Evangelism

The kingdom of God is the most important reality that is about to break into our world and change everything. Whatever beautiful thing that we can appreciate in our world today is nothing compared to the beauty of God’s kingdom. Whatever ugliness disappoints us will soon be forgotten when God’s kingdom appears. The world we live in is not what it should be. Sin has damaged it. Only God can renew it and transform it back to its original condition and intention. Deep inside this is what every human being longs for — real change from the inside out.

God has entrusted to us this message. It must be proclaimed. But how do we proclaim it? Better yet, how does God proclaim it? We cannot claim to be wiser than God. We must follow His ways because His ways are higher than Our ways.

When God wants to say anything to the world He does not write His message in the sky. He uses the principle of incarnation. In the Old Testament He chose Abraham to create a new nation called Israel. He saved them and gave them His laws so that through them His message may be proclaimed by words and deeds. But they failed. So He promised a new Israel that will be born in the future through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. First, Jesus came into the world as the incarnated word (John 1:1). Later He gave birth to His church, which is now called the body of Christ. His intention is that in and through the words and deeds of the churcb the good news of the kingdom of God will be proclaimed (Eph 3).

So how can the church incarnate this message? It is not by worship services, worship concerts, etc. It is through communities of faith meeting in various homes. Why? It is because of the message of the kingdom of God which is about God’s rule upon all creation. First of all, people need to see what this looks like and they won’t see it inside a building called “church.” No, they can only see it in real life through a community of people who are living out the reality of this kingdom in their daily lives. What does it look like? In two words, power and love. When people see how God’s people love the Lord, love each other, love their families, and love their neighbors as themselves (Acts 2:42-47), not by their own abilities but by the supernatural power and presence of God among them, the kingdom of God wil be proclaimed! This incarnated community of faith, hope, and love is how God intends to speak to the world.

The message of the kingdom of God is the most important message of all. It must be proclaimed. All other things must come second, even our own so-called friendships. Building communities of faith that can show the world what it means to love God and to love each other, doing good by the power of God (and not through mere human benevolence) is the most important work that we can put our hands on.