Paul’s view of evangelism
                Romans 1:14-16

We are going to have a series of meetings that we call revivalmeetings. All across our Convention it is generally the rule that a church have one or two meetings a year or more. It has come to be a tradition. Yet there is something ironic in having the revivals. We as Baptist speak of being a New Testament church. However, we will look in vain to discover anything like a revival meeting in the church of the New Testament. We have the situation in which Christians come to listen to a speaker who preaches to the people who generally are not there. It becomes easy for us to achieve the status of spectators.

There is something more dangerous than all heresies, and all schisms,
and all heresies and all schisms combined, and that is to play Christianity.
Soren Kierkegaard said "1 would rather gamble, carouse, steal, murder, than take part in making a fool of God rather pass my days in bowling alleys, and billiard halls, my nights in gaming and at masquerades, than take part in making a fool of God. I would rather climb up te a high place er go out into the open where I am alone with Him, and say, “Thou art a wretched God, worth no more than to be made a fool of"... than to make a fool out of Him by playing
Christianity.” (SK Attack. p.20)

When one turns to the New Testament we find a strange attitude toward evangelism. It is strange because so little is practiced today. We discover in the New Testament that it was a life and death issue We discover that they did not carry on the work of evangelism in the church, but in the market place and the areas where business was carried on. The church, the assembly of the redeemed, was the center of building up the converts in the faith; it was a center of instruction, a center of fellowship and prayer, it was a center of instruction, and then the new Christian went forth carrying his message wherever he went. We discover that t hey went to the market place and preached. We discover that they were never interested in getting some to attend a church service, but on the contrary they were all preachers of the gospel, winning men and women to faith in Jesus Christ.

3. Turning to the book of Romans we learn something about Paul that can change our total outlook on evangelism. Pauline evangelism is the only consistent, thorough-going approach to evangelism. Evangelism was the sole motive of Paul. His tent-making was his avocation. Evangelism had a deeper meaning for Paul than for us. It is difficult to think of Paul waiting for the spring revival before he began to be serious about men outside of Christ. It is impossible to conceive of him praying only af times of revival.

4.Let us look at Paul’s attitude toward his calling in evangelism.

I. I am a debtor V. 14

1. Several years ago I loaned a young man some money. He agreed to pay it back at a specified rate until the loan was repaid. After about six payments I discovered that the next payment was due, and there was no money coming. He never contacted me nor has since mentioned the neglect of his debt. He meets me as though the debt was full discharged. He neglects totally his sense of indebtedness. Except for one thing this is the picture of so much of Christendom. The exception is that we do not repay God but we discharge the debt toward mankind. We cannot dismiss our debt as lightly as the young man mentioned. We must discharge the debt to the learned and the unlearned, the wise and the unwise, the poor as well as the rich. We are debtors to all men until they hear of the gospel of Christ.

2. Why are we debtors? Paul concluded that he was a debtor because of his commission. In v. 5 he speaks of his apostleship which he had received plus grace to carry it out...an apostleship to bring about obedience to the faith for the sake of his name among all nations. We have an apostleship of grace. Because we have come to know Jesus Christ as Lord we have a commission, we are sent.

3. The debtorship of each Christian is pointed up in a story that came from a little interior town of Columbia, S.America. (Robert E. Neighbor, Jr. SS Times, 9-3-1955) The missionary work was slow because a priest warned the people that the missionary had come to eat them. The missionary prayed. After three days he felt impressed to contact the chief himself. He had heard his name was Miguel Domico, but did not know where he or his house could be found. Led by the Lord he went down a path where Indians usually went. He soon met some Indians.;He greeted them and plead for their help. He told one of them, “I have message for Miguel Domico.” The Indian replied, “Is it really Miguel Domico that you seek?”The missionary replied, “Yes, I am sure that he is the only one. “Well,” he acknowledged haltingly, “I am Miguel Domico. “Oh, Chief,” he exclaimed, “I have some official papers from the greatest of all rulers or kings, and I feel it is imperative to tell you the story of it.” The chief invited him to his house which took a few hours. On the one side of the house there were women cooking, and on the other side the men were preparing their blowguns and sharpening their knives.
After they had eaten, the eyelids drooped and one by one they began to sleep on the floor. The missionary said, “Pardon me, Chief, but I thought you would give me permission to disclose this amazing new that I have to share with you. There is great urgency and you cannot delay. But the chief put him off until morning, then the missionary gave his story. “I have a document from the Ruler of all the universe to prove that you have an opportunity to be a son of the great Creator of all this earth–God, this creator, so loved you that He sent part of Himself, his only Son, to come down among us to give us a new life so that you may his sons and deliver us from our old ways.”
“Just a minute,” the chief interrupted. I have one big question. If that remarkable and amazing document that you have truly is the word of God, why didn ‘t he tive it to me? I don’t see why He would have written such a wonderful Book and not give it to us. I have never heard of it. Neither did my father or ancestors, now have any of our tribes ever heard of it.”
The missionary floundered around with the question for a minute , and then said, “The Lord; has already thought of your problem ahead of time. Look, in the same Word he tells the people that accept the story to go and teach all nations, baptizing them.
After he heard this the chief said, “I see then that it is not God fault that we hadn’t received the message. Whose fault is it? That is the question that needs to be answered. I’ve got to know this, he said, as if he were ready to pin the blame on someone.
The missionary answered that he was as much to blame as any of those back home who have not gone or sent.
After the missionary explained the story again, the chief interpreted the story in the Embera language to those listening. A good number became Christians. Tears were flowing down their cheeks and they made promises for time and eternity. Some weeks later the chief approached the missionary very seriously and said, “You know, brother, I feel as if I shall never want to stop until I have reached everybody with this story of Christ.”

