5 key reasons Evangelism is hard and why I do it anyway

I've decided to redirect one more time from my series on world wide religions to share this post today. I've been working on this blog ministry  for close to 19 months now. Many may wonder why I would devote my time and energy to evangelizing my faith. As I have said before, I felt personally called by the Lord to do this and He has made it clear to me from the very beginning of becoming a Christian that this was part of what He sent me to this world to do. 

For the most part this has been a very positive experience and something I enjoy devoting myself too. Having someone call you or email you and tell you that your blog influenced them in their decision in coming to faith in Jesus Christ can't help but make you feel that  the work you are doing has value. As wonderful as that is, there is another side. When you evangelize about your faith you open yourself to those who will criticize you or challenge you or those who will flat out go out of there way to prove you wrong or even mock you. I've had many conversations with people on both sides of the spiritual coin.

 As I've said from the beginning, I've chosen this blog as my way of evangelizing. I rarely will bring up my faith with anyone unless I'm asked about it. Since starting this blog, I'm asked a lot more. I figure this blog is here for those who want to read it, and apparently that is a lot of people. My recent blog statistics tell me I have a large number of people reading my blog on a daily basis. Although people rarely leave comments, they contact me by phone, email and often will send me a personal face book message.  What was once a one to two hour commitment each week is turning into a thriving ministry for me and I love it. This week alone (it's Wednesday) I've already put in over 10 hours on this ministry between researching, writing and communicating with people. Since I have a lot on my plate personally this week, that means I'm often up until after midnight sometimes making sure I give this ministry my all which is fine with me!  I take absolutely no personal credit for any good this blog may be serving...I give ALL the glory to God for it is through Him that I am inspired to write and share with others. The best part of where I am right now with this ministry is that I am at the point where I am getting confirmation that I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

In fact Monday was one of those days. What started out as what I will only call "a bumpy and difficult road in the mission field", turned itself around ten fold when I received a call out of the blue from someone who has not picked up the phone to call me  in a very long time. This person told me that not only had her and her husband been going to church for the first time in their marriage, but that additionally she wanted to share with me that after being agnostic her entire life that she had a very real encounter with God and was positive for the first time in her life that He was real, He cared for her and that she knew with complete certainty that she was now a beloved child of God. That conversation erased all the difficulties of the morning and God showed me that my work for Him has not been in vain.

I have friends that go on mission trips all over the world to evangelize. One of my dearest friends goes out on the streets of Italy and evangelizes to prostitutes. Another friend goes down to the Las Vegas Strip and talks with people on a weekly basis. Others serve food to the homeless and share the gospel with them. You don't have to be a writer and have a blog to evangelize! If you have ever shared your faith with a co-worker or friend, than you have evangelized. I will be sharing more on effective ways to share your faith in a future post.

Before Jesus departed to His heavenly throne to take His position as Lord and Christ, He spent a final time with His eleven disciples. The last command that He gave them was this: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

If these are the last words that Jesus gave His disciples, we must consider that they are of the utmost importance to Him, and to ourselves. Jesus commands us to tell others about Him. You may ask, "Why me?" Aren't there others more equipped to do that? I am not a preacher, I do not know what to say,"

The good news about that is that Jesus does not ask us to do something without equipping us with what we need. The beloved physician, Luke, recorded in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Christ commanded us to tell others about Him and promised to give us power to do it. In the same way that a person is called to be a witness in a legal proceeding, we are asked to be His witnesses. In a legal proceeding, the witness will testify to the things that they have personally seen and heard; they will give an account based on what they have observed or experienced insofar as it has relevance to the current proceedings. As Christians, we have the opportunity and responsibility to tell others what we have "seen" and "heard" and what we have experienced in our walk with the Lord. Although God promised to equip us with what we will need, He never said it would be easy. Anything worth while seldom is.

Here are five reasons why evangelism is hard and why I do it anyway. 

1. It grates against social norms.

Think about the cringe-factor that comes with the word “proselytize.” That’s the same stigma that comes with word “evangelize.” Evangelism is often viewed (even by some Christians) as intrusive, coercive and crass.

But that stereotype is not Biblical evangelism. We should never coerce anybody to convert to Christ but, in the words of the Apostle Paul, set forth the truth of the gospel plainly.  When someone responds “no” we should pray for them. When they respond “yes” we should disciple them. When they say “I’m not sure” we should prayerfully journey with them to help them unpack the message of the Christian faith.

While evangelism grates against social norms,  it along with prayer, is the primary tool through which God’s kingdom advances on this earth. In the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:12, “And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing….”If we want to see God’s kingdom powerfully advance in our sphere of influence we must unleash the power of the gospel through evangelism.

2. It leads to awkward moments.

There’s no getting around it…evangelism can be awkward. Sure there are questions we can use to mitigate the awkwardness. Yes there are listening skills we can develop to break down the weirdness. But, at the end of the day, asking someone to consider embracing an entirely different belief systems is awkward.

