Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Just a few days ago I quoted verse 14, which is justly famous. The whole passage describes the mechanics of evangelism, but what strikes me about this verse in particular is the way it specifies “the word of Christ.” The Japanese actually says, “the word about Christ.” In far too many churches today you will hardly hear the name of Christ from the pulpit. Instead you get essentially self-help talks, and that can hardly be called the Gospel. After all, the good news about Christ is that “At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) That’s not self-help, that’s Divine intervention! In contrast, Buddhism demands that you pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. I have had three different Buddhist priests, of different Buddhist denominations and in different locations, concede that there is no salvation in Buddhism. After all, the “highest good” in Buddhism is mu, nothingness! There are Buddhist denominations that have adopted the idea of “help from an external power,” tariki hongan, but I think they stole it from Christianity! In any case, genuine evangelism has to be based on the incredible reality that God loved us so much He sent Himself, in the Person of His Son, to be born as a human being, suffer and die for the sins of all mankind, and be raised from death as proof that salvation is real, and we can be freed even from death itself. The other side of that, of course, is that faith in Jesus Christ as Savior is spiritual new birth, and we are to grow from there into mature children of God. Quite a few years ago Amy Grant had a very pointed song titled Fat Baby, that talked about the many horribly immature Christians in the Church. We don’t want that, for ourselves or for anyone else, but it all starts from faith that God loved us so much that Jesus died for us. (The Japanese for this verse says explicitly, “Faith starts from hearing.”) In any case, if we want more people to be born into God’s family, and we certainly should, then we’ve got to talk about Jesus!

Since I minister in a nation that is 98% non-Christian, this couldn’t apply to me more! With my Teacher gifting I am most comfortable working to mature people who are already believers, but that doesn’t excuse me from evangelism. I have had people tell me they wanted to hear more of “the Gospel” in my preaching, but I got the distinct impression they were uncomfortable with my continued exhortations to spiritual growth. That said, everything is indeed dependent on Christ, so “the word about Christ” is absolutely essential in everything I do.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed be someone who shares the word about Christ continuously, with everyone and in every context, so that more and more people may be brought to faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!