There are many quirky things about my home
state of Alaska. We joked that the state
bird was the mosquito. (Big as eagles I tell ya!!!) We called snowmobiles "snow
machines." We referred to the main
American cluster of states as "the Lower 48." We also knew how the little town of Chicken,
Alaska got its name. Chicken was an
original Gold Rush town from the 1800s...now rotates its population from around
7 to around 17. There was an
overabundance of Ptarmigan, a native Alaskan bird, in the area. So, when it was time for the town to be
named, it seemed like the obvious choice save for one big problem: no one knew
how to spell it! In order to save
embarrassment, they decided to hit as close as they could, Chicken, Alaska.
This
isn't just an Alaskan thing, however. I
remember reading Arkansas spelled with a "w" in Mark Twain's
Huckleberry Finn. Making French words
into English words evidently isn't easy.
There is a mountain in Arkansas called Petite Jean. Now, here in St. Louis, where we are used to
seeing such words as Gravois and Des Peres, we might endeavor to call the
mountain by its French name. The
Arkansans I lived among, however, called it "Petijean." The Ozarks are, in fact, a mutated,
transliterated form of the French "Aux Arc." There are many similar transliterations we
use today that are from the Roman culture, many of which were originally from
the Greek culture. The Greeks had Heracles but the Romans had Hercules. We see this kind of thing especially in the
Biblical language with such words as pastor, baptism and evangelism.
Evangelism
is a scary word. What do you think of
when you hear the word? Some think of
screaming preachers on TV. Some think of
scripted confrontations on street corners with or without picket signs and
megaphones. Some think of uncomfortable
conversations with friends or family trying to convey a message of hope wrapped
in a veneer of condemnation. Hopefully
many see evangelism for what it really is, simply proclaiming the good news of
the gospel of Christ.
Unfortunately,
evangelism can easily be misunderstood due to it being an English
transliteration of a Latin transliteration of a Greek word...wait, what??? Instead of interpreting the meaning of the
word, "euangelion" in the Greek was simply just called
"evangelium" in Latin which became "evangelism" in
English. Why is this unfortunate? In order to understand it for what it means,
we need to briefly look at the history of the word. When a king or some kind of mighty leader
would enter a city, he would send word ahead to cheer the people up. They should be excited for they will be
hosting royalty! This messenger was
called the "euangelos" which simply meant "good messenger"
or more accurately to intention "messenger of the good news." Remember when the angel (Angel =
Angelos=Messenger) Gabriel told the shepherds that he brought good tidings of
great joy? That was the
"euangelion," the good news, the gospel. So what did we learn here? Evangelism, in the context of the Bible, is
the telling of the good news of God.
Phew! Easier!
Now
that the difficulty of the word is taken away, how do we do it? As I have spoken with Glenn (our Sr.
Minister), read through scripture and commentaries, it has become quite clear
to me that evangelism isn't a functional step-process. There are recognizable phases for sure! But sometimes you might just be able to share
what God is doing in your life, your personal testimony, but they aren't ready
for the full-on Bible study just yet.
Paul's evangelism seemed to be individually tailored to his
audience. To the Jews, he was quoting
the Hebrew Bible constantly, but to the Athenians he spoke to their
philosophical and religious mentalities.
What do we learn from this?
Evangelism is telling the good news of God's redemption. That's it!
What makes you particularly suited for this task as a Christian? You are the end result of the Gospel's
redemptive power!
In Romans 1:16, Paul says, "For I am not
ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes!" The word Paul uses here for "power"
is the same word from which we get dynamite.
Not only should we not be ashamed of what set us free from death and
Hell, but we need to recognize in that
cognizant part of our mind that the gospel empowers us with God's gift of the
Holy Spirit. He is God's very active and
personal presence in our lives who Paul later tells Timothy (2 Timothy 1:7)
isn't a spirit of timidity but of power.
The excitement and desire to share should well up inside us that the
very idea of not sharing what God has done causes us to say as Peter and John
said under orders to not evangelize,
"Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help
speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)
In His Grip,
BJ
In His Grip,
BJ
No comments:
Post a Comment