THE KIND OF MINISTER JESUS WAS: EVANGELISM (pt2)

Matt 9v9:

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth, "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

Matt 4v17: From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

Luke 8v1: After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.


In this age we place so much emphasis on needing to relate to culture, peoples' situations, circumstances, ages, backgrounds, ideals, dreams etc, that we often forget just how simple evangelism is. Although God does use differences of ministries, parables, prophecy, persuasion and meeting people where they are at, we must remember that the Spirit of God is the one of makes the Word of God understandable and relatable to the soul. The Spirit knows the language of the every heart and is able to open the eyes of the understanding and to lift the veil by His power alone.

All the Lord needed was two words to get Matthew following him! All He said was 'FOLLOW ME.' He didn't even start out with a story or parable about tax collecting, didn't talk to him about his profession of tax collecting, didn't crack jokes about how people so often were unwilling to hand over their money to the government, didn't seek to show Matthew that He knew his life, didn't question him about his life and profession, didn't seek to show him just how relatable a God He was, and didn't even introduce Himself and explain all about Himself! He simply said two words.

That form of evangelism must've seemed like such a mystery to those that witnessed that. And then to witness Matthew actually get up and follow Jesus! Really, from a human standpoint, it would've seemed like Jesus didn't do anything at all, and no one would've expected a response from Matthew. If anything, people would've probably expected Matthew to get angry at Jesus, after all, who was this guy that just came from nowhere and demanded that he follow Him? without even knowing Him or doing or saying anything to convince him that it was reasonable or worth it? The Spirit was working behind the scenes to move this man's heart and to convince His mind, and no human theatrics or cleverness was needed.

Both ourselves and ministers today don't need to do a song or dance to get people to follow Jesus, because both OURSELVES, AND THEY THEMSELVES, CAN'T DO A THING TO MOVE MEN'S HEARTS ANYWAY. This takes the burden off of us to know we don't need to be anything we're not in evangelising, and reminds us that not one ounce of power resides with us, it all resides with the Lord. When men are called by God, they don't need to be dragged to Him. Men begin to follow Jesus because the Spirit of God breathes into them (Genesis), He hovers over the waters of their hearts (Genesis) and He comes upon them (Acts).