Pastor Martin expounds the biblical mandate for the church's evangelistic task, primarily drawing from Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:8, and Philippians 2:14-16. He emphasizes that evangelism is Christ-centered, comprehensive, and compelling, rooted in Christ's authority and mediated by the Holy Spirit's power. Martin stresses that the church's witness must be validated by its quality of life, shining as lights in a dark world, and that pastors are responsible for nurturing this holistic evangelistic passion in their people, rejecting truncated views of the pastor's role.
Primary Texts
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Matthew 28:16-20The Great Commission, establishing the biblical mandate for evangelism, its Christ-centered context, and the core activities of making disciples, baptizing, and teaching.
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Acts 1:8Emphasizes the Holy Spirit's power for witness and the simultaneous, global scope of the church's evangelistic activity, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
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Philippians 2:14-16Highlights the church's corporate lifestyle of blamelessness and contentment as a shining light in a dark world, validating and holding forth the word of life.
The Biblical Mandate: Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission)2:58
Essence of the Great Commission: Exalted Christ, Assumed Going, Commanded Discipling, Attendant Activities7:06
Pastoral Importance of Matthew 28:16-2015:05
The Biblical Mandate: Acts 1:8 (Power for Witness)18:48
Pastoral Importance of Acts 1:825:18
The Biblical Mandate: Philippians 2:14-16 (Lights in the World)28:20
Additional Biblical Mandates for Evangelism40:33
The Church's Holistic Witness and Rejection of Truncated Views44:57
Key Quotes
“And so the words originally spoken to the eleven, that is, the eleven apostles, are now words which have merged into and become the standing directives of the Church until the consummation of the age.”
“And it is critical from a pastoral perspective that any of our instruction on the subject of evangelism, any of our efforts to motivate our people to the task of evangelism, must be done in this context of ever setting before them this fundamental vision of the exalted Christ who gives the commission, and the ever-present Christ who is with us in the fulfillment of it.”
“So obviously they did not understand the Lord's way in a word, in a reconstructionist theonomic perspective. And I only say that because sooner or later you may meet an articulate theonomist who will challenge you with this passage.”
“And we and our people need to be taught again and again that evangelism, witness bearing to Christ is not a human activity to be carried on under the impulse of mere carnal motivation dependent for success upon human resources and cleverness.”
“The thing for which I've labored has come to pass. There at Philippi is a people who as the confessed disciples of Christ so live a life of gracious spirit controlled contentment in the will of God in the midst of life's perplexities and difficulties that you are seen as bright shining luminaries against the horrible darkness of the paganism all around you there in that Roman colony of Philippi you stand out as bright shining luminaries against that terrible darkness holding fast to or holding forth the word of life”
“The church ought to be a community whose witness is validated by the quality of its life a community whose quality of life is exegeted by its witness and a community whose witness is essentially that of explaining and enforcing that God given message by which alone men can come to partake of the life which the church exemplifies”
“that the individual members may become successful in winning the lost is therefore the one all inclusive reason why pastors were given to the church the shepherding and the superintending both have that as their main object now brethren I trust you will never view your task in that light it cannot stand to the test of scripture”
Applications
All listeners
As good shepherds, we must always begin our thinking and teaching on evangelism with its biblical basis.
Pastors ought to hammer the foundational texts for evangelism into the consciousness and understanding of their people by exposition, exhortation, and frequent repetition.
Any instruction or motivation for evangelism must be done in the context of setting before people the vision of the exalted Christ who gives the commission and the ever-present Christ who is with them in its fulfillment.
Be armed with a layman's polemic to challenge articulate theonomists who misinterpret 'disciple the nations' in Matthew 28.
In the central task of making disciples, never view it as isolated; it must be done with a view to baptizing them and teaching them all things Christ commanded.
It's vital to set the task of evangelism in its Christ-centered context for our people, as the Lord does, to counteract guilt, fear, and shame.
Convey the urgency and compelling nature of Christ's words in the Great Commission to our people.
Beware of taking one text relative to the ministry of the Spirit and making it regulative of the whole doctrine of the Holy Spirit; the total witness of Scripture must regulate our perspective.
Teach our people again and again that evangelism is not a human activity dependent on carnal motivation or cleverness, but a task where Christ's authority and presence are mediated by the Holy Spirit.
Help our people realize that the Spirit constrains us to engage in evangelistic activity that encompasses both local (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria) and global (uttermost part of the earth) witness simultaneously.
