The goal of all evangelism is worship. Jesus sent the first disciples out into all of the world, to preach the gospel and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them and teaching them to obey Jesus. Our goal is that every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Therefore, this task begins with Christians obeying Jesus, Christians bowing the knee and confessing with their mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord. So evangelism begins with Christians worshiping God. However, there is a mistaken notion among some Christians that this must mean that worship is evangelistic in the sense that it is oriented to unbelievers. Those worship services tend to lower the bar in order to make unbelievers feel comfortable, and the end of that road is often that the unbelievers feel so comfortable that they feel no need to become Christians at all. Meanwhile, the Christians are often not being fed or growing into maturity, and frequently it turns out that many of the professing Christians are not really Christians at all since it’s so comfortable to be an unbeliever.
But this doesn’t mean that worship is not evangelistic. Worship’s primary goal is to glorify God by obeying His summons and appearing before Him on the Lord’s Day to do what He calls us to do. Therefore, worship is evangelistic in a secondary way. It’s evangelistic in the sense that when God’s people worship Him, we are doing what God wants the whole world to do.
When we lift up our hearts to the Lord in the Call to Worship, we are inviting our neighbors to do the same. When we confess our sins and praise the Lord for our forgiveness, we are telling the whole world that this forgiveness is for them as well. When we sing Psalms with joy and reverence, we are doing what God wants all the nations to do. When we hear the Word in humble submission, we are doing what God summons everyone to do. When we share bread and wine with thanksgiving, in fellowship with God and one another, we are proclaiming the peace offered in the Cross. And when Jesus proclaims His blessing on us as we go back out into the world, part of what we are receiving is a blessing that flows, far as the curse is found.
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