Are all Christians called to preach The Gospel?

20 Mar

Firstly, let’s look at the word “preach”. The word preach comes from the Greek word ‘kerusso’. Kerusso means to proclaim, declare, announce, or herald a message.

We’ve probably all heard it, or even said it ourselves “Don’t preach at me”. The term preach has a bad connotation to some people and in some cultures. But to preach The Gospel is not a bad thing. It’s a very good thing. Let’s look at what the bible says. According to the words of Jesus in Mark 16:15-16, He commanded the disciples with these words; “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

What is The Gospel?

The Gospel means “The Good News”. It’s The Good News about Jesus Christ, who He is, what He has done and what this means for the world. John 3:16 is a powerful verse that includes key elements of The Gospel, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The Gospel is foremost a message of love.

The simple Gospel, from the Word of God:

God loves us (John 3:16).
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us, instead of us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus paid the price for our sin - which is death (Colossians 1:14, Romans 6:23, 1 Peter 3:18).
Jesus died on the cross, was buried for three days, and rose to life on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-5, Matthew 28:5-6).
Jesus is alive (Matthew 28:5-6).
Without Jesus, we are all dead in our sins (John 8:24).
Without Jesus, we are all destined for eternal separation from God in hell (2 Thessalonians 1:1-9, Romans 2:6-8, John 3:36, John 3:36, Revelation 20:15).
Those who repent from sin and believe in Jesus will have eternal life (John 3:36, John 3:16-17, Mark 16:16, Matthew 25:46).
God desires to be made one again with us - a personal relationship with no separation (John 17:3).
Jesus is the only way to The Father (1 Timothy 2:5, John 14:6, Acts 4:12).
Jesus came to save us and bring us from sin and darkness, into righteousness and light (Mark 16:16, Acts 4:12, John 10:10).
To receive His salvation and freedom from sin, we must repent (turn from sin) and believe in Jesus (Acts 3:19, Mark 1:15, John 3:16-18).
When we are saved, we are forgiven of sin and made right with God. We can now be one with God and have eternal life. We are made new, redeemed and forgiven of our sins (1 John 1:9-10, Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:8–9, 2 Peter 1:4, Ephesians 1:7).
From now on we follow Jesus and abide by His teachings (Matthew 16:24, John 12:26, 1 Peter 2:21, John 8:12, John 8:12).
The Holy Spirit now dwells in us (John 8:12, Titus 3:5, 1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

The Gospel is not:

Simply being nice
Just doing good deeds for someone
Being a good person and hoping someone knows you as a Christian and then comes to Jesus.
Just saying “Jesus loves you”

The popular quote by an unknown person “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary” is not biblical.

Yes, good works and having good character ought to be the outworking of The Gospel in someone’s life, but they alone are not The Gospel. The Gospel is a message of words. The Gospel needs to be preached and taught, to be proclaimed. To be shared everywhere, with everyone. God wants everyone to be saved and how can they know about the way to salvation if they don’t hear about it?

The world needs to hear about Jesus

Romans 10:13-15 says; “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”

It may look different for each believer, but every Christian is called to share the Good News about Jesus with the world. “The Gospel is not good news to people who do not hear it …and an un-preached gospel is no Gospel at all.” - Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke

“But I’m not an evangelist”

If a man is drowning in the ocean and you’re the only one that can help him, you wouldn't say “I’m sorry I am not a lifeguard, I will wait until a lifeguard comes and they will save you”. No, you would help to save that drowning man. In the same way, if someone needs saving by Jesus, you wouldn’t say to them “I’m sorry, I’m not an evangelist. You need to wait until an evangelist comes to tell you The Gospel.” No, you would share with them the means to salvation - The Gospel.

It’s true, that not every Christian is an evangelist. But every Christian is called to preach The Gospel. The MOMENT Jesus saved you, you were enlisted as a soldier in God’s salvation army and God qualified you to preach The Gospel. We are all a part of His mysterious and wonderful plan to see the salvation of mankind. It is His “will that none should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).” Your role is not to save. You can’t save anyone. You are the messenger and ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20) of The Good News.

We Preach and God saves

The outcome of your preaching The Gospel is not in your hands. You cannot make someone decide to repent and believe in Christ (Romans 1:16). It’s their personal belief in their heart and confession in Christ that leads to their salvation. “ if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). We learn from scripture, we do the preaching and God does the saving.

We don’t preach The Gospel out of fear, obligation, or guilt. We preach The Gospel because we love people, we love God and want to be obedient to His calling. The Gospel is a message of love, hope, and the power of God to save. Every person on this planet needs these things. Every person needs Jesus. He is the Saviour of the whole world (John 4:42).

'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.” - William Booth, preacher and founder of The Salvation Army.

Ultimately, we want people to come to faith in Jesus, we need to preach The Gospel - the Good News about Him. And every believer is called to share this Gospel. Will you respond to His call?

Rachael Wilcox