Remember that song? Well, as I look back at the way that ministry took place thirty years ago, and then at mainstream ministry today, the words to that song come to mind- but it's not the flowers that have gone, it's the numbers of believers who actually evangelize.Both pastors Tilson and David dealt with this subject about a week ago and it got me thinking. I mean really thinking.....
Where have all the evangelists gone? Mind you, you do not have to have the gift of evangelism or be a great evangelist in order to evangelize. It's about overtly sharing Christ with others. It's also called witnessing, and it used to be a huge part of the twentieth century Church, but you don't see much of it today, do you?
Why? Well, A while back, a man came up to my pastor after a Christmas concert at my church to ask him who Jesus was. The man wasn't kidding! He said that he'd liked the concert, but had no idea of who the Savior of the world was, and wanted to be filled in on just who the music and worship was all about. My pastor shared Christ with this man- it was the first time the Gospel had ever been presented to him!......
Most of us take for granted that people in America at least know who Jesus is, don't we? I mean, one generation tells another, and so on. This is how anything is passed on, be it a trade, a custom, history, or YOUR FAITH. But what happens when one generation fails to tell the next? It doesn't take very long for indifference and apathy- and finally, total ignorance- to replace what was once a faithfully communicated presentation of God's Holy Word.
"Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten the God that formed thee (Deuteronomy 32:18)"
This is why God told His people to remind their children of what marvelous things He had done among His people (please read Deuteronomy 6:6-25). If one generation fails to evangelize, then the next generation- and every generation thereafter, until and unless someone else comes in to bridge that gap with God's Word- is left in the dark, and great is that darkness, indeed!......
Where have all the flowers gone? Back in 1974, as I was hitchhiking home, a man in a car with many Christian bumper stickers picked me up. I was so ripe for the Gospel that I asked, "Are you religious? I noticed the stickers on your bumper." He must have felt that God had 'dropped me into his lap', so to speak- and to this day, I believe that He did. The man simply but thoroughly shared Christ with me and I really felt the convicting power of the Holy Spirit upon me. Just before I left his car, he told me, "You'll remember this day a thousand years from now."
It was a matter of months before I finally received my Savior and inherited eternal Life, but that man had such a big part in it. I hope I can meet this man again before I die, because I want to thank him and let him know just what his faithfulness to the Lord meant to me, but If I never see him again this side of Heaven, I'll never forget his words. He was faithful in sharing Christ with me, and I am a child of God because of it! Let me ask again, "Where have all the flowers gone?" .......
Why aren't we taught anymore to share our Savior with others the way that Christians used to be taught? I understand that witnessing takes many forms, and that it is not always overt, but way too many of us choose to be 'closet Christians' who think that people will just somehow guess that Christ lives in us as we interact with them. It doesn't work like that. People may admire us, they might sense that there's something different about us, but they'll never guess that it's Jesus if we don't open our mouths and let them know.
We claim to be in the Word much and often, but if we truly were, we'd heed Jesus' words to "go and tell" all the world, wouldn't we? Beloved, that is not the way it used to be! Studying the Bible is great, and hanging around other believers is a real blessing, I know- but sharing our Savior with others as God's Spirit leads is what brings them to Him, and that is what evangelism is.
Does anybody else out there wonder- Where have all the flowers gone?
Pastor Jim Ewing