Nurture your people into the fullness of the stature of Christ, so they become blameless and harmless children of God, shining as lights and verbally communicating the gospel, validating your apostolic labors.
Instruct our people that a growing conformity to Christ includes a growing compassion for those apart from the knowledge of God.
Pray that something of the apostle Paul's sense of indebtedness for the gospel might become part and parcel of our own hearts and the hearts of our people.
Lay before our people the truth of the necessity of hearing the gospel if men are to be saved, emphasizing that unless the message is brought, there can be no intelligent believing.
Emphasize the necessity of public confession of Christ as a badge of discipleship, without necessarily requiring every believer to be an articulate, aggressive personal evangelist.
Make the consciences of individual church members feel the pressure of the clear teaching of scripture on evangelism.
Envision the task of birthing a community whose witness is validated by its quality of life and whose quality of life is exegeted by its witness, embodying the transforming power of the message.
Do not fail to give evangelism its proper place in the overall life and ministry of the people of God, even while reacting against false views that make it the sole or supreme task.
Never view the pastoral task as solely making individual members successful in winning the lost, as this cannot stand the test of scripture.
Pray for a well-established, biblically balanced perspective of the noble, awesome task of evangelism laid upon the church, to be accomplished in Christ's strength and presence.
Seek to see churches where people validate the power of the gospel in all areas of their lives (husbands, wives, workers, etc.) and constantly feel part of the enterprise of making disciples.
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 61 paragraphs, roughly 51 minutes.
Machine transcription
Introduction to the Church Evangelizing
Now, as we continue our consideration of the task of pastoral oversight, we come today to examine another dimension of that task as it pertains to the corporate life of the people of God. In our previous studies, we've examined some of our major responsibilities relative to the church worshiping, the church gathering to pray, the church engaging in ministering to itself in love, the church involved in radical or corrective discipline, and then last week, the church nurturing inter-church relationships. We come today to take up the matter of the church evangelizing or communicating the gospel to a lost world, and in particular, the responsibilities that you will have in conjunction with seeking to impart a biblical perspective on this subject and then to... to give oversight to your people in the outworking of those biblical principles.
Now, in taking up this vast and weighty concern, I should underscore the fact that the primary focus of my treatment of the subject in these lectures is the local church and its local witness. Not the local church and its worldwide witness. That subject is a subject on its own. It's one that we've sought...
to address in at least two intercession periods in the life of the Academy. The issue of church planting some years ago was addressed by Pastor Blaise and then a biblical theology of missions that was addressed by Pastor Steve Huffmeyer. And while some of the exegetical material this morning is as broad as the worldwide mission of the church, when we come to the practical suggestions in the application of that material, that application will be narrow and limited primarily to that which pertains to the local church reaching its own Jerusalem and Judea. Now, as we take up the subject, as you see from your notes, we'll do so under three major headings. We begin with the biblical mandate for the task of evangelism, and then in the second hour today, the biblical motives which ought to impel us towards and as a result, the task of evangelism. We'll take up large letter C, some practical directives for the implementation of that task. So we begin then where we must always begin in our own thinking and certainly as we seek to be good shepherds to our people, namely, the biblical basis for the issue that is before us.
The Biblical Mandate: Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission)
The biblical mandate for the task, of evangelism. Now, in selecting the text, I've chosen those which ought to loom large in your own thinking and which ought to be hammered into the consciousness and understanding of your people by exposition, by exhortation, and frequent repetition. And I've chosen a text from each of the major sections of the New Testament, from the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles. And the first and most foundational, of all of those texts, is Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20.
Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20. Let me read the passage and then attempt a brief exposition of the salient points in the passage. But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.
And Jesus came to them, and spoke unto them, saying, All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age. Now it's important that we note, first of all, to whom these words were spoken.
Very clearly, from verse 16, we know that they were spoken to the eleven disciples, that is, the disciples who were also apostles. The text could not be more clear. When the eleven disciples went into Galilee, they saw him, they worshipped, Jesus said to them. So these words were spoken, at least, to the eleven apostles.
But it could also possibly have been spoken to that five hundred who are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 6, where Paul is recounting those who had post-resurrection sights of the Lord Jesus. He speaks of the Lord Jesus appearing to above five hundred brethren. And most of the commentators on that passage in Corinthians agree on two things. That there is no specific recording of this appearance to the five hundred in any of the Gospel records, and that most likely it fits here into this Matthew account.
