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The Christian Duty of Evangelism

In the Great Commission, there are two phrases which are often missed.

1. “As you go, make disciples”. The word is not go; it is as you go.
2. “teaching them to obey everything”

“As you go.” Christians are “going” all the time. It is “as they go” that making disciples takes place. It is not a special event; it is a continual event meant to happen throughout the course of your normal, daily life. You are meant to be making disciples as you go.

"Teaching them to obey everything." In the Great Commission, the Apostles were commanded to do three things: Make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything that Jesus commanded His apostles.

These new Christians were taught to obey everything. That includes making disciples, baptizing, and teaching everyone to obey. Therefore, all Christians are commanded to make disciples, baptize, and teach obedience. Every Christian is an evangelist, just by being Christian.

Here are the ingredients of evangelism:

• Be saved and know it. “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
• Rejoice always.
• Love God.
• Love your neighbor.
• Love your enemy.
• Love your brother.
• Love your wife.
• Love anyone who is in front of you at any given time.
• Be convinced that there is a Heaven.
• Be convinced that there is a Hell.
• Care about everyone you meet.
• Understand the Gospel and that God does the saving. “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve” (1 Cor. 15:1-5).
• Pray that God will lead you to the harvest and the harvest to you.

“Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field'" (Matt. 9:37-38). If this text is still true, then there are more people who are ready to be harvested than there are Christians who want them harvested. If you want to be an effective evangelist, then do some confessing about your previous years evangelizing. You do not need to help God out. God needs to help you.

Perhaps the best way of evangelizing to the homeless is in Luke: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14).

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