BULLETIN ARTICLE – 4 February 2018
God has commanded us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). For many of us, evangelism seems a daunting prospect. We see that it is difficult to approach the topic. We sometimes think it is hard to explain the gospel fully, worrying whether we get the message across “right” or not. Ultimately, we are worried about how WE are able to best convince others that Jesus is Lord.
Apostle Peter’s sermon serves as a good reminder that evangelism is not our work alone, but God’s. His message was simple and he told the people about Jesus and what he had done. There were no fancy trimmings, no grand arguments, no heavy convincing and defending done. His sermon was one of plain adoration, telling of the great works of the Lord God and the need to be saved. Though this was a simple sermon, it told the truth of the gospel, the most powerful truth in the Bible.
We must remember, in our efforts to convince people that our God is the true God, that it is God, not man, who does the convincing, who works in the unbelievers and turns their hearts to him. He alone has this power, and he alone saves. In our attempts of evangelism – sharing about Jesus – we also worry about how our family, relatives and friends will react to this good news. In the book of Acts (e.g. in Thessalonica, Acts 17) we learn that, for the Apostle Paul, the normal response to the gospel is one of hostility and of objection. Indeed, not everyone will react the same way we did to the gospel of Jesus. Should this deter us from telling people of the good news of God? No!
For every reaction of hostility and objection, there will also be those who would be “cut to the heart”, having been moved by God the Holy Spirit after hearing Peter’s sermon. It is on this chance that we see evangelism – sharing about Jesus – as worth the risk. For every person we risk offending when sharing about Jesus, we also get the chance to see a soul saved and changed by God. Therefore, let us not stop persevering in proclaiming God’s wonderful acts, the greatest of all being Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection, to save people from their sins.
In worshiping and adoring God, we inevitably will share about the gospel of Jesus – the greatest and truest good news we have to share. Therefore, let us continue to “Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts” (Psalm 105:2) and share about Jesus.
