I am convinced that only those who have made the effort to develop firmly rooted biblical convictions about evangelism will be able to overcome the cultural undertow of convenience. As Flannery O'Conner wrote, "And more than ever now it seems that the kingdom of heaven has to be taken by violence, or not at all. You have to push as hard as the age that pushes against you."1

    Our evangelistic motivation dare not hang on the thin thread of emotional or circumstantial factors. Our passion for souls is not an emotion, but rather a conviction based on a well-thought-through theology of evangelism. In 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 Paul tells us how four theological convictions fueled his motivation to pursue the work of evangelism even against great odds and in spite of personal suffering. These four building blocks are (1) the fear of the Lord (verse 11), (2) the love of Christ (verses 14-15), (3) the reality of man's predicament and possibilities (verses 16-17), and (4) the role and responsibility of an ambassador (verses 18-21).

 The Fear of the Lord

     Paul writes, "Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Corinthians 5:11). Paul is speaking of his total evangelistic ministry of persuading men of the truth of the gospel.2 But what does a fear of the Lord have to do with persuading men?

     Note that this fear is not to be understood as discomfort or fright. We are told that perfect love casts out this fear (1 John 4:18). Rather, this fear is a deep reverence for God out of respect for His awesome character and purposes. It is the response of humbly bowing before Him as Creator and Lord of history. It is recognizing that He is King of our lives, King of the universe, and therefore the one who alone deserves glory and our obedience. Above all, it is a recognition of Jesus as our judge. Note that verse 11 follows Paul's mention of the judgment seat of Christ. Verses 9 and 10 read: "Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Our fear of the Lord is based on the reality of having to answer to Jesus for the way we have invested our lives.

     Paul agreed with the psalmist, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments" (Psalm 111:10). It was this healthy reverence for the character and purposes of God that led Paul to conclude that the work of persuading men to enter His Kingdom is indeed a wise and understanding investment of one's time and treasure. To choose the work of persuading men is to choose the wise path of bringing glory to God through our obedience. This was the compelling intention that undergirded Paul's commitment to evangelism.

 Evangelism as Reverential Obedience

     As I have studied the Book of Acts from a motivational perspective, I am convinced that we need look no deeper than the issue of reverential obedience to find what fueled the fires of commitment to the first-century church's evangelistic enterprise.

     These men and women regarded evangelism as a commanded and authorized work. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).

     Jesus told His disciples in Luke 24:46-48, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." Jesus' command to go to all the nations was preceded by His statement, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." The one whose name is above every other name and to whom every knee will one day bow (Philippians 2:10) has made His will plainly known. The King speaks, and His subjects carry out His order in the power of His authority. Therefore, to "go" is to obey; to stay is to disobey. To proclaim forgiveness of sins in His name is to align ourselves with the wise, instructed path of life. To keep this information to ourselves is to be foolish and out of step with the Master's design for our lives and His purpose for history.

     This commitment to evangelism, grounded in obedience to the command of Christ, made the expansion of the church inevitable. The first-century Christians were found by their opponents to be an irresistible force, the overwhelming minority.

     The book of Acts records the willingness of Jesus' early followers to take seriously His command to proclaim the gospel to the world. Acts 1:8 states: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. " This verse is not so much a command as a prediction of what the Christians would naturally find themselves doing as they walked in the fear of the Lord, appreciating God's intent for their personal lives and for human history. Indeed, Acts 1:8 is an outline of the progress of the church as it marched through Jerusalem (Acts 1:12-8:3) to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 11:19-28:31). Jesus commanded it. That fact was quite enough for Paul and the first-century church and should, in like manner, place anyone who fears the Lord on the wise path of persuading men.

Evangelism and God's Glory

     It is clear that Jesus commanded and authorized the work of evangelism. But why did He do so? The answer is grounded in an understanding of God's sovereign plan from eternity past to redeem the world and so bring glory to Himself. The redemption of a fallen creation is the central focus of God's plan for the world. Since the fall, God has been unfolding His plan for the restoration of all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). John Calvin wrote, "God has created the entire world that it should be the theatre of His glory by the spread of the gospel."

     The gospel, God's plan of redemption, reveals His character to a fallen world and to the fallen spiritual realm. Matthew 24:14 states, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come" (emphasis added).

     Ephesians 3:10,11 states that the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached "in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord...." God is glorified as His love, grace, mercy, justice, sovereignty and power displayed on the cross of Christ are further displayed to the fallen world as the gospel is proclaimed and lives are changed.

