At the end of Matthew Jesus gives us a command He desires should shape our lives as His followers: `Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.` (ESV as usual.)
In these next posts we’ll be exploring how we do that! I pray that this will bless us, but also that it may be helpful (rewritten to suit your personality!) if you’re sharing these vital themes in leading, say, a homegroup, or a youth group…
STARTER: Can you remember a time when someone tried to get you to do something or join in something? What did you like about how they did it? What didn’t you like? What got you interested?
These sessions are about how God’s rescuing our world, and our part in that. It’s the biggest adventure in the world; like we’ve just said, the one our Master told us should shape our lives!- sharing Jesus with the people He loves who don’t yet know Him, so that they can enter into their destiny as His disciples too.
Why is this so exciting and so vital? Why? Because it embodies the passionate heart of our God for this lost and dying world!
- God the Father loved the people of this world so much He gave the biggest thing He could for it, His own Son (John 3:16). Implication: if we’re growing like God, we will love the lost world as He did!
- God the Son came here, sent into the lost world by the Father, and now sends us the same way (John 17:18). Implication: if we’re truly disciples of Jesus, we’ll experience our lives as being sent out into the lost world the same way He was!
- The prime consequence for which God the Spirit was given was that we should be Jesus’ witnesses (Acts 1:8). Implication: If we’re truly filled with the Spirit, `witnesses` will truly be what we are!
So God the Trinity is here, and this is His passion; and He wants to help us grow in it!
`But evangelism? I’m no good at that!` You are, because if you’re `born again of the Spirit` you have Jesus’ Spirit, and then, whether you feel it or not, you genuinely have all the power you need (Acts 1:8)! If we live alert to this, when we get to heaven will find out what we’ve achieved – even if we weren’t the one who actually did the final harvesting. Jesus said `You’ll receive power`; and He does keep His word! The good seed, He also said, bears fruit, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty` (Matt 13:23); thirty-fold is not a bad guaranteed minimum!
So how can we grow to be more fruitful in sharing Jesus?
Through three things: the power of our prayers for friends we care about; the power of what we say; and the power of God’s own life inside us.
1. Being God’s witness starts with the enormous power of specific prayer
Even if the most articulate and well-thought-out Christian is talking to them, our friends often just seem blinded to the reality of the gospel. Have you had that experience?
2 Corinthians 4:4 says that all of us human beings have a huge supernatural barrier in our minds, until God breaks through and helps us see the truth. And we experience this every time we share God’s gospel and encounter complete incomprehension.
Only supernatural weapons can break through this supernatural barrier. Ephesians 6:17-18 tells us of the two practical weapons we have for this: God’s Word, and prayer.
Evangelism is useless without prayer. That’s why the churches that are growing fastest globally tend to be highly committed to prayer. Sometimes they still have major problems, yet when we look at how their growth has vastly outstripped what we see in Europe, we must ponder on this area of prayer.
‘We do not wrestle against flesh and blood’, says Paul, ‘but against.. the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’ (Eph 6:12); so until we make use of the supernatural weapon of prayer, our efforts and arguments will be ineffective. `You do not have, because you do not ask God` (Jam 4:2 NIV). Paul speaks of Epaphras ‘always wrestling in prayer’ (Col 4:12 NIV). Some of us give up when prayer feels like ‘wrestling’: but those tough times may be when we’re really engaging and damaging those satanic barriers!
‘Pray every day for your non‑Christian friends’, said the Norwegian Christian leader Ole Hallesby. ‘Surround them with your prayer. Each time you pray you plunge a holy explosive into their soul, and one day it will scatter the ice from around their hearts.’ Our task is faithfully to pack in that hidden dynamite, day after day; one day the Spirit of God will come and put a match to the explosive. It may be years later; it may be a month from now! But when you get to heaven we will see the results of our prayers!
Practically, then, how do we release the power of God in this way? At homegroup, let’s each seek to share for prayer the next specific small step forward we’re hoping to see in a friend’s spiritual journey. (Just one good conversation with us? the chance to invite them to an event? the chance to lend them a book?) Far too often this gets forgotten, and our group only prays about our own problems! That kind of collective selfishness doesn’t reflect Jesus! God answers prayer; and if we pray specifically we will see results…
2. Being God’s witness works because of the enormous power of our weak words when God is using them
Ephesians 6:17 tells us that our other practical weapon is the `sword of the Spirit which is the word of God`. The gospel about Jesus, His cross and salvation truly is the ‘power of God’, says God (Rom 1:16, 1 Cor 1:18).
