All Scripture quotations are taken from New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95), published by The Lockman Foundation

In today’s western Bible-believing Christianity, there’s a severe lack of effort from believers to share the gospel with the unbelievers in their daily lives. If you’re the average evangelical Christian, you probably rarely explain the message of salvation with your regular neighbors, if ever. Yet, if you read the New Testament, and the history of many Christian groups, you’ll find that one essential aspect of serving the Lord Jesus is opening your mouth with the words of life, for those who make no claim to worship the Lord. In other words, we western believers are largely failing to live out the commission that Jesus gave to His apostles in Matthew 28, and in Acts 1. He told them to “make disciples of all nations,” and to “be My witnesses”. Yet very few believers make this service for unbelievers a regular part of their everyday lives.

What are the main reasons for our failures to share the only message that can give salvation, forgiveness, peace, joy, and eternal life to people that are wasting away in their sins and deceptions? In the West, Christianity is largely lived out too casually or even secularly. By “casually,” I mean that many, if not most, western believers, act far below the standards of living taught us in the New Testament. They tend to think that going to church, reading the Bible occasionally, and praying ritualistically, cover the bases of what it means to be a servant of Jesus. Sadly, this is usually because such Christians are either falsely convinced of their possession of faith, or because they are spiritual babies. In the case of living “secularly,” I’m describing that mode of Christian living in which one falsely divides between his spiritual activities and his normal activities. In other words, this is the sort of lifestyle in which you confine most of your outwardly Christian practices to times by yourself, while you largely act like most unbelievers when you’re in a public setting. This too is a horrible tragedy, and a death-dealing attack on believers’ holiness, and their spread of the gospel.

Besides these two reasons for the failure of western Christians to preach the gospel on a regular basis, I want to highlight one that is often overlooked. This is the hindrance of deep, intimate, and brotherly fellowship among local assemblies. I say this is a major reason because the New Testament is insistent that one of the main motivators of evangelism is the Christian’s unhindered unity and fellowship with his local brethren.

Let me give you a few Scriptures that teach this vital fact.

Scriptures About Fellowship Driving Evangelism

First, consider Jesus’s words to His apostles at the Last Supper, after He commands them to love each other as He loved them:

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Although this doesn’t directly state that the disciples’ love for each other will inevitably motivate them to preach the gospel, it does imply something closely related. Jesus here promises that our love for each other will betray our highest allegiance to the watching world. Through our love for each other, we show unbelievers that we are obedient to Jesus. This implies that those who learn this from us will come to know who Jesus is, and what He commands people to do. Therefore, one of the chief ways in which we validate our preaching of the gospel is our lifestyle of loving our brethren in Jesus.

Second, Peter gives us an even clearer description of the relationship between Christian unity and evangelism in 1 Peter 2:9, which declares,

“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light . . .”

This declaration gives us an emphatic purpose for the character of God’s people. First, note that he describes Christians as a “race,” a “nation,” and a “people”. What should be obvious is that all these terms define a united group of people. As a race, believers have a unique ancestor; and as a nation, we possess a structure of shared values, co-dependent roles, and a common purpose. Without these qualities, then, it’s impossible for us to fulfill the purpose that Peter then gives us.

Our purpose is undoubtedly evangelistic for at least two reasons. First, by binding all believers together in his four descriptions, he’s implying that the proclamation of God’s “excellencies” must be directed toward persons that are outside the community he’s described. Second, all these descriptions are quoted from Old Testament passages describing the nation of Israel, which implies that the body of Christ shares the same purpose that they did. What was this purpose? They were to be a separate, pure, and successful, people, so that other nations would be persuaded to worship their God. And this is the very purpose that we as Christians have.

Finally, don’t miss the main deed that Peter ascribes to believers. It’s to “proclaim the excellencies” of the divine Commander who called us. This clearly means that the Assembly’s witness to the world is to at least be mainly verbal. However, it also conveys a metaphorical sense of simply communicating the greatness and goodness of Jesus to the world through the display of our holy character as God’s family. Thus, we see here both the corporate and individual aspects of our witness to unbelievers around us.

