Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

Proper motives have their source in God. Therefore,anyone who is out of fellowship with his Lord, can hardlyhave the correct motives for evangelizing. In reviewingwhat has already been said, one may discover that propermotives are characterized by a Scriptural value priorityclaim, a clear understanding of personal duty, a harmoniousagreement of duty and value, and culminated bypersonal gratitude toward one's own Savior and Lord.Naturally, such a balance is never permanently attained,but through God's grace it can become a daily growingreality.POWER TO EVANGELIZENow being conscious of the value, the duty, andone's personal desire for evangelism, God must be soughtfor the power to evangelize. Without having poweravailable to perform this task, then it would cease to besubject to ethical consideration — for according to thescope of ethics, no decision can be morally binding unlessthere exists power to accomplish that desire.God has ordained, however, that the Scripturesprovide the wisdom and vision which are prerequisitesbefore an attempt to win others for Christ. Of themultitudinous number of proof texts to which one mightrefer, perhaps a simple and initial start would be Proverbs2:1-6. If the reader will open his Bible to this passage, hemay encounter some guiding principles.Prayer has also been ordained to purify andstrengthen the believer. Even though one may be veryyoung in the faith and without the knowledge of manyScripture verses, still, through a consecrated prayer lifeGod can use him to lead others to Christ.Although the study of the Scriptures and a life ofprayer are appointed channels to receive divine power, noone can substitute theory for practice. Who will deny thatthere is no substitute for experience? No matter where orwhen one may begin, he must begin. Every Christian iscapable of leading another person to Christ. He may needsomeone to strengthen him by instruction and to lead himthrough practical experience, but even without these Hecan begin now to witness. Furthermore, one's message isfar more important than his method of presentation. Manyuneducated people have surpassed in usefulness theirwell-educated counterparts who spend all their time intheological discussions. Nevertheless, perhaps thefollowing summary of the apostle Paul's method will provehelpful:1. He began with the lost on their own level.2. He won their confidence and esteem.3. He dealt frankly and honestly with sin.4. He held up the crucified Christ as the only Savior.5. He demanded true repentance and faith as theonly condition of salvation.6. He refused to be discouraged, never giving up nomatter how great the difficulties, and rejoicing inevery indication of success.7. He carefully organized and taught those who wereconverted, to the end that they might form the truechurch of God and again be a witness to others (DH. Walters) ' "6PROBLEMS TO OVERCOMEFinally, there are problems to overcome. First,consider the difficulty of doctrinal misunderstanding.Oftentimes people confuse predestination with fatalism.Therefore, anyone who is thus confused may assert thatsince God has ordained all those circumstances which willlead to the calling out of His elect, why should one attemptto accomplish anything? Herein, there existsconfusion because free will has not been given its properplace. If predestination were one side of a coin and freewill the other, one would be able to see either side as beingrecognizable, but only one side at a time. However, if thecoin were twirled, the apparent discrepancy would be lostin the beauty of one unified vision. We must rememberthat the same God who commands us to do something alsoworks in us to enable us to desire to obey.Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,not as in my presence only, but now much more inmy absence, work out your own salvation with fearand trembling. For it is God which worketh in youboth to will and to do of his good pleasure.(Philippians 2:12,13).An even greater problem arises when one assumeshis own self-sufficiency to evangelize. It does not logicallyfollow that if one receives a great Christian heritage fromhis forefathers, and that he asserts that he himself believesthe same things as his forefathers, that he will do the workor deeds of his Christian forefathers. In other words,similar doctrinal assertions are not the same as similarpractical applications of the same doctrinal assertions.How often have Christians refrained from attemptingto do something because of a fear of failure?Rather than give a long and detailed discussion, perhapsthe following excerpt will help. Herein the author directsus to be "looking unto Jesus":. . .and not at the obstacles which meet us in the path.As soon as we stop to consider them, they amaze us,they confuse us, they overwhelm us, incapable as weare of understanding either the reason why they arepermitted, or the means by which we may overcomethem.Of course, the final problem which must be overcomeis lack of experience. While the simplest to explain,it is the hardest to perform. Just start! There is no otherway to conquer this problem.Having covered such a vast territory, how may it besummarized? Essentially, one finds that evangelism is aproblem of Christian ethics. As such it has a correspondingvalue, duty, desire, and power for accomplishing it.The value of evangelism is seen primarily in the will ofGod. However, one's personal attitude toward the value ofevangelism is conditioned by his world view, valuepriority, general and specific vocation, and conscience.The duty to evangelize primarily lies within theorganized Church — although the individual must alwaysuphold his responsibility. The source of this duty is God'stotal claim on the life of the believer. The duty must beupheld by personal desire or motivation. There can existboth wrong and proper motives for evangelizing. , ,.COVENANTER WITNESS