The effectiveness of evangelism depends on it.

PRINCIPLES OF SERVANT EVANGELISM:

SERVING IN OUR CULTURE IN THE REALM OF “SOCIAL SERVICE”

By Mark Simpson

WE WILL NOW LOOK AT THE MINISTRY OF SERVANT/CARING EVANGELISM. Why? It is becoming more and more recognizable: the American people are getting deeper and deeper into bondage, developing a hard, paralyzed heart. Many of the so-called saints share the same condition, but a remnant of aggressive saints are being raised up in this day with answers.

WE ARE SEEING THE TRUTH OF THE DIVINE "NUTCRACKER", USING THE WORD AND PRAYER AS ONE SIDE, AND GODLY SERVING LOVING WORKS AS THE OTHER.

MESSAGE, LIFESTYLE AND RESULTS

In Acts 2, the message was simple. It was based on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and its implications: we must repent, be baptized, and receive the Spirit: and be saved from the whole generation!

But in Acts 2:41-46 THERE WAS A LIFESTYLE that these new believers were invited into: they were baptized, then in the teaching, fellowship, eating, praying, signs and wonders, being together, having all things common, selling their possessions and sharing with the needy, eating together and praising God. Then AND ONLY THEN do we see in Acts 2:47 THE RESULT: Favor with the people, and the Lord adding daily those that were saved.

LESSON IN CATCHING SICK FISH: WE MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER THEM IN THE WAY OF LIFESTYLE, A WAY OF SERVING THEM THAT OPENS HEARTS TO THE WORD. It is called SERVANT EVANGELISM and CARING EVANGELISM.

Notice that in Acts 2 above, there was a key step in between the message shared and the results. That step was lifestyle. There were things in the lifestyle of those early Christians that helped the unsaved "take the step to Christ" that produced the enormous results. That is the "Caring" part of evangelism.

THERE MUST BE SOMETHING THAT IS "CARING" IN US TO PRODUCE AN INTEREST IN THOSE WE KNOW; OUR COMMON KINSHIP, COMMON FRIENDSHIP, OR COMMON ASSOCIATION. There was in Acts 2.

“Unless our salvation works out through our fingertips and everywhere else, there is nothing to it, it is religious humbug. It is easy to turn our religious life into a cathedral for beautiful memories, but there are feet to be washed, people to be fed. Very few of us go there but that is the way the Son of God went. If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we had better abandon that one. His religion is one which brings help to the bottom of hell, not a religion that can deal only with what is fine and pure.” (Oswald Chambers)

WHY IS "SERVANT", AND SOCIAL/CULTURAL INVOLVEMENT, A CRUCIAL PART OF EVANGELISM?

I) A Christian view of love and compassion compels us.

Every social/need issue has a human face. 1.6 million abortions every year happens a person at a time. Each person aborted is a child, and each person getting an abortion is someone's daughter, wife or friend. Behind the billions of dollars of pornography sold is a multitude of collapsing marriages and individuals arrested for sex crimes . . . ONE AT A TIME.

Hear the cry: "There is no escape for me. No one cares for my soul." (Psalm 142:7)

"The whole land is desolate, because no man lays it to heart." (Jeremiah 12:11)

We have all heard the stories. Maybe it was on the news, or somebody who knows somebody from church. Again, each story has a human face. People dying of AIDS, children in organ transplant wards, the elderly having life support removed because of budget cutbacks and tolerance of euthanasia and assisted suicide, while God calls us to love them as ourselves. How?

Christ, in John 11:33-36, shows us a balance between weeping and concern, and actual action taken. He has two reactions when hearing the news of his friend's death and seeing the mourners gathered around. First, He wept with them. Also, He was "deeply moved." The Greek word is "embrimaomai", used by the Greeks to describe stallions before battle, rearing up on their hind legs and pawing the air. It literally means "to snort in spirit." We see Christ quickly moving forth to DO something. It was His correct understanding, too, of the nature of man, man being spirit, soul, and body.

