Suffering for the Gospel

“It will be hard for me to get the 10 Contact Reports … Because, I am not a Christian!”

Several years ago, a student came up to me after our first evangelism class session and said, “Dr. Johnston, it will be hard for me to do the 10 Contact Reports.” I asked her, “And why is that?” She answered, “Because I am not a Christian.!” Now that was unexpected—to say the least! I teach at a Baptist seminary. So I answered, “I see. Yes. That makes sense!”

This student was accepted as a “Special Admission” student and had since that time changed her mind about Christianity. Originally from Central Asia, she was a recent convert to Christianity. Upon experiencing the depravity of American culture, she began reconsidered her faith in Christ. Later she explained to me that she came to feel that her Hindu god was preferable to the Christian God.

Her falling away came because her presupposition that all Americans are born-again Christians. By the way, isn’t that a valid extrapolation from what we read in some sociologically-oriented books on American religiosity?

Here was her syllogism:

• If all Americans were Christians and
• If sin and depravity were so rampant in America,
• Then problem there must be with their Christian religious system:
• Therefore, their Christian God is weak—unable to restrain their depravity.

In her mind, the Christian God was not powerful enough to constrain Americans from their sin. Hence, she said to me after that class: “I am not a Christian!”

Because I had been introduced to this student several years before, I knew of her former membership in a Baptist church. So, I asked her if I could show her a gospel tract. She said, “Yes.” Right there at the end of class, I walked her through my “There Is Hope” tract. She agreed to each point. So when I asked her if she wanted to pray to receive Christ as her Savior, to my surprise, she answered, “Yes.” I led her in the Sinner’s Prayer at the end of the tract.

I was hesitant to know if she had prayed for my benefit, or if she was genuinely turning back to Christ. And it was her perseverance through suffering because of a verbal witness of the Gospel that proved to me that she had indeed made a genuine decision for Christ.

The Apostle Paul linked together suffering for the gospel of Christ with assurance of hope and salvation coming from the gospel of Christ. Here are Paul’s two logical progressions:

• Just as you have suffered for the gospel of Christ
• So, you have also received consolation from the gospel of Christ

And again:

• Paul’s suffering in proclamation of the gospel occasioned their salvation
• In like manner, their sufferings for participating in the work of the gospel...
• Affirms their participation in the consolation provided by the gospel.

Hence, in these theme verses of 2 Corinthians, Paul linked together assurance of salvation with participation in suffering for the gospel.

Let us consider these important verses:

“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.” 2 Corinthians 1:5-7.

As Paul opened his Magnus opus on evangelism, his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, he bound together suffering for the gospel of Christ with assurance of salvation.

Similarly, Jesus linked together confessing His name before men with His confessing His followers before His Father in heaven:

“Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” Luke 12:8-9.

In Mark, Jesus added that if His followers are ashamed of Him—even because of possible persecution—, then Christ will be ashamed of them:

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38.

For his part, Paul approached this argument from the standpoint of suffering. Suffering for the gospel confirms the Christian’s salvation. Now then, it makes sense that elsewhere Paul said that everyone who wants to live godly in Christ Jesus WILL encounter persecution:

“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12.

In God’s providential oversight of world affairs, He uses the persecution of His people for the sake of the Gospel as His divine winnowing fork to prove their endurance.

As for my student from Central Asia…

The next week she sat in the front of the class. Her eyes were full of excitement. When I asked her how it was going, she said, “Well.”

Then after several weeks, she began to sit in the very back of the class. She sometimes arrived late. She began appearing dejected and down. Her spirits did seem to lift as we went through the class. But it was a tough time for her.

One day she told me that her father wanted her to return to her home country. I asked her if it was a good thing. She answered, “No.” I replied, “Why does he want you to come home?” “Because I am being too affected by Christianity,” was her reply. I then asked her, “Do you want to return home?” She said, “No.”

Because of the requirement of the Contact Reports, she began to share the gospel with others at her work. Persons were coming to Christ. God began to use her witness for of the gospel.

In the case of this student, it was her perseverance through persecution for the gospel confirmed to me that she had truly trusted in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Her prayer with me was not merely to please me or to get a good grade. She suffered for the gospel, and her perseverance through that suffering was proof of her salvation.

Had she “prayed a prayer” only to please me, her professor? Or had my former student truly turned to Christ when she verbally called on His name to be saved? Persecution became the winnowing fork to prove her persevering faith.