     The spread of the gospel, then, is the focal point of God's redemptive plan to be worked out in the lives of flesh-and-blood people. As I am obedient to Jesus' command to "Go," I am wisely aligning myself with God's plan for the world. This is for my good, and for the good of those who will hear the gospel. But ultimately it is for the glory of God. The motive for obedience in evangelism is not only that the lost must be saved, but also – and even more important – that through the saving of these lost, great glory is brought to God.

     Paul realized that the work of evangelism finds its source in God's plan for the world, works toward summing up all things in Christ and will result in great glory to God. Paul knew that evangelism is crucial and primary to the mission of God's people because it is the initial point of contact between a loving God who seeks to save and rebellious men who are bent on self-destruction. Thus, evangelism, the proclamation of the good news, is God's appeal to men to align themselves with His ongoing and irresistible plan to redeem this lost world.

     This is why the fear of the Lord leads to a life of persuading men. The question is not, "Is God's plan for redeeming the world, the Great Commission, relevant to me?" but "Am I in tune with His well-defined purpose?" The fear of the Lord leads one to decide wisely to make such a personal alignment, to live a life that will bring maximum glory to God.

 The Love of Christ

     Paul writes, "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf" (2 Corinthians 5:14,15). Paul speaks here of the "love of Christ" having control of his life. Paul had grasped the fact that he was a recipient of God's love through Christ. His conviction was based on a specific body of information. Paul had "concluded," he had mentally processed the facts. The facts in this case are Jesus' great act of self-sacrifice – "He died for all" – and the corresponding implication for those redeemed by His death "that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." Paul was thus a "love-mastered man."

     This truth had so gripped Paul that its implications were irresistible. "If Christ did this for me," he reasoned, "then I must submit all facets of my human experience, my desires, personality, habits, time and resources to His grand design for the world." To live for himself in light of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to qualify him for His kingdom would be unthinkable.

     Paul could say, then, that the love of Christ "controlled," "compelled" (NIV), or "constraineth" (KJV) us. The Greek word sunechei means to be "held together," "confined" – to be held tightly or pressed from all sides. The picture generated by this word is of the love of Christ pressing in on and surrounding Paul, removing from him all pursuit except unselfish, radical commitment to the person and purposes of Jesus. The same word is used in Acts 18:5 and is translated "devoted himself exclusively," to the work of preaching the gospel. In other words, Paul reasoned, he had no other choice, given what Jesus had done for him, than to "offer his body a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1). Paul understood this to be a "spiritual service of worship." He realized that "he was not his own," but had been bought with the precious blood of Christ. His main pursuit in life was to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

     The story is told of a local church man who suggested that the community ask D.L. Moody to do a series of meetings. Moody had recently been to that community, so another man asked, "Why get Moody again? Does he have a monopoly on God?"

     "No", replied the other man, "but God has a monopoly on him."

     To have the love of Christ "control" us means to allow God to have a monopoly on our lives by bringing our will into conformity with His purposes for the world.

     Michael Green sums up this attitude well: "If you believe that outside of Christ there is no hope, it is impossible to possess an atom of human love and kindness without being gripped with the great desire to bring men to this one way of salvation.3

     We could say of Paul that "all the waters of his soul had gathered themselves into one mighty flood to be poured through the narrows of this single purpose – to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."4 An understanding of Jesus' love for him personally and His love plan for the world motivated Paul to subordinate every facet of his life to the end of proclaiming Christ to the world.

    Thus, evangelism is grounded in love. It is the supreme act of love. Too often we equate love with emotional affection or intimacy of relationship. We say, "I am incapable of really loving this person until I feel a warm emotion in my heart. Then I can do something for him." Or we might say, "To share the gospel with him before I demonstrate love to him in a relational sense would border on hypocrisy. " As one author puts it, "I don't relate to unbelievers in order to get them to be believers. I just relate to people and love them."5

     But this is a confusing line of reasoning. Love does not precede action. Love is action. Love is acting on another's behalf to meet his need. I cannot meet anyone's spiritual need, although I can at times, meet physical and emotional needs. But I can introduce a person to the one who is the great need-meeter. Jesus is living water for the thirsty, sight for the blind, release for the captive, bread for the hungry soul, truth for the confused, and life for the spiritually dead. Introducing someone to the Savior, I am convinced, is the most loving thing I am capable of doing for another.

