| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
Evangelizing and Witnessing, #2
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:1,2—NIV)
When we of today refer to personal evangelism, or "leading others to Jesus," we are speaking of evangelizing, not really of bearing witness.
We think this is an important issue. It is our opinion that the tremendous emphasis placed on getting all believers from the time they receive Jesus to go out and evangelize not only is not scriptural but actually detracts from their spiritual growth. We feel that much more time needs to be spent on helping the believers come to know the Lord so they will be able to stand in the age of moral horrors we are entering.
There is little or no emphasis in the Epistles on having each believer go forth and try to "save souls." There is a very great emphasis on having each believer overcome sin and grow in Christ. If we believe the Bible is the Word of God we ought to emphasize what the Bible emphasizes. Do you agree with this?
The Bible does not emphasize to the believers that they should go forth and save souls. Why are we emphasizing this? Is this coming from the Holy Spirit (in spite of its lack of emphasis in the Scriptures) or is it a spirit of proselytizing and not a genuine gift of evangelism?
In fact, the expression "save souls" does not appear even once in any translation I own. When our terminology is different from Bible terminology there may be a reason.
In any case, the continual harangue to go out and "bring others to Christ" is not a Bible emphasis, detracts from the need to grow in Christ, and leaves uncounted multitudes of believers with a sense of guilt because they do not have the unscriptural "passion for souls."
It is not scriptural that every believer is an evangelist in the Body of Christ. In fact, the emphasis in the Scriptures is on diversity of gifts and ministries, being compared to the human body.
There is no "gift of evangelism" as such except for the evangelist who himself is a gift to the Body of Christ. It is scriptural that every believer is to be a witness of God, His Person, His will, and His eternal plan in Christ. In view of this, let us think for a minute about the difference between evangelizing and bearing witness.
The first consideration is that there is no scriptural basis for a "gift of evangelizing," similar to a gift of faith, or tongues, or prophecy, or knowledge.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, (Ephesians 4:11)
God gives some to be evangelists. The evangelist himself is a gift to the Body of Christ. It is not scriptural that every member of the Body of Christ is an evangelist, although each believer ought to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in him or her, with meekness and fear.
There is no "gift of witnessing." God makes witnesses. God makes every believer a witness. Every believer is to show the light of good works so that people will glorify God. The entire Church of Christ is God's witness. The new Jerusalem is God's witness.
To be continued.