Further, she began to make a differentiation between American religiosity and Evangelical Christianity. She said, “Now I know that there is a big difference between Christians and Evangelical Christians.”

It is hard to see. It is hard to experience. But praise the Lord for the fellowship of His sufferings!

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” Philippians 3:10.

How Might the Church in Thyatira Evangelize?

I have recently met with two students who both shared with me that in their contexts they have felt pushback in the area of evangelism. It would seem that what they perceived as biblical evangelism was not always accepted as such by other Christians.

In such circumstances, I can readily empathize with their struggles, since I have been dogged with a similar resistance for most of my ministry. However, rather than to be brash and insolent in the face of opposition, I remind them of three things:

1. They need to remain humble, recognizing that they do not have the final interpretation of Scripture;
2. They can and ought to learn from hard circumstances and other Christians, including those who oppose them; and
3. Their naysayers should drive them to humbly open the pages of the Bible and ask God to reveal His heart to them, confirming if their approach to evangelism flows from God’s standard in His Word.

In so doing, they will receive the peace that passes all understanding, in a world that Christ has promised will be filled with tribulation.

One of these students brought up a very good question. In essence it was as follows:

If there is one Holy Spirit, and that same Holy Spirit fills all of His people, and if He has clearly spoken through His Word, then why are there so many different and opposing interpretations of the Bible?

I explained that while it is true that there is only one Holy Spirit and that His Word is very clear, the Bible also clearly describes differentiation among those who would call themselves Christians. Here are a few examples to whet our appetite:

• Those who say, “Lord, Lord” in Matt 7:21
• Those who receive the word on stony places in Matt 13:20
• Those who receive the word among thorns in Matt 13:22
• The tares sown by the enemy in Matt 13:25
• The inevitability of those who become offenses in Matt 18:7.

It appears that all of these would call themselves “Christian” in one way or another. Yet these will not be received by Christ at the end of the age.

Paul mentioned some whose teaching and behavior would be scandalous to Timothy:

• Those who teach otherwise than Paul, 1 Tim 6:3
• Those who do not consent to wholesome words, 1 Tim 6:3
• Those obsessed with disputes and arguments about words, 1 Tim 6:4
• Those who seek to use godliness as a way of gain, 1 Tim 6:5

Further, Paul spoke some very sad prophetic words to the elders of the Ephesian church in Miletus:

"For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse [twisted] things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Acts 20:29-30 (NKJ)

The result of all these varying levels of submission to Christ is a sovereign blending of good and bad motives within the church. God has foreordained and foretold that among His people there would be diverse levels of adherence or lack of adherence to the truths of Scripture—in every area covered by Scripture, including evangelism!

So also, in God’s sovereign plan in the history of His church, He has revealed seven different church-types that will coexist in every church age. One of these church-types is the Church in Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29. It is called “a church” by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hence comes the question, “How Might the Church in Thyatira Evangelize?”

Two areas of false teaching existed in the church of Thyatira, which Christ called out as problematic:

1. They encourage systemic moral compromise; and
2. They inspire religious syncretism.

Both of these areas of false teaching intersect with evangelism styles. Some encourage Christians, that if they only let down their moral boundaries, then they would be more effective in reaching others for Christ. May the reader fill in the blank. If Christians would only do _____, then he could have a more effective witness with lost people. If churches only allowed _____, then they would be more attractive to lost people. If pastors ceased to preach _____ or do _____, then they would no longer be seen as irrelevant.

Others persuade Christians that true effectiveness is found in syncretism with the culture and its worldview. The reason that churches are not irresistible to lost people is that they need to engage culture by doing _____ or _____. Implicit in and complicit to syncretic theories is that the gospel is not “the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). Rather, the power of God unto salvation is found in a churches willingness to syncretize with the world around them.

However, these teachings, while titillating to the ear, are in fact fallacious and faulty. They are not founded upon “sound words of doctrine” or on the words of Christ. They find their foundation in the Baal of culture worship. I have not found anywhere in Scripture where culture is described as a friend of Christ or of the Christian.

Could it be possible that my students have encountered those within their contexts who appear to be members of the Church in Thyatira? It might be. That will be for them to determine for themselves, as they humbly bow the knee before God and His Word, asking Him for His divine wisdom.

