The Evangelist as a Sower.

In the New Testament both Jesus and Paul use the metaphor of the sower
for the evangelist or proclaimer of the good news. From Jesus’ parable
of the sower (or ‘of the soils’) the evangelist should learn to be
develop three of the attributes found in the sower. The first
attribute we notice in the sower is that he is generous in his
sowing. He had plenty of seed and spread it widely, causing it to land
on different types of soils. We too should be generous in our
sharing of the message of grace-as Jesus encouraged us :‘freely you
have received so freely give! We should not be stingy with this
message nor seek to keep to ourselves, our family, friends or
countrymen but rather share it with all, even to those whom we
consider don't deserve it-for of course we don't deserve it! Of course
this doesn’t mean that we should ‘throw our pearls before swine’
as the Master told us, but we should still be generous and seek to
spread it where we have an opportunity to do so.
As Charles Wesley declared:

Come sinners to the gospel feast
Let every one be Jesu’s guest.
There need not one be left behind
For God has bidden all mankind.

The second attribute I see in the sower is that he is man who has faith.
He believes that the seed has power to take root, grow and
reproduce-it is what seeds do! We too should should have faith when we
sow the seed of God’s word. As Paul declared regarding the gospel: I
am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes. We should not lose heart or become
weary in well doing –keep sowing, keep praying and God will give the
growth and if it lands on good soil it could produce a crop, 'some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.'

The third attribute I see in the sower is that he is patient as he
waits for the seed to grow. He does not panic despite the weather be
it rain, hail, snow or scorching sun! The evangelist likewise should take
encouragement to wait patiently when he shares the gospel. This is
also seen when God speaks in the book of Isaiah :

As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

The seed will take time to develop in the ground then after its time
has been fulfilled the fruit will be seen for all to see.

Paul also emphasises that it is not the sower that gives the growth,
but God. It is not the sower that can boast or receive any glory, but
God. Our calling is not to give the growth, rather our calling is to sow generously, in faith and patiently that in due time God would give growth to the seed sown in his name.
AK


Send me,' he cries, his sin-purged lips with altar fires aglow:
'I'll bear the living message of free forgiving love;
O let me win the wand'rers to the path that leads above.'
`Spite all the ties of nature, he leaves his friends and home,
A lonely witness o'er the world, despised and poor, to roam.
Nought takes he for his service, but freely in His name
Who sent him and supplies his need, the Gospel would proclaim.
Within his yearning bosom, love to the Savior reigns:
In all the labors of his life no other power constrains.
Deep are his tender feelings, sweet is his pleading tone,
As he described the glories of yon Man on Heaven's throne.
His heart the heavy burden of sinful souls must bear;
He wrestles for them at God's throne through hours of midnight prayer.
Eternity before him more real than Time appears:
Oh, wonder not he pleadeth with the eloquence of tears!
Anointed by God's Spirit, trained at the Master's feet,
Commissioned and sent forth by Him, all furnished and complete.
No human art or wisdom his talent could assist:
A heavenly-moulded, God-sent man is the evangelist.
He is the weeping sower who shall with singing come,
Bringing his gathered sheaves from earth to Heaven's harvest home.
And when with joy he lays them down at the Master's feet,
His own 'Well done! thou faithful one,' will make his bliss
complete.—William Blane

Jesus the Master Evangelist invites each of us to be trained as fishers of men.

In this short series we will be looking at different New Testament evangelists Paul, Peter, Andrew and Philip(Peter and Philip can be found in a few recent posts).

However each one of these evangelist learnt from the Master Himself. Christ also invites each of us to learn from Him and to allow Him to make us 'fishers of men'.

The importance of Personal Evangelism

Imagine the situation where one Christian leads only one person to the Lord in a year. Then in the following year that same Christian invests their time bringing that new convert into spiritual maturity. The next year, the two Christians then each lead a person to the Lord and spend a year leading them into spiritual maturity. Every year, this doubling process will continue. As a result, in 20 years there would be one million converts!


