MLJ on Evangelism
Last night I listened to "the Doctor," D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preach on evangelism. You can listen to the sermon for yourself here. He took for his text 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10. He is answering the question, "How should we approach evangelism today?" And his answers might just surprise you.
First, what we need is not newer, better, more relevant methods. We don't need to look to businesses, to advertisers, or to marketers for help reaching non-Christians. Our power isn't in methods, however clever or attractive they are. Our power has never been there. This was not Paul's way in Thessalonica. Paul did not have the looks of a movie star; but he did have the gospel, that eternal message of good news! He had something to proclaim about Jesus. Woe to us if we trust more in our methods than in our message.
Second, this gospel comes through two essential means: preaching and changed lives. It is a preached gospel, which comes in words. It is truth mediated through personality. It has doctrine about man, about God, and about Christ. This doctrine is received when preached. The Holy Spirit works most powerfully and most normally through the word of God spoken. But that is not all, is it? He also works powerfully through the testimony, and the example, of people's lives that have been changed by the gospel. The fruit of gospel preaching is transformed lives. And this is a crucial part of non-believers turning to the living God. Having non-believers sit under the preaching of the gospel, and around those who had been changed by the gospel, this was Paul's way of evangelism in Thessalonica.
Third, this gospel starts by confronting the idols we worship instead of the living God. They had idols from which to turn; gods of stone, metal and wood who could not speak or hear or act. We have idols too; cars, houses, possessions, sex, children, power, money and many more that we worship and bow down to. We worship something other than the living God, for which we are under his just judgment. It is God, the living and true God, with which we shall have to deal. And we have spurned him, ignored him, and refused to worship him. This is the judgment from which we need deliverance. This is the bad news that comes before the good news. Our hearts mass produce all kinds of idols.
Fourth, the gospel sets forth Jesus as the Deliverer from the judgment our sin deserves. Jesus has come and taken our sin. Jesus raised from the dead in power and is coming again. He is not merely our example, or our teacher; rather he is our Deliverer, our Savior. He is the one who bore our iniquities, and was crushed for them. The very reason he came was to die upon the cross for our sins in order that he might deliver us from the wrath to come. Paul set forth Jesus as the Hero in which the Thessalonicans could hope. Shame on us if Jesus we fail to set forth Jesus as the Hero of the story. But we cannot set Him forth as the Hero if unbelievers do not understand the seriousness of their predicament before the true and living God.
Fifth, the gospel only truly comes home by the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the power only as it comes power by the Holy Ghost. We don't have the power; but God does. And if it is to come in power, it will be the work of the Spirit. We are helpless apart from his work. We are foolish to think otherwise. With men it is impossible; with God all things are possible. This is to our comfort, because our efforts are undergirded by the Spirit's work and power. This is to our shame, because how often do we really seek his help?
The truth remains unchanged and unchanging. And the power of the blessed Holy Spirit remains undiminished. May the Lord speak with that voice that raises from the dead, and revive his work in our midst. This is true evangelism.
First, what we need is not newer, better, more relevant methods. We don't need to look to businesses, to advertisers, or to marketers for help reaching non-Christians. Our power isn't in methods, however clever or attractive they are. Our power has never been there. This was not Paul's way in Thessalonica. Paul did not have the looks of a movie star; but he did have the gospel, that eternal message of good news! He had something to proclaim about Jesus. Woe to us if we trust more in our methods than in our message.
Second, this gospel comes through two essential means: preaching and changed lives. It is a preached gospel, which comes in words. It is truth mediated through personality. It has doctrine about man, about God, and about Christ. This doctrine is received when preached. The Holy Spirit works most powerfully and most normally through the word of God spoken. But that is not all, is it? He also works powerfully through the testimony, and the example, of people's lives that have been changed by the gospel. The fruit of gospel preaching is transformed lives. And this is a crucial part of non-believers turning to the living God. Having non-believers sit under the preaching of the gospel, and around those who had been changed by the gospel, this was Paul's way of evangelism in Thessalonica.
Third, this gospel starts by confronting the idols we worship instead of the living God. They had idols from which to turn; gods of stone, metal and wood who could not speak or hear or act. We have idols too; cars, houses, possessions, sex, children, power, money and many more that we worship and bow down to. We worship something other than the living God, for which we are under his just judgment. It is God, the living and true God, with which we shall have to deal. And we have spurned him, ignored him, and refused to worship him. This is the judgment from which we need deliverance. This is the bad news that comes before the good news. Our hearts mass produce all kinds of idols.
Fourth, the gospel sets forth Jesus as the Deliverer from the judgment our sin deserves. Jesus has come and taken our sin. Jesus raised from the dead in power and is coming again. He is not merely our example, or our teacher; rather he is our Deliverer, our Savior. He is the one who bore our iniquities, and was crushed for them. The very reason he came was to die upon the cross for our sins in order that he might deliver us from the wrath to come. Paul set forth Jesus as the Hero in which the Thessalonicans could hope. Shame on us if Jesus we fail to set forth Jesus as the Hero of the story. But we cannot set Him forth as the Hero if unbelievers do not understand the seriousness of their predicament before the true and living God.
Fifth, the gospel only truly comes home by the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the power only as it comes power by the Holy Ghost. We don't have the power; but God does. And if it is to come in power, it will be the work of the Spirit. We are helpless apart from his work. We are foolish to think otherwise. With men it is impossible; with God all things are possible. This is to our comfort, because our efforts are undergirded by the Spirit's work and power. This is to our shame, because how often do we really seek his help?
The truth remains unchanged and unchanging. And the power of the blessed Holy Spirit remains undiminished. May the Lord speak with that voice that raises from the dead, and revive his work in our midst. This is true evangelism.