But, whether that is true or not, we know that the task that was given explicitly and clearly, indisputably, to the eleven disciples, that is, the eleven apostles, is a task which becomes the abiding task of the Church, and that in virtue of two things in the text. First of all, all of the nations, ta ethne, are envisioned in the commission. Going therefore, make disciples of all the nations. And since that task goes beyond the time of the living experience and ministry of the apostles, we know that the commission is still valid and emerges into the standing responsibility of the Church. And the closing words of the commission also point to the entire period until the consummation. Lo, I am with you, with you in the accomplishment of this task, even to the consummation of the age. And so the words originally spoken to the eleven, that is, the eleven apostles, are now words which have merged into and become the standing directives of the Church until the consummation of the age.
Essence of the Great Commission: Exalted Christ, Assumed Going, Commanded Discipling, Attendant Activities
Then we consider, secondly, the essence of the passage. What is it setting before us with respect to the evangelistic task of the Church? Well, it's important that we begin and end any treatment of the passage where the Spirit of God begins and ends it. The context of the commission is, according to verse 18, the exalted Christ, and verse 20, the ever-present Christ.
The commission does not come to us in isolation from this all-encompassing vision that fixes our eyes upon Christ Himself. When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. And Jesus came to them and spoke unto them, saying, All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth, and whatever directions He gives, they are to see those directions growing out of and being fulfilled in conjunction with this place of supreme exaltation afforded our Lord Jesus in His messianic mission. So the context is bounded on the one hand by this vision of the exalted Christ, and on the other, by the promise of the ever-present Christ. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation. And it is critical from a pastoral perspective that any of our instruction on the subject of evangelism, any of our efforts to motivate our people to the task of evangelism, must be done in this context of ever setting before them this fundamental vision of the exalted Christ who gives the commission, and the ever-present Christ who is with us in the fulfillment of it. Then we have, secondly, in the text, the assumed activity.
Going therefore. We do not have an imperative, some would say it is a participial use that has overtones and flavor of an imperative, but the main task is bound up in the verb to make disciples, but there is an assumed activity. Going therefore. I am the exalted Christ.
All authority has been given unto me in heaven and in earth, and in the exercise of that authority I intend to gather to myself a people from among the nations. Going therefore. The assumed activity is the church going out in order to communicate its message among the nations. All of the prophecies of the messianic age couched in Jewish canons of thought with the nations coming up to Jerusalem, with the nations flowing unto Zion, with the nations going up to Messiah in the place of His exaltation, are to find fulfillment not by the nations coming to a geographical area, but by the servants of God and the church of God bringing its message out to the nations that they might come to Messiah, not in a geographical location, but rather as the Spirit of God savingly reveals Christ, and they are brought unto Messiah in all of the geographical places of the nations. So the assumed activity is the going, therefore. Then we have the clearly commanded activity. And the clearly commanded activity is to make disciples of the nations.
More literally, disciple the nations. Now our theonomic and our reconstructionist friends say, aha, you see what the text says? Disciple the nations. Not a remnant out of the nations, but disciple the nations.
You have the verb, disciple, and the object, the nations. And disciple the nations means nothing less than bringing whole nations under the reign and rule of Christ. You've got your Greek text, look at it. That's what it says.
That's what it says. And if you have a previously assumed framework of a theonomic reconstructionist mentality, here you have the semblance of a justification for your vision of whole nations, disciples to Jesus Christ. But we know from the analogy of Scripture, we know from this very passage, we know from the whole Biblical doctrine of God's work in calling out of the nations a people for His name, Acts chapter 15, where Peter understood the apostolic ministry not being a bringing of the nations under the rule of Christ, but he says, you know that a good while ago God made choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles might hear and believe the Gospel, and that God's purpose was to take out of the nations a people for His name. Acts 15 and verse 14, Simeon has rehearsed how God visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name, and to this agree the word of the prophets. So obviously they did not understand the Lord's way in a word, in a reconstructionist theonomic perspective. And I only say that because sooner or later you may meet an articulate theonomist who will challenge you with this passage.
And I want to arm you and give you a little layman's polemic here, alright? So the assumed activity is going, the clearly commanded activity is to make disciples but now no longer simply within the confines of ethnic Jewry, but rather among all of the nations. It is to make disciples, to see people brought into a relationship of submission, of faith, of loving attachment to Jesus Christ, and a commitment to have the entirety of life framed by His rule and His word. And then we have in the fourth place the specific attendant activity, the central activity is make disciples.
