Evangelism: Lifting Jesus Higher
Weve actually been looking at this all week — this idea of glory! Glorifying Christ in our lives and at all times is really the core of biblical evangelism.
At the Passover feast in Jerusalem Jesus, recognizing his crucifixion drew near, said, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified” (John 12:23). He prayed “Father, glorify thy name.” and God spoke! He said, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (v. 28).
Then Jesus said “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (v. 31-32).
Glorifying Jesus… Lifting Him up… Have we got evangelism wrong? Evangelism is not about convincing… its about glorifying Christ… lifting Him up. He said “if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” We are working with The Holy Spirit – do not forget this. He, the Holy Spirit, will do, not the “convincing,” but the “convicting.” He works not according to our evangelistic strategy, intellectual argument, technological spectacle, oratory charisma, musical artistry or alluring giveaways. The Holy Spirit works unpredictably, as Jesus described:
“…the Spirit gives birth to spirit… The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:6, 8).
Our task is simply to lift up Jesus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (v. 14-15).
We lift Jesus up, point to His Glory, demonstrate Him at work within us, and Jesus will draw lost souls to Himself as The Holy Spirit convicts and woos them.
Many years ago Bill Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ founder and author of The Four Spiritual Laws, gave this simple definition of evangelism: “Evangelism is simply sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results with God.” Jesus likened evangelism to casting out seed upon the earth. The seed is good and comes from God; we dare not add anything to it. The soil is what it is; we cannot alter it. Our only job is to cast the seed. We do this whenever we bring glory to Christ.
Press on…
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