“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you’re not saved yourself, be sure of that!”
– Charles Spurgeon
I cannot stress enough how important it is to evangelize and build up disciples regularly. We, as Christians, have been entrusted with the Message of everlasting life through Jesus Christ. Billions of people will die and perish in an eternity in hell unless we as the Body of Christ tell others about Christ. It’s as simple as that, and when you cut right down to that cold, sobering fact, it should make you realize that nothing on earth is more crucial and urgent.
“At the end of the day, the biggest obstacle to evangelism is Christians who don’t share the gospel.”
– Albert Mohler
Yet, let’s face it: often, when the concept of evangelism comes up, we squirm in our seats a bit. We dread the confrontation, we fear that our friends and relatives will reject us, and we get lazy and apathetic. We admittedly don’t want to be seen as crazy religious fanatics. Yes, we will walk into encounters that won’t go so well. We will have family members and buddies that will look down on us and even shun us. We will have times when the enemy will try to persuade us not to speak up so that we can remain quiet and comfortable. We will have derogatory names hurled at us right to our faces or behind our backs, and we will be lied about or persecuted.
As warrior disciples of Christ, we must rise above all the obstacles and bust through the excuses. Jesus commanded us to spread the Good News of the Kingdom (Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19-20) to the entire world, and we must joyfully, boldly, and relentlessly take this Word to every single human before it’s too late.
Do We Really Love Others? Then Why Don’t We Evangelize?
As believers, we constantly need to realize the gravity of the situation. If people do not hear and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then they will go to hell for all eternity. It needs to be of far more importance than potentially offending someone. Proselytizing people with the saving message of Christ should be our daily mission as we love one another and train those who already believe in Christ (AKA disciples).
If we genuinely love others as Jesus tells us to love, then we will have an inescapable and unquenchable burden in our hearts to tell them the Gospel.
You may have heard and seen comedian/magician Penn Jillette before. Jillette, one half of the wildly successful entertainment duo Penn & Teller, is a highly outspoken atheist who has stepped up to the plate in the public forum and has spoken out against Christianity and other religions.
But in doing so, Jillette has an immense amount of appreciation and esteem for those who genuinely believe in their worldview as being correct but also are willing to act upon it unhypocritically. He says if one truly believes that people are bound for hell, they must speak up and tell others. Here are Jillette’s words:
“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?
“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”
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