The attendant activities hanging on to that central activity by the participles are baptizing and teaching. That is, as the word of God is preached and men are brought into a right relationship to the Son of God, they are then to be brought into a visible commitment to the church of God. Through the endeavor to make disciples, those who are made disciples are to be marked out and incorporated into visible communities of the saints, and that which marks them out is what they declare to God and God declares to them in this divinely instituted ordinance of water baptism. Make disciples, baptizing them. In your central task of making disciples you must never view it as an isolated task. It is the central task. Make disciples, but make them with a view to baptizing them, and baptizing them with a view to teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
So the central concern is to see them brought into right relationship to the Son of God. That's an issue of life and death. But that is never to be separated from being brought into a right relationship to the church of God and a right relationship to the word of God. Make disciples, baptizing and teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you.
Pastoral Importance of Matthew 28:16-20
Now, this has tremendous importance in the work of pastoral oversight and direction to our people. This passage and these various lines that I've sought to open up, albeit briefly, I hope accurately, and its great importance is seen in these three areas that I've underscored in your notes. Its Christ-centered nature is so vital. The moment some people hear the word evangelism, they immediately prepare themselves to be driven on a guilt trip.
Or they have a sense of fear because they know their own native tendency to be ashamed of Christ, to be tentative about speaking the gospel to others and a host of other things. And it's vital that we do for them what the Lord Jesus did for His own. In spite of the fact that they had had three and a half years in the immediate presence of their Lord, He does not send them forth on this daunting task without binding their perspective to this Christ-centered approach. All authority has been given unto me, and lo, I am with you always in the accomplishment of this task, which is the peculiar point of reference in the context.
Lo, I am with you always, not generically, of the covenantally pledged presence of Christ with His people, though that's a blessed reality, but specifically in relationship to your accomplishment of this task. As you think of the magnitude of the task, remember who I am. All authority has been given unto me in every realm of created existence in heaven and upon the earth. All authority, all right and power to act has been given to me in my role and function as Messiah.
Lo, I am with you always in the plenitude of my grace and my power. You see how important this is in the instruction of our people that we set the task in its Christ-centered context as our Lord does. And then it's vital because of its comprehensiveness its comprehensiveness is balanced. Yes, the central task is make disciples.
The assumed activity is going, the attendant activities, baptizing, teaching, so that we do not have an atomistic view of the task of evangelism and we don't impart an atomistic view to our people. But the comprehensive scope of the task is so beautifully captured in the passage and then thirdly its compelling nature is inescapable. As the Lord Jesus is about to ascend back to the right hand of his Father and he is laying upon these foundation stones of his church, these eleven apostles, that long-term vision of the task that they are to accomplish and in turn is to be merged into the standing responsibility and privilege of the church, there is this element of urgency, there is an element of noble urgency in the words of our Lord Jesus and something of that ought to be conveyed to our people as we seek to instruct them and under God motivate them for the task of evangelism. But then the second text taken now from the book of the Acts is Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. Now here again the setting is significant.
The Biblical Mandate: Acts 1:8 (Power for Witness)
Our Lord has given us the reason for our salvation. His gospel has been given to us by which the Lord Jesus Christ has died and risen from the dead. He has convinced his own of his resurrection and has been instructing them in the things pertaining to his kingdom. Verse 3, To whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs appearing unto them by the space of forty days on the fact that the next great epical event is the coming of the Spirit as the gift of the exalted Christ.
Verses 4 and 5. Being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which said he, You heard from me, for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence. So the setting is one in which his own are convinced he has indeed risen from the dead. No longer is it said, as we find in Luke, that strange statement, they believe not for joy.
They believe not for joy. They were so excited their faith was still weak. The emotion of joy was crowding out a well-grounded solid conviction. But by now they are convinced this is indeed the same Lord Jesus who broke the bread, who touched the lepers, who raised the dead, who spoke to us, who ministered to us, whom we saw laid in Joseph's tomb.
This is our Lord who is risen from the dead. Many infallible proofs. He had demonstrated the reality of his resurrection. He had focused their expectations.
The next great epical event is the coming of the Holy Spirit. So crucial, so significant that you are not even to leap out in obedience to that commission to take my message to the ends of the earth. No, you are to wait. The same outline, given in the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
The setting is significant. Then after the question of verse 6 that had to do with times and seasons, our Lord says, No, this should not be your concern at this juncture, but this is to be your concern. You shall receive power, literally the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now remember, like our previous text, this was spoken to the apostles.
Verse 2, Unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom? All of this has to do primarily with our Lord's ministry to the apostles. Now we know from the larger context, later on in this chapter, that the gathering that constituted that first new covenant temple, into which the Spirit came with power and glory, was 120, according to verse 15. But the data of this particular section focuses upon the apostles.
