Tell Others About Our Lord and Savior!

In the years I have spent sharing my faith, and talking to fellow Christians about evangelism, I have heard probably every excuse imaginable. Some of the more common excuses are, “I don’t have enough time,” “I witness with my actions,” and “I don’t want to offend anybody.” However, despite all of the excuses that I have heard over the years, none is more common than, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” Over the years, I have had numerous people compliment me by saying that the Lord has given me the “gift” of evangelism. When I hear that, I know the person is attempting to give me a well intentioned compliment. But, the problem is that the compliment is almost always followed up with, “The Lord hasn’t given me that gift. So I just pray for the lost.” With that statement we have just jumped from a compliment to an excuse that is attempting to remove our Biblical responsibility to preach the gospel, “in season and out of season.” (see 2 Timothy 4:2) People think that since they don’t have the “gift” they don’t have to share their faith at all.

Imagine you are walking next to a pool, and you suddenly hear screaming and frantic splashing. You look at the pool and notice that a 4-year-old is struggling to keep his head above water. If you don’t do something, this child is going to drown. You begin to sweat. You know that unless you take some sort of immediate action, this young child will die. You run to the edge of the pool, look down at the struggling child, and suddenly you decide, “I don’t have the gift of saving children from drowning in a swimming pool!”

Hopefully, when you read the above scenario, you thought to yourself, “What a horrible thing to do!” Indeed, what a terrible tragedy it would be if somebody neglected to save a drowning child, because they didn’t feel they had the gift of saving drowning children. How would you feel towards such a person? Anger? Sorrow? Sympathy? Indifference? Now, consider the fate of the lost if they walk off into eternity without Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that they will be in a place torment (Luke 16:23), a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), brimstone (Revelation 21:8), darkness (Matthew 8:12), and weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:41-42). Now, which is worse? Somebody watching a child drown and doing nothing about it, or watching people die and go to hell for eternity while doing nothing about it? Thousands of lost people are drowning in sin and running the risk of going to hell for eternity, while so many Christians sit back and say, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” Think about how you felt about the person who wouldn’t save the drowning child. How did you feel towards them? If you are using the excuse that you don’t have the “gift” of evangelism, are you willing to feel the same way about yourself?

Generally, when somebody says that evangelism is a gift, two assumptions are made. The first one is that evangelism is a task that requires a specific set of skills that few people possess. Let’s look at what Paul said were the qualifications of evangelism in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1-5:

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

What did Paul, one of the boldest (if not the boldest) men in the Bible, have to say about his qualifications for evangelism? He said he did not have superiority of speech (verse 1), or wisdom (verse 1 and 2). He said he experienced fear and trembling (verse 3) and that he did not preach in persuasive words (verse 4). But, he preached anyway! Yet, how many of us today do not preach the gospel because we feel we are not smart enough? Or outgoing enough? Or persuasive enough? Those things didn’t stop Paul, don’t let them stop you. In this passage, Paul tells us of only one “gift” that is required for evangelism: you must know the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved (verse 2). So, are you truly saved? Then you meet the Biblical qualifications of evangelism.

The second assumption people make when using this excuse is that prayer makes up for evangelism itself. Christians think that since they don’t have the “gift” of sharing their faith, praying for lost people is all they need to do. Don’t get me wrong, evangelism without prayer is about as effective as a car without gas; but that doesn’t mean prayer can act as a substitute for evangelism. A.W. Tozer said, “Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.” Do you want people to get saved? Then don’t just pray about it. Prove to the Lord you mean your prayers and get out into the world and preach the gospel. In essence, prayer for souls to get saved without actions is the same as telling the Lord, “God, thank you for saving my soul. And I pray that you save others as well. But please don’t use me to do it.” I once heard a man say, “Christians need to spend more time talking to man about God, and less time talking to God about man.” Again, please don’t get me wrong. Prayer is a nonnegotiable when it comes to evangelism. But in addition to prayer, we are commanded to preach the gospel (see Mark 16:15, 2 Timothy 4:2, and 1 John 4:15). Prayer cannot replace our Biblical responsibility of evangelism.

I would like to reference one more passage of scripture before closing this article. Christians often quote Ephesians 4:11 in support of the idea that not all have the gift of sharing the gospel. It says, “And He gave some apostles, and some as prophets, and some as pastors, and some as evangelists.” Ray Comfort rightly points out, “The scriptures here are speaking of the God-given ability of the evangelist to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” The verse is not at all saying that some have the responsibility to share their faith, while others simply do not. On the contrary, 2 Timothy 4:5 says that we should all, “do the work of an evangelist.”

Throughout all of scripture, we are told to preach the gospel. The first thing many men did after getting saved in the New Testament was tell others about Christ (see John 1:39-45). Romans 10:14 rightly points out, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” The Bible says that God does not want anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance (see 2 Peter 3:9). If the Lord doesn’t want any to perish, shouldn’t we have the same mindset? How can we keep the gospel to ourselves, knowing full well that men and women are drowning in their sins and going to hell for eternity every single day? Evangelism is not a gift. We are all commanded to do it in scripture; it is an act of obedience, or disobedience. Will you be obedient to the God who suffered on the cross and saved you?

Dennis