     The Lausanne Covenant declares that "in the church's mission of sacrificial service, evangelism is primary."6 As the Thailand Statement says concerning the primacy of evangelism, "Of all the tragic needs of human beings, none is greater than their alienation from their Creator and the terrible reality of eternal death for those who refuse to repent and believe. If, therefore, we do not commit ourselves with urgency to the task of evangelization, we are guilty of an inexcusable lack of human compassion."7 Such is the reasonable conviction of that person who refuses to narrow God's purposes to the confines of his own soul and personal interests. As the love of Christ controls us, others' spiritual needs become our priority.

 Man's Predicament and His Possibilities

     Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:16,17, "Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we know Him thus no longer. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is anew creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

     Paul tells us that since his conversion to Christ, his personal perspective has changed in two areas: his view of men in general, and his view of Jesus Christ. Before his conversion Paul had seen both as "according to the flesh." His perspective had been dictated by the flesh principle, or his being in tune with the world's system. John tells us in 1 John 2:16, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world." To evaluate men "according to the flesh" means to see them through these lenses. But such an evaluation will lead one to see only the surface of their true selves. We might say, "There goes a man who knows how to dress; he is so successful and powerful, and doesn't he have a beautiful wife!" Or, "There is a woman who looks like she stepped out of Vogue. She's so socially poised and up with the latest in fashions." Certainly there is nothing wrong with such thoughts; these things may be quite true. But if our perspective on men and women goes no deeper than this we have settled for a totally inadequate assessment of the human condition. We have completely ignored the theological reality of fallen man created in God's image.

 20/20 Spiritual Vision

     The same temptations to dehumanize mankind were as present in the first century as they are today. But Jesus did not conform to the world system's view of personhood. He knew that the crowds who heard Him had a tendency to evaluate their lives solely in terms of "mammon," a totally materialistic perspective. Their identities were wrapped up in things – food and clothing and all the cares of life. In Matthew 6:24-34, Jesus deals with their inadequate view of their identity by asking them, "Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds....Are you not worth much more than they?" and by telling them, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you."

     Jesus modeled 20/20 spiritual vision. In Matthew 9:36-38, as the multitudes pressed in on Him to be healed and to hear His gracious words, He saw beyond their overwhelming physical and emotional needs and pinpointed their real need. "He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd." They needed Him, the Good Shepherd, above all else. The human condition is a much more serious and potentially glorious prospect than any materialistic appraisal could represent. Theology is so practical to everyday life. Without crisp theological analysis, we cannot even view our next-door neighbor correctly.

     Paul, too, had abandoned the "flesh perspective." He had realigned his thinking on man and Christ and conformed it to the serious biblical perspective of the true need of man in light of the realities of heaven, hell and salvation in Christ. Paul saw all men as eternal creatures. When we begin to appreciate the eternal ramifications of our "new creature" status, we cannot help but see others in light of their eternal possibilities. Paul could no longer look at men as mere men. In his mind, the focus was on the grand possibility of their coming to know Christ and "shining forth as the sun in their Father's kingdom" (Matthew 13:43), or the awful prospect of their eternal judgment.

     C. S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory;: "The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry It, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare." Lewis concluded that in light of these overwhelming possibilities, there is no such thing as "ordinary people."8

     These are sobering thoughts. But they are the truths that convictions are made of. A friend of mine tells of watching a Michigan-Michigan State football game many years ago. The highly intense rivalry brought over 100,000 screaming fans to the stadium. As the game and the crowd heated up, this man's friend asked him, "How many of the people in this stadium do you think are going to heaven?" My friend got the point. The real issue was not whom you are rooting for, or whether you had a seat on the 5O-yard line. The real issue was, “Are you a new creature in Christ?"

     Like Paul, we need to see all men in light of the eternal options. The fact that all men are created in God's image ensures that every person born into this world will live forever. The question is, "Where?" 1 John 2:17 tells us that the "world will pass away." There will come a day when the present world's system, which ignores God and dehumanizes man, will come to a screeching halt. The god of this world, already judged on the cross, finally will be put out of business. All those who are in his kingdom will be judged along with him.

     We might say that evangelism has an "eschatological" dimension to it. This means simply that the good news is a message of "kingdom realignment" in preparation for that great day when the kingdom of the world finally passes away into judgment and the Kingdom of God is revealed in all of its fullness. On that great day, all eternal destinies will be sealed, all hearts exposed and all hope lost for those outside of Christ. But that day is, in a sense, every day. In each 24-hour period, over 175,000 people die, many without Christ; the matter is settled for them.

     As C. S. Lewis observed, "There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan."9

 This poem by Joseph Addison Alexander makes the point well.