With that said however, if there was a “Director of Awkward Moments” in the New Testament it would be Jesus himself. But it is in the crucible of the awkward where minds are changed and souls are saved (just ask the woman at the well.)

3. It exacerbates our fears of being rejected.

Think back to the first time you had a job interview. Your hands were sweating, your knees were knocking and your heart was pounding as you took those steps that lead from your car to the meeting place of the person interviewing you. If you are anything like I was...you were afraid!....and what was the primary fear?  The fear of being rejected!

In the same way when you evangelize you put yourself on the line. You open yourself to the possibility of being rejected. In other words, we become like Jesus in a very real and tangible way. According to Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Jesus was willing to be rejected so that we could accept the free gift of salvation that was purchased with his blood. If we really want to follow in his footsteps we need to be willing to be rejected as well.

4. It triggers demonic response.

If you want to anger Satan, then I can promise you that evangelizing about Christ will fire him up to wreak all kinds of havoc in your life. During the first century, the devil tried diligently to stop evangelism. He did not want Christians taking the Gospel to others. Thus, he caused per­secution, false teachers, and discouragement through the Roman government. Yet Chris­tians were still ardent in their evangelistic efforts. To defeat the devil and help us overcome sin, we need to spread the Gospel around the world. How the enemy would love us to ignore Mark 16:15-16. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

 Satan would like us to believe that we can stay home, watch our favorite tele­vision shows, and “let someone else worry about spreading the Gospel.”Satan wants people to think that they do not have the talent or ability to spread the Gospel, and that they therefore cannot do it. But each of us has been given the command to take the Gospel to the whole world. Look at the principle in Acts 5. Talk about people whose hearts were in evangelism—here they are. Christ’s disciples had been beaten for preaching the Gospel, and had been told not to go out to preach the Gospel any more. Yet verse 42 records, “Daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” The disciples were told to hush, or they would be beaten. Yet while the blood on their backs was still wet, and while the Jewish leaders’ warning was still ringing in their ears, they went to the temple and house to house to teach people about Christ. Oh, if we only had the zeal and desire to carry out evangelism like those people had. 

Acts 8:4 records, “Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” We need to fol­low the command of Jesus, Who said in Matthew 28:19—“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” We are told in 1 Peter 2:9 that we are to “proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” In Colossians 1:28 Paul wrote, “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Look at the good that comes from evangelism. In the first century, the critics of Christians said that they had “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). But what they really did was turn the world right-side up by getting people back in line with the will of God. Paul, Barnabas, Luke, and others would go into a city, and peo­ple would burn their books of magic (Acts 19) or they would tear down idols and give hon­or to God. That is the last thing that Satan wanted!

St. Peter’s warning to the early believers of the 1st Century church, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” 1 Peter 5:8.

Who do you think Satan is out to destroy? Those who are evangelizing Jesus! I am convinced that Satan will attack first those who attack him hardest. Christians who are prayerfully, consistently and lovingly sharing their faith are the ones who Satan will bring about a host of unpleasant doses of spiritual warfare. I could write an entire post on the spiritual warfare I've had to deal with since I began this blog. The more I write in it, the more Satan does everything in his power to get me to stop.  I will share more about spiritual warfare in a future blog post.

How do we overcome his attacks? Through prayer! We remember to clothe ourselves in the strength that God provides which will energize our spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-20) and encourage us to to keep evangelizing in spite of the opposition. Remember too, as believers in Jesus we have authority over Satan. Don't let the spiritual warfare you may encounter keep you from sharing your faith.

5. It makes us realize how much we don’t know.

I can’t tell you how many times somebody I was sharing Jesus with asked me a tough question and I just stood there thinking, “uhhhhhhhhh hmmmmmm.” There’s nothing more frustrating in evangelism than not having an answer to a lost person’s question.

But recently the Lord gave me a “get-out-of-jail” free card (so to speak) when it comes to this issue. He helped me realize that I don’t need to know all the answers. After all, He is the one who is all knowing, not me!

So when someone I’m sharing Jesus with asks me a question that I don’t have the answer to I’ll say, “Wow! That’s a great question! I have no idea what the answer is but I will find it out and get back to you. In the meantime, let's keep talking!” I’ll then start praying for and searching for the answer. I’ll search the Bible, read books or trusted Internet sources and go to my Pastor or my mentor and find those answers. I’ll then go back and re-engage the conversation.

We don’t have to know all the answers because we know the only One who does (God!) And we can learn some of those answers along the way when we engage people evangelistically and are honest enough to admit that we’re still learning.

Yes, evangelism is hard, but it’s also necessary. It’s necessary because people hang in the balance between heaven and hell and between hope and despair. If we really care about them we’ll do whatever it takes to get the message of Jesus to them in spite of the challenges.

I pray this post encourages you to engage in the challenging yet extremely rewarding work of evangelism in your sphere of influence. And, by the way, once you learn how to share the gospel it becomes much easier.

Thank you for reading A Spirit Filled Life and God Bless you.