Often we feel tempted to think that this message can only come with power when it’s preached by an expert. Not so at all! The Bible insists on God’s delight in using all of us, even ‘what is foolish in the world… what is weak in the world’ (1 Cor 1:27). Paul tells the Corinthians, `When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom… I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling` (2:1‑3, NIV). The fear we may experience is not a bad thing in itself: it can do one of two things – it can paralyze us, or drive us to cast ourselves prayerfully on God’s strength. Paul learned that his weakness made him usable for God (2 Corinthians 12:9‑10). And so that trembling man’s message became indeed the power of God to salvation; and the Corinthian church was the result. We may have those same fears – we have the same all‑powerful message (and the same Holy Spirit!)
Practically, then, if we are sharing this gospel, we have every cause to be prayerfully expectant, certain that the words we share are indeed `the power of God` (Rom 1:16). Those we share it with may not necessarily become believers immediately; but when we get to glory we will find how what we shared helped them `thaw out`; it’s step by step…
3. Being God’s witness works because of the Spirit’s life inside us
Evangelism is not just what we say. Fruitful witness combines our words (John 17:20) with a life of transformed relationships (John 17:23). ‘Let your light shine before others`, said Jesus, `that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5:16). That doesn’t mean, show off our own goodness! But, live in a way that over time provokes those around us to sense Jesus.
`But no one would sense Jesus in me!` Well, the question here is whether we believe God’s promises! If we belong to Christ at all, says Paul in Romans, we have the Spirit of Christ (8:9). Yes we’re imperfect (very), but look at what Jesus says in John 7:37-39: `Whoever believes on me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”’ – meaning the Holy Spirit, as John then observes. We live in a desert world; but Jesus promises that if anyone believes on Him, then out of them will start to flow that river of the Spirit’s fruit that Galatians 5 talks about ‑ love, joy, peace, gentleness and all the rest ‑ flowing out, softly washing away the obstacles that keep people from Christ. (Obviously this `river` will flow strongly if we’re spending regular time drawing on God’s nature in Bible reading and prayer; letting God change us in the light of that; and not blocking this natural process by sin or disobedience!)
We are very far from perfect; the Church of God is a hospital where we broken people get mended. But although there surely isn’t perfection in us, there is reality. We can see it ourselves in the ongoing, developing lives of one another. Whether they can put a name to it or not, our friends will likewise sense a difference.
But practically then: if the lives of ordinary believers are supposed to be visible to not-yet‑Christians, it’s no good our staying around Christians all the time! Jesus told His disciples that they (with all their imperfections) were the light of the world, and that nobody lights a lamp and then hides it (Matt 5:14‑16). Give other people the chance to experience God’s life!
So practically this means: Make sure you prayerfully and continually take initiative to make genuine friends who are not yet Christians. If our friends are close enough to us to see us in good times and bad, they will be able to see that the Spirit’s life is real in us. Also, it’s during extended friendship that the chance will arise sooner or later to talk naturally about our faith; maybe to lend a book; maybe to pray; ideally at some point to look together at the portrait of Jesus in His biography, one of the gospels.
Friendship is how most people become Christians. We’re asking not‑yet-believers to accept some apparently improbable things: the resurrection, the supernatural, heaven and hell. We’re all more likely to consider something that seems improbable if we know and trust the person from whom we hear it!
So stop to think: who are the 2-3 closest non-Christian friends that God has given me to pray for in the coming three months?
There is one more implication in all this. ‘By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’, said Jesus (John 13:35). It’s the transformed relationships among Christians that show the reality of the Spirit’s life among us. That’s why so many people become Christians at camps or through evangelistic meals (this is a key reason why Alpha works so well): people have a chance to feel the Spirit among God’s people when they get together, and that helps them be ready for the Word.
So how can we best involve our friends in situations where that can happen? In our home? In our homegroup?
ABSORB TIME: What would mean that you go away from this and don’t do anything with it?
What made you respond when someone first shared the gospel with you? Is there something you can learn from this?
What do you find are the main obstacles to people you know believing and receiving the Gospel? Make a list and discuss it.
Do you find it easy to share your faith with others? If not, and if you’re doing this session in a group, try to explain why. Also share ways in which you have in fact been able to do this.
