Evangelical confidence

The Decade of Evangelism is well and truly over, to the concealed (or unconcealed) delight of many.

There were advances made for the gospel in the Decade of Evangelism but, sadly, church attendance continued to slide and the Christian influence in our nation to wane. In my article last month I pleaded for a renewed confidence in the gospel. That must be paramount; then we need renewed confidence in how to proclaim it.

It is possible to be evangelical and battle for the truth without having a real evangelistic heart to share with others. Equally there is a desire to reach out, often because of the dwindling numbers in church, but with a lack of confidence in the message to preach. That is constantly being undermined when often leading figures in churches share their doubts about even basic truths. But for those of us who do believe these truths, then Romans 1.8-17 is a charter of how to proclaim these truths to others.

In my ministry I have pastored in only three churches and at the start of each pastorate I announced my intentions by preaching from Romans 1.16 and, indeed, ended my full-time stipendiary ministry on the same text. Happily, I am still unashamed of the gospel (using Paul's words).

What follows in these verses is the great confidence of a man who is both a pastor and an evangelist. Evangelism may well be a particular gift of God for certain individuals and we rejoice at the remarkable gifting of Billy Graham over these many years. But ultimately we are called with Timothy to do the work of an evangelist and the most effective evangelism is very often within the context of a local church, so that the pastor and the evangelist go hand in hand.

A pastor's heart

Verses 8-13 open up that heart of the apostle. He can honestly return thanks for these Christians, whom he has never met, because of their impact in the world. Thankfully there are people using evangelistic tools effectively today and even those who may be a little critical of some of its emphases should never ignore the remarkable success of Alpha. The pastor who cares about people will rejoice when God is at work. You see that in the Acts of the Apostles when Barnabas reached Antioch and rejoiced to see the grace of God at work in a church so different from that which he had left behind in Jerusalem. We need big hearts in evangelism.

But not only is the heart seen in thanksgiving, it is seen in the prayer life of the apostle in verses 9 and 10. Paul's strong affirmation here underlines the importance of regular intercession for the work of the gospel and for individuals. So the great prophet Samuel, when deposed, insisted that of course he would go on praying for them, for not to do so would be sin. That kind of daring statement makes many of us feel very small indeed. But perhaps the pastor's heart is not only seen in his thanks and prayer, but in verses 11-13 in the heart of love that is clearly demonstrated here. I never know why Paul has such a bad press for hardness and toughness. He was certainly those things, but with it was a very vulnerable, open person, who was often requesting the presence and prayers of others. So here his longing to share with them comes out. It is clearly a desire to share the gospel, with which particularly he had been entrusted, but also a mutual encouragement. This is why effective evangelism is so much easier within the context of a local community where that love can be demonstrated. Sadly, the opposite can also be true, but where there is genuine mutual care the gospel is being lived out as well as preached.

An evangelist's heart

In the opening verses of this great doctrinal treatise, which is a letter at the same time, the personal note comes regularly and the first person is constantly being heard. It comes 20 times in these first 17 verses. This is particularly true as Paul speaks about his commitment to evangelism; he sees it as:

a. A debt

He believes he has a duty to share with everyone that which has transformed him. Greeks and Barbarians alike need the gospel. This can be translated into the intellectual and the non-intellectual or the in-person and the outcast. However we understand these verses, it is a reminder that we who know the Lord have a responsibility to share the gospel. I have always been excited by the Old Testament story of the siege of Samaria in 2 Kings 7, where the lepers eventually discover that the encircling enemy has gone and they enjoy the goodies left behind, and then have an awful sense of guilt: 'We do not well, this is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace'. That kind of guilty silence ought to haunt us constantly. There is a danger of giving congregations a guilt complex about not evangelising, but I think a greater danger is in encouraging complacency.

b. A delight

He is eager to preach in verse 15 and that eagerness we should share. I was trained at Oak Hill Theological College in London in the days of Principal L.F.E. Wilkinson, who led missions as well as taught ordinands. I recollect sharing as a student a mission with him in St. George's, Leeds, where there was a high pulpit. L.F.E's desire to preach was so great that by the time he reached the top of the pulpit steps he was already in full flow. Somehow that characterised the man and the impact he had on many of us. All too often people seem to have many other desires except the desperate delight to proclaim the Good News.

c. A dynamic

Here is the heart of verse 16. The experts suggest that when Paul says 'I am not ashamed' it is a litotes, a grammatical expression, meaning that he was really wanting to say that he was proud. I doubt this. I do believe Paul's integrity in his use of language. As an intellectual he was probably tempted to be ashamed of a message that proclaimed new life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. With all his Greek and Jewish background this was an apparently over-simple message to preach and yet there was no other for it had transformed him. We particularly should not be ashamed because we have a whole history of experience of lives changed by the power of God through the gospel.

But I do believe we need to be challenged as to whether or not we believe the dynamic is in the message itself rather than in the various means by which we proclaim it. It is right to have good strategy; it is essential to find new ways of reaching people, hence the value of the Alpha course and other similar courses with different names.

But ultimately our confidence is not in schemes but in the very heart of what God has done for us in Jesus. That comes out very obviously in verse 17 where Paul quotes from Habakkuk with the message of God's righteousness which is a divine attribute, a divine activity and a divine achievement. It is best to translate the closing quote in this way: 'He who through faith is righteous will live', and the stress is on the verb 'to live'. I suppose this will be the litmus test as to whether or not we take seriously this proclamation of the gospel and then all our thinking and praying as to how best to do it in our 21st century. User-friendly services will vary according to the location and type of person we are trying to reach. But because we believe the gospel is the essence of real life, we shall leave no stone unturned until we have shared it with others.

It is not only a message of the hope of heaven, although that is desperately urgent today and would fill an enormous void in people's thinking. It is the offer of life now. Those who enjoy biblical statistics have pointed out that in the first four chapters of Romans the words for faith come 25 times and the words for life twice and in chapters 5-8 it is reversed. The significance is that first we proclaim the truth of the faith with its bad news and its good news, and then, as a result, we offer life and we demonstrate just how broad and deep that life is.

With such a message who can keep silent?

Philip Hacking continues with part 2 of his look at Romans

A pastor's heart

An evangelist's heart

a. A debt

b. A delight

c. A dynamic

Philip Hacking

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