Anton Bosch addressed the purpose of the church in a sermon last year:
The last few instructions Jesus left his followers had to do with being witnesses and preaching the gospel to the whole world. (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8) …
… The church is still in the world for only one reason and that is to preach the gospel and to win the lost to Christ. Worship, fellowship, prayer, Bible study and any other aspect of the life of the church can be done better in heaven than here on earth. If church life was only about fellowship with each other and with God then surely God would just rapture us all. But there is one thing that cannot be done in heaven and that is to reach the lost (because there are none there) …
Puts things a little more into perspective doesn’t it? Bible studies, fellowship etc are all important but where is our emphasis? Is it on what’s most important? Or is it on what is the easiest and least dangerous?
Read the rest of the article here at ‘Yeah, right...’ It’s worth the read!
GOOD POINT!!! Preach it!!!
I do agree, but I often find myself uneasy with saying evangelism is the ‘most’ important thing for a Christian. I often think of the greatest commandment which Jesus said is to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, souls & minds’. Evangelism falls into the 2nd greatest which is to love our neighbour as ourselves.
I don’t believe that someone who is truly obedient to the greatest comman will neglect to reach the lost. And I do agree that it is something we need a constant prodding to get active in, but I am uncomfortable with saying it’s ‘the’ most important thing.
I hear ya Boaly, and it’s a good point.
I could give an answer along the lines of ‘Of course, I was meaning apart from the greatest commandment, the most important thing is evangelism’ but that wouldn’t be strictly true.
I think though it could be argued that to love God is to serve Him and the service He wants to see from us is caring for and reaching out to the lost. So being dedicated to evangelism is to live out your love of God.
Or is that too big of a leap to make?
No, I totally agree with what your saying. I meant that when I said “I don’t believe that someone who is truly obedient to the greatest command will neglect to reach the lost”. Its an overflow & part of loving God.
Unfortunately, our churches are filled with people who are only marginally obedient to the first commandment, and other than writing a check or donating to a food pantry, wouldn’t know how to evangelize. Nothing wrong with writing a check or donating to a food pantry, of course. But we need to feed the soul as well as the body, because the body will eventually perish, no matter what we do.
Thanks for the shoutout, Peter.