"Preach the Gospel and if necessary use words."
I've heard this rather foolish remark too many times to count. Often from "Christians" who have never shared the Good News of salvation with anyone. They typically follow up the quotation of this entirely unbiblical notion of evangelism with a promotion of relationship evangelism: "You must first be a friend to the lost before you can share the Gospel with them." As I said, this is not at all a biblical approach to evangelism.
If you were passing a neighbor's home, the roof of which was entirely engulfed in flames, and you could see through the living room window the occupants sitting calmly, completely unaware of the lethal conflagration about to fall upon them, would you think to yourself, "You know, I don't really know these people. They may think me rather forward if I burst into their home and just blurt out that they are all in terrible danger. What if they get angry and offended and throw me out? How will I have helped them?" Would you think a person who embarked on this inner debate under such circumstances, who put the quality of his reception before the saving of his neighbors, a truly loving person? I wouldn't. Such a concern seems entirely selfish and cowardly to me. This is, though, essentially what relationship evangelism amounts to. If the lost haven't first warmed up to you, the fact that they stand under the terrifying jeopardy of eternal Hell shouldn't be broached. They need to "see Jesus in us" before they can hear the truths of salvation. No matter that before they do, they might die and go to Hell. What's really important, apparently, is the way you share the Gospel, not the Gospel itself and the terrible, eternal danger every lost person is in. Of course, we see none of this sort of evangelism in Scripture.
The argument goes that establishing a loving relationship with the lost opens the way for the sharing of the Gospel. Of course, this assumes that the person doing the evangelizing and their relationship to the lost is the key to a lost person's salvation. But it isn't. God saves people; we don't. God "gives repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." (2 Timothy 2:25) We are, then, not nearly so crucial to the saving of the lost as some Christians think. God knows all who will be saved and He doesn't need any of us in order to save them. He will lose none of His own whatever we might do. This doesn't mean we can forsake sharing the Gospel with the lost, or that we can do so in an obnoxious, discourteous manner. The "servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men"; he must with patience and meekness (or humility) instruct the lost. (2 Timothy 2:24, 25) But he must always remember that only God gives repentance and draws men to Christ the Saviour. (John 6:44) God may use a friendship to accomplish His saving purposes in someone's life - or He may not. The key thing in evangelism isn't us but the truth of the Gospel and the saving power of God. These things we must set before whatever positive relationships we may form with those who are on their way to Hell. They need God, they need to hear His saving truth if they are to escape eternal destruction; they don't need our friendship.
Love is not always gentle and easy and truth is not always comfortable and satisfying. When we get to thinking that loving the lost means never offending or confronting them, that the hard, condemning truths of the Gospel need sugar-coating, we soon cease to really evangelize the lost. Jesus is called a "rock of offense" for a reason. He spoke of his truth as a divisive thing. (Matthew 10:34) He "came unto his own and his own received him not" (John 1:11) because the love he showed a lost world and the truth he preached to it ruffled feathers, and bruised egos, and condemned the wicked. When, under the banner of love, we skirt the vital truth that offends and coddle the sinner in their sin, when we hold back the saving light of the Gospel from those who walk in darkness, we show that we misunderstand the nature of love - God's love - profoundly.
The Gospel cannot be preached without words; there is no such thing as a wordless Gospel. The next time you hear somebody say otherwise, I hope you'll recall the things I've pointed out above. Look instead for every opportunity to speak the Gospel of Christ to the lost, whether they are a friend or not. Then, having been faithful in delivering the truth to them, wait on God to do as He will with your words.
Romans 10:13-14
13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
I've heard this rather foolish remark too many times to count. Often from "Christians" who have never shared the Good News of salvation with anyone. They typically follow up the quotation of this entirely unbiblical notion of evangelism with a promotion of relationship evangelism: "You must first be a friend to the lost before you can share the Gospel with them." As I said, this is not at all a biblical approach to evangelism.
If you were passing a neighbor's home, the roof of which was entirely engulfed in flames, and you could see through the living room window the occupants sitting calmly, completely unaware of the lethal conflagration about to fall upon them, would you think to yourself, "You know, I don't really know these people. They may think me rather forward if I burst into their home and just blurt out that they are all in terrible danger. What if they get angry and offended and throw me out? How will I have helped them?" Would you think a person who embarked on this inner debate under such circumstances, who put the quality of his reception before the saving of his neighbors, a truly loving person? I wouldn't. Such a concern seems entirely selfish and cowardly to me. This is, though, essentially what relationship evangelism amounts to. If the lost haven't first warmed up to you, the fact that they stand under the terrifying jeopardy of eternal Hell shouldn't be broached. They need to "see Jesus in us" before they can hear the truths of salvation. No matter that before they do, they might die and go to Hell. What's really important, apparently, is the way you share the Gospel, not the Gospel itself and the terrible, eternal danger every lost person is in. Of course, we see none of this sort of evangelism in Scripture.
The argument goes that establishing a loving relationship with the lost opens the way for the sharing of the Gospel. Of course, this assumes that the person doing the evangelizing and their relationship to the lost is the key to a lost person's salvation. But it isn't. God saves people; we don't. God "gives repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." (2 Timothy 2:25) We are, then, not nearly so crucial to the saving of the lost as some Christians think. God knows all who will be saved and He doesn't need any of us in order to save them. He will lose none of His own whatever we might do. This doesn't mean we can forsake sharing the Gospel with the lost, or that we can do so in an obnoxious, discourteous manner. The "servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men"; he must with patience and meekness (or humility) instruct the lost. (2 Timothy 2:24, 25) But he must always remember that only God gives repentance and draws men to Christ the Saviour. (John 6:44) God may use a friendship to accomplish His saving purposes in someone's life - or He may not. The key thing in evangelism isn't us but the truth of the Gospel and the saving power of God. These things we must set before whatever positive relationships we may form with those who are on their way to Hell. They need God, they need to hear His saving truth if they are to escape eternal destruction; they don't need our friendship.
Love is not always gentle and easy and truth is not always comfortable and satisfying. When we get to thinking that loving the lost means never offending or confronting them, that the hard, condemning truths of the Gospel need sugar-coating, we soon cease to really evangelize the lost. Jesus is called a "rock of offense" for a reason. He spoke of his truth as a divisive thing. (Matthew 10:34) He "came unto his own and his own received him not" (John 1:11) because the love he showed a lost world and the truth he preached to it ruffled feathers, and bruised egos, and condemned the wicked. When, under the banner of love, we skirt the vital truth that offends and coddle the sinner in their sin, when we hold back the saving light of the Gospel from those who walk in darkness, we show that we misunderstand the nature of love - God's love - profoundly.
The Gospel cannot be preached without words; there is no such thing as a wordless Gospel. The next time you hear somebody say otherwise, I hope you'll recall the things I've pointed out above. Look instead for every opportunity to speak the Gospel of Christ to the lost, whether they are a friend or not. Then, having been faithful in delivering the truth to them, wait on God to do as He will with your words.
Romans 10:13-14
13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
