We are not going to discuss technique or even doctrine but the inward qualities of effective gospel witnessing. Notice five of these: knowledge, earnestness, faithfulness, dignity and tenderness. These are the indispensables of true evangelism.
Knowledge
We remember hearing a listener say to his neighbor at an open-air meeting, “This man knows what he is talking about.” He said it of the preacher and at once settled down to listen. The preacher had the sure touch which gave his speech attractiveness and commanding interest. He held his hearers. No one moved away while he spoke; they wanted to hear him through.
It will take time to reach this proficiency, so be patient. It may demand much reading; then be diligent. It may require careful observation of how others do it; so be observant. It will need much prayer in preparation for such service; therefore, be an intercessor.
Read Scripture first, then other ministry. In listening to oral ministry, be as diligent to learn as if it were part of your reading. Be sure to think of what you read and hear. If writing aids your thoughts, write; if meditating aloud clarifies your thought, then do it. Find your own medium but be soaked in it as a submerged sponge is filled with water. Always be gathering new material; a notebook will catch the thought that will fly from you.
Get your preaching aim right, so that your objective is clear; get a true grasp of your subject so that you can command clarity. Strive for a simple sequence in your message so that it is easy for your hearers to follow, and get a right emphasis, a true focus of the vital points of your message. Knowledge is power.
Earnestness
This is an indispensable ingredient of true gospel witness. “It is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” Do not mistake vehemence for earnestness, nor loudness, nor ranting. It is not like the lion’s part in Midsummer Night’s Dream of which Quince says, “You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.”
The constituents of earnestness are as follows:
1. Conviction of the truth: If a man is not sure of a truth, he cannot be enthusiastic about it, but if like Jeremiah he can say, “His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forebearing, and I could not stay,” then his words will make an impact. So it was with the apostles: “We cannot but speak the things which we have heard and seen.” Paul, too, stated: “Necessity is laid upon me; for woe unto me, if I preach not the gospel.”
If you have no burning conviction, keep away from preaching till you get it. Dr. Johnson, speaking of the discourse of a certain Dr. Priestley, said, “He unsettled everything and settles nothing.” The secret of influential and persuasive speech is the intensity born of the conviction of truth.
2. Realizing the peril of the unsaved: Have you noticed the passionate energy of Galatians? This comes from Paul’s realization of his readers’ peril and his eagerness to rescue them. He who rushes from a burning building cries, Fire! Fire!
Startling, urgent, intense, arousing words are needed. There is a fire!
The story is told of a mountaineer who, hearing a cry, found a fellow-climber in a position of extreme peril on the side of a precipice. Making a supreme effort, he effected a rescue. The next day, showing a friend at the scene what had happened, he found himself unable to get near the place where the climber had clung the previous day. Why? Because there was not a life to be saved as there had been then.
Earnestness cannot be counterfeited; no art can successfully simulate it. Realization of the peril of the unsaved, laid in the soul of the preacher by the Holy Spirit, alone can give it. Without it the message will lack winning power. The absence of conversions in many places where clear and able preaching are the rule is due to some lack here. Cry to God for a holy earnestness to clothe your preaching.
Faithfulness
God’s charge to Jeremiah was, “Speak all the words that I command thee unto them; diminish not a word” (Jer. 26:2). Not a word! Again invective, impudence, and abuse must not be mistaken for faithfulness, but “the preaching that I bid thee” (Jonah 3:2).
God has recorded some solemn charges to His servants, warning them against failure in this grace of faithfulness, as to Ezekiel, “If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand.” Paul could look this word in the face and say, “I am pure from the blood of all men.”
It was said of a certain preacher, “He speaks as though the Lord was standing at his shoulder.” So should the Lord’s servant always speak. Seek a sense of being answerable to Him, remembering His word, “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works?” Be sure of God and of the gospel; be ready to preach it anywhere and at any time. Seek men’s good, not merely their good opinion. And because you have an account to give, seek earnestly to deliver your own soul from the charge of hiding God’s counsel with your words.
Dignity
Keep in mind the glory of the message and use no method unworthy of it. In your desire to adapt it, do not cheapen it: in your endeavor to make it plain, do not make it vulgar. Avoid the flippant. Do not be misled into thinking you have achieved anything when you provoke laughter. You are a herald, not an entertainer. Of all gifts, use humor most sparingly in the work of the gospel. If I were asked, “What is the true demeanor of the evangelist?” I should reply, “Happy gravity.” Here is William Cowper’s picture of him:
There stands the messenger of truth; there stands
The legate of the skies! His theme divine
His office sacred, his credentials clear.
By him the violated Law speaks out
Its thunders; and by him, in strains as sweet
As angels use, the gospel whispers peace.
And this he writes of his speech:
He that negotiates between God and man
As God’s ambassador, the grand concerns
Of goodness and of mercy should beware
Of lightness in his speech. ‘Tis pitiful
To court a grin, when you should woo a soul,
To break a jest, when pity would inspire.
Let your preaching as well as your demeanor “be as becometh the gospel of Christ” and seek grace never to lower the dignity of a message which deals with themes so noble and raises issues so tremendous. And never forget that there is a world of difference between dignity and pomposity.
Tenderness
Tenderness is not incompatible with faithfulness. John Newton had a text on his study wall, “Remember that thou wert a bondman in Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee.” Paul, speaking of enemies of the cross, speaks in faithfulness of their end being destruction, but he tells it with tears, “even weeping.”
How tender was the Lord Jesus. He touched the leper. He received sinners and ate with them. Again and again we read of Him being moved with compassion toward the multitude. There is nothing more revolting than to hear solemn warnings uttered without feeling and even with evident relish. Remember the words of Bonar to McCheyne about his sermon on “The wicked shall be turned into hell”: “Were you able to preach it with tenderness?”
Compassion is strengthened as we keep a sense of how completely we ourselves are debtors to mercy and hold in mind how the compassions of God dealt with us as we preach in living touch with the Redeemer God who gave His well-beloved Son, because He loved us and longed to save us.