By Fenter Northern
I do not feel I am unduly concerned about evangelism in the Lord’s church today, however I am concerned. We seniors have lived through a golden age of evangelism in the United States, one hardly possible for Christians under fifty years of age to imagine.
Young Christians have grown up in a far different culture than that of the post-civil war and early 19th century period, an age when many, especially the rural and blue collar people placed a premium on Bible authority. Many in honest error during that age, upon hearing the Gospel, respected the word of God and made essential changes in their lives. Since WWII there has been a phenomenal advance in technology. Men have placed themselves in the center of the universe with emphasis on material surroundings with little spiritual introspection. Aside from the remnant, a semblance of Christianity still exists but with increasingly less regard to be anchored soundly to the original New Testament doctrine. Biblical tenets and examples are looked upon as irrelevant being too archaic for today’s society.
Failure to see that the Bible is always current in that it deals with man’s on-going fleshly weaknesses, and his inability to formulate any way to redeem himself is glaringly obvious. Whenever traditional Bible doctrine is rejected the welfare of society plummets; homes are demolished, authority is disrespected, jails overflow, blood is shed, and the nation is destroyed. The great biblical personalities and those scattered through history, did not gain their stalwart reputations measuring themselves by themselves, but by trusting in His word and maintaining their relationship with God. Their evaluation of the knowledge of Jesus Christ was a treasure beyond comprehension; worth giving their life for and viewing death as only a portal to an inheritance beyond belief never to fade away. It is no wonder when youth are reared in an environment of spiritual emptiness, they have little regard for authority, especially for Jesus and His church. They view what they see as the loathsome divisions in the Christian religion with its inane blunders as a weak institution with hypocritical claims for man’s improvement. Weak congregations with lapsing desire to be apostolic in tradition, are discounting evangelizing by call for repentance. Viewing success as material growth they offer attractions in worshipful ambience and social therapy as the means for evangelism.
The cosmic evaluation of salvation form sin with Christ as the unfathomable gift of God’s love is the Christian’s compelling motive for evangelization. When this is lacking the congregation can introduce outreach programs that look great on paper but short lived. How does one arrive at a holy faith that is so personally precious it motivates one to brave society’s antipathy to hearing the good news? It may come when one is standing in the pew feeling miserable, wondering if life is worth living, while listening to a hymn inviting them to renew their broken faith. It may come to someone sitting at home reading the Good News, telling them their sins can be eradicated, are it can come in infinitely other places where the word of God strikes pain in one’s aching heart.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The person with saving faith does not resist whatever the scriptures require. After the eunuch was baptized, he went on his way rejoicing. The same is said of the Philippian jailor when he and his family had been baptized after hearing the gospel of Christ. The joy that flows in, not only after the burden is removed of having all sins forgiven, but also at becoming an heir to eternal life. This is the driving force that compels one to share the good news with any listener.
When the church’s joy for the whole word of God grows stale, its enthusiasm for evangelism fades proportionately. Programs with revved up promotion become busy church work if there is luke-warm heartfelt outreach. They are like trying to pushing a car that’s out of gas—uphill. They are momentary at best as they lack the compelling motivation of inner thrill (which can’t be manufactured) and gratitude for being saved from hell and have an exciting desire to draw as many wandering sheep into the fold of safety before its too late.
Wonder what made Paul such a powerful missionary? Read Philippians. Over and over he speaks of his new found joy exhorting this church he established during vexing harassment of opposition to share the same thrill. The joy of his salvation was the supreme motivation that drove him across national boundaries to tell the world about Christ. Imprisonments, intimidating mountain ranges, cities with ugly reputations like Corinth (whose very name signified “having the demeanor of the devil,”) as well as disastrous storms at sea posed no blockades for this man who toiled with a constant, troubling thorn in the flesh.
So, what do we need in congregations today to have the fire and thrill of evangelism ignited as once in the past? I would be the last to say the church does not need to utilize all the modern techniques now available, and to launch programs that best organize and promote efficiency in saving souls. But the critical need is this: as a penitent cried out millenniums ago, “Restore unto me the joy of my salvation;” to recapture the lost wonder of the experience of salvation in my soul and return unto me a sense of the deep riches and treasures of that which lies beyond the light of our natural eyes. Then a new evangelism will begin to flourish.
Herein lies the power, the strength, and endurance: “heaven holds all to me.” Evangelization, then, is not mere marching orders, it is a personal flame burning in the heart that reaches out with the cosmic love of God to say, “Every sin you have committed can be obliterated, and you can have life eternal in a place where there will be no need for a key to lock a door, for not a single sin will be there to defile the holy city; a place where you can thrive on the fruit of the tree of life forever with mutual love forever. He promised it and God cannot lie.