To sum up what we’ve just seen, God’s Word explains that the mutual love and unity of believers is the primary means by which we spread the gospel to the unbelieving world around us. Let me provide you with historical examples of this from the Book of Acts. In at least two places, the author, Luke, links the unity and love of the body of Christ with the Lord’s work of converting sinners to join their community. Take the aftermath of the first ingathering of the Day of Pentecost:

“Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:46-47

See how Luke immediately follows the love of the brethren for each other with people being saved among them? Now take a look at a less clear example in Acts 5:11-14:

“And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things. At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number . . .”

This account follows the supernatural executions of two sinning members of the Jerusalem assembly. As a result of this divine judgment, the assembly is given “great fear,” which includes a greater reverence for the Lord. Also, Luke again records that they were “with one accord in Solomon’s portico,” or regularly meeting together for prayer and encouragement. Then, following this collective fear and unity, he repeats what he said when describing the days following Pentecost. “Believers in the Lord . . . were constantly added” to them (v. 14). Thus, we see another causal link between the holiness and unity of a fellowship, and the evangelistic effect they have on the watching world.

One other feature of believers’ unity and love for each other must be added to our consideration. We’ve already seen that our unity and general concern for each other is one of the most significant instruments the Lord uses to testify to the message of salvation to unbelievers. But we’ve yet to see how our unity and love practically motivates and teaches us to individually share the gospel with unbelievers in our lives.

One of the clearest Scriptures that describes this function of local fellowships is Paul’s description of the body’s growth in Ephesians 4:11-12:

“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ . . .”

I have to concede that according to the whole context of this passage, Paul is mostly describing the body’s internal growth in Christlikeness, as each believer in the body grows individually. However, he’s also implying outward growth in number, as we just saw in Acts. Other Scriptures could be added to show that the apostles promised that unbelievers would be converted through the witness of the saints. One of the most obvious proofs of this is the fact that you and I were saved and converted at some point (or ought to now). We know intuitively that one of the main reasons we’re still on this earth is to share the gospel, and enable some to repent and be saved.

Now going back to this passage, Paul provides us with the Lord’s plan for the numerical increase of the Assembly. There are two main facets of our redemptive work. First, there’s “the equipping,” and then there’s “the work of service.” We are here told that the Lord Jesus has gifted certain men as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds who are teachers, so that they’ll equip the rest of the saints to do works of “service.” Clearly, the main means by which the gifted leaders equip the saints is by teaching them to serve. And what are they to teach? According to Paul in his letters to Timothy and Titus, this teaching is that which “accords with godliness”. In the words of the Great Commission, they must teach the saints to “observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19). Having been taught how to serve, the rest of the saints are then to work in serving others. According to the rest of the New Testament, and Ephesians 4, this service is mainly about serving believers, but it must also include the service of sinners. After all, Jesus Himself served those who didn’t believe in Him, and Paul also urges the Galatians in chapter 6 of his letter, “. . . let us do good to all men.” And what is the greatest good we can do for unbelievers? It’s clearly to explain the gospel to them, and urge them to change their minds and trust in Jesus.

Paul effectively urges this work in Philippians 2:14-16, writing,

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life . . .”

Now that we’ve seen some of the main Scriptures detailing the relationship between Christian unity and evangelism, I want to briefly outline the specific ways in which our love for each other ought to motivate us to make the effort to share the good news of the Savior with our unbelieving neighbors.

How Brotherly Love Motivates Evangelism

As we’ve already touched on, there are two major ways in which our loving fellowship with our Christian brethren should empower our witness to unbelievers in our communities. The first is our corporate witness, and the second has to do with our individual witness in our individual routines.

To reiterate our corporate testimony about the gospel, we display God’s love for His children by loving each other. John makes this clear in 1 John 4, where he says God’s love for us motivates us to love other children of God. In so doing, we imitate God’s love. It’s clear from a holistic study of the New Testament, and of extra-biblical history, that our love for each other is meant to attract unbelievers to us, and to our message of salvation. This is due to the fact that no such love for people can be expressed between unbelievers, even between family members. Instead of their natural love, what we demonstrate to the world is a selfless, others-centered, Christlike love for people with far different backgrounds, but with the same love for Jesus. This unifying and joy-producing love is something that many unbelievers recognize they lack, but ought to exercise.

In all of our corporate relationships as the body of Christ, the most conspicuous trait the world sees between us must be our love and affection for each other. As the Lord said, by our love for each other, the world knows that we obey and imitate Him. However, our love for each other isn’t only meant to identify us, but also to attract unbelievers to our communities, and to our message. By seeing our love for each other, we ought to be able to produce a longing in unbelievers to experience that love that we’ve experienced, and then express in response.

Furthermore, as an outworking of our love for each other, we ought to be affected by the dire lack we see unbelievers suffering from in their lives. We ought to pity them for their poverty of true, godly, love for others, and from their friends. This can produce compassion in us, and motivate us to take the Gospel of reconciliation and love to them, so they can experience the love of God that we’re enjoying.

As for the ways this love for each other enables and motivates us to make continued and greater efforts to share the gospel, there are at least a few notable ones. As we saw from Ephesians 4, our regular meetings together are partly meant to remind, instruct, and encourage us to share the good news with our unbelieving neighbors. According to the apostolic pattern of the early Assembly in the New Testament, the main way we’re supposed to remind each other of the Gospel is by celebrating the Lord’s Supper together. In multiple Scriptures, it’s said that this remembrance meal was ideally celebrated every time a local community of believers gathered, so they could “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). Also, when you read through the Book of Acts, Luke recounts that the early believers were devoting themselves to “the breaking of bread,” which points back to that phraseology used in his Gospel, most notably to the first Lord’s Supper. Added to this repeated phrase is an account of an assembly gathering “on the first day of the week” to “break bread” (Acts 20:7). When you synthesize these accounts with Paul’s description of the Corinthians’ meeting “together as a church” specifically to “eat the Lord’s Supper,” it’s clear that the core activity of the first assemblies was a celebration meal given this name because it was a reenactment of Jesus’s last supper with His apostles. This early assembly meal was the original form of the truncated rituals we today call the Lord’s Supper. Despite the differences, Paul makes clear that the Lord’s Supper was the main way that the early Christians remembered the core features of the Gospel together, including their unity in Jesus, and the salvation that He was spreading throughout the known world.

Given this New Testament emphasis on the Lord’s Supper as the main corporate instrument for remembering and celebrating the Lord’s work in the Gospel, we ought to consider it as an essential part of our own recitation and reapplication of the Gospel to our weekly lives. Of course, besides the Lord’s Supper (and ideally through the Lord’s Supper), we also encourage each other to preach the Gospel through our general mutual encouragement toward greater love and goodness, as Hebrews 10:24-25 outlines.

As part of our regular coming together for encouragement, remembrance, and instruction, I also want to make note of the often neglected role that evangelists ought to have in promoting the body’s personal evangelism. We already saw in Ephesians 4 that one of the leadership roles that the Lord gave to His people was “evangelists”. And if you remember what verse 11 said, He gave those evangelists as some of the teachers that would “equip the saints for the work of service”. Thus, in our thinking about our evangelistic encouragement, training, and motivation, we ought to give a proper place for men who are specifically called and gifted to preach and teach the Gospel on a regular basis. Clearly, Paul must have been implying that these men would have some role in teaching believers how to share the Gospel in some way.

Evaluating Your Assembly’s Love through Evangelism

In light of all that’s been discussed in this lesson, there’s at least one main principle I want you to take away – the more loving your assembly has for each other, the more diligent they will be in sharing the Gospel with their unbelieving neighbors. Hence, one way you can gauge your love for your brethren, and their love for each other, is by the amount of evangelistic activity you and they are engaged in. Obviously, this isn’t the most direct or clear indicator of Christian unity and love, but it certainly is oneof the most neglected. If we’re genuinely loving one another as brothers and sisters, then we will be more motivated and adequate to preach the Gospel to our non-Christian co-workers, family members, and acquaintances.

Again, the reason for this correlation is that the more we love each other, the more we’ll be encouraging and counseling each other in godliness and righteousness. And as we grow in our Christlikeness, or imitation of our Lord, we’ll become increasingly compassionate, zealous, and bold in our attitudes toward the unbelievers around us. If we’re truly united in the Lord and Savior of mankind, then we’ll be impelled by His love to go out into all the world, to preach the Gospel, and to make disciples of any nation.

If you see a lack in your own evangelistic zeal, then repent and confess to the Lord, meditate on the Gospel til the love of Jesus controls you (2 Cor. 5), and lock arms with your local brethren to help each other be better imitators of the Savior, and bold ambassadors for our ruling King and returning Judge of all.