The Power Of Evangelizing

Serving – June 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Power Of
EVANGELIZING

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” —Romans 1:16 KJV

Preaching the gospel is either a weak, strange and contemptible thing or the divinely given and honored means of salvation to men, unto God’s glory. To preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified might appear an occupation well worthy of ridicule, were not Christ both “the power of God” and “the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). Foolish in men’s eyes, it nevertheless achieves success where man’s profoundest wisdom totally fails to help the soul’s deepest need. For, contradictory as it may seem, the Word of God declares: “After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (v.21). Evangelization offers eternal salvation through Christ to the lost.

Blessed as it undoubtedly is, it is not my purpose now to consider the dignified position of an evangelist as an ambassador of Christ. Rather let us ask, “What is the power of an evangelist?” For if the servant of God is not divinely intelligent as to the secret of true strength, a quick view of the forces opposing the message of salvation will likely discourage him to the point of seeking unscriptural alliances in order to meet the perceived need.

The Enmity Of The Worldly Mind
Is not the natural man in direct enmity with, or hostile against, the truth of God? The pure gospel is not only foolishness to him, but it stirs up his ungodly passions, as notably seen against our Lord Jesus Christ, the Truth, who was envied, hated, despised and then crucified. The unbeliever finds everything in the world that ministers to his fleshly appetites, and those things tend to make him comfortable in his alienation from God. Satan, the god of this world, is actively opposed to the Lord Jesus, using his unimaginable subtlety to hinder the work of the gospel and to drag souls to hell. What power does the evangelist have in order to overcome man’s indwelling antagonism to his subject, in addition to the withering influences of the world and Satan?

The Power Of The Holy Spirit
Truly in himself he has none; he is powerless. Still, in the grace and wisdom of God he does not go to war at his own command. The Lord Jesus, before His bodily departure from His own who were to be His witnesses in the world, promised to send the Spirit of God. He, the Spirit, would be in the saints and work through His chosen vessels (consider 2 Timothy 2:21). To what end? The Lord said the Spirit would “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (Jn. 16:8). This He would do “not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power” (1 Cor. 2:4).

Accordingly at Pentecost, a Galilean fisherman filled with the Holy Spirit charged the Jews with crucifying Jesus of Nazareth, the approved One of God. The result of that testimony in Jerusalem was the conversion of 3,000 people (Acts 2:14-41). Starting thus, the testimony of Jesus in the mouth of the simple and uneducated was recognized as the power of God unto salvation, by Jewish priests and Roman officials, Ethiopian eunuchs and runaway slaves, imperial deputies and brutal jailors. What was the secret of this power of their evangelizing? Simply that the men spoke by the Holy Spirit given to them (Acts 5:32).

The Power Of The Word Of God
But there is another consideration. While the Holy Spirit is the great personal witness and the power of testimony for Christ in the world (Jn. 14:26), the written Word is the authorized revelation of God to man, which shall judge him at the last day (12:48). Coming as it does from God, it is filled with divine authority and power.

To despise Scripture’s unique characteristics is as disastrous for the preacher as it is for the hearer. “The word of God” says the Holy Spirit of God, “is [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). This power is not lost or lessened in the day in which we live. Rather, in contrast to all the temporary things around us, the “word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pet. 1:25). Let then the servant of God take heed lest he too lightly esteem that which is the Spirit’s sword (Eph. 6:17) and which alone can effectually work in those that believe (1 Th. 2:13).

The Power Of Prayer
Thus it is evident that the power of testimony for Christ in the gospel must be the Holy Spirit operating through the Word of God. Truly “we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7). By prayer the servant of Christ confesses his weakness and finds his sufficiency to be of God. Consider a remarkable summary of these elements in an honored testimony for God: “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost [Spirit]: and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). The Spirit of God was in their hearts, and the Word of God in their mouths – “when they prayed.”

This fundamental principle of evangelization – that its power is ever of and from God, and never of or from man – can never be too frequently before our minds. To supplement this power by any human device, modeled either from the elements of the world or from the wit or taste of men, is to attack the sufficiency of that power and ignore the solemn warning given through Paul (2 Cor. 6:14-16) against the compromising mixture of light and darkness.

The Example Of Paul At Corinth
That the great apostle to the Gentiles acted in entire dependence on the power of God is unmistakable from 1 Corinthians 2. When Paul visited Corinth he knew he had to deal with people who were easily persuaded by gracefully worded sentences or impassioned speeches, entirely apart from the truth or untruth of what was proclaimed. And if some meandering speculation or abstraction of “thought” were presented in a philosophical manner, attentive and admiring hearers would quickly be gained. Here then before the apostle were means both to attract the Corinthians to his preaching and to make the gospel agreeable and popular. How did this servant of God proceed? Let him speak for himself: “And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing [persuasive] words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1-5).

