Evangelism
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16).
The prospect of evangelizing is a daunting task to most (including myself) because most of the evangelism we have seen takes one of two forms. Either you stand on a street corner and start preaching, or you go up to people cold and start asking them if they know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I’ll start by discussing the first. As with everything, there are some good and some bad street preachers. I happen to think that Ray Comfort does an amazing job, and I have a lot of respect for what he does. However, I have seen a lot of bad preachers who memorize a couple of Bible passages and then think they have a “calling” to preach. I think some of them do more harm than good. As far as the second option, that of blindly going up to strangers and asking them to “make a decision” for Christ is a bad idea altogether. Not to mention it’s bad theology. No one makes a decision for Christ—the decision is made for you! “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). But aside from it being bad theology, it’s also offensive. You don’t know the person you’re approaching—they may in fact know more about the Bible and Christianity than you do. And even if they don’t it puts people on the defensive. No one wants to be a captive audience for however long it takes you to get through your spiel. And I never saw this approach demonstrated in the Bible. Jesus never did that, nor any of His disciples.
Look at what Jesus says in the verse quotes above. “You are the light of the world.” That is a statement of fact. He didn’t say you ought to be the light of the world, He said you are.
The world is getting darker every day. There is violence and hatred everywhere. Sin and sex are sold all over the TV and internet. Whatever is evil is honored and praised, and whatever is true and just and glorifying to God is seen as bigoted and narrow-minded (or hateful, intolerant, racist, or whatever other slander they hurl at you). “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12). Because of the exceeding darkness of our day, it’s not really that difficult to do as Jesus instructed. Everywhere you go you will see the sinful nature of people’s hearts. Standing in line at the store people will be impatient and angry. Look at the sinful and obnoxious display of greed and lust every year on Black Friday—people fighting over possessions. Driving on the road people will honk and yell at you (if not completely lose their minds in a fit of road rage). Your neighbors will act evil towards you. The world today gives you ample opportunity to let your light so shine. “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14-15).
This is the key to evangelism—simply let your light shine. I think the problem with most Christians is that we do just what Jesus describes in the next line: we put our lamp under a basket. I think there are two main reasons for this. One is that we don’t want to appear like an oddball to society, and so we conform to its standards. Instead of saying what we really think, instead of correcting someone’s sinful view of the world, we go along with it. At work we enter in to the coarse joking, we watch the nightly TV shows, we go to the same movies, we have the same aspirations and ambitions as the world. This is dangerous. This is how the “salt loses its flavor” (Matt. 5:13).
The other reason is that we feel that we have to give some sort of elaborate dissertation about our worldview before we feel like we can say anything. This is a big one. Think about this. The world evangelizes all the time. It never rests. It bombards you daily with its philosophy, its goals, and its desires without apology. People never explain their worldview prior to making a statement, they just flat out say it and expect you to agree and understand. Why don’t we do the same thing? In fact, we should. In other words, evangelize to the world in the same way the world evangelizes to you.
Simply let your light shine. Everywhere you go and in every situation be a light. And you don’t have to preface your statement with any explanation. Just state things from your worldview and let them ask you questions. In so doing it will remove the pressure you may feel by initiating a conversation about Christianity. In other words, it is uncomfortable starting a conversation with the agenda of converting someone. But if someone is starting the conversation by asking you questions, this removes the difficulty of being the initiator. And if the person is a Christian you haven’t offended them by assuming otherwise, and most likely they’ll be happy to encounter a fellow believer.
You’ll find yourself in conversations all the time when you take this approach. Just simply state things from your worldview as the world does to you. And assume that they know and agree and understand just as they do when speaking to us. It’s interesting that they are never cautious about what they say to us, but we are overly concerned about what we say to them. They make sexual innuendos and perverse jokes and assume that we enjoy them and find them funny. They curse in front of us and to us, and expect that that’s the way we talk too. And a lot of times they mock God to our face, say blasphemous things, and just expect that that’s our perspective too.
We can’t control what the world says or does, but we can control how we respond. When a neighbor curses at you, do not respond in kind. In fact, what does Jesus say about this? “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). This will stand out as a radical alternative to the evil world around you, and people will start asking questions.
Now, when they do ask questions, “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). Don’t shy away from questions. You may be the only light this person has ever seen.
I was at a car dealership a while ago, and as I sat in the waiting room a woman sitting next to me asked me about the backpack I had. I explained that it was my version of a briefcase, and that I use this to carry my laptop and other things, and that it’s very convenient to use when going on business trips. This led to her explaining that backpacks like the one I had are no longer allowed in schools and that she was a teacher. She went on to explain how bad a lot of the students are, and the horrible things that happen in schools. But then she asked me an important question: “How do you as a parent teach your kids right from wrong?” Then I told her that I raised my children on the foundation of biblical truth, that we pray as a family, that our Bibles are on the dining room table ready for our family devotionals. She seemed surprised by my answer, but then she mentioned that she too was a Christian. It would have been interesting to see where the conversation would have gone if she was not. We had similar dialog while the conversation lasted, but it was only a little while before they called me for my car. That’s not exactly sharing the gospel, but I used this story to illustrate an example of just answering a question from my worldview without offering any explanation or asking for an invitation—just as the world does.