And any handling of the passage is irresponsible. It doesn't take note of that. But that doesn't mean it has nothing to say to the rank and file of God's people since the apostolic age. But we must understand, in responsibly handling the passage, that these words were spoken at this time, specifically to the apostles.
You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me. What is the essence then of the text? That the coming of the Spirit will have a direct bearing upon power to bear witness to or of Christ. If you had to reduce the teaching of this passage to its irreducible minimum, that is the essence of the text.
The coming of the Spirit. The coming of the Spirit will have a direct bearing upon power to bear witness to or of Christ. This witness will be a simultaneous testimony of Christ from the immediate geographical context to the farthest reaches of the earth. You shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you.
You shall be my witnesses both. It doesn't say first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, and then, though in the outworking of the promise, there was this geographical and this temporal sequence, but in the promise, our Lord says, you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So according to this passage, the coming of the Spirit will have a direct bearing upon power to bear witness of Christ. Now that's not the only, or the primary function of the Spirit according to the analogy of Scripture.
But in this text, it is the primary focus. Now beware of taking one text relative to the ministry of the Spirit and making it regulative of the whole doctrine of the Holy Spirit. If we take our doctrine of the Spirit from the Upper Room Discourse, we could take texts which say, well the primary ministry of the Spirit is to mediate to us the reality of the presence of the indwelling Christ. And we would be accurate, in that passage.
But remember, the total witness of Scripture must regulate our perspective on these broad theological categories. But in this particular text, the coming of the Spirit will have a direct bearing upon power to bear witness. Secondly, the witness will be a simultaneous testimony of Christ from the immediate geographical context to the farthest reaches of the earth. And as you know, the text then, in a very real sense, becomes an outline of the Acts of the Apostles.
Simultaneous witness, first, sequential. It's in Jerusalem, then moves out to Judea, Samaria, the uttermost part of the earth, but it's continuing in each place as it extends, so it's both and, not either or. Or first and then, as though one stage is left and put behind us. And so we ought to think in terms of simultaneous witness to the ends of the earth.
Pastoral Importance of Acts 1:8
Now, let me underscore briefly its great importance in pastoral teaching. According to this text, the link between the sovereign authority of Christ and the abiding presence of Christ is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. How does the authority of Christ come to expression in our fulfilling the task of evangelism? And how is the pledged and promised presence of Christ made real in our experience?
And what I'm saying is the link between the sovereign authority of Christ and the abiding presence of Christ is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. May I say it reverently? He mediates to us and to those to whom we minister the reality of the authority of Christ and the abiding presence of Christ. And we and our people need to be taught again and again that evangelism, witness bearing to Christ is not a human activity to be carried on under the impulse of mere carnal motivation dependent for success upon human resources and cleverness. From the beginning to the end it is a task in which the authority of Christ must go before us and attend us in all of our endeavors. And the presence of Christ holds and sustains and encourages us and those realities are mediated to us by the person, presence and power of God the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, its comprehensiveness as to scope for our evangelistic activity is a check on the error of both near-sightedness and far-sightedness.
Most of you have heard of myopia near-sightedness. You probably haven't heard of that, that's far-sightedness. And left to ourselves whole churches are guilty of one or the other. And you have churches that say the great mark of a God-honoring church is its missionary program and the whole preoccupation is the uttermost part of the earth.
Others that say no, the mark of a church that is glorifying God is a church that is a beehive of constant passionate evangelistic endeavor to reach its own Jerusalem. There are lost people everywhere. Let's get all concerned with lost people here and let other things take care of themselves. Well, you see, this text will help us and help our people to realize, no, the Spirit of God has come that wherever there is the calling out of a people unto Christ in fellowship with Him, something of this vision of the Spirit of God constraining us to be engaged in activity that has within its compass both Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.
The Biblical Mandate: Philippians 2:14-16 (Lights in the World)
Then we move into the epistles for a third pivotal text and that's the Philippians 2 14 to 16 passage that I've listed in your notes. Philippians chapter 2 verses 14 to 16. Let me say just a word about the setting of this passage for it is significant. This is the church that was notorious for its fellowship with Paul in the furtherance of the gospel.