“One cannot save and then pitchfork souls into heaven. Souls are more or less securely fastened to bodies. And as you cannot get the souls out and deal with them separately, you have to take them both together.” (Amy Carmichael, one of history’s greatest missionaries, who spent 55 years in India without one furlough)

In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lu. 10:25-37), two religious people are set forth as do-nothings. The priest was likely returning home with his duty done for the day, and the Levite could not touch a dead body ("Well, that guy by the road COULD be dead!") because of tradition and the fear of defilement. BY CONTRAST, THE SAMARITAN DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT, THAT CAUSED LOSS OF TIME, LOSS OF INCOME, AND PREOCCUPATION OF MIND.

New Testament Christians got the message. In Rome, they rescued babies that had been left to die from exposure outside the city walls, and raised them as their own. In Corinth, they offered their homes as places of refuge for temple prostitutes that had become pregnant.

WHAT SHOULD NOT MOTIVATE US? MERE ANGER. "The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." (Jam. 1:20) Do you have an area of victory in your life, like financial affairs being in order? Ever find someone out of control in that area and become resentful? You cannot effectively help people that you simultaneously resent and are angry with.

II A Christian view of human beings assumes it.

"Man is not just a soul to be saved." (Francis Schaeffer) God's view of humanity shows us that people have social, physical and emotional needs to be met, not just salvation-spiritual ones. "If we truly love our neighbors, we shall be concerned for their total welfare, the well-being of their soul, their body and their community. AND OUR CONCERN SHALL LEAD TO PRACTICAL PROGRAMS . . . " (John Stott) Ralph Neighbour heard the Lord ask him, "When will you accompany Me to see My friends?"

John Carr prophesied in Pittsburgh many years ago, "The Lord is about to send a multitude of broken, miserable, bound people into our midst. We are not currently ready to receive them."

In Matthew 25:31-46, God honors the sheep that have met such needs. In the parable, nothing is said about their teaching of the Word. Of course, other passages refer to the importance of that ministry. (Matt. 28:18-20) On the other hand, the goats are condemned for failing to meet those physical and practical needs.

Historians show that throughout Church history, it has been missionaries and preachers that raised up the schools, the hospitals, took medicines and cures and agricultural innovations and pure water technology and a hundred other social improvements.

Missions writer Pierce Beaver writes also that they "were constantly the protectors of native peoples against exploitation and injustice by government and industry, played an important part in abolishing slavery and slave labor, and fought fiercely for human rights in combatting opium production, widow-burning, infanticide, temple prostitution, caste system and other injustices."

“The rebellious or idle, who would never to respond to confrontation or warnings, will change after a crisis. When God’s people rally to their aid, they see the hand of God in others; they experience the power of God, and for the first time the church means something.” (Bill Mull)

When our Christianity fails to address all aspects of life, it appears to the world too trivial and superficial to be true or worthy of making the Gospel a priority.

III The effectiveness of our evangelism depends on it.

The recent Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism stated that it is time to balance evangelism with social/servant action. They are like the two sides of the nutcracker, two sides of the scissors, the two wings of a bird.

Eph. 2:10 "We are created in Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Gal. 5:6 "Faith works through love."

Tit. 2:14 "Christ came to purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good deeds."

Tit. 3:14 "Let our people also learn to engage in good deeds, to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful."

"Good works cannot save, but they are an indispensable evidence of salvation. Social responsibility, like evangelism, should therefore be included in the teaching ministry of the church."

Servant action is not just a consequence of evangelism. It can be a bridge to evangelism. "It can break down prejudice and suspicion, open closed doors, and gain a hearing for the gospel.

"IF WE TURN A BLIND EYE TO THE SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE, WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF THEY TURN A DEAF EAR TO OUR MESSAGE." (Lausanne Report)

Servant action accompanies the evangelistic message as its indispensable partner. Again, see the pattern of Jesus in Acts 10:38.

"You know how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power, AND how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed."

No one would dispute the blessing of feeding the hungry, or social service.

However, what happens when we are called to take a stand for social action, and begin to protest corrupt structures that cause the service to be needed in the first place? Will we keep calling ambulances to a bad intersection, or intercede to have a stop light put up there?

Will we prayer walk and see the injustices, mutter and shake our heads and say "OH Jesus return soon. It's bad out there!"

Now we face the danger of "going political", and this is a controversial question to try to answer. John Stott says, "If we truly love our neighbors, our service may oblige us to take POLITICAL action on their behalf."

