For many Christians, evangelism is intimidating, me included! Why is that? Because we are scared. We fear rejection. We fear ‘messing up’ the presentation by saying something wrong or not being able to answer someone’s questions. We fear we haven’t shown them the gospel before telling them the gospel. We tend to think that it is our responsibility to convince people of the truth of the gospel, yet we fear making a mistake somewhere along the way that keeps them from accepting the gospel. We fool ourselves into thinking that their salvation rests upon us. But it doesn’t.
As I read this wonderful little parable in our Bible, I was struck at the way in which Jesus describes the kingdom of God. It is like a man who casts seeds upon the soil.
The man has two responsibilities. First, he is to cast the seed. This is the proclaiming of the gospel. Earlier in the chapter Jesus told the parable of the four soils. Jesus tells His disciples that the seed is the Word of God. So our first responsibility is to tell people the gospel from the Bible. Don’t use your opinions or statements. Show them the gospel truths straight from the pages of Scripture.
The farmer’s second responsibility is to reap the harvest. The farmer waits until the crop is ready, then he puts in the sickle. Farmer’s don’t plant crops for fun. They plant them expecting a harvest. In evangelism we present/teach the gospel truths of Scripture with the aim of persuading people for the gospel. The goal of sowing the Word is to reap a spiritual harvest of souls.
The farmer sows the seed, then he goes to bed and sleeps. The seed sprouts and the soil produces a crop without the farmer doing anything. In fact, the farmer himself does not know how this happens. It just happens while he waits for the harvest.
Salvation is God’s work as the Spirit draws sinners to the gospel through the Word. Jesus said in John 6:44, No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him. Jesus said no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father (vs. 65). God is the one who takes the word sown, causes it to germinate, grow, and mature to the harvest. But then He gives the farmer the great joy of reaping the results of His work!
Our responsibility is to present the truth of Scripture and call people to respond. When they do, we should be prepared to help them. Yet the actual work of convincing and converting is not our work. It is the work of God as He takes His word and impresses it upon the hearts of people. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because he knew it was the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). This brought him to the firm conviction that it is through the foolishness of the message preached that God is well-pleased to save those who believe (1 Cor. 1:21).
We cannot save anyone. So we sow the seed in love and grace. We answer people’s questions. We care. We call for a response. We should not fear our inability and trust our method of presentation. Instead, we present the truths of the gospel from the Word of God and trust that God will do the work He has promised to do in-between.
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