When Andrew brought Peter to Christ, Peter later led 3000 to Christ on the day of Pentecost. When a Sunday school teacher brought D.L.Moody to Christ, through him, millions came to Christ.


Jesus himself also showed us through his parables and stories how the Church would grow through multiplication (Matt. 13- Parable of the Sower and the Mustard seed) These I believe were to encourage the disciples to keep on doing the work of evangelism.


Jesus: The example of an evangelistic lifestyle


1. He lived a life of intimacy and obedience to the Father. ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.’ (John 5 19-21).

2. Jesus ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor’ (Lk 4.18).

3. He knew his mission which was ‘to seek and save the lost’ (Lk.19.10).


Jesus and the woman at the well a model for personal evangelism(John 4)
In his relationship with the woman notice:

1. His relevance. Just before Jesus had been talking to Nicodemas ,Jewish male and learned Pharisee. He doesn’t use the same language but tailors it to suit the woman. He asks for water then offers her living water things which she could relate to.

2.His humanity and naturalness. Despite the different backgrounds and the breaking of social taboos ( the Jews do not associate with the Samaritans:Today read Roman Catholics , Muslims, Hindu’s. J.W.’s ) Jesus puts her at her ease.

3. His knowledge. Jesus knew the history of the relationship between the Samaritans and Jews. ( It is therefore important to know about those who we seek to reach though studying other religions, races etc so we don‘t make serious social mistakes that will alienate them ).Jesus also was given supernatural knowledge regarding the woman’s husbands.

4. His moral integrity and directness. It was not ‘easy believism’. He confronted her with her sin which she was prepared to acknowledge.

5.He refused to be side tracked. His goal was that she put her faith in him. Her question over the Jewish/Samaritan divide is not dismissed but neither does it deflect Him.

6. His compassion and sensitivity. ‘People want to know that we care before they care about what we know.’ Jesus deals with her as a woman in her own right. He takes into account her background : religious, moral and emotional. He could easily have condemned her out of hand. It was for those like her he came to save. ‘our failures in evangelism are often failures in love.’


Notice in this story recounted by John that Jesus was always sensitive to what his Father was doing.It should be noted that in doing sensitive personal evangelism that God will often be working with the person we are trying to reach in a way we will never understand. Such a divine appointment might be viewed as a door that God has opened for us which must then walk through.

In the story of Jesus with the woman at the well we see that he was both tired and thirsty and had merely asked the woman for a drink, but out of this meeting a great revival was to break out in the village. It was the woman who brought the question of religion and spirituality into the conversation not Jesus,then from this Jesus was able to respond in kind, this time offering her 'living water'. She gave him the opening which he walked through. Consider the many examples of how an effective message was proclaimed in response to a question from a seeker.

a)The Philippian Jailer who had experienced the earthquake and only for Paul and Silas would have killed himself cried out ‘ What must I do to be saved’ (Acts 16.30).

b) In response to the 'Speaking of tongues' at Pentecost some of the Jews asked ‘What does this mean’ (Acts2 v12). From this event three thousand became believers.

c) When Peter and John healed the beggar the crowd came running to them obviously wanted them to give some sort of explanation. The healing was also in response to a question. It says the number of men grew to about 5000 (Acts 3).


It would therefore seem that God the Father had prepared these people for the ‘evangelist’ who was to become something of a spiritual midwife. His job was to lead the person to faith even though the greater work of the Spirit had been going on apart from him. This takes the glory away from the evangelist who is merely an instrument in the hands of God.

Notice also how Paul in his letters often refers to having a door opened for the message
‘And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains’ (Colossians 4:3.See also 2 Cor 2.12., 1 Cor 16.9)


Giving out tracts with sensitivity

Even in the ministry of giving out tracts we should also be looking for evidence that God is working in this way. Our aim is connect. Sometimes when we give out tracts the person does not want to talk. They are possibly too busy or uninterested at that time: we should always let them walk away. We must respect that. We can not force them or cajole them against there wishes (we are actually asking them for a favour : to take a tract). But if ,when we ask them would they like a pamphlet ( I don’t normally use the word tract), they smile and take it gratefully, I sometimes take this as an invitation to speak further. They may of course be Christians but on the other hand they may possibly be interested by Christian things and would be prepared to have a spiritual conversation.