Paul knew that if they were drawn to Christ simply by his eloquence or reasoning, that is, by the world’s “wisdom,” they would be building on a foundation of sand. There must be a divine work to produce a divine faith, and therefore the apostle carefully abstained from the use of anything that might become under Satan a false basis for the faith of their souls. The aim of his preaching was that the faith of his hearers might stand “in the power of God.”

Making The Truth Appealing
Does this principle apply today? Are evangelists to adopt pleasant things of man, the latest novelties to make the gospel of God appealing, or attractive, to the senses and the mind of the world? The gospel is indeed said to be powerful in itself – “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 1:16). Is not this sufficient? The heart of man that rejected not only the words and the works of Christ, but the moral goodness and divine glory in His Person, is not one bit more inclined today to accept the grace and truth of God in the story of His love and shame on the tree. Men still lurk in darkness and hate the light.

How then could the truth be made “attractive” to them without perverting its character? Should the preacher rely on the truth of God in its own holy power and simplicity to awaken man’s conscience? Or is he, in this day, to add things by which the worldly man shall be attracted, gratified, pacified, argued and talked into an acceptance of the gospel? Surely, such a compromise of the truth of God is seeking to please the worldly desires of men rather than to show faithfulness to Christ and the gospel. How dare a servant of Christ so trade with the testimony as to soften it down to suit the prejudices of the unconverted (2 Cor. 2:17)? This is not even dealing honestly with the men to whom we speak, much less is it acceptable in the sight of God whom we serve.

Music And Singing
But while this false principle underlies “attractive” preaching, it equally permeates what may be termed the “attractive accessories” of the gospel. Music and singing have an undoubted influence on many persons. Appropriate music and singing can be very useful tools in gospel work. Good, however, as they may be in their places, there is the need of scriptural care for their use in gospel preaching. We see music’s influence in a wrong direction, to a full extent, in the Cainites, when driven from the presence of God, made themselves contented in the land of Nod, a land of separation from God, with the harp and pipe (Gen. 4:16,21, See also Job 21:12).

It may be argued that in the history of Israel musical instruments played an important role in the religious service of the nation. This, however, was when man in the flesh was invited to devote his best to God. Therefore a beautiful temple, beautiful decorations, beautiful music and beautiful singing had their rightful places. But have not earthly things of that extreme in relation to God’s service passed away? Are they not among the “weak and beggarly elements” of the world (Gal. 4:9), now to be discarded being but types and shadows of that Antitype, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has long since come and who alone abides with us? Worship now is in spirit and truth, not in flesh and form. Rather than on the wind or stringed instruments of former days, the apostle Paul emphasizes in simplicity one’s expressions of faith: “... singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19).

Singing To God
Whether believers sing in the assembly or at gospel meetings, are not their hymns the expression of their hearts to God? All songs of the believer, hymns of worship and gospel choruses, are to be to Him. If saints do not sing to God, then to whom do they sing? Is it really meant that they should merely sing to attract the unconverted? What is it to devalue the praises of God, making them only as bait to entice natural men to church buildings or meeting rooms? Does such a practice show reverence and godly fear? The principle of our singing is and must be that it is to God.

It is a sin and a shame to bring into preaching of the gospel the elements of the world and of Judaism. We have been delivered from all such things by the death of Christ (Col. 2:20-23).

Does The End Justify The Means?
I distrust the argument that resulting “success” in divine things justifies how something is done, when our prime call is to obey God alone. But if music, singing or other things, perceived by man as a “show,” work powerfully on the feelings and imaginations of many, how often do they thus supplant Christ in the soul. There were some in a past day who came to the Lord out of mere natural feeling in mind or sentiment. The word concerning them is solemn: “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man” (Jn. 2:23-25).

Some may set up the plea that, their object being the glory of God in the salvation of souls, the manner or the means adopted becomes an indifferent thing. Is not this, too, like the excuse of the annoyed sinner in Romans 3:7? “If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory, why am I also judged a sinner?” Is this a position for mortal man to take before God? It is in fact in the path of the old fallacy of Satan: “Let us do evil that good may come.”

Let then the servants of God beware lest they underrate the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Surely no one will deny that there is much in this day that tends to lower the character of God’s truth, and we may be tempted to slight and forget the power of God in the gospel. To appeal in various ways to man’s worldly, or carnal, nature would make the testimony of the great apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, of little value. He wrote, for our instruction: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

By William J. Hocking (adapted)