In his opening prayer he says he thanks God upon every remembrance of them, always in every supplication, making supplication with joy. Philippians 1 3 and 4, then verse 5. What is it that he highlights in his thanksgiving? It is this. For your fellowship, for your koinonia in the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now. When he thinks of the Philippian church, he says, O God, I thank you and that which looms large in his memory and elicits his specific thanksgiving is their unique koinonia, their fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel. Again in verse 12. I would have you know, brethren, the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel. Here's
a church that is peculiarly exercised about gospel progress. They have fellowship with Paul in the progress of the gospel from the very beginning. And now he says, I'm going to give you information, and I know you're going to want this because it has to do with something very dear to your corporate heart, and that is the progress of the gospel. We find it again in verse 27.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. It's interesting. It doesn't say of Christ himself, but of the gospel of Christ. That whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your state that you stand fast in one spirit with one soul, striving for the faith of the gospel. This is a unique emphasis in the letter to the Philippians. And then you remember in chapter 4, he tells them that they were the only church, verse 15, you yourselves know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you only. You see something of this unusually heightened grace of fellowship with the apostle in the progress of the gospel. So this is the church that is suffused with a wholesome heightened evangelistic passion. You see that?
Now that's critical as we come to the text that we're going to look at. What's the essence then of the teaching of this particular text? A specific command is given to fulfill all of their God-given tasks without grumbling and discontentment or insubordination marking their attitude, a debating grousing spirit. Verse 14. Do all things without murmurings and questionings. Let your life be marked by that grace of Christian contentment. Believing that everything in your life is disposed by a wise, sovereign, loving God and all things are working together for good. Do all things without murmurings and questionings. And what's his end in
view? What's his concern? In order that this is the end I have in view in giving you this very practical admonition that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen as light in the world holding forth the word of life that I may have where up to glory in the day of Christ that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain. He says in telling you to do everything without murmurings and questionings don't be marked by a grumbling, discontent, insubordinate debating spirit because in so embracing this admonition you will be seen as shining luminaries and that you may function as faithful witnesses of the word. That's his great passion that you may become blameless and harmless children of God who are seen as lights holding forth the word of life and he says to the extent that this is your experience my apostolic labors have not been in vain. The thing for which I've labored has come to pass. There at Philippi is a people who as the confessed disciples of Christ so live a life of gracious spirit controlled contentment in the will of God in the midst
of life's perplexities and difficulties that you are seen as bright shining luminaries against the horrible darkness of the paganism all around you there in that Roman colony of Philippi you stand out as bright shining luminaries against that terrible darkness holding fast to or holding forth the word of life and here I commend to you for any of you who have been able to obtain a copy of John Stone's commentary on Philippians it was one of my most helpful companions when I preached through Philippians some years ago and he opens up this text in the most helpful way he says the thought of responsibility for the power of example which as we have seen is suggested by the words in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation is explicitly brought out by the apostle in his next clause among whom you shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life these words may be taken as an injunction among whom shine ye the view of the meaning given by our translators however is at least natural Paul appears to be with a little variation repeating perhaps consciously the statement of the Lord in the sermon on the mount where he tells his hearers you are the light of the world being placed the apostle says in the midst of a godless men
and women you are according to your profession the illuminators of these darkened ones and this by holding to them the word of life that is by bringing impressively and winningly before them the gospel of Jesus Christ which when received by faith into any soul shows itself the incorruptible seed of true life even that life eternal which is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent and then he opens up the concept of what is this being light in the midst of darkness and then he says in his statement of the way in which Christians shine that is by holding forth the word of life the apostle passes from the image of the luminary and adopts one somewhat of this kind a herald of the king of kings holding out to public viewers scroll on which is inscribed in great letters a proclamation of mercy a promise of everlasting life to all that believe in Jesus the primary reference here is evidently from the tenor of the whole passage to the proclamation of the truth and power of the gospel which to all who are willing in any degree to attend is made by completeness of Christian character by the exhibition of spiritual energy and sweetness and patience nothing holds forth the word of life more impressively than a life manifestly
