In Matthew chapter 10, the Lord Jesus sent out his newly appointed Apostles with specific instructions to proclaim God’s kingdom to the twelve Israelite tribes. In effect, Jesus commissioned the Apostles to evangelize the twelve tribes of Israel. What was our Lord’s motivation?
Read Matthew 9:35-38
35 “Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (NLT)
You’ll notice Jesus busily engaged in ministry, healing the sick, casting out demons, declaring the gospel of God’s kingdom, and yet there’s still crowds of people who are confused and helpless, crowds of people who were like sheep without a shepherd. In Matthew chapter 10, the Lord Jesus sent out his newly appointed Apostles with specific instructions to proclaim God’s kingdom to the twelve Israelite tribes. In effect, Jesus commissioned the Apostles to evangelize the twelve tribes of Israel. What was our Lord’s motivation? Jesus’ great compassion for the crowds who were like sheep without a shepherd moved him to send out more laborers.
Confronted with the size of the crowds, whom Jesus likens to a “great harvest” ripe for the plucking, Jesus taught his disciples to pray that God would send more laborers into the harvest. Pray that God would send more people out to do just what Jesus is doing: proclaim the Good News that God’s Kingdom has arrived in Jesus’ life and ministry.
Then, in response to the need for more laborers, Jesus appointed the Twelve Apostles and gave them authority to do the miraculous works that he himself performed. And that brings us to the focus of this mini series on evangelism. In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus gave his disciples instructions for evangelism. What to do, what to expect, how to be, all in regards to evangelism, to proclaiming the Good News of God’s Kingdom.
In this first post, I want you to grasp the task of evangelism.
Grasp the Task of Evangelism, Matthew 10:5-8
For the Apostles, the task of evangelism was (a) limited, (b) marked by proclamation, (c) and accompanied with Apostolic authority to perform the miraculous to validate Christ and his message.
(A) Limited. Jesus limited the Apostles’ task to the Twelve tribes of Israel, the lost sheep of Israel. I believe, there’s a theological reason for this initial limitation: salvation is from the Jews. The storyline of Scripture runs through that people, that nation. And the prophets foretold that salvation would go out from Zion to the ends of the earth, out from Israel to the rest of the world.
In addition to the theological reason, there’s also a practical reason for this limitation. Their task was primarily that of proclamation, not explanation.
(B) Marked by Proclamation. The people of Israel shared a common history, identity, and education in the Scriptures. The Apostles’ evangelistic task would not require as much “explaining” among the Jews as it would among the Gentiles. They possessed a shared language and core belief system with those to whom they evangelized. A simple pronouncement would not have been as effective among the Gentiles who did not possess a shared language or belief system. Proclamation, not explanation, was their task.
(C) Accompanied by Validating Miracles. To confirm their announcement of God’s kingdom, the Lord Jesus accompanied their message with validating miracles. Miracles that confirmed their pronouncement of God’s kingdom come in Christ.
That was their evangelistic task. What about us today? Are we to learn anything from Jesus’ instructions given to his apostles that day? Is our task the same as theirs? Should our evangelistic efforts be only to Israelites, marked by proclamation, with an expectation of the miraculous?
No. Not quite; not entirely. And I think the rest of scripture spells this out. For us who live after Christ’s ascension and the outpouring of God’s Spirit, our mission is (a) unlimited, (b) marked by explanation and persuasion, (c) and not accompanied with Apostolic authority to perform the miraculous.
(A) Unlimited — Look at Matthew 28:19, the great commission. After his resurrection, Jesus extended the mission to all peoples, not just the Israelites. This new mission matched Christ’s authority. He has “all authority,” and therefore his people must go to “all nations”. If the harvest was plentiful when speaking of only the Israelites, how much more plentiful is the field Christ sent us to reap?!
(B) Marked by explanation and persuasion (discipleship) — Look again at Matthew 28:19a-20 “disciple, baptize, teach”. The main command here is “disciple”. Disciple the nations. Making disciples is a quite different task than making an announcement. The word itself implies lots of teaching; more than a pronouncement. When the Apostles went among the twelve tribes of Israel, they shared the same language and core belief system with those to whom they evangelized. And there was a time in America where the nation, by and large, shared the same language and core belief system, a Judeo-Christian worldview. Evangelism to Americans 100 years ago could look a lot more like pronouncement, a simple, “repent and believe.”
But today, as a whole, America does not have a unified core system of beliefs, and definitely not a core set of Christian beliefs with a shared language and worldview. That means our task today has to look more like Paul’s evangelistic efforts at Athens.
In Acts 17:24-31, Paul evangelized the Athenians through means of a comparative conversation and detailed explanation. Explaining the whole Christian worldview, one conversation at a time. So, if you say something like, “I believe one God made the whole world and everyone in it,” you’re engaging in evangelism.
(C) Not accompanied by Apostolic authority to perform the miraculous, yet still accompanied by Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Look again at the end of Matthew 10:8, “Give as freely as you have received.” What did the apostles freely receive? Authority to cast out demons, cure the sick, and cleanse lepers (Matthew 10:1). My guess is that you have not freely received that same Apostolic authority from Jesus. However, Christ promised to be with His people, by the Spirit, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Therefore, we engage in our evangelistic task with Christ’s abiding presence. While we do not possess Apostolic authority to cure the sick, we can learn first aid. We can become doctors and nurses. We can provide homes for orphans. We can use the Spiritual gifts freely given to us to freely bless others.
Ephesians 4:7, “He has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.” Therefore, in evangelism, use the gifts, resources, access, opportunities, and providences Jesus has freely given you.
I summarize the task of evangelism with the two-word phrase Merciful Mission. We may not be able to cure the sick; but we can mercifully minister to the sick using the various gifts God has given to us. You cannot adopt every orphan in the world. But if Christ has freely given you resources to adopt one or two, you can do that. If Christ has freely given you an education in dentistry or optometry, use that to serve others in the name of Jesus. You may have carpentry, mechanical, and other “blue collar” gifts from God; use those to bless others who need your gifts, and do so in the name of Christ and his kingdom. A people committed to merciful mission will evangelize, will disciples the nations, will baptize and instruct all people in all the words and ways of Jesus, while also using all God-given gifts to mercifully minister to others in the name of Christ.
Grasp the task of evangelism.
Sound Teaching, Sound Living 