What is the means by which God calls someone to salvation?  Leaving room for a Damascus road experience (Acts 9), every single written account of salvation occurs by someone presenting the gospel, and another person hearing (personally I believe this could be reading as well), believing, and responding in action.  For the record, I am not aware of anyone in the Bible who looked upon the good conduct of another person, and was spontaneously saved.  Therefore, while our life can support our message of the gospel of Jesus, it can never be a replacement.    This is the whole task of a true Christian, to live and preach the gospel.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 – “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.  From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 

Evangelism isn’t the work of pastors alone.  Don’t be lazy and just invite your friends and family to church and assume your pastor will do the heavy lifting.  Does your pastor know your friends and family as well as you do?  Will your friends and family trust someone else more than you?  (hopefully not!)  Many people are afraid to share the gospel because they feel unequipped to answer questions – don’t be.  Jesus didn’t call us to be professional theologians and apologists, he called us to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.  Every Christian should know that intellectually, and as a matter of the heart, because it was that good news that saved them personally.  If you ever wanted to know where you can take someone to share the gospel, go to 1 Corinthians 15 1-8 – “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me (Paul).”

What do you think your purpose is on Earth as a Christian?  When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone you knew?  How about with someone you didn’t know?  If you don’t feel compelled to share the gospel with others, do you value it as much as you think?  If you truly believed the gospel, and being reconciled to Christ was infinitely more valuable than anything else the world would offer, wouldn’t you want to share that with everyone around you?  As Christians, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we carry Christ with us wherever we go.  My encouragement is to purpose your life to be ambassadors of Christ.  Bring the message to the world that there is a Holy God who judges righteously, that we all fall short, but there is hope through God in Jesus.  Jesus Christ, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to God apart from Him.  Trust that we are not alone when we share the gospel.  God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, and He will add the increase to our labor.  We do not need to be clever, we don’t need to have all the answers, we simply need to be faithful to deliver the Truth.  Each of us is a witness to the goodness of God through Jesus Christ and the gospel.  As witnesses, we deliver a message to all who would hear, and pray earnestly that God will call many to Himself.

Grace and Peace,
Adam