Salvation Belongs to the Lord
[The following was delivered at a CGL Summit on June 23, 2024].
The goals for this afternoon are as follows:
Encourage us in our own efforts of evangelism.
Discuss how to lead our groups in evangelism.
Unite us around a few corporate prayer goals.
Our Role in Evangelism
My hope is to free us from ourselves when we think about evangelism, and to some degree, get ourselves out of the way by understanding what God calls us to do.
2 Corinthians 5:18–20,
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
Context of “all this”
Paul has previously expounded upon: sharing in Christ’s suffering and comfort; being jars of clay, to show the surpassing power belongs to God; and understanding the glory of the new covenant versus Moses’s message.
3 Observations for us this morning:
1. God through Christ reconciled us to himself.
You are a recipient of his reconciling power. Do we deep down believe that? Do we still believe that only the death of the eternal son could rescue us from the mountain of our sin?
A person just saved from a flood cares little about their appearance. To look back and worry about the optics, or hope it didn’t look as helpless as is did, really misses the point of what happened. It is forgetting that it was life and death that was on the line.
Do we gladly sell it all for the joy of the treasure in the field?
Matthew 13:44–46,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.’”
Or have we become so comfortable with the treasure that it has either lost its luster or forgotten that God didn’t have to give it to us?
Do we still feel like we are saved by grace alone?
Over the years, hopefully you more and more are like Jesus, but you aren’t any less saved by grace.
2. And gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Entrusting to us the message.
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
The message of reconciliation (God reconciles the world to himself through forgiveness). The ministry of reconciliation (entrusted to deliver the news).
3. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.
“God making his appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20).
The work is done by God through Christ Jesus. The message is God’s. The work of salvation is God’s.
God is looking for worshipers who worship in spirit and in truth. We carry the news to others so that they can be saved like us. (As an ambassador he says): “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
We can think it can be about us and them, but it is about them and God. We can think it is about our proof or our message, but it is God’s message, and God making his appeal though his servants.
2 Corinthians 4:5,
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
We are sharing where we found a treasure, and encouraging others to look there as well. If they reject you, Jesus says they are actually rejecting Him. Because you are the messenger of someone else’s message (namely God’s). Conversation requires two people, and evangelism always involves three people. We can take a step towards them but they need to respond.
One immediate application for us: At a basic level, we should grow in being good at conversation. Ask good questions, be curious about other people, and see where God allows that to go.
Psalm 68:20,
“Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.”
Psalm 3:8,
“Salvation belongs to the LORD”
Let this be our banner as we walk into a conversation, or into a coffee shop, or wherever we go … That salvation belongs to our God.
