What’s the purpose of evangelism?
Go ahead and give an answer…I’ll wait.
Okay. So I figure most people would say something like, “Evangelism is to spread the Gospel.”
But what’s the point of that?
“To get people saved.”
Alright. That’s not a terrible start. But why do you want people to be saved?
“Come again? Obviously so they don’t go to hell.”
See, that’s the problem. I mean sure that’s part of the deal, but that’s not the real point.
The purpose of everything is to make God look as good as He really is, the term for which is to “glorify” Him. But the particular way evangelism makes God look good is by transforming people into what He originally intended them to be: beautiful lights in a dark world, so beautiful that they bring honor to the Artist who painted them. And the only way this happens is by them first hearing the Gospel, then embracing It, and gradually being renewed by It into that lustrous work of art. That goes well beyond merely saving them from eternal torture.
So why do we evangelize? Because we want to see other people enjoy becoming what they were meant to be so that the One who made them can enjoy them and receive the credit He deserves for the restoration. In short, when people come to God, it makes them happy, it makes Him happy, and it makes the whole world a better place.
Then why don’t we evangelize? Because all of that wonderful stuff hasn’t really happened in us yet, and at some level we know we can’t go share what we don’t really have. See, if we were truly already living that transformation, sharing it with others wouldn’t be an issue. The Gospel poured into us fully enough to really change us couldn’t be restrained from spilling out all over other people.
So in the end, there’s really only one reason we don’t spread the Gospel more zealously (myself included). It’s because we don’t really have It yet. And so the constant scream of our barely-scratched hearts should be to God that He would break us wide open and rain down His Grace on us to the point where we want nothing more passionately than to help other people experience that very same thing.
When that happens, evangelism stops being a command or a task or an option and instead becomes a lifestyle we are joyfully powerless to not live. After all, when was the last time you felt like you "were supposed to" tell other people about a movie you truly loved? And when was the last time you truly loved a movie and didn't naturally tell people about it?
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