Let me start out by making an admission–I am not an evangelist. When called on to preach the gospel, I will step up and do my best, but by gift and inclination, I believe the Lord has gifted me otherwise. And yet I would like to suggest a few thoughts that might be helpful to all who are called on to preach the gospel.
CLARITY IN THE MESSAGE
The good news must be preached clearly, with the unbeliever in mind. I sometimes find myself walking out of a meeting hearing the saints say, “It was good to hear the gospel preached so clearly”–yet I had concluded that an unbeliever would have had little understanding of what was said. The unbeliever has enough of a problem understanding the gospel without the preacher confusing the issue (2 Cor. 4:4). What are some practices that might hinder the unbeliever in understanding the gospel?
TWO TARGETS WITH ONE ARROW?
We confuse the unchurched with a message merely telling unbelievers about the need to accept the gospel instead of a message telling them the gospel. Yes, unbelievers need to be told they must respond, but it isn’t a good gospel message if we don’t stress what they must do to be saved. We are to preach the gospel of God (Rom. 1:1), the Author of it; the gospel of God’s grace (Acts 20:24), the means of it; the gospel of His Son (Rom. 1:9), the Provider of it; and the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), the objective of it. And while it is necessary to talk about man’s need of salvation, we do the evangel a grave disservice when we spend all of our time talking about man’s need, and fail to lift up Christ.
WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?
If we quote Scripture without pointing out that it is Scripture, it can often lose some of its impact. The sad fact is: we live in a biblically illiterate world. A few years ago, most people would have recognized verses from Scripture; today many people could hardly identify a single verse. If we don’t tell them that this is the Bible we are quoting, they might assume we are just expressing our own opinions or quoting some hymn or poem.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Many people in today’s world simply do not understand many of the words in the King James Version. Again, this is the product of a biblically illiterate society. A preacher of the gospel can feel free to use the KJV when he preaches, but he must take time to explain the words. Some of the phrases that are so familiar to us are completely foreign to those who were not raised in a church background. For example: Are you washed in the blood? Justification is something you do in typesetting. Redemption is something you do with coupons. Even terms like sin and iniquity must be defined.
BRIDGING THE GAP
When unsaved persons come into our meetings, are they greeted by stares and then carefully ignored? If we want people to come–and come back–they must be greeted with warmth and love, not suspicion and fear.
Some friends of mine once visited a little church group on a Sunday evening. The saints there literally lined up to meet them and by the end of the evening, they had three invitations for supper. What a powerful impression this would make on people visiting our gospel meeting if we showed this sort of love for the Saviour’s sake!
Does all of this mean that we have to water down the message and compromise on the content? Does this mean that we need worldly methods and approaches? Absolutely not! But it does mean that we need to tailor our message to our audience. It means that we need to continually point to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means that we must cultivate love and warmth for saint and sinner alike!
ONE FINAL WORD
The preaching of the gospel in our meetings does not absolve us of the responsibility to share the gospel in our everyday lives. Just because we invite people out to a gospel meeting or a special crusade doesn’t mean that our responsibility is over. Whether gifted as evangelists or gifted in some other way, we all bear a responsibility to share our faith. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15).