WHY EVANGELIZE?

Jesus said in Matthew 28 (NLT), “¹⁹Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”  This commission applies to every follower of Jesus.  The Great Commission is not the Great Suggestion.  If you are a part of God’s family, your mission is mandatory.  To ignore it would be disobedience, or as Pastor Mark stated this past Sunday, missing the mark (a sin).

We are responsible for the lives of those we touch.  We can read what Ezekiel 3:18 (NIV) says about our accountability in this regard: “When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.”

While it is a big responsibility, it is also an incredible honor to be used by God.  Could we have a better partner?  Could any other partner set us up to succeed in the way God does?  He has secured our salvation (we get to spend eternity with Him), He has put us into His family, given us His Spirit, and then we become His agent!  Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV), that goes like this: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

One of the problems with all of us who have been Christ-followers for a long time is that we forget how hopeless it feels to be without Christ.  If we could empathize with the non-believers’ hopelessness, we would not be able to sleep without talking to them about Christ.  Since eternity is in the balance, reaching others for Christ is more important than any other job, achievement, or goal we will reach during our lives on earth because the consequences will last forever.