Ten Reasons To Share Christ Publicly
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"I fear that in some of our less enlightened country churches there are conservative individuals who almost believe that to preach anywhere except in the chapel would be a shocking innovation, a sure token of heretical tendencies, and a mark of zeal without knowledge. Any young brother who studies his comfort among them must not suggest anything so irregular as a sermon outside the walls of their Zion. In the olden times we are told, "Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets, she crieth in the chief places of concourse, in the openings of the gates" (Pro 1:20-21); but the wise men of orthodoxy would have wisdom gagged except beneath the roof of a licensed building." - C. H. Spurgeon.
INTRO
One of the most glaring differences between the ancient Church of the New Testament and the tepid church of the modern era is our current fixation with cowardice disguised as winsomeness. That early church turned the world upside down with the powerful and glorious Gospel. In contrast, the modern church has become so preoccupied with safeguarding her reputation she doesn't have the stomach or backbone to overturn anything.
Don't get me wrong, those earliest Christians succumbed to the tendency of seclusion and cowardice as well. For a few days, they were scattered in terror of being arrested when the Son of Man was crucified. Once He was resurrected, they spent forty days of private instruction with the risen Lord and ten additional days tucked away in a clandestine cubbyhole in Jerusalem before the Spirit of power came upon them. But, once the Spirit came upon them like a rushing wind, they remained hidden no longer. In fact, they boldly left the safety and security of the upper room to be left bruised, beaten, bleeding and battered all over the Roman world in the service of Christ. They were crucified, fed to lions, and bludgeoned with stones. What they did not do was cower or crawl into a hole to maximize their safety and comfort. Instead, they kept on advancing regardless of what it cost them.
Compare that robust, manly, and evangelistic church of old with the milquetoast, vanilla, chicken-hearted ekklesia we see today, and you will spy the problem. We have grown as squishy as overcooked spaghetti noodles at a time that requires sharpened steel! Instead of publicly meeting our era's increased secularization and immorality with the Gospel, as the first-century church did, we have adopted a sugar and spice and, for goodness sake, have a posture that's nice. But, unfortunately, that niceness has caused us to run from the fight, surrender the public arena, and treat the church with the same exclusivity and secrecy as a cluster of Freemasons in the grand lodge.
In what follows, I will sketch out ten reasons why we must adopt a faith that proclaims the Gospel publicly. This could be conversations with lost family members, engaging coworkers, handing out tracts, and open air evangelism. However it looks, we must not go quietly into the night, but publicly on to glory.
WHY MUST OUR FAITH BE PUBLIC?
1 BECAUSE IT AFFLICTS THE FLESH
The best apologetic for sharing the Gospel in public is that our flesh despises it. We tense up like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs at the mere prospect of sharing our faith with a stranger. So instead, we prefer to speak in the security of our church buildings with people who already agree with us.
And while that kind of fellowship is edifying and good, we are also called to mortify the flesh and its desires. If my heart objects to preaching outdoors, sharing my faith with a stranger, or handing out Gospel tracts in a public area, then I need to discern why it is reacting that way. I must ask myself some questions: Am I protecting a fragile ego? Am I afraid of what others will think of me? Am I nervous? Do I feel unprepared or won't know what to say? Do I have a fear of how that person will react? If any of those, or any other unBiblical reasons, prevent me from doing it, I must slay the flesh and move on to obedience.
Remember, the Bible describes the heart as wicked and desperately sick. Therefore, any action that buffets the heart and encourages the flesh is immediately suspect.
2 BECAUSE HELL IS HOT
A second reason for publicly declaring the Gospel is the reality of eternal conscious torment for all who stand opposed to Christ. Paul says in Romans 10:
How, then, will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? - Romans 10:14-15
The word used for "preach" in this passage (κηρύσσω) certainly includes the homiletical discipline of vocational ministers who herald the Gospel from behind solid oaken pulpits on Sunday. Praise God for that work! But it is also not limited to that! In fact, the word here means to announce something publicly and to make a message known to the masses. So, far from limiting this to a group of trained seminarians, Paul has in mind equipping everyone as messengers and sending them out into the world to make Christ known wherever He is not.
