On Monday, May 7th thirteen men and women gathered at King’s Chapel for our first Evangelism Workshop. (If you missed it, don’t worry. We plan to host another workshop in the near future). At our first meeting we looked at two very important biblical truths. The first one was the “Missio Dei”, the mission of God. We saw that from the very beginning, God promised to send His Son into the world to save, rescue, and redeem people from all tribes and nations.
In Genesis 3:15 God cursed the serpent saying, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God promised that one man, a deliverer, will come. He will be wounded by the serpent, but in the end, he will crush the serpent’s head. This is called the protoevangelium – the first gospel proclamation. And ever since that promise, God has been on mission seeking and saving the lost.
When God called Abraham, he said he would bless the nations. According to Exodus 19:6, Israel was to be a Priestly nation in the world. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments he told him, “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deuteronomy 4:5-6).
While dedicating the Temple, King Solomon said this.
When a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name (2 Chronicles 6:32-33).
Israel is also called to reveal God’s justice to the nations (Isaiah 42:1) and to serve as “a light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6) so that the salvation offered to Israel would extend to all ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6, 42:1-9).
Fast forward to Jesus Christ. God kept his promise of a Savior by sending his beloved Son. And and after his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the grave, Jesus called his disciples together. And gave them (and us) his final instruction, and their first priority.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).
The “Missio Dei” that started in Genesis is now taken up by the Church. We are invited to participate in the mission. Our task is to go and make disciples who are then baptized and taught to obey the commands of Jesus, which obviously includes “making disciples” of all nations. Disciples who make disciples, who make disciples, etc.
The second biblical truth that we considered and examined was what Jesus told his disciples to do BEFORE they went on the Missio Dei.
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:4,8).
After Pentecost when they had received the Holy Spirit, they were sent on the Missio Dei to begin evangelizing the world – demonstrating and declaring the good news of Jesus’s perfect life, his substitutionary atoning death, and his resurrection from the dead. We discussed how important it was for the followers of Christ to ask the Holy Spirit to fill them each morning and throughout the day. Every genuine believer has the Holy Spirit living in them. And we are commanded in Ephesians 5 to be continually filled with the Spirit, meaning we should perpetually yield to and be control by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit desires to make much of Jesus Christ! That is why Paul instructs the Church at Colossae to
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time (Colossians 4:2-5).
Family, as we approach summer and gather together with family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors let us pray that God will fill us with the Holy Spirit and empower us to share the good news of God’s redeeming love through Jesus Christ or Lord.