Surrendered EvangelismSýnishorn

Presume Everyone Needs To Get Saved

Today’s reading from Matthew is aimed at distinguishing between mere words and integrity of word and deed. Here’s 7:21 (TPT): “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the realm of heaven’s kingdom. It is only those who persist in doing the will of My heavenly Father.”

Depending on where you live, it is likely that you run into some people while evangelizing who carry with them a Christian background. They’ve been to Sunday School in their childhood. They might have prayed along with some ‘salvation prayer’ at some point in their lives. They might have undergone popular Christian rituals that mark them as being ‘Christian’. They might be members of a church. And they might even attend meetings on Sundays. Jesus ran into people like that, too. And He was not prepared to accept their spoken testimony unaccompanied by activated testimony. That is to say, word without deed is insufficient. You back up your ‘Lord, Lord’ by your active obedience to the Lord in your daily schedule and life-long trajectory.

Now, to be clear, it isn’t the ‘works’ you do that save you or that make you good enough to be saved. We’ve said elsewhere that it isn’t the good you do that gets you into heaven; it’s the bad you do that keeps you out. While the obedience doesn’t qualify you for salvation and heaven, it authenticates you for salvation and heaven. It proves that you are ‘true and genuine.’

So when you are initiating evangelistic conversation with someone you don’t know yet, you needn’t be thrown off by initial responses that sound Christian – like the mere testimony of their lips (‘I’m a Christian’), or the ritualistic resume (‘I was baptized… confirmed… altar boy… soprano in the choir… Sunday School teacher…’). Jesus cut through that in the ‘Lord, Lord’ passage.

It might be more helpful to adopt this sort of posture: presuming everyone that we meet needs Jesus. If they are already Christians, they will have picked up some handy evangelism tips by your example!