governed by that word a Christian of this type is himself a gospel an epistle of Christ written in letters so large and fair that even those who run can scarce but read such a distinct Christian life a life explicit and convincing to all observers as a confession of Christ is the legitimate fruit from the seed of truth received into the soul scripture knows nothing of invisible religion men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it gives light to all that are in the house let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good works may glorify your father which is in heaven but to hold forth the word of life implies not merely quiet consistent beauty of character but definite action for the extension of the kingdom of Christ every believer has heard his father say son go work in my vineyard and is in some way busy among the vines his faith has given him oneness of purpose with Christ who died who reigns in order to over throws sin by lip then as well as by the eloquence of holy living the saint endeavors to speak for Christ as God gives him ability and opportunity be it to his little children
by his own fireside or to assemble thousands he cannot but speak the things which grace has taught him and given him to experience he delights too to send the truth to multitudes whom he personally cannot reach by aiding in the support of agents for the enlightenment of the darkened at home and abroad through them he endeavors to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and he who sees the end from the beginning recognizes in his servants sympathy and prayers and gifts for missions a true holding forth of the word of life everywhere well I say amen to the comments of John Stone and this is Paul's great passion for that Philippian church the focal point of his exhortation is to live this consistent alternate lifestyle as the community of the redeemed that you may be seen for what you are you are the light of the world let that light not be darkened by the flies and the moths and the debris of inconsistency of life and in so doing being blameless and harmless you become as the people of God those who hold forth the word of life holding it forth validated in your lifestyle pleasing every opportunity according to gift and station and growth and development in the will and purpose of God and Paul says if you as the Philippians are that kind of a people
I have not labored in vain you see what that says is you seek to nurture your people into the fullness of the statue of Christ you say what do I long to see as the fruit of my labors I long to see you truly in Christ I long to see you so walking in the strength and grace of Christ that you are not sinless but blameless and harmless children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen evidently seen as lights in the world holding forth by that consistent light individually and corporately and consistent with opportunity and gift and station and light verbally communicating what it is that makes you what you are if you are such a people he said I have not labored in vain I have not run in vain I have seen what God has commissioned me to do and you need in the instruction of your people to seek to convey those perspectives and then to these texts could be added as the biblical mandate for the task of evangelism and we will move more quickly through these the example of our Lord in his compassion for sinners first John 2 6 establishes he that sayeth he abideth in Christ ought himself so to walk even as he walked while how did he walk amidst lost perishing masses Matthew 9 36 says when he saw the multitudes he was moved
Additional Biblical Mandates for Evangelism
with compassion for them and that compassion gained him the name friend of publicans and sinners and I have listed Luke 15 in which he gives the three parables to set forth why it is that he gladly takes upon himself that which the scribe and Pharisees gave him as a pejorative nickname friend of publicans and sinners and we need to instruct our people that one of the acid test of true growing conformity to Christ is a growing in this compassion for those that are apart from the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ and then secondly or fifth line of truth apart from these major texts the example of the apostle Paul in his sense of indebtedness remember his words in Romans 1 14 I am debtor both to the Jew and to the Greek to the barbarian to all and therefore I stand in readiness uniquely now as an apostle commissioned to take Christ to the Gentiles but in that sense of having received the grace of God he had a burden born out of a consciousness of indebtedness and it was that indebtedness that caused him to say as he did in 1st Corinthians 9 22 and 23 that he was willing to become all things to all men that he might by all means save some relinquishing liberties forgoing privileges and rights
he didn't think in terms of his rights but he thought in terms of this sense of indebtedness and it is this that moved him to write as he did in Romans 9 1 of his heavy burden and in Romans 10 1 of his prayer for his fellow Israelites and this apostle says to all believers 1st Corinthians 10 11 be followers of me even as I am of Christ and we need to instruct our people that we with them ought to pray that something of the apostles sense of indebtedness might become part and parcel of the standing state of our own hearts before God and men and then we need to lay before our people the truth of the necessity of hearing the gospel if men are to be saved and the well known passage Romans 10 9 and following if thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believes unto salvation and with confession with the mouth confession is made unto salvation whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved but how shall they call upon him whom they have not heard how shall they hear without a preacher how shall they prayer except they be sent culminating in verse 17 faith comes of hearing hearing by the word of Christ the necessity of hearing the gospel that men are to be saved that does not assume that everyone is sent in the sense of that
context but it does establish the truth unless the message is brought to the ears to the mind there can be no intelligent believing calling upon God for salvation and this truth must be laid before our people and then finally the necessity of public confession of Christ as a badge of discipleship while I trust we will emphasize to our people the biblical truth of diversity of gift diversity of opportunity diversity of responsibility in terms of expressing the gospel in verbal witness we must never so emphasize those truths as to give the impression that there is such a thing as a totally perpetually ubiquitously silent disciple no such thing Matthew 10 32 if thou shall confess me before men the one who confesses me before men him will I confess before my father which is in heaven whosoever denies me before men him will I deny before my father which is in heaven so there is the necessity of a public confession of Christ as a badge of discipleship without saying that that confession means that every believer must become an articulate aggressive personal evangelist the word of God in my understanding doesn't take us there if you become convinced from the scripture and can convince a thoughtful reflective people from the scripture do it but if you can't don't allow yourself to go down that road