I would then ask them are they a Christian. Nowadays the word ‘Christian’ can be ambiguous for some and they will not feel threatened by it. Depending on their answer it may result in a fruitful conversation. If on the other hand you ask them are they ‘born again’ or ‘saved’ this may cause a person to get their back up right away and the conversation might end sooner than hoped. Though these are biblical concepts, nowadays they carry so much baggage that I personally prefer not to use them. Jesus certainly used the term ‘born again ’ to Nicodemas but he was the only one and he was trained in the Scriptures. Jesus used different approaches with different people.


General conversations with non Christians.

In this story Jesus started with the natural and finished with the spiritual. He acknowledged his natural thirst and went on to speak of her spiritual thirst ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water’


At the end of the day most people will acknowledge that there is something beyond the natural realm. Even David Beckham one of the most ‘worldly wise’ who has everything the world has to offer acknowledged once that he had ‘a spirituality‘.

In this Post-modern era, spirituality is popular and people are willing to talk about it. Let us talk to them and listen in order to be able to understand what they are saying. If we do this, and listen to the Spirit within we can respond with words that are both relevant and effective. If we don’t listen well to them they may well do the same to us.

Can we too have an evangelistic lifestyle like Christ: Having an intimate relationship with God;Being empowered by the Holy Spirit and also having a sense of the call of God 'to seek and save that which was lost'.

I believe we can. Jesus invites us to come follow him and he would make us fishers of me. He also invites us to come to him, take his yoke and learn from him. To add to this, even when we fall and fail seven times a day, he encourages us again and again to stand on our feet again as he is gentle and lowly of heart. We just need a willing and good heart to serve him.

As regards intimacy with God he tells us to abide in Him and that if we love him and obey his commandments he promises that he and his Father would come and make their dwelling in us.

As regards being empowered by the Holy Spirit-He declares to all the thirsty:'If any man thirsts, let him come onto me and drink and out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.'

As regards the call of God, what more could be plainer Jesus declared to his disciples: 'As the Father has sent me:so I send you.

Charles Wesley writes:

'Now is the time no more delay,now is the acceptable day,
Come in this moment at His call and live for Him who died for all.

My gracious Master and my God assist me to proclaim
To spread through all the earth abroad the honours of His name'

Paul writes here for both his own ministry and that of the Church in general.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone (Colossians 4.2-6)


Meditation

‘COME FOLLOW ME AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN’.

The Temptation of Jesus by the Devil in the Wilderness

We don't know in full the anguish and suffering that Jesus felt after his 40 day fast in the Wilderness when he was tempted by Satan. One thing for sure, Satan did all in his power to seduce and bully Christ into subverting the will of the Father.This clip portrays at least a little bit of this! Regarding ourselves if we do not feel the power of temptation in our own lives we are perhaps either giving in to it that we don't notice it or Satan is happy with the way we are living and are not causing his kingdom much damage. Of course at times, as in the life of Christ,there will be times when we are not particularly battling and things are relatively calm perhaps when Satan will leave us to plan future assaults.We can also take encouragement from Christ here who did not give in but with a word was able to defeat the enemy of all our souls.Like Christ, our new nature does not want to sin (1John)though Satan will do all in his power to do his evil works. These can be most obvious things such as the sins of the flesh, but they will also include subtle sins, the greatest of which is probably spiritual pride!( By the way this was the one that got Lucifer himself). If this is our besetting sin we are in big trouble as it can often lead to justification of all manner of sins, such as the self righteous condemnation of people or groups, or even lead to so called 'holy wars' where we could feel justified in putting to death someone in the name of Christ( C.P. Crusades. What then is the solution to protecting ourselves from these attacks? My thinking is that we should stay close to Christ, watch and pray and put on humility and the whole armour of God so that we would be able to stand in that evil day.AK