Evangelism: Follow JesusSample

‘Avoid Hypocrisy, Offer Authority’.

There is an apostolic principle that we heard back in the day: you can only give what you have. It’s based on Acts 3:6 when Peter, in response to the lame man who was begging at the Temple’s Beautiful Gate, said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk (NIV)." And you may remember that this man ‘jumped’ to his feet (if we remember from a few days ago in our short Bible plan, Matthew responded to Jesus in the same way!). 

So, if we apply this apostolic principle to this biblical episode in our evangelizing, what we want for the people we are evangelizing should be an experience that we know for ourselves. The apostle Paul knew it for himself. In fact, in Galatians 2:20, he testifies along the very same lines that Jesus requires in our text today. Paul reports, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (NIV).”

So, this is not some aspirational verse. Neither is it reserved for the enlightened and blessed ‘saints’. After all, Paul was a persecutor of the people of God (see Acts 8:3). Some might include him in the murder charges of Stephen (at least as an accomplice – see Acts 7:58). This is the life-tested experience of a devoted follower of Jesus. A true disciple.

And as we invite people into that kind of experience with Jesus – complete self-sacrifice and absolute surrender to Jesus – it is fitting that we can testify to it ourselves. Not only does it avoid hypocrisy, but it offers authority. We’re actually speaking from our own experience that in denying ourselves we have ‘discover(ed) true life’, that in sharing Jesus’ cross as our own, we share His glory. And that reality, that example, is more attractive than the most convincing persuasion.