EXAMPLES:

- The ministries of the New Testament church; as I mentioned earlier, they rescued unwanted babies from the city dumps and raised them as their own, took in pregnant prostitutes, and made sure there was “not a needy person among them” (Acts 2:45, 4:34). We learn much about this early church from reading the words of their enemies, like Emperor Julian who wrote,

“(It) has been advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers,

And through their care for the burial of the dead. There is not a single

Believer who is a beggar, and these care not only for their own poor but

For ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help

That we should render them.” (Stephen Neill, “A History of Christian

Missions”)

This is exactly what happened after the recent tsunami that flooded huge areas of the island of Sumatra in islamic Indonesia: the Islamic nations printed articles and advertisements of their solidarity with the suffering, but it was the Christian missions that showed up with water, food, blankets, housing, boats and much more.

- Consider Charles Finney and William Wilberforce, who in the United States and England crusaded against slavery.

- Billy Sunday, who applauded and fought for prohibition of alcohol sales.

- Pro-life and crisis pregnancy organizations who continue to lobby our nation on behalf of the unborn and care for hurting women.

- Donald Wildmon and the AFA, who call for boycotts of companies that support television, movie and written pornography.

- William Booth, who championed the cause of workers rights as he saw tremendous abuses of laborers, even children, in London.

- Corrie ten Boom and her family hiding Jews from the Nazi executioners.

These are Christian moral values in action, not political "hot potatoes."

IV. SOCIAL ACTION IS CALLED FOR IF WE DO INDEED POSSESS A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF GOVERNMENT.

In Mark 12:13-17, Jesus taught, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." What is the domain of our earthly governors? As citizens of our earthly country, we are taking advantage of "Caesar's" amenities like police protection and civil laws. In fact, if we live in a democracy and elect our leaders, in a way we are ALL "Caesar." As citizens of our country we benefit from its economic prosperity, its political order, its public safety, transportation, educational opportunities, etc.

Romans 13:1-4 shows that God ordains government to reward good behavior and punish evil. Why is God concerned that earthly government function well? In I Tim. 2:1-4 we are called to pray for its officials so that we could live peacably and that the gospel can go forth. Bible examples of God's people opposing authority when their leaders violated God's laws are in abundance. In Acts 5:29 we have a duty to oppose governmental laws that violate God's laws. Daniel 3, Joshua 2, and Exodus 1 are all examples.

God is also a God of justice, not just justification. (Ps. 146:7-9) In the first two chapters of the book of Amos, the prophet speaks specifically about injustice in the nations around him.

THE STAGE IS SET

The 1994 report by the National Center for Policy Analysis details that "private charity" does a much more effective job than government of getting prompt aid to those who need it. "94 percent of all homeless shelters are operated by the private sector. As many as 80 percent of low-income people turn to the private sector first when facing a crisis."

Our own government is now working on cutting back on its size. (applause is appropriate at this time) At the same time, it is asking us, the Church, to get more involved in volunteerism. However, many citizens are not as generous these days because they are already woefully overtaxed by government that needs to lead us from a welfare state to a culture of caring. IN ITS OWN ROUGH WAY, OUR NATION'S LEADERS ARE ASKING US, THE CHURCH, TO ENTER THE ARENA OF SERVANT ACTION. NOW IS THE TIME.

Where do we begin in a "Save the Whales-Kill the Unborn" generation, where a divorce is easier to obtain than a car loan and an abortion is easier to obtain than a teeth cleaning?

How do launch out where we have one million teen pregnancies each year and three million teens with venereal disease, and where there are more adult bookstores than McDonalds restaurants?

If over three quarters of our people believe there is a God and believe He has given us His Word, but our culture shows all the signs of A Sodom or a Rome or Babylon, where do we begin?

Each one of us, with one needy person at a time.

"River of Life Ministries/Ministerios Río de Vida provides resources for training churches and their leaders in many parts of the world in both English and Spanish. For more resources you can go to their website, www.RiverOfLifeMinistries.com and hit either "Leaders Letters" or "Departamento de Español" keys, or e-mail Mark Simpson at mark_simpson53@hotmail.com