What Is A Definition For An Evangelical Christian?

Last updated on: May 6, 2016 at 10:09 pm by Jack Wellman

What Is A Definition For An Evangelical Christian? 2016-05-06T22:09:25-05:00 Jack Wellman

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What is the definition of an evangelical Christian? What does this mean?

What is an Evangelical?

An evangelical, in short, evangelizes. They take Jesus’ imperative command very seriously to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:19-20), but Jesus also tells them that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18b). Since Jesus has full authority to tell His disciples (and us) to go and make disciples of all nations, why don’t most of us “go?” We might not be able to go into all the world but we can at least go next door, or with your aunt or even a co-worker. When someone calls themselves an evangelical Christians, it’s sort of like saying “I’m a born again Christian.” You are born again, therefore you are a Christian. It’s a bit redundant but the point is, all Christians should be evangelical, and by that I mean they should feel compelled to be part of the Great Commission. This was an imperative command from the King of kings and yet most statistics show that only 1 in 10 share their faith and less than one in twenty will ever lead someone to saving faith in their lifetime. Of course, it’s God alone Who saves, Jesus specifically (John 3:16; Acts 4:12), but God may use us as a means to His end to save someone.

Why Evangelize?

Imagine you held the cure for cancer, but since you are now cured, you aren’t going to go to the trouble to tell anyone else about it. It would take a lot of your time to go over the formula and the application and the thousands of other details that went into your finding the cure for cancer and now you’re ready to take some time off. You don’t want to take the time to do all that stuff anymore. Wouldn’t that seem to you a little bit like negligent homicide? Isn’t that almost criminal to withhold something so valuable that it could save millions of lives? How much greater then is eternal life compared to this life? Eternity or 60-80 years (or whatever); which has the greatest potential in the end? Eternity of course! Christians have the key to eternal life in their knowledge about Jesus Christ and His teaching about repentance and faith (Mark 1:15). You have the cure for sin. You have just what they need to remove the wrath of God and cleanse their sins and bring them eternal life (John 3:16). It is the shed blood of Jesus Christ that can pay for your sins (if you are not yet save), but if you reject Christ, you will have to pay for them yourselves, and since the lost cannot possibly pay for all of their own sins, they must spend time without end separated from a Holy God in an indescribable place (Rev 20:12-15).

Evangelism

Every morning before I get going, I try to pray for these three things; that I can glorify God today in my life; that I can avoid temptations that lead into sin; and that God will set a divine appointment for me with someone who may want to hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even if they’re hearts are not humbled by problems, maybe they can be made to know the precarious situation they are in, and right now, if they’ve never repented and trusted in Christ, they have the wrath of God abiding on them (John 3:36b). The Apostle Paul warns the unsaved that it is “because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works” (Rom 2:5-6). This gives us sufficient reason to be a witness for Christ, doesn’t it!? God desires that none perish (2nd Pet 3:9). Is that our desire too? It should be! Jude puts it this way; “And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh” (Jude 1:22-23). God showed us mercy through Christ, so how can we not show mercy in rescuing the perishing? That was once us and don’t’ we remember that someone who told us about Christ?

Conclusion

I was mentoring one young man about how to witness but told him that it’s not his responsibility to save anyone. God alone saves. I told him, it takes a man of God, with the Spirit of Go d, using the Word of God, to make the children of God, for the glory of God. Of course, insert the word “woman” in that phrase and it’s just the same. It isn’t any of our responsibility to save anyone. It is their response to His ability, but it is our responsibility to tell them. In the first century church, there was evangelism throughout the region because they were persecuted and made to flee to other areas; but they took the gospel with them. They were living proof of the early Christians obeying the Great Commission, but today, it seems to be the “great omission.” Some see this as a sin of omission. What do you think?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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