The Church's Holistic Witness and Rejection of Truncated Views
well surely then with these seven texts and principles and collation of texts there is a clear biblical mandate for the task of evangelism by the church and since the church is comprised of individuals the consciences of individual members must be made to feel the pressure of the clear teaching of scripture on this point the church ought to be a community whose witness is validated by the quality of its life a community whose quality of life is exegeted by its witness and a community whose witness is essentially that of explaining and enforcing that God given message by which alone men can come to partake of the life which the church exemplifies you see we are never to preach the gospel unless we are in a totally virgin situation of aggressive frontier evangelism that does not have a local church base the assumption of Paul's description in Philippians and these other passages that we've looked at is that the validating framework for the declaration of the message is a living community of those who embody the message so that the alternate lifestyle of people shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation both exegetes and validates the message what's it mean
to be part of the new humanity and you read that in the opening chapters of Acts it says they had favor with all the people their new alternate new covenant lifestyle was that which was constantly validating the preaching of the apostles let's look at another passage here because this is so crucial in seeking to impart these perspectives to our people here in Acts chapter 4 verse 32 the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul not one of them said that any of the things he possessed was his own they had all things common and with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all you see the emphasis the apostles are giving their witness not in a vacuum but in a context where great grace was upon the redeemed community validating the transforming power of that message and so we ought to envision the task before us that under God our labors like the apostles if they're not to be in vain we will see the Lord using us to birth a community whose witness is validated by its quality of life a community whose quality of life is exegeted by its witness in our reaction against false views that would make witnessing either the soul or the supreme task of the church
let us not fail to give it its proper place in the overall life and ministry of the people of God surely the combined testimony of these verses is that the church is to be a witnessing discipling evangelizing inviting community of saints now for some of you to appreciate what some of us have come out of and struggled through let me read you can see this book was well used back in the days when things had a real influence on my thinking it's called every member evangelism by J.E. Conan to D.D.
bible teacher and evangelist and listen to Conan's concept of what your task is as a pastor this defines the double work of the pastor he's to feed his people and give them watch care as will make them strong and vigorous for their service of soul winning and he's to be their overseer and superintendent in that service seeing they do that work and guiding them wherever they may need it that they may do it successfully that the individual members may become successful in winning the lost is the one all inclusive reason why pastors were given to the church may I repeat it that the individual members may become successful in winning the lost is therefore the one all inclusive reason why pastors were given to the church the shepherding and the superintending both have that as their main object now brethren I trust you will never view your task in that light it cannot stand to the test of scripture and while rejecting that truncated view let us nonetheless pray that God will help us to have a well established biblically balanced perspective of the noble awesome task of evangelism that God has laid upon his church to be accomplished in the strength and presence
of the exalted Christ and the ever present Christ and to see under God churches that with Paul we can say we have not labored in vain nor have we run in vain here is a people who validate the power of the gospel in all of the areas that are so explicitly addressed in the epistles men as men men as husbands men as fathers men as workers men as employers employees women as wives women as mothers servants masters all of the full corpus of what's in involved in lifestyles that validate the gospel but a people who also constantly feel in whatever station God has placed them they are part of this great enterprise of seeing disciples made from among the nations incorporated into visible communities of the saints instructed by a solid teaching ministry to grow up into Christ in all things
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Passages Expounded
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission, establishing the biblical mandate for evangelism, its Christ-centered context, and the core activities of making disciples, baptizing, and teaching.
Acts 1:8
Emphasizes the Holy Spirit's power for witness and the simultaneous, global scope of the church's evangelistic activity, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
Philippians 2:14-16
Highlights the church's corporate lifestyle of blamelessness and contentment as a shining light in a dark world, validating and holding forth the word of life.
Texts Expounded
auto_stories
This passage, the Great Commission, is presented as the first and most foundational biblical mandate for evangelism, establishing the task's scope and Christ-centered nature.
auto_stories
This passage is presented as the second major biblical mandate for evangelism, emphasizing the Holy Spirit's power for witness and the simultaneous global scope of the church's testimony.
auto_stories
This passage is presented as the third pivotal text for evangelism, emphasizing the church's corporate lifestyle as a validating witness to the gospel.
auto_stories
This passage is presented to establish the necessity of hearing the gospel for salvation, emphasizing the role of preaching and sending.