Thoughts of a Christian: Evangelism: Fun or Not Fun?

Monday, October 6, 2008

Evangelism: Fun or Not Fun?

Today I was in a Chatroom that will remain unnamed, to protect the innocent. I made the comment that I believe that evangelism, esp. in the context of meeting with Mormons, is fun. I was instantly attacked for such a view. I thought to myself, are these people joking with me?

Answer: Nope!

Without getting to technical I would like to argue my point, and really defend what I had said.

Now I would argue that first of all we should obey Christ's command to share the gospel. Matthew 28:18ff makes that crystal clear. Now I would also argue that that Christians should Delight in the Law of God (Psalms 119:77, Romans 7:22). To delight in something means that we get pleasure from it. Here is where it gets technical - The Word 'Enjoy' is defined as - "derive or receive pleasure from." The Word fun is defined as - "activities that are enjoyable or amusing." So based on language alone it is clear that Keeping God's Law is Fun, and therefore, evangelism, apologetics, ect should also be considered fun.

2 comments:

Steve said...: Ok...so I agree that evangelism ought to bring pleasure, but the connotation of "amusement" isn't quite right. John Piper would agree with you, but I bet those chatters squirm at the term "Christian Hedonism."

BTW, have you listened to braveSaintSaturn's new album. It's out, and it's awesome.; October 8, 2008 at 5:08 PM
HiddenSquire said...: So, by your interpretation, each and every one of God's laws should be enjoyable. I'd say that's crazy since there are obviously several commands God has given to people that were clearly explicitly painful to them, were it not for the fact that we're also commanded to take joy in our suffering. And if you truly can live by that, well, then there's nothing I can say against you.; October 16, 2008 at 12:25 AM

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We must face the fact that many today are notoriously careless in their living. This attitude finds its way into the church. We have liberty, we have money, we live in comparative luxury. As a result, discipline practically has disappeared. What would a violin solo sound like if the strings on the musician's instrument were all hanging loose, not stretched tight, not "disciplined? - A.W. Tozer
There are two main tenants of Atheism: 1. There is no God 2. I hate him. - Doug Wilson
A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. - Charles Spurgeon
Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing. If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow Him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, "God understands. He knows I love him. But I’m tired…I’m so busy…It’s just not convenient now." When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away.- R.T. Kendall
If Jesus knew that Scripture contained human error yet never made this fact known to His followers, misleading them rather by His insistently positive attitude toward it, He can hardly qualify as a great moral teacher and the incarnate God of truth. -- Henry Virkler
The true Christian was intended by Christ to prove all things by the Word of God, all churches, all ministers, all teaching, all preaching, all doctrines, all sermons, all writings, all opinions, all practices. These are his marching orders. Prove all by the Word of God; measure all by the measure of the Bible; compare all with the standard of the Bible; weigh all in the balances of the Bible; examine all by the light of the Bible; test all in the crucible of the Bible. That which cannot abide the fire of the Bible, reject, refuse, repudiate, and cast away. This is the flag which he nailed to the mast. May it never be lowered! -- John Wycliffe
I don't leave a lot of things open-ended theologically. I believe there's one God. I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. I believe we're all sinners. I believe in a real hell and a real heaven. So I'm a Bible guy, for sure. I don't make any apologies about that. - Mark Driscoll
It is imperative that preachers of today learn how to declare the spiritual law of God; for, until we learn how to wound consciences, we shall have no wounds to bind with Gospel bandages. - Walter Chantry
How often do we hear about the discipline of the Christian life these days? How often do we talk about it? How often is it really to be found at the heart of our evangelical living? There was a time in the Christian church when this was at the very center, and it is, I profoundly believe, because of our neglect of this discipline that the church is in her present position. Indeed, I see no hope whatsoever of any true revival and reawakening until we return to it. - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Most American evangelicals are familiar with what Billy Graham does at the end of his preaching, calling people to walk to the front. Sometimes these are called "invitations." Sometimes "altar calls." When you look for something like this in the Bible there is no clear example… If you ask what the decisive, public way of taking a Christian stand was in the New Testament, the answer is, baptism. The message Peter gave in Acts 2 ended with the words, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). Our renewed conviction is that we need to regularly offer baptism as the decisive public way for people to respond publicly to the gospel. -- John Piper
"It is better to 'be' the Christianity you speak of, than to speak of the Christianity you expect from others". - Melikio Astorio
By definition worship must be about God, not my amusement… All up front, the service performed on behalf of an audience relaxing in theater-style seating… Much of what passes for worship today is nothing more than lightly baptized entertainment, and therefore is idolatrous. It is idolatry from which serious churches must distance themselves. - Terry L. Johnson
No one is ever saved "as a result" of an altar call. We are saved only as a result of the gospel… We don't want them to think that in order to be saved they must walk an aisle. No! We want them to know that if they look to Christ even while they are seated they will be saved. And so we must tell them that. We must make the message very plain that they must go to Christ, and to go to Him requires no physical movement whatever only a look of the soul… This is too important a matter to erect needless obstacles or distractions. They must be directed not to a geographical location in a building. They must be directed to Christ. - Fred G. Zaspel
The preaching of the law does not make us more sinful, but reveals those sins unto us which before we discerned not; as the sun shining upon some filthy place does not make it so filthy, but only makes it manifest which was not seen in the dark. - George Downame
Some people do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it is so necessary that if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit I would desire to die practicing it. - Matthew Henry
Hypocrisy desires to seem good rather than to be so; honesty desires to be good rather than seem so. - Arthur, Warwick
For not only does sound reason direct us to refuse the guidance of those who do or teach anything wrong, but it is by all means vital for the lover of truth, regardless of the threat of death, to choose to do and say what is right even before saving his own life. - A. W. Tozer
Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth. - John Wesley
It is a remarkable fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian Church have had a decided tendency to 'dishonor God and to flatter man.' - Charles Spurgeon
There is no place in a worship service for entertainment. The people are not in need of seeing how clever man is, but how holy God is… In entertainment the focus is on man, while in worship the focus is always on God. - Ron Owens
Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn. - Charles Wesley
Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them. A. W. Tozer
Those who have reservations about equating immediate post-sermonic calls for physical response (initiated by a planed appeal for such) with following the will of God desire strong biblical rationale before they can approve it. Baptism, incorporation into a believing group, regular worship and fellowship with other believers, and day-by-day pursuit of holiness and acts of Christian love – all these have the character of confessing Christ before men and are specifically commended, as well as notably exemplified, in Scripture. Where is either the mandate or example of the engineered call to “come to the front” stated as an act of obedience to God's call to repentance? When walking down an aisle is tantamount to following Christ and professing Him before men, the biblical idea of godliness has vanished. The system that relies on the altar call encourages these perversions. - Thomas Nettles
It is aremarkable fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian Church have had a decided tendency to 'dishonor God and to flatter man.' - C.H. Spurgeon
There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions. - G.K. Chesterton
The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. - A. W. Tozer
We cannot but admit that not even the least thing takes place unless it is ordered by God. For who have ever been so concerned and curious as to find out how much hair he has on his head? There is no one. God, however, knows the number. Indeed, nothing is too small in us or in any other creature, not to be ordered by the all-knowing and all-powerful providence of God. - Ulrich Zwingli