A lifestyle of evangelism — how will they hear without a preacher?

From a sermon · Romans 10:1–17

Paul's heart's desire and prayer was for Israel to be saved. In Romans 10 he lays out how anyone is: "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved... Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (vv. 9, 13). Faith in Jesus is the only way. And anyone who believes can have it.

Then he asks four questions. "How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent?" (vv. 14–15). Let's take them apart.

What is a preacher?

A herald. A herald was a messenger, usually with a loud voice, sent by a king to deliver a proclamation. He ran ahead of the king from city to city so everyone in the path knew the king's message and could prepare for his arrival. The power was never in the herald. It was in the king. Paul said he wasn't ashamed of the gospel "for it is the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). The power is in the message and in who it's from. Our power isn't in us; it's in God, the King of all. He's made a decree and sends His heralds to carry it.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news" (v. 15). They used to say you could tell by how a runner ran whether the news was good or bad. Isaiah 52:7 said it first, about Israel's release from captivity: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation." If that was beautiful, how much more the news of freedom from sin? Picture a newsboy the day the war ended — "Extra! Peace! War over! Full victory!" — and the joy of everyone who heard it. That's what a preacher does. He shares the news.

Who is sent?

"Sent" comes from the same root as "apostle" — ordered to go to an appointed place. Jesus was sent: "He hath sent me... to preach deliverance to the captives" (Luke 4:18). Paul was sent; fifteen times he calls himself an apostle. And a man Jesus healed was sent. In Luke 8, after Jesus casts a legion of demons out of a man, the man begs to go with Him. Jesus says no: "Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you." And "he went out proclaiming throughout the town" — the same word as "preach" in our text. People had known him as the madman among the tombs. Now the town was afraid of Jesus because of what He'd done to this man. What a message he had.

And you are sent. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (Matthew 28:19).

What are we sent to preach?

The gospel. The word comes from two Greek words — "good" and "messenger" (the same root as "angel"). It literally means a good message. The gospel is the good news that Jesus died, was buried, rose again on the third day, and now sits at the right hand of God interceding for everyone who has put their faith in Him as their only hope. Matthew Henry said, "When bad news is abroad, this is good news; and when good news is abroad, this is the best news."

The gospel is that as dead as Jesus was, we can be dead to sin — and as alive as He is, we can be alive forever in Him. Sins can be forgiven. I once was lost, but now I'm found. "Mercy there was great and grace was free; pardon there was multiplied to me; there my burdened soul found liberty — at Calvary." And it's more than forgiveness: I don't have to live in my sin anymore. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). We could spend all night on what the gospel is.

To whom, and when?

To the whole world — "for God so loved the world" (John 3:16); "every creature"; "all nations." And when? All the time. May we have a lifestyle of evangelism. Your words whisper, but your life shouts: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).

Scheduled outreach, invitations, teaching a class, serving — all good, and we need more of it. But if we share the gospel on Saturday and neglect to show Christ in word and deed to our coworker on Monday, we're missing it. Think about how many people heard the gospel from a friend, a family member, or a coworker. Andrew went and got Peter. So who do you know that needs the gospel from you? Maybe you need to build a relationship with someone with the intent of sharing Jesus with them. That's not a bad motive. There's no greater way to love a person.

Why don't we?

Two reasons, mostly. One: you're not saved. That's probably not most people reading this, but it might be some. It's hard to convince someone of something you don't believe. If you've had your eternal destiny redirected from hell to heaven, how could you help but share it?

Two: you're not letting Jesus transform you right now. We're not perfect after salvation; we enter sanctification, where Jesus conforms us to His image (Romans 8:29; 12:2). But it's hard to show someone the change Jesus can make in their life when it isn't happening in yours. Do you remember when you got saved? Do you realize what it cost?

What a preacher looks like

Like the leper in Mark 1:40–45. Jesus, moved with compassion, touches him and heals him — then tells him to say nothing to anyone. "Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news," so much that Jesus couldn't openly enter a town anymore. That's the picture. The change in our lives should be so uncontainable that even if Jesus Himself told us to keep quiet, we couldn't.

If you're not going to, who is?

If you're not going to invite your coworker, who is? If you're not going to talk to your family, who is? If you're not going to give the gospel, who is? If TheWay isn't going to reach Big Rapids with the gospel, who is? If Christians aren't going to reach the world, who is? How will they hear without a preacher? Men and women alike — we have been sent by God to proclaim the good news to all people. Let's do it.

Every one of those questions assumes you've got news worth telling. Some of you don't yet. You've been near this message so long that it feels like yours, and you have never once called on Him for yourself. Do that before you do anything else. Jesus is Lord, God raised Him from the dead, and everyone who calls on that name is saved. Everyone. No exceptions, no waiting list, including you at whatever hour you're reading this. You can't herald a King you've never bowed to.

And if He has saved you, pick a name. One. The coworker, the cousin, the guy who changes your oil. Say something to that person this week — not a sermon, just what Jesus did for you and what He's still doing. Say it the day it comes to mind, because tomorrow you'll have reasoned your way out of it. The leper was told to keep quiet and couldn't. We've been told to speak, and we're quiet. Start with one name.

Related: Evangelistic — one of our seven pillars and Romans 1 — not ashamed of the gospel.