His reason for this is simple. How will the world hear it if we do not send messengers out into the world to publicly announce the Gospel? And how could they possibly believe it if they do not hear it? And without belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will spend an eternity in hell.
Our inactivity and passivity for evangelism have awful damning consequences.
3 BECAUSE IT'S FAITHFUL TO THE MISSION
As a Calvinist, I understand that the Lord draws all men unto Himself. He predestined the elect in eternity past, paid for them two thousand years ago on the cross, and regenerated them in space and time by the Spirit's working. He is the author of salvation, the one who seeks and saves the lost and draws all His people unto Himself and holds them secure in His ferocious and tender grip. Still, none of these glorious truths nullify the need for and the command for us to go and make disciples of all the nations (Mt. 28:18-20).
When Jesus gave the great commission, He didn't limit His authority and dominion to a church building or require His followers to only make disciples from a gathered flock. Instead, he told us to go into the world and disciple the nations. This involves getting outside our buildings and comfort zones, announcing the message to outsiders, and being ready to answer any objections they have until they cut us off, curse us out, or are converted unto Him.
4 BECAUSE WE MUST PREACH TO EVERYONE UNDER HEAVEN
When Paul describes the scope of his ministry, he says that the Gospel was preached to "every creature under heaven" (Col. 1:23). Paul could hardly make such a claim if his ministry was primarily behind closed doors on Sunday. But, instead, Paul was regularly going into all the towns, interacting with those who would never make it into a Jewish Synagogue, so much so that he could honestly say we made this message available to everyone!
Spurgeon once said it like this:
The open-air evangelist frequently picks up these members of the "No church" party, and in so doing he often finds some of the richest gems that will at last adorn the Redeemer's crown: jewels, which, by reason of their roughness, are apt to be unnoticed by a more fastidious class of soul-winners. Jonah in the streets of Nineveh was heard by multitudes who would never have known of his existence if he had reserved a meeting hall; John the Baptist by the Jordan awakened an interest which would never have been aroused had he kept to the synagogue; and those who went from city to city proclaiming everywhere the Word of the Lord Jesus would never have turned the world upside down (Act 17:1-9) if they had felt it needful to confine themselves to iron rooms adorned with the orthodox announcement, "The gospel of the grace of God will be preached here next Lord's day evening." - Lectures To My Students
I can hardly say it better than my brothers Chuck and Paul. The multitudes that will not darken the church's door will hear the Gospel when it is proclaimed in the town square. So may the Lord use His missionaries, witnesses, and ordinary believers to bring in those rough gems so that they may become regal diadems in His royal crown.
5 BECAUSE THE BIBLICAL EXAMPLE PROVES IT
The book of Acts details how the church executed the marching orders of her King after He ascended into heaven. In those inerrant pages, we do not see a quiet, hidden, private church that keeps the Gospel locked behind closed doors. On the contrary, we see bold public attestations of Christ on the same day the Spirit descended at Pentecost. We see men teaching in the temple courtyard, which was the city square in first-century Jerusalem. We see Paul and his missionary compadres going into towns, declaring the Gospel with energy, excitement, urgency, and unction. And we see them taking one beating after another as thanks for their declaration.
Society's reaction to the Gospel did not quench their evangelistic fervor; it ignited it. Paul and Silas sang hymns in prison. Peter and John praised God that they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ. And from town to town, they went about fearlessly broadcasting the words of eternal life to a crooked and perverse generation.
6 BECAUSE WE TAKE DOMINION THROUGH DECLARATION
One of the ways that Jesus described His Kingship and the effect of His Kingdom was a "plundering of Satan's house" (Luke 11:21). At the fall, humanity handed over dominion to the serpent so that the world came under a Luciferian rule. This is also why the devil could offer all the world kingdoms to Jesus in His temptation, if He only would bow and worship him like Adam because they were already under His dominion.
This all changed when Christ crushed the serpent's head in His death, burial, and resurrection. First, he dealt a mortal wound to the old dragon, and now He is plundering the treasures underneath his scaly belly.
But that is not all. Jesus is not doing that work alone. He called His Church to be a part of that Kingdom's advancement, not as passive bystanders or enthused spectators, but as soldiers who put on their armor and run with brand new shoes to share the Gospel (Eph 6:10-17). We extend His rule, perpetuate His reign, and take back territory when we openly, publicly, and decisively declare the Good News of Jesus Christ!