There is a time, we know not when

A point we know not where

That marks the destiny of man,

For glory or despair.

There is a line by us unseen

That crosses every path

The hidden boundary between

God's patience and His wrath.

(Source unknown)

The Responsibility of Ambassadorship

     Paul writes, "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Paul's use of the Greek word presbevomen in 2 Corinthians 5:20 carries with it the idea of the solemn, official responsibility associated with his calling.10

     Paul sees himself as having been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. The word committed could be translated "placing in us" and refers to "God's authoritative and effective ordination”11 of men and women that they might be His ambassadors, officially entrusted with the communication of His saving message.

 The Ambassador Mentality

     Being an ambassador is both a high and a humble calling. It carries with it the joy of privilege and the compelling weight of responsibility. The ambassador is the highest diplomatic officer sent from one sovereign power to another, invested with power to speak and act on behalf of the one who sends him, and entrusted with messages of great importance. However, he has no authority or message of his own. Rather, the ambassador is sent to communicate his sovereign's message faithfully and clearly to the other party.

 Commissioned to Communicate

     The ambassador, as any other communicator, should model a congruity between the importance of his message and the clarity and force of his communication. Imagine seeing a fire start backstage in a crowded theatre. It grows larger and larger, but you are the only one who notices. You walk up to the usher and whisper very softly, "Fire." He moves his ear closer to you, and you feebly whisper again, "Fire...I think there is a fire." By this time the usher would be doubting your sanity. The lack of congruity between the reality of the situation and the intensity and clarity with which you delivered the message would imply one of two things: Either you were mentally imbalanced, or you were not convinced of the fact that there really was a fire.

    Paul understood that God was making an appeal through him as His ambassador, literally "beseeching" lost sinners to return to Him through the reconciliation offered in the gospel. "The urgency of his message burned like afire in his bones; his passion to win men was the divine constraint which gave him no rest."12 Therefore, Paul "begged" men and women to come to Christ (vs. 20). This is intense language, but given the crucial nature of the gospel, this should not surprise us. The gospel is hardly a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. Our role as ambassadors is to move, persuade and convince; yes, to beg and beseech. The great evangelist George Whitfield once said, "If God did not give me souls, I believe I would die."

     But here I must pause to ask myself, "When was the last time I exhibited such intense concern over the soul of a nonbeliever?" Might it be that we fail to move men because we are not greatly moved ourselves? Might it be that men do not listen because they see no intense concern on our part? Might they continue to grope in their spiritual darkness because we fail to provide spiritual light by speaking the gospel with clarity and boldness befitting the message we are commissioned to communicate? If we don't entreat men and women to be reconciled to God, who will? The church has no competitors in the business of bearing witness to the saving power of the gospel.

Summary

     As the late Episcopalian minister Samuel Shoemaker wrote, "The test of a man's conversion is whether he has enough Christianity to get it over to other people. If he hasn't, there is something wrong."13 More often than we would like to admit, what we do with our time is a valid reflection of our heart convictions. A man who has convictions on evangelism is one whose mind is convinced, whose heart has been gripped by the crucial realities of the eternal issues and whose will has been incited to action.

    I am convinced that our passion for souls is not an emotion, but rather a conviction, based on a well-thought-through theology of evangelism. Paul had a four-dimensional conviction that motivated him to keep going in the work of evangelism:

     (1) He was convinced that to be involved in evangelism is to obey Jesus' command and is, therefore, a wise investment of one's life.

     (2) He was convinced that the love of Christ shown for him on the cross left him no other alternative but to show the same love to others by sharing the good news with them.

     (3) He was convinced of the awesome theological reality of heaven, hell and the human responsibility to decide one's fate.

     (4) He was convinced that the responsibilities of his ambassadorial calling compelled him to share the gospel clearly and intensely.

 Steps to Building Convictions in Evangelism

     (1) Do not expect your culture to encourage you to take evangelism seriously. The nature of man's sin problem blinds him to his real needs. Unless the Holy Spirit convicts him, the unregenerate man will at best be indifferent to your attempts to evangelize. You can expect to encounter the built-in opposition to the gospel found in any culture. Recognize this cultural lethargy and unwillingness to pursue spiritual truth, and realize that it is part of the devil's scheme to desensitize the world to its spiritual disease. Do not allow the world to dictate your commitment to proclaiming the gospel.

     (2) Purpose in your heart to develop biblical convictions in the area of evangelism. Recognize that this may take time. Allow your mind to dwell on scriptural truths that point toward evangelism's crucial role in God's plans for the world and His plans for you.