4. The indictment of the chief should ring in our ears as the indictment of all Christians. It is because of it that Paul had to say, “I am a debtor...I have an obligation to discharge. It is this obligation that leads to a thorough going evangelism. Do we meet the world as though we had no debt??

II. I am ready (eager) to preach the gospel. v.15

1. A thorough going consistent evangelism means that we be ready to declare the truth of the gospel. Paul proved his readiness in the incomparable missionary journeys to various part of the Roman empire. He hoped for a trip to Rome which was 1400 miles as the crow flies. He walked all around Macedonia and Galatia.

2. Why was he ready? 1) He was ready to preach by the fact that he was a slave to Jesus Christ. As a slave he was ready to do his Master’s bidding. There was no conflict of interests. It was a settled issue–he was a slave. It is not for slaves to attach themselves to anything but their master. Paul is a nobody in particular and has nothing to show. He has a Lord, a commission and a message. Earthly masters have to go in the end, but Paul is a slave of a Master who comes in the end. Consequently, he stood ready. Our master has indicated that we are to be ready to give to every man a reason for the hope that lies within us. Readiness implies that you know the intellectual basis for your faith. Readiness implies that you have organized yourself and disciplined yourself to learn of Jesus so that when the opportunity comes you stand with the word from you heart.
2) He was ready to preach the gospel because the righteousness of God is revealed in it. The righteousness of God is a precious term. Let me contrast the term righteousness of God with religion. “In practically all that is spoken of as religion we are met by man’s effort to establish his own righteousness that he may thereby establish his own righteousness before God and win his favor....Our righteousness and the righteousness of God stand in opposition. The good and the right which w e do are our own righteousness, but that does not help us to enter into life. That is a righteousness which has its own value for this age. But one does not enter into the kingdom of God by reason of any righteousness of his own. That is possible only thru a wholly different righteous. (Nygren:Romans)
The righteousness of God is that which is bestowed in Jesus Christ. It is that state of righteousness which the grace of God gives. It means that by faith in Jesus Christ we are accepted in the beloved presence of God. The righteousness of God means that by trusting in Jesus Christ we are given acceptance by God. Jesus warned that”unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” It is this righteousness that is a gift of God. This great gift is worthy of proclaiming and sharing. He said confidently, “I am ready to share.”

3.Christians are not generally ready to preach. A boy lay mortally wounded on the Korean battlefield. Fear seized him, the fear of an eternity for which he was unprepared. “I am dying,”he called out to a buddy, “tell me how to be prepared.” The only answer was, “I can’t.” “Well, the get someone who can” was the desperate cry. Fourteen men, men brought up in a country with Christians influences, confessed the same: “I can’t.” Finally a fifteenth was able to tell him how to received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

4, Kierkegaard wrote in his Journal in 1853, “I have something upon my conscience...Let me indicate precisely how I feel about it. There is something quite definite I have to say, and I have it so much upon my conscience that I dare not die without having uttered it. For the instant I die and so leave this world I shall in the very same second (have the question put to me) “Hast thou uttered the definite message quite definitely? And if I have not done so, what then?... (attack)

III. I am not shamed...v.16

1. The first requirement of a salesman is to be proud of his product. Unloosed there are shames that we have. There is intellectual shame–fear that the Gospel is not logical and does not commend itself to intelligent minds. There is social shame, for not many wise, not many noble, not many mighty are attracted to the good news which centers around One who was executed as a criminal. There is shame of propriety–the offense of the cross has not ceased. There is the same connected with fanaticism. It a person conscientiously tried to confront people about Jesus he is shamed as a fanatic.

2. Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel? Why does Paul want to go to Rome with his message of an executed Galilean? In Athens, he was mocked and called a babbler and they ridiculed the idea of the resurrection. The reason for Paul: The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith in Jesus. There are no inferiority complexes here and no false humanity of an unbroken consciousness of power.
Paul was not ashamed because he had 25 years seeing the message as the medium of the power of God to turn useless lives into meaningful creations. This is not logic or philosophy, but the experience of life. If we could appreciate the depth of the power of God that can be unleashed thru the Gospel of Jesus Christ we would not be ashamed either.
Towns and villages were changed. Idol making was threatened in Ephesus because people came to see the power of Christ in their lives whereas idols did nothing for them.

A young man, Joe Binkler, starting out in life hd three choices–pick up an ax and head into the woods an d chop down lumber the rest of his life, leave home and seek his fortune elsewhere, or hit up String Georgian for a job in the office of the lumber company. Upon graduating as an honor student he intended to see Georgian about the job. There was only one thing that held him back. During the weeks that followed he became a Christian. The fact that held him back was String Georgian who was known as the most blasphemous character around. Joe Binkler wondered how a Christian would fit into his office. On the way over to the office he decided it would be best not to mention religion unless Georgian brought it up. Later, if his work amounted to anything, maybe he could get nerve to witness. He got the job but because of Georgian he soft-pedaled making much of his Christian testimony to others there. Joe thought he might get fired if Georgian learned he was annoying fellow workers. He was concerned for Georgian, wishing he dared to go to him, and tell him of God’s love in Christ. But he didn’t.
About that time he married a fine Christian girl. Before the marriage Joe went into Georgian’s office and asked for a raise. He not only gave him a raise, but a promotion to the front office. Joe thought that Georgian was in a good humor and now was the time to talk to him about Christ. But he didn’t have the nerve. What if he got angry to change his mind about the raise, or angry enough to fire him.
One day Joe was reading his Bible on his lunch hour and George came by. Georgian gave him a suspicious look and noticed the Bible. “What’s that?” he demanded. “Er,uh, it’s a book, the Bible, you know, “ Joe answered. “Beats me what you find in it, Binkler. What do you find in it? I looked at it once or twice, but couldn’t make heads or tails of those wars they had back there.” Joe’s face grew red. “Guess it does look strange to see a fellow poking his head in the Bible. I”m just studying my Sunday school lesson for Sunday.” For a second Georgian gave Joe a penetrating look and abruptly walked away. Joe congratulated himself that he had kept from discussing it. With the baby coming, he couldn’t take the chances and antagonize Georgian. Georgian watch Joe like a cat watches a mouse. Joe didn’t read his Bible anymore on his lunch hour. He didn’t talk to his fellow workers, yet he went to church regularly and gave a tithe to the Lord.
Then one day Georgian took sick. At first it was just a mild respiratory infection, but he went down slowly. Georgian’s right hand man told Joe the boss wasn’t going to make it but he wanted to see him. “You don’t mean he going to die?” Joe asked. For the first time it finally hit Joe that String Georgian was a lost man, on the road to hell.
Joe went and found him drawn and discolored. “Binkler, the doctor has put it to me straight. I’ll be cashing in my blue chips pretty soon. Binkler, I ought to be telling you you’re to be my successor. I could do it, but I won’t. What I brought you here for was to tell you that I’m a man without God, and I’ll be punching out that way. You see, Binkler, w hen you came with us I saw you were different. I watched you, Binkler, and I inquired about you. You were a happy fellow in those days. You’re a religious man, Binkler, I’ve known that since you first came with us. That’s been a long time. I’m a godless man, I was born that way, I guess. But I’ve done a lot of thinking. I was doing a lot about the time you came with us. I made up my mind that if you proved that what you had was the real thing, I’d give it a try. But you never once opened your mouth, Binkler, never once.”
There was finality in what Georgian said. Joe wanted to talk, but how could he right the wrong that accumulated thru more than 30 years. Georgian turned his head toward the wall, and Joe Binkler was sobbing dry tortured sobs of a man who wasted a life time and discovered it too late.
Can we say “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”

Concl:
1. These are crucial days in the life of the world. The world needs what Christ has to offer. The New Testament gives the model of “each one teach one.” This needs to be renewed in our minds as a way of life. Such an approach will make the church alive. It will make the church concerned, a church going places, doing things, and most of all fulfilling the great commission of Jesus.