The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 3

February 2, 2007 Posted by Roger Overton

Part One of this series. Audio of the whole sermon.
Part Two of this series.

The Role of the Bible
in Evangelism: Foundation for the Tools of Evangelism

When we talk about evangelism, we usually do not simply mean
the content of the Gospel. We often have in mind the means of communication for
the Gospel as well. Such means include apologetics, community, and right
living. But these means are not independent tools for us to use as we wish.
Every means for evangelism must be rooted in the foundation of the Bible. The
authority of the Bible applies to each of these means and it provides guidelines
for how to appropriately use these means. Therefore, the secondary role of the
Bible in evangelism is to provide a foundation the means of evangelism.

Apologetics:

Let’s first look at how the Bible provides foundational
guidelines for apologetics. Traditionally, to give an apology has meant to give
a defense. So when we discuss Christian apologetics, we’re talking about
defending the Christian faith. The Bible describes apologetics and one of its
core principles in 1 Peter 3:15-16:

1 Peter 3:15-16 “But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord
as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a
reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile
your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

Not only are we to be prepared to give a defense for our
beliefs, but we must follow the guideline of being gentle and respectful of
those we’re conversing with.

Some people claim that the Bible provides the foundation for
a specific method of apologetics. These people generally divide into two camps:
Evidentialists, those who focus on using evidences for Christianity such as the
facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus, and Presuppositionalists, those
who focus on dismantling the hidden assumptions non-Christians use to form
their beliefs such as the idea that the physical natural world is all that
exists. Much ink has been spent debating between these two sides, sometimes to
the extent that more care is given to developing the so-called correct
methodology than actually doing apologetics and presenting the Gospel to
non-believers.

So what might we say about apologetic methodology? Do we
focus strictly on evidences or on people’s presuppositions? (In posing this question, I acknowledge that many Presuppositionalists, for example, do include evidences in their apologetic. However, I've been told by several Presuppositionalists that using evidences is some how offensive to God. So I think the question is fair as it relates to those who draw such a drastic dichotomy.) I believe the Bible
suggests a coherent balance between the two. Let’s look to Paul’s address in Athens as an example of
how this might work:

Acts 17:22-31 “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men
of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed
along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this
inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this
I proclaim to you. The God who made the world
and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples
made by man, nor is he served by human hands,
as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and
breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live
on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the
boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that
they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far
from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we
are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God's
offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver
or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of
ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by
a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by
raising him from the dead.”

We should keep in mind that what we have here is likely a
summary of Paul’s message. However, speeches in the Areopagus often when on for
hours. Our pastor would have fit in well there. Paul went first to the
presuppositions of the Athenians. He addressed their belief in an unknown god,
and argued that the God of the universe is knowable and described how we might
know him. Paul concluded with evidential claims about Jesus’ resurrection, and
according to the verses that follow, these claims divided the crowd. Some
mocked and some joined him.

The methodological principle we find for apologetics in the
Bible is not strict presuppositionalism or strict evidentialism. Rather, we
find that different means are used according to different circumstances and the
people being evangelized.

Community:

Another means for evangelism is community. Sean did an
excellent job of exploring the relationship between Sola Scripture and
community a couple of weeks ago, and I wish to expand upon some of his points
here. Paul painted a great picture of what community looks like in his letter
to the Colossians…

Colossians 3:16-17 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

This is a key expression of what our community should look
like when it is founded upon the Bible. Community begins with the word of
Christ and we are to let it dwell in us and use it to teach and admonish one
another. But our community is not for our benefit only. Our community is to be
a demonstration of Christ’s love and as such is a means for communicating the
Gospel message. In John 17, a passage we’ll get to in a few years, we find
Jesus praying for his disciples.

John 17:20-21 “I do not ask for these only, but also for
those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just
as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also might be in us, so that
the world may believe that you send me.”

Francis Schaeffer offered an important reflection upon this
passage:

“Jesus goes on in this 21^st verse to say
something that always causes me to cringe. If as Christians we do not cringe,
it seems to me we are not very sensitive or very honest, because Jesus here
gives us the final apologetic. What is the final apologetic? ‘That they all may be one; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.’ That
is the final apologetic… We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father
sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and the Christianity is true, unless
the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.”

In other words, our ability to love one another as a unified
body of Christ is a measure of our ability to evangelize. If we cannot love one
another as a harmonized community, then God will have little use for us in
saving the lost.

Right Living:

Last week, Chris explored the relationship between
sanctification and Sola Scriptura, and I wish to expand on this to as it
related to right living as a means of evangelism. First, we find in 2 Timothy
that the Bible is the appropriate foundation for how we are to live our lives…

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, that the man of God may be
competent, equipped for every good work.”

Every good thing we do is rooted in and directed by what we
find in God’s Word as He applies it to our lives. Through learning about His
Word our minds become transformed as was emphasized last week through Romans
12:1-2. There is, of course, some overlap between our personal actions and how
we act as a community. We are responsible to show unity as a community, and we
are also personally responsible to show love toward one another.

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you
love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for
one another.”

Jesus claimed here that the world will be able to judge
whether or not we are Christians by the love we show for each other. If we
cannot, as individuals, also reflect the love of Christ in our lives, then we
will be no different from the world around us.

Now there are some who say that our primary focus in
evangelism should be on apologetics, or on community, or on right living. Many
of us have heard that line from St. Francis of Assisi “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use
words if necessary.” While all of these things are helpful, good, and required
of us as Christ’s ambassadors to the world, words are necessary. Apologetics,
community, and right living in relation to evangelism are simply means to an
end. The ultimate end is the presentation of the Gospel message. To have great
arguments for the Christian faith, a loving community, or a moral lifestyle alone
for the purpose of evangelism is to miss the point completely. The point of all
of this is to get to what the Bible declares to be the good news for those who
are dead in sin.