The Overlooked Benefit of Evangelism
By Michael Kelley
Why, as Christians, do we share the gospel with others?
We tend to answer that question in one of two ways. First of all, we share the gospel because we are commanded to do so. Indeed, this was the lasting mission given to the disciples of Jesus, and it remains our Great Commission today:
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20).
The second reason we share the gospel is because we love other people. We know that sin has a price, and apart from faith in Christ, the people we work with, spend our time with, and regularly relate to are lost. Inasmuch as we care for these people, we know God cares even more. So we share the Good News:
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).
Both of these are right reasons to share the gospel. But there is another reason - one often overlooked. Certainly we share the gospel out of concern for obedience to the command of Jesus and out of concern for the eternal destiny of other people. But this third reason has to do with us. Our own souls. Our own joy and well-being. Consider what Paul wrote to Philemon:
I pray you may be active in sharing your faith so that you might have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ (Philemon 6).
Now Paul could have rightly listed either of the first two reasons as motivation for Phlemon to share the gospel. He might have said, “Philemon, share the gospel in obedience to the command of Christ.” Or he might have said, “Philemon, share the good news because if you don’t, then the lost will never know how to be forgiven in Christ.” But he didn’t. Instead, he said that Philemon should be active in sharing the faith for his own benefit.
Put another way, we will not understand and experience the fullness of everything we have in Christ until we share our faith with others.
In his little book Reflections on the Psalms, CS Lewis wrote about something similar. Before he was a Christian, he struggled with the idea that Christians are commanded to worship. But later he came to understand that God’s command to worship is not only because God is worthy of worship; it is for our benefit. Here’s how he put it:
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with.”
When we experience something good and true and right, our joy is not complete until we share it with someone else. Whether that means expressing our praise in worship or sharing the good news of the gospel with our neighbor, we find the fulfillment of personal delight only when our experience is shared.
So, Christian, be active in sharing your faith. Do it in obedience. And do it for the sake of others. But also do it so that your joy may be complete in Christ.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.
