Why Tell Others

(Photo cred: Chris Yarzab "Christian Evangelism")

(Originally written for Douglas County Publishing: Pastor's Meditation February 16, 2016)

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  (Matthew 24:9-14)

Throughout my life, I have had wonderful opportunities to see what God is doing in various parts of our country, as well as in Mexico and Canada.  I have heard the Word of God being taught to and preached by people who speak English as well as Spanish and in dialects still spoken by tribes who live away from cities.  I have seen and participated in acts of service to those who cannot help themselves and whose circumstances truly burden them. 

Those experiences typically have taken me away from home, away from my family and friends, my community.  I have talked about those experiences in a way that has become increasingly common in our day—“I took a break from real life.”  We mean that we had to take time off work, use vacation or a school’s spring break.  We left all the things and comforts of our routines behind.  We pay to go on trips to tell people about Jesus and serve them. 

Reaching out to “the whole world,” “all nations,” as Jesus teaches here and in the Great Commission of Matthew 28 includes opportunities like these.  It is great to be involved in these types of mission work, but we also have people in our own communities that could be reached out.  We have neighbors, co-workers, our children’s friends and their families, who could just as much use a little help.  There are people who we love or are friends with who are not plugged into a church and may know nothing about the Christian faith and hope of salvation.  We do not have to go very far to find a mission field.

I don’t intend for this meditation to be a guilt-trip if you struggle with doing evangelism and outreach—many of us do!  But I invite us to think about why we should tell others—what should our hope be in preaching the gospel of the kingdom as testimony to all nations?  A Christian singer, rapper actually, Lecrae, says in one of his songs, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t” (Send Me).   

Isn’t that what’s at the heart of this passage?  Jesus is encouraging his disciples and followers to stand strong in the faith, to not lose our love.  He promises he will return once the whole world, the farthest corners of the globe, the deepest spaces of jungles and deserts and cities receive the testimony.  Just because people have then heard about him?  No, I think much greater is that he will return when due praise is given to him.  When peoples of every tribe, language, nation, and race will have been given opportunity to not only make a choice of believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior but they will worship him!

We are to tell people about Jesus hundreds and thousands of miles away as well as right next door and down the street or in the apartment below us because he deserves to be worshipped!  Because he is worthy and deserves more than just the number of people that currently believe; he deserves more praise than what he currently receives.  We have an obligation to share Jesus Christ with people because God knows there are still more who will to come to him.  There are more to come to faith, more who we will join in his kingdom to exalt him for all eternity. 

A lot of things seem really important in our lives here on this earth, and some of them are.  And yet, shouldn’t what is most important to God be what is most important to us?  What is most important to him is lives being drawn into his kingdom, being redeemed from the sin that is all around us, affecting and tearing us down daily.  Sin makes us bitter, putting our hope in the structures and people of power in this world is what make us grow cold.  Worship though, and holding on for dear life to the gospel of Jesus Christ, who lived and died, rose again, ascended into heaven, and now reigns—that means so much more.  For Christians, the gospel is not like a tool that once we have it, we throw in a toolbox or on a shelf, stored away but knowing it’s there when we need it.  No, we need it daily, we need God daily, and so do our communities and this world.  Let us live our lives in worship, and let us tell others that they too may worship our God.