It seems to me that Christianity is often reduced to a simple matter of recruitment. We just “sign people up” for salvation. It is kind of like filling up buckets to no real useful purpose. Allow me to quote a verse in this context:
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…
Salvation is not just an escape from the terrible terrors of Hell. It is also a calling to serve the Lord. Neither is salvation an offer to experience life at its best. Many of God’s best servants experienced life at what could be called its very worst. In the process of being “saved” we enter into a vocation of walking with and serving God. In Matthew chapter five Christ instructs His followers that they have become both salt and light. Salt is the preventive and preservative influence of Christians in the world. It seems clear to me that apart from the influence of God’s people on this earth, this earth would spin quickly out of control. The world itself has little or no appreciation for this reality and more than that they resent it. The other function of the believer is light. In this capacity the believer is one who bears testimony to right and wrong and the place of Christ. We are to call people out of darkness and into “His marvelous light”. God proclaimed to this be the function of the priest.
Malachi 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
Evangelistic work is not simply pulling folks out of the fire. It is calling folks to a whole new way of life. That is the Bible expectation of evangelism.
