Is the Great Commission Your Reality? (Evangelism Episodes, Ending)

After beginning my Evangelism Episodes series in October, I was brought face-to-face with the reality that I would need some new material from my rather short supply of stories gathered recently.  Was I truly a Word-filled witness in my daily life?  Why didn’t I have an ever-growing, exceedingly expanding number of episodes from regular encounters all about me?

That question brought reality into stark focus.  I was too comfortable being active—giving out gospel tracts without actually engaging the culture about me in conversations about their souls.  I was too comfortable serving the Lord in my regular weekly ministries at church without bringing God’s law into my encounters with individuals.

As seen in His encounter with the woman at the well, Christ often engaged people on the human level, then led to the eternal. I too ought be available for such opportunities that I might be ever “be ready always to give an answer to every man” of the hope within me (I Peter 3:15).

Practically speaking, that means not being engrossed in thought when I walk into the gas station or grab a morning java at the local coffee shop.  There’s a soul there—a person with whom I am to engage and demonstrate love on a human level. 

To assist my endeavors, I located some “ice breaker” tracts online that provide a fun segue into spiritual topics as people, created in God’s image, respond both to a unique optical illusion and to an individual’s interest in their soul.

Small talk at the grocery store or with the clerk at the gas station isn’t an option.  Nor is it an unimportant part of any interaction with any human created in God’s image.  Those niceties and common courtesies for the naturally task-oriented among us emerge as significant stepping stones to demonstrate common concern on a natural level because we care about the eternity of every person about us.

Walking in this mindset, I have been overwhelmed with endless opportunities.  And, by God's grace, my episode collection is expanding considerably.

There was the Hmong girl in the coffee shop at the university. 

The elderly woman at the retirement home. 

The little girl who latched on to me at our children’s club at church. 

The frequent guest who attends services but never professed salvation. 

The LDS teen at a library cultural fair.

And so many more.

For now, I’m winding this series to a close but not before sharing my burden that you, too, become an active witness for the Lord--not only with the written Word (as in carrying Gospel tracts with you wherever you go) but also in using your lips to proclaim the message of salvation, which God's church has been commissioned to do.

Why did I hesitate to be a regularly outspoken witness for Christ?  Well, there’s always a bit of fear.  But also a sense of the challenge’s immensity—every individual on the planet needs to hear this Gospel; I will account for my own embrace of Jesus’ Great Commission.  This care for the needs of the world cascaded over me like a torrential waterfalls when I saw the Great Commission as my own.

What also overwhelmed me was the sheer enormity of individuals' strongholds and my desire to present a thorough Gospel message to each person.  I sensed inability in succinctly summarizing the Good News in a short encounter with an individual.

Claiming God’s Word as my trust and shield, I’ve first learned I can rest in God’s providence to direct my path to exactly the right people each day.  While I care for the individuals about me, God can arrange my circumstances as I purpose to obey Him. 

Second, in presenting the Gospel, I know I am “co-laboring with Christ” in a very real sense.  Here’s why.  Using God’s law, my work is coupled with the conscience’s work already.  God’s Spirit works through the Law to lead individuals to see their need for Christ.  Although they may want to push away that conviction, God’s Law proves a powerful means of showing humanity’s plight. Jesus demonstrated giving the Gospel this way.  Even with seekers, He gave the law and asked them how they measured up.  As I do the same, the God-formed conscience of individuals allows the truth to “cut to the heart” of the matter.  In turn, people respond in either self-righteousness or humility to the mirror of God's Word. 

Third, prayer functions as a lens through which I see individuals as souls for whom Christ died. On my way to work in the morning, I’m praying for boldness and asking God to help me see the needy souls about me, to give me specific opportunities to share His Word that day. Christ, Who came to seek and to save the lost, can show me those who need Him. 

Fourth, I’m reaching for ways to be sharpened by others who care about the unsaved.  For instance, I ordered a copy of The Way of the Master by Ray Comfort and have been dipping into its chapters weekly.  This resource iterates the Law’s necessity in witnessing and, among other features, illustrates how preachers of the past embraced this exact way of sharing the Gospel (Gal. 3:24).   Just last night, I met a Deist who wanted an intellectual debate; but when I steered him to God's Law, I watched him squirm uncomfortably and change the subject to “I prefer to think of the greatest commandment as that of love.”  Undoubtedly, love is the greatest command, but this man demonstrated by his actions that he did not wish to have his conscience convicted of his own lack of love, which is possible only through the redemptive power of the Gospel. 

Will you purpose to follow Jesus and thus become a fisher of men?  The needs of the world are great.  As you pray for laborers to go into this harvest field, God can open your own eyes to see the lost all about you.

May you purpose today to open your mouth to speak for Christ! Then do it again and again each day, saturating your encounters with prayer.

"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."

Will you co-labor with Christ in His harvest field today?