Equipped to Evangelize
Editor’s Note: Christian Focus has graciously supplied us with a chapter from Rob Ventura’s forthcoming book Equipped to Evangelize: A Biblical Foundation. This is the final installment of chapter one along with endorsements. With a September release date you can secure a copy and read the rest of Equipped to Evangelize. Enjoy!
“Wow! What a great book on evangelism! Written in an engaging and accessible style, it is both pointed and practical. Theologically sound, it corrects many wrong or imbalanced ideas about evangelism. Without being overly polemical, it focuses mainly on the positive explanation and application of the Bible’s teaching on this subject. It has a pastoral flavor, helpful anecdotes, quotes and illustrations, and urgent appeals that bring both conviction and heart-stirring motivation. I will be promoting this book to my own congregation.”
—Jeffery Smith, Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Coconut Creek, FL; Lecturer for Reformed Baptist Seminary
“Rob’s new book on evangelism is a stirring call to scatter gospel seeds far and wide. Rooted in an unshakable biblical authority, it echoes the wisdom of legendary voices like Edwards, Whitefield, Spurgeon, and others. This book will ignite your passion for reaching the lost. Get it!”
—Mark Chanski, Coordinator, Reformed Baptist Network
The Four-Fold Call to Evangelize
It won’t surprise anyone to hear that the Apostle Paul was the model evangelist, aside from Jesus Christ Himself. Paul doesn’t merely emphasize the importance of speaking to the lost about Jesus, which is true enough, but he says his life’s work is to do so (1 Cor. 9:17-22). Even as he gives us the marvelous predestinarian passages of Romans 9 and Ephesians 1, he also sees himself as having a vital part to play when it comes to the saving of souls.[1] What is more, he wants to make sure nothing hinders him from this. “I have made myself a servant to all, that I may win more” (1 Cor. 9:19). He tells us that he wants to “win Jews,” (1 Cor. 9:20). He also wants to win “the weak” (1 Cor. 9:22). Paul was thoroughly convinced that he was a conduit through which people were won to God (1 Cor. 3:5). He even tells us that he seeks to win souls in any or every way, or by “all means” (1 Cor. 9:22).
Such a background into Paul’s mindset helps us to understand better what is meant by the four-fold “how” call to evangelize when he writes in Romans 10:14-15a: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?[2] And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” Here Paul tells us that people have to call on Christ in order to be saved for “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). This is the idea of believing in Christ alone for salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). But true faith expresses itself by calling on Christ. The point is, you don’t call on someone you don’t believe in, and you certainly can’t call on someone you’ve never heard of. But “how shall they hear without a preacher?” And “how shall they preach unless they are sent?”[3] The answer to these questions is: they cannot. This is the crucial part that evangelism plays, and specifically, the part of human agency in connection to it (as I will expound more in chapter four).God uses means to convert people. The means God uses is that of us sharing the gospel with others so that they might hear its truth.
We see this in Paul’s letters, where an emphasis on “hearing” is found in many. Writing to the Romans, Paul says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). When writing to the Thessalonians, he says, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). Again, when writing to the Galatians, Paul says, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith” (Gal. 3:2)? And to the Ephesians he says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13). Hearing requires someone speaking. It presupposes that a human being will make contact with another human being and share the message of life and salvation which is found in Christ.
Thus, Christians must be involved in evangelism because this is God’s way of spreading the gospel, which is the great remedy for lost souls. This is God’s means of them hearing about Jesus, the only Savior of sinners.
[1] This highlights an important point: biblical Calvinism is no hindrance to biblical evangelism. The biblical doctrine of election was no deterrent for Paul’s widespread evangelizing. In fact, it was the very impetus for it—more on this in chapter two.
[2] In Greek, the verbs in verses 14 and 15 are in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood is the mood of potentiality—of whether or not something will or could happen. In our passage, the answers are all assumed to be negative so that people could not do what is being asked in the questions. Paul here is not speaking absolutely, but relatively; hence, for example, this does not negate the fact that many people are saved just by simply reading the Word of God and not by hearing a preacher. However, in either case (the hearing or the reading of the Word) is necessary (cf. James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:22-25).
[3] Generally speaking, I understand that this sending is done through a local church (cf. Acts 13:1-3).
