Pertain to Evangelism
Attributes of God that Pertain to Evangelism
The Holiness of God
The Holiness of God
The essential idea of holiness is “to be separate.”
Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah 6:1-8
When Isaiah see’s the holiness of God. He sees His unworthiness to be in the presence of God.
Do you flatter yourself in believing that you righteousness is sufficient?
If so, then you have not seen the holiness of God.
The essential holiness of God
God is transcendent over all things.
God is holy in His ethics
God is separate from evil, and is therefore perfect.
Not only does this mean he has no hint of sin, but He cannot be in communion with anything that is sinful.
1 Peter 1:16
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
We are called to be holy, this is the standard that God requires.
But we aren’t holy, Isaiah saw it, He realized that He was unclean.
Those who understand the holiness of God will be eager to obey God, comprehensively and precisely.
Holiness is important when it comes to evangelism becasue it shows us that as good as we are according to earthly standards, we fail in comparison to God’s holiness and glorious standard.
The Righteousness of God
The Righteousness of God
Psalm 11:7
7 For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
Psalm 9:8
8 and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
The righteousness of God relates to God’s justice.
It means that, He is a righteous judge, without partiality.
This means that the righteous will not be judged as guilty, but the guilty will not be judged righteous.
The problem; we aren’t righteous.
Romans 3:10-12
Romans 3:10-12
No one, in their own righteousness can stand before a just and holy God.
All will fall short.
Evangelism is important because people need to know that they need a righteousness that is not their own.
The Love of God
The Love of God
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is the attribute that people love to talk about the most, how much God loves them, how much God loves all.
People speak about this attribute as though it is the attribute above all.
As though the love of God trumps the holiness of God.
Holiness without love would be a god only concerned about his own being.
He would be a care that cared nothing for His creation.
We would only be pawns in His schemes.
But we know God cares, that not even a sparrow falls without God knowing.
Love without holiness leaves us with a god that is inconsistent with his own nature.
A God who though He is just, unjustly lets filthy sinners into heaven.
He would then not be a righteous judge. But a corrupt judge.
Who is Man?
Who is Man?
Genesis 3:1-7
Genesis 3:1-7
Man is fallen.
We were created in the image of God, but that image has been badly disfigured in mankind.
Because of the fall, everyone since Adam is inclined to sin, they are drawn toward sin and are powerless to resist it.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This is why all have sinned.
1 John 1:8
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we say we have not sinned, we call God a liar.
All of these reasons are why knowing Jesus is necessary, it is what should be the driving force behind evangelism.
To bring people into a right relationship, with God almighty.
What Evangelism Is
What Evangelism Is
Evangelism is realizing that God is holy and righteous, that we are not.
It is realizing that God is love.
The love of God doesn’t mean that God pardon’s sin inconsequentially.
The cross is where the righteousness of God met the love of God in Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:8-9
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
We are not righteous.
But in Christ, we have righteousness, not of our own.
Evangelism is telling people who God is, and calling man into a right relationship with Him.