Evangelism

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matt. 7:15-20)

This passage used to really stress me out.  Until fairly recently, I read this thinking Jesus Himself was telling me my main job in the body of Christ was recruitment.  Surely we need new souls hearing about Jesus, more people learning of the joy of the gospel message, more people turning their lives over to Christ.  I thought that must be the “fruit” Jesus was talking about: “Bad people drag others to hell with them.  Christians should bring converts with them to heaven,” I thought.

At times the guilt and stress I felt over this passage dragged my Christian life, participation, and even my relationship with Christ down.  Finally, a friend pointed out the fruit Jesus is talking about in the believer are the fruit of the Spirit, and the guilt and stress cleared. 

Jesus is saying here we need to spend time with Him and in His Word to grow stronger in the fruit listed in Gal. 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23)

As we yield more of our lives to God’s Spirit,  grow in grace through prayer, Bible study, and Christian fellowship; we grow in the fruit of the Spirit.  Our love, joy, peace, and, so on grow in us as we become more like Jesus.  And as that happens,  evangelism becomes so much more natural.  When we are filled to overflowing with the joy of our relationship with Him.  We can’t help but share that joy with others.

A couple of weeks ago, I finished the final week of a five session class on Christian apologetics.  That final week, we talked about the deity of Christ, the incarnation, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Just before class a friend asked me how I was.  I smiled and said, “I get to talk to people about Jesus for an hour and a half.  What’s better than that?”  What is better than that? 

How many people have I seen come to Christ through my sharing?  I’ve never really sat down and thought about it, but I’m sure (not counting church events) I could count them on both hands and still have a couple of fingers left.  And, I’ve been a Christian for 46 years.

Why is this important?

How many people have I shared  God’s truth with?  More times than I can count. 

At my previous church I taught a Bible class.  When each class was finished, I would sometimes write something on the board to stimulate the class that filled the room next.  Once I wrote “It is not our job to save people.”  They were a little shocked, and I heard about it the following week. There is a lot of truth in that, though.  It is our job to share, to inform, not necessarily to cut notches in our Bibles.

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. (1 Cor. 3:6-7)

Sometimes we’re plangers, sometimes we’re waterers.  Some of us tell someone of Jesus for the first time.  Some of us add to that act by sharing more.  It’s God who does the work to bring someone to His Son. True, He usually uses us to do that.

Some of us are evangelists.  I am so fascinated by these folks who seem to be able to start a discussion about the Lord and have a stranger repeating the Sinner’s Prayer a few minutes later.  It’s their gift and God blesses it.  I don’t have that gift.

Isn’t it just like God, though, to present us with the opportunity to share, gives us the words to say, touches the heart of the lost person, then gives us the reward.  We serve an awesome God.