The 55 uses of εὐαγγελίζω in the New Testament

What if your Bible read like this? …

Translating the 25/26 uses εὐαγγελίζω as evangelize in Luke-Acts

Luke 1:19, “And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and to evangelize this thing.”

Luke 2:10, “And the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I evangelize you a great joy which shall be for all the people.’”

Luke 3:18, “So with many other exhortations also he [John the Baptist] evangelized the people.”

Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to evangelize the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are downtrodden.”

Luke 4:43, “But He [Jesus] said to them, “I must evangelize the kingdom of God to other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”

Luke 7:22, “And He answered and said to them, ‘Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor are evangelized.’”

Luke 8:1, “And it came about soon afterwards, that He began going about from one city and village to another, proclaiming and evangelizing the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with Him.”

Luke 9:6, “And departing, they began going about among the villages evangelizing and healing everywhere.”

Luke 16:16, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is evangelized, and everyone is forcing his way into it.”

Luke 20:1, “And it came about on one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and evangelizing, that the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him.”

Acts 5:42, “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and evangelizing Jesus as the Christ.”

Acts 8:4, “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about evangelizing the word.”

Acts 8:12, “But when they believed Philip evangelizing about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.”

Acts 8:25, “And so, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were evangelizing the many villages of the Samaritans.”

Acts 8:35, “And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he evangelized him about Jesus.”

Acts 8:40, “But Philip found himself at Azotus; and as he passed through he kept evangelizing all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.”

Acts 10:36, “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, evangelizing peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all).”

Acts 11:20, “But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, evangelizing the Lord Jesus.”

Acts 13:32, “And we evangelize you of the promise made to the fathers.”

Acts 14:5-7, “And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region; and there they continued to evangelize.”

Acts 14:15, “And saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and evangelize you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.’”

Acts 14:21, “And after they had evangelized that city and had made [won] many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.”

Acts 15:35, “But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and evangelizing, with many others also, the word of the Lord.”

Acts 16:10, “And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them.”

[Acts 16:17, “Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, ‘These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are evangelizing to you the way of salvation.’” (from a variant found only in Codex Bezae)]

Acts 17:18, And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. And some were saying, ‘What would this idle babbler wish to say?’ Others, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,’— because he was evangelizing Jesus and the resurrection.’”

Or consider these 22/23 Pauline uses of εὐαγγελίζω

Rom 1:15, “Thus, for my part, I am eager to evangelize you also who are in Rome.”

Rom 10:15, “And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who evangelize peace, who evangelize good things!’”

Rom 15:20, “And thus I aspired to evangelize, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation.”

1 Cor 1:17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.”

1 Cor 9:16, “For if I evangelize, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not evangelize.”

1 Cor 9:18, “What then is my reward? That, when I evangelize, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.”

1 Cor 15:1-2, “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel by which I evangelized you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word by which I evangelized you, unless you believed in vain.”

2 Cor 10:16, “So that we may evangelize regions beyond you, not boasting about what has already been done in someone else’s area of ministry.”

2 Cor 11:7, “Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I evangelized the gospel of God to you without charge?”

Gal 1:8-9, “But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should evangelize you contrary to how we evangelized you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is evangelizing contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.”

Gal 1:11, “Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel which I evangelize is not based on a human point of view.”

Gal 1:16, “to reveal His Son in me, that I might evangelize Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood”

Gal 1:23, “they simply kept hearing: ‘He who formerly persecuted us now evangelizes the faith he once tried to destroy.’”

Gal 4:13, “but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I evangelized you the first time.”

Eph 2:17, “And He came and evangelized peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near”

Eph 3:8, “This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints!—to evangelize to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah.”

1 Thess 3:6, “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has evangelized us of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you”

Heb 4:2, “For indeed we were evangelized, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard”

Heb 4:6, “Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly were evangelized failed to enter because of disobedience”

Εὐαγγελίζω in other portions

Matt 11:5, “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor are evangelized.”

1 Pet 1:12, “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who evangelized you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look”

1 Pet 1:25, “‘but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word by which you were evangelized.”

1 Pet 4:6, “For this purpose those who are dead have been evangelized, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.”

Rev 10:7, “but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He evangelized His servants the prophets”

Rev 14:6, “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to evangelize to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.”

Oh the power of this one verb to mobilize God's people to action!