Why do we have to be guilt-tripped into evangelism? I have been to countless conferences and conventions throughout the course of my ministry and the prevailing theme in all these venues is the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and rightly so. Making disciples is the mission and reason for the church’s existence. We exist to glorify God and the chief way we do this is through the making of disciples. So, if this is our chief strategy for fulfilling the purpose of our existence, why is it that we have to constantly beg people to do this?
The reason conferences and conventions are constantly challenging the church to evangelize is because we are not evangelizing. We are not putting all of our weight into this effort. We are not bringing our arsenal of resources to bear on this issue. Thus, we are constantly told to evangelize, make disciples, plant churches, go the mission field, etc. The reality that we are told to do this over and over indicates conclusively that we are not motivated to act on our own. Leadership is constantly trying to motivate their constituency to obedience on this issue. Whether it is convention leadership, associational leadership, or church leadership, we are regularly bringing up the importance of evangelism and missions.
So, why are we not motivated? Why do we have so little desire to do the work of evangelism and missions? If we were motivated to the work, there would not be the incessant attempts to mobilize the church to some kind of evangelistic action. If we were motivated, then we would simply be evangelizing and rejoicing in the work that God was doing among us. Maybe the question is “What will motivate us?” The answer to the questions of why we are not motivated and what will motivate us is simply this: a vision of Christ’s glory.
Remember when Peter and John were arrested and charged by the Jewish leadership to stop speaking and teaching in Jesus name? What was their response? “But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard’” (Acts 4:19-20). They were on trial, threatened, and yet they boldly stated that it did not matter what happened to them because they could not stop speaking what they had seen and heard.
They were so captivated by what they had seen and heard in the life and work of Christ that they could not contain themselves. They were witnesses of the glory of Christ in his work of redemption. They were not salesmen trying to convince their fellow countrymen to buy into this Jesus thing. They were simply announcing with joy and delight what they had witnessed. God had come to earth in the form of a man in order to inaugurate the New Covenant of redemption and regeneration promised through the prophets long ago. The kingdom of God was at hand and this was good news. It was like the news, “The war is over!” to a war-torn America after World War II. People ran through the streets announcing the news with gladness. No one had to force them to this; no one had to motivate them to this. They spoke what they heard because the reality of the message was so wonderful they could not contain their joy. The message of Christ is like that.
When you are captivated by the news, by what you have seen and heard, you do not need to be motivated to speak because you cannot contain your speech. It is spilling over from your heart like fountain bubbling up out of the ground. We spend a lot of time telling one another to evangelize because we are not evangelizing. I think we need to target the heart of the issue. We are not evangelizing because we have lost sight of the glory and majesty of Christ in His work of redemption.
This is why we constructed the Pastor’s Conference for the Missouri Baptist Convention meeting on Oct. 28 around the theme, “Seeing and Savoring the Son of God!” The morning sessions will be three sermons dealing with the person and identity of Christ. The afternoon session will be comprised of three sermons about the work of Christ in redemption. My hope and prayer is that you will come and be reignited with a passion for Christ that will spill over into an uncontrollable announcement of this glory to everyone around you. My prayer is that we will say, “We cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard!” (Phil Bray is president of the Missouri Baptist Pastors’ Conference.)