7 BECAUSE WE ARE TO SHOW REAL LOVE
Another reason that we must declare the Gospel publicly, even in the open air, is because Christ commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. How do we do that?
Well, humanly speaking, we care for ourselves. We bring food to our lips when we are hungry. We bathe when we are dirty. We become preoccupied with maintaining and managing the little flesh tent God gave us to walk through this life with.
As Christians, we care for ourselves by being nourished in the Word of God. We pray. We go to churches where the Gospel is declared, the saints joyfully worship, and sin is called out so that the body can grow more aligned and submitted to her bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
If we are supposed to love the world as we love ourselves, refusing to share the Gospel would be akin to the most inexcusable abuses and wanton hatred. Think about it. How much do you have to loathe someone to withhold the very thing that has blessed and nourished you. Infinitely worse than watching someone starve to death, or withholding a right hand to the child who drowns, is the man who refuses to share the Gospel with those who are perishing. The child who drowns dies once. The soul that is lost dies forever.
8 BECAUSE IT CAUSES US TO BE SANCTIFIED
Championship football teams are not forged entirely in the locker room. Those moments of bonding and spending time with the coaching staff and each other are essential to the team's health. But if that team never got onto the field and trained and never went to battle in the trenches against fierce opponents, they would just be a men's social club who oddly congregate in jock straps and spandex. However, being a championship team requires putting into action things gleaned from the film room. It means fighting, training, and prevailing over skilled competition with grit, determination, and heart. It requires being tried and tested. And, when a team goes through the rigors of a challenging season, it makes them better in the playoffs.
Sadly, many churches today have adopted a locker room mentality, which means they have become flabby and untested. Again, we all enjoy time in the "locker room" on Sunday (that is essential). Still, if we do not bring the fight outside our buildings on Monday or share the Gospel in the trenches on Tuesday, we function as nothing more than a social club with a 501c3 certificate. Such a pathetic vision is not what Jesus bled and died for.
Instead, Christ has called us to be a kingdom of priests. He has made us into a holy nation where everyone is supposed to get involved with the mission. And when we do that, it sanctifies us, both corporately and individually.
Think about it this way, if you never exercise, your body will become atrophied and saggy. And, if you are going to get rid of that muffin top, it will not come by sitting at a desk, lying on the couch, or continuing a sedentary lifestyle. Instead, you have to get up and move, which makes you better.
In the same way, if your evangelistic "muscles" are a bit jiggly, you cannot tighten them up unless you are willing to get out there and do the work. Putting yourself into evangelistic situations will force you to grow.
9 SO THE WORLD WILL GLORIFY GOD
Jesus said in Matthew 5:
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 5:16
We declare the Gospel publicly and joyfully with the hope that some will see it, turn from their wicked ways, and glorify our God in heaven. Of course, we know that everyone who hears Jesus' Word will not receive Him, for broad is the way that leads to destruction, and narrow is the path to eternal life. But we have every confidence that some will repent, and some will come to Jesus. When that happens, they will turn their voices from slander and derision to instruments of glory in the Redeemer's chorus.
We labor for them.
10 SO THAT YOU WILL GLORIFY GOD
Finally, underneath all of this, we labor for the Lord, Himself. We mortify our flesh for the glory of God. We are sanctified and faithful to the mission because it brings God glory! We urgently declare the Gospel to every one under heaven who is perishing; we follow the apostolic and Biblical example; we extend Jesus' dominion and demonstrate real authentic love through declaring the Gospel; we labor so that the nations will glorify our King, all because we know this great work brings great glory to our creator!
If we love Jesus, we will obey His commandments (John 14:15). When we follow and obey Him, we give glory and honor to Him (Col 1:26-28). And since the chief end of man is to glorify God, obeying Him in this area is an essential way to live out our life's purpose.
CONCLUSION
We can come up with many illegitimate reasons to remain silent. We can join the majority church in burying our heads in the sand while the predators swarm around us. Or, we could share Christ with all creation no matter the cost.
Doing this will glorify God, it will extend His Kingdom, and it will conform us to the image of Christ. In the words of Tom Brady, “Let's go!”
