Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and as one who has been sought by God, selected by God, saved by God, secured by God, and satisfied in God, you have the heart-thrilling duty to speak of Jesus Christ to the lost. This is every Christian’s responsibility. In fact, if one could boil down the mission of every single Christian who is still alive in this world, that mission could be simply stated as follows: you are alive to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You are to be the mouthpiece for the Lord by speaking His gospel to the lost so that He can draw His own to salvation through the hearing of the gospel.
Maybe you have an unconverted wife. Maybe, O husband, as you read this, your heart sinks in discouragement because you are married to a woman who has no love for the things of God and no yearning for this glorious Christ! Maybe you love her and serve her and nurture her and pursue her and yet you find constant brick walls and opposition. Dear husband, if this is your story, keep clinging to Christ the Solid Rock and run to the mighty Refuge every day to find grace, strength, encouragement, and the example to love even those that seem unlovable at times. But keep proclaiming your Savior. Be like the early Apostles who said: we can’t stop speaking about the things that we have seen and heard. With love, with patience, with gentleness, with clarity, with urgency, and with constant prayer, keep speaking of Christ’s gospel and of eternity’s nearness to the unsaved in your home.
Perhaps you have children that are, right now, unconverted. Maybe you have little children in the home that have not yet come to Christ. Or, you could have teenagers who find their love more in the things of this world than they do in the things of Christ. Indeed, you may have adult children who have long been out of the home who don’t pursue Christ, the family is not being led well in the ways of Scripture, and (if they do attend a church) they find themselves at a place where Christ’s gospel is frequently exchanged for entertainment, drama, and seeker friendly ploys. Keep prayerful. Keep pleading before the heavenly Throne of grace for the souls of your children. If they’re in the home, keep showing them Christ daily. What they need is not parents to back off and refuse to speak of Jesus. They need you to love Christ more, model holiness for them, reflect your gladness in His gospel, and speak of His forgiveness as much as you can. Never underestimate the power of fervent, undying, importunate praying -- even if the children have long been out of the home and live far away. God’s providential ways far surpass our imaginations. If you can’t talk to them every day, then pray for them every day and bring their case before the Lord of the universe every day.
Lead your wife in evangelizing the lost outside the context of the home. Capitalize on opportunities with neighbors. As you engage in conversations about the weekend, share how heart-gripping the sermon was at the church you attend. Speak how much you’ve learned in your time with God in His Word. Speak of how you’re encouraged by the Church you go to as they serve and love one another so lavishly and tangibly. Beautify the gospel by sharing Christ incessantly with others. And, of course, you would do well to keep some gospel tracts with you for those frequent occasions when you can’t give a full gospel to someone, but you can leave them with a gospel presentation. These have appropriately been called: “paper missionaries.” They can go where you often can’t go. Always remember, dear husband, the power is not in you or in the method of your gospel-delivery. The power is in the message, that is, the gospel. So never be afraid of speaking the gospel verbally, giving the gospel through a tract, or writing the gospel in a letter and sending it to a loved one (or, relative, or coworker, or neighbor, or city mayor, etc.).
It should be noted here, in conclusion, that evangelism is more than just an emotional and shameful guilt-trip telling you to “do more!” Someone could be stirred into obedience, perhaps, for a short time. But if it does not stem from the heart, then the sharing of the gospel will fizzle. But if you are a man of God who thinks much and ponders deeply the things of God, the nearness of eternity, the infiniteness of God’s wrath, the agony of the Lake of Fire, and the consciousness of the eternally damned, and the blessed hope available through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, you will be compelled in your heart -- out of sheer love for God and for your neighbor -- to speak gospel truth to the lost. So, O man of God, rather than heap more imperatives that you should go share the gospel, it may be more beneficial to encourage you to ponder the exclusivity of Christ, the peril of the unconverted, and the imminency of death. Let these truths catapult you into prayerful and worshipful obedience to evangelizing the lost with the truth of there being one God and one Savior between God and man, namely, the man Christ Jesus.
More articles can be found at Geoff's articles page.
