Evangelistic passion precedes the doing of evangelism. Two things are required for evangelistic passion.
First, we need our own experience of the gospel (the evangel), the good news of Jesus. Having heard that Jesus took our sin upon himself, faced down the powers of sin, death, and hell on the cross, defeated them in his resurrection, and how rules as King at the Father’s right hand is one thing. Experiencing the life that is in him, that’s what makes the difference.
The second requirement for evangelistic passion is seeing people as God sees them. When we’ve experienced the gospel for ourselves, we have an inkling of how God saw us when we were lost in sin, even living as his enemies. We have experienced for ourselves that our lack of qualification, our lack of merit, was no barrier to God. God demonstrated his love for us in giving Jesus for us. When we see people as God does, we know the gift of Jesus is for them as well.
When we have evangelistic passion, we are overwhelmed with love for people. We want them to experience the same life in Christ and its blessings that we have experienced. Though evangelistic passion can result in growth in church numbers, the point is seeing people reconciled to God through Christ so they can experience fullness of life in him.
How is this evangelistic passion expressed? Or, put differently, if we have evangelistic passion, what will it look like in our lives? I can think of a few ways.
First, we’ll be drawn to people. That’s the case whether we’re extroverts or introverts. Because people matter to God, they will matter to us.
Second, we’ll let people see the work of God in our lives. It’s not our goodness that will show them Jesus, but it’s Jesus living in us that will draw them. As we live by faith in Jesus and open our lives to others, they will be able to see what he can do.
Third, we’ll be constant in prayer. Paul’s way of putting it was, “Pray without ceasing.” We won’t be like Carl Schmitt and his disciples, sorting people into “friends” and “enemies.” Because we’ve learned to see people from God’s point of view, we’ll pray for any and all, regardless of what stance they might take (or we might imagine them to take). We’ll pray for them and with them.
Finally, we’ll be ready and willing to tell them about Jesus.
Do you have evangelistic passion? If so, how is it showing up in your life? If you don’t have it, do you want it? Have you asked God for it?
