Piper on Evangelism

Colossians 1:3-8 says “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing – so among yourselves, from the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth, as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.”

Excerpt on Evangelism from John Piper (For complete text this sermon entitled “The Fruit of Hope: Love” , click on the link attached to Piper’s name):

Piper writes:

In summary, direct the attention of your mind day and night to the word of God’s promises, seek in all humility the help of the Holy Spirit to see the wonder of what is really there, and, as Peter says, “Set your hope fully on the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).

And by the grace of God the result will be the visible fruit of love. This means:

• We will be more patient, more kind.
• We will be less jealous, and boastful and arrogant and rude.
• We will not just seek our own advancement but will strive to do to others what we would have them do to us.
• We will not be so irritable.
• We won’t be so prone to keep an account of wrongs or return evil for evil.
• We will be inclined to bear all things and endure all things for the sake of our neighbor.
• We will not speak about our neighbor’s faults without first going to the neighbor ourselves.
• We will return good for evil, and use our discretionary time not by maximizing our fleeting comforts but by devising ways to be a blessing to the lost and suffering.
• More and more our whole lives will take on an overflowing and other-directed spirit.

And this love will transform you and your family and the church, and, as Jesus says, the world will see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

There is no better evangelism in all the world than a church whose hope in God is so strong that they gladly deny themselves in order to meet the needs of others.