Keys to Effective Evangelism from Jesus’ First Encounter with Peter —** Part 1**
The foundation of effective evangelism is love. Love must be the guiding force behind every encounter with another person. Love must be the motivation that guides our words and actions. At times, ministry may demonstrate great power, but power without love is meaningless.
What does God think about ministers who demonstrate great power, but without a foundation of love? The Apostle Paul tells us clearly.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”—1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NKJV)
Show Interest in Each Person as a Valuable, Unique Individual
*“He [Andrew] first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).”—John 1:41-42 (NKJV) *
The first thing that we notice here is that Jesus saw people as valuable individuals. When Jesus looked at Peter, He gave Peter his focused attention. He spoke empowering words that honored Peter’s heritage, and identified him as a person of unique value with real potential.
If we are going to realize the full effectiveness of ministry, we *must *not fall into the trap of thinking that the measure of the success of our ministry is based on reaching large numbers of people. We *must *treat each person as a valuable individual.
When King David ordered a count of the people under his influence, reducing them to just numbers, it displeased the Lord. Judgment was swift and severe (2 Samuel 24).
If we will focus on depth in ministry, God will take care of expanding our influence. Jesus is the ultimate model for this.
As Jesus demonstrated, we must show sincere *interest *in people that cross our paths. Remember that some of the most significant encounters in our lives will happen in the “in-between” times, when we may least expect it. **We must treat every person and every encounter as important and of unique value. **
We must value every encounter as a divine appointment, even the seemingly passing encounters in which we may tend to find ourselves just going through the motions of politeness while our mind is already thinking about what we are planning to do afterwards.
I have had many significant encounters with people in places where you might not expect those things to happen, like train stations. One day, a man asked me for money at a train station. As a rule, I never give money to people who ask me for it. I believe that one of the reasons Jesus never gave money to beggars is because it does not improve their situation in life. It does nothing to help them solve their real problems, instead, giving money to beggars reinforces their condition and actually ensures that they will remain in the sad circumstances in which you found them.
When this man asked for money, I offered to buy his lunch instead. As we sat and talked together over sandwiches, the man leaned over to me and said, “You know, in Hebrews 13:2, the Bible says “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing this some have entertained angels unawares.”
He startled me with this comment. It surprised me that he was able to quote this specific scripture, *and *to also tell me where it was found in the Bible! For a moment, I wondered if he might actually be an angel. I was tempted to poke him just to see if he felt human!
Some of the people who have had the greatest impact on my life did not make much of an impression on me when I first met them. I did not see our first meeting as significant. If we will learn to see each encounter, no matter how trivial, as a possible turning point in that person’s life, our encounters will become much more meaningful, and have greater lasting impact.
A few years ago, some friends and I organized an outreach at an art festival. Eddie came to our booth where we offered ministry through words of knowledge and prophetic words. As we began to share the impressions that we received for him, Eddie acknowledged that these were all accurate. It was like we were looking back over the course of his life and telling his story.
At one point, after several accurate words of knowledge about Eddie’s life, I said, “You know Eddie, when you walked in here, we knew nothing about you. But God knows you, and we are just sharing what we hear Him saying about you. He loves you, and He is saying good things about you.”
Eddie was quiet for a while, looking down at the ground, sometimes shaking his head slightly. Finally he said, “I didn’t even think He knew me.”
Eddie walked out of that booth profoundly impacted by a personal encounter with the living God.
Even if you may not feel confident yet operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit or miracles in power evangelism, you can make a real impact. Everyone can show interest in people. Everyone can make a difference in someone’s life by just listening and taking the time to show sincere interest. This was Jesus’ way.
The reason it is not easy to find patterns in Jesus’ ministry is because He did not use the same “cookie-cutter” technique with every person that He encountered. He treated each person as a unique, valuable individual. He *listened *and treated everyone differently, according to their unique needs. We must treat each person as if he or she is as valuable as Jesus Himself, because they are!
We’ll never reach maturity in ministry until we first learn to sincerely value people highly. Jesus valued them so highly that he considered them worth dying for.
St. Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier in the 