This is the first main chapter of an upcoming book tentatively titled, Sharing the Gospel the New Testament Way
All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95)
Chapter 1: Evangelism is a Fruit of the Spirit
Brother or sister, did you know that one of the purposes for you being saved was so that you would be a flesh and blood sign for the gospel? Yes, you are a member of Christ’s body on earth partly so you can share the good news with the perishing sinners around you. This is exactly what the apostle Peter writes in his first letter:
“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 . . .” – 1 Pet. 2:9
Here, he’s addressing a whole group of believers in a wide area, but this nevertheless applies to individuals. You are of the chosen race, a royal priest, a holy citizen, and a possession of God, so that you can proclaim His excellencies. What are God’s excellencies? They are His excellent characteristics that He has put on display through the life, death, and reign of Jesus His Son. We are to proclaim, or announce, those virtues and deeds in our everyday lives, as we live distinctly as special, heavenly, people on earth.
In other words, as we go about our day to day lives, we ought to act so differently from the rest of the world, that we’ll impulsively imitate and speak of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Likewise, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the Christian’s job description when he declares,
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” – 2 Cor. 5:17-19
As a new creation in Christ who has been reconciled to God, you have been given the ministry, or “service,” of reconciliation, so that you can share the message about reconciliation to those who are alienated from God.
To put it simply, the whole of God’s people on earth now are to continue the work of preaching and teaching that the Lord Jesus began when He was on earth. He said that He had come “to save and to seek that which was lost,” and when He began His public ministry, He “came into Galilee and began to preach, saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Lk. 19:10; Mk. 1:14-15). And since the body of Christ was established to carry on this work, this is one of the purposes of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who baptizes us into Jesus (1 Cor. 12:13).
The Scriptures teach that all believers in Jesus possess the presence of God the Spirit in their hearts. And Jesus Himself said that His Spirit was sent
“’. . . to you from the Father . . . [and] He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.’” – Jn. 15:26-27
This was said to the apostles, but the principle applies to all believers, since they possess the same Spirit. Since the Spirit is living inside of believers to testify to Jesus, then it follows that He leads His dwelling places (believers) to do the same. Thus, it can be truly said that one of the fruits, or results, of the Spirit’s indwelling is asserting the claims and deeds of Jesus to unbelievers, so they can be judged according to their response.
The question is, why does the Holy Spirit lead Christians to testify to the deeds of Jesus? There are three main reasons. First, to share what He’s done in His life, death, and ascension is to declare the most praiseworthy acts of God. And as we saw to begin, God’s people work together to do this very thing in proclaiming His “excellencies”.
The second part of answering this question has to do with the destinies of those who hear the testimony of believers about the Lord. According to Scripture, there are two main groups of people in history – those who will end up in hell, and those who will go to heaven. Paul in Romans 9:22 refers to the first group as those “prepared for destruction,” and he often refers to the second group as the “elect,” or the “chosen” (Eph. 1; 2 Thess. 2). Thus, when believers share the gospel, they are communicating it to one of these two groups, which affects what its purpose is in their evangelism.
For the reprobate, or those who are destined to suffer the due penalty for their sins, they learn the gospel for at least one main purpose. This is so that God will get the glory for offering them mercy on the day of judgement, even though they have rejected it. On the other hand, the most obvious purpose for which the Spirit discloses the gospel to those who are eventually saved is to effect their salvation by giving them faith in Jesus. This is what is often called the Spirit’s “effectual call,” or His call through the gospel that persuades sinners to repent and trust in Jesus.
Whether a believer is speaking to someone who will ultimately reject the gospel, or a chosen sinner, it’s the Spirit who motivates him to share the gospel. And this sharing is ultimately so that the Lord Jesus will be recognized and praised for His goodness and wondrous deeds. Therefore, sharing the gospel is simply a normal result of walking through the Spirit’s power (Gal. 5).
Although evangelism is a natural by-product of being led by the Spirit, I’m obviously writing this book to cultivate, develop, and encourage believers’ ability and desire to preach. Which is why Scripture itself contains the ideal models we need to learn how, when, and who to share the gospel with. As a starting point for the best Scriptural models of gospel-preaching, we’ll turn to none other than the great apostle to the Gentiles, Paul the preacher.
Reflection Questions
- What is evangelism?
- Why is evangelism a fruit, or result, of the Spirit?
- What are a few of the ultimate purposes for us sharing the gospel with unbelievers?
BEARING CHRIST CRUCIFIED AND RISEN 