Reasons to Evangelize
By Victor Beshir
There are many reasons why we should reach out and evangelize or get
involved with some missionary work. Some
of the reasons are as follows; 1) Our Lord commanded us to evangelize; 2)
evangelizing is the secret behind the first church’s success; 3) it is ethical
to evangelize in the west; 4) evangelizing helps us help people fight the evil
in this world. In general, people
live in emptiness. The emptiness
leads them to condemnation as they fall into the devil’s trap.
This then makes them not know what to do about it; 5) other religions
have spread out throughout the west (i.e., Far East Religions, cults,
Islam, and Atheism); and 6) modern Christian churches lost their connection to
the historical church, which resulted in several churches with “spiritual
void.”
In this
lesson, we will discuss the first and second reasons.
1. Our Lord Jesus Christ's
last words on earth were, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the end of the age." (Matt: 28:19-20)
2. There are many other
direct verses that urge us to do the evangelistic work.
A good reference book that lists the verses is written by H.G Bishop
Antonius Markos, called “An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, written
by H.G. Bishop Antonius Markos.”
3. The spirit and the essence
of the New Testament is "For God so loved the world that He gave His only
Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be perish but may have eternal
life.” (John 3:16) So, God's heart
is in the salvation of everyone. He
offered the highest price anyone could pay, His life on the cross, after a
horrible death. He is looking for us
to spread this great news of salvation. Notice
the words “so everyone who believes.” He
did not talk about masses of people, but His love and interest is in the
salvation of everyone.
4. The same intense burning
desire of the Lord to save each individual is noted in Luke 15, where He talks
about three parables: 'The Lost Sheep,' 'The
Lost Coin,' and 'The Lost Son.' In
each parable, we can see where God’s heart is.
How many of you come in contact each day with lost ones?
It is the Lord’s desire to find someone like you and me to carry out
the gospel joyful message, the word of life, and the light of salvation to those
lost ones.
5. Take a look at this
striking verse, “There would be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."
Think about how much joy you may give to heaven over the course of your
life if you work as an evangelizer!
6. Over 25 years ago, an old
wise servant, named Ayaad, used to lecture in the Sunday school servants meeting
that I attended. Ayaad was a truly spiritual person. His words always inflamed
our hearts with the love of our Lord and His Children. His tears were great
witness to the burning-flames of love for the lost sheep in his heart.
One day Ayaad told us this story: “A Sunday school servant saw a person
entering the church one day, whom he did not see before in the church.
He ran to him and welcomed him warmly. The person looked at the servant
in amazement and asked him if he knew him. The
servant answered, 'yes, my beloved I have been praying for this moment for
twenty years.' These were Ayaad’
last words before his eyes were full of tears, and he sat down.
His words touched our hearts deeply that day because he was speaking from
the bottom of his heart.
Dear friend,
we need to learn how to care about the salvation of others, as we care about our
own salvation. Imagine on the last
day, you find out that your name is not written in the book of life?
Think about it. Would you
like this to happen you? If not, then we should help others to have their names
written in the book of life through evangelism. We need to have the love of the
Lord for the lost sheep in our hearts and work in evangelism as hard as we can.
Second:
Evangelizing is the secret behind the first church’s success.
1. Historians estimated that
the early church was growing on an annual rate of 40 %.
This is why Christianity reached most of the civilized known world at the
time in a very short duration.
2. The Holy Spirit was
working strongly because people, like you and I, were ready to follow the Lord
no matter what the price was, including death.
3. They truly believed that
their lives were not theirs anymore, but rather the life of Christ in them. They
no longer lived for themselves but for the Lord, who died for them and was
raised from the death. Can you and I
compare our faith and our love to theirs? I
would be the first to confess my weak faith.
But let us courageously confess these sins, and ask God to help us not to
live for ourselves anymore. Let our
work in evangelism and our love for our brothers and sisters erase these years
of ignorance of the value of the grace of God!
God needs those people who put Him first in the lives, because He is
their life. Away from God, we have
no life, something all of us experienced repeatedly, but never convinced.
Isn't time to surrender our will and our lives to God, and choose life
instead of the spiritual death we live in now?
4. When it comes to
evangelism, there is no more joyful news than what you read in H.G. Bishop
Antonious Markos’s book “An Introduction Into Theology of Mission,” whom I
refer to as “The father of evangelism in the Coptic Church in the twentieth
century.” In his book, he has
devoted an entire chapter to explain this point alone (Chapter IX).
I urge you to read this chapter to enjoy reading about the source and
effect of evangelism in the early church, the church of the Apostles.
5. To
see what happened in the first church, I like to quote just one verse, “And
the Lord added to the church daily who were being saved.” (Acts
2:47)
6. Now, I would like to ask,
“How much joy did they have? Was it an earthly joy that goes away after a
while, or a heavenly joy that grew into more inner peace, more boldness to
evangelize, and more joy? I think the second answer is the correct one.
I will not hesitate to say,” the source of our sadness is lacking of
our life commitment to God and also lack of our love to the lost sheep.”
Are you eager to start to start to evangelize?
Although we are weak and we do not know that much about evangelism,
God’s promises always left us to look not at ourselves but at Him.
God promised that He would be with us unto the end of age.
My friend, no matter how old are you, or how much you know, or how strong
or weak you are, put your life in God’s Hands, and let His Spirit strengthen
you, complete every weakness you have, and lead you.
But make it a very serious commitment in your life.
Make it as one of your everyday’s necessities.
Make it a one-time surrender to God.
Decide in your heart that this is the beginning of a life that you longed
to live for a long time. Decide that
there is no turning back, by the grace of God, the One Who loves you dearly and
needs your salvation first. I urge
you to make this decision.
In conclusion
of this summary, let me suggest our motto: “Let
Us Grow Together.”
Let us help each other. Encourage each other. Remind each other with the responsibilities we have before God. Work hard in evangelism. Constantly pray for each other and for every soul we get in touch with. Let us concentrate on His love and His grace that is available to each of us, which is more precious than anything in this world.
Pray for me
and for all your brothers and sisters in evangelism, as we also pray for you.
Glory be to His name forever. Amen
Reference: Please read the
first chapter of H.G. Bishop Antonius Markos’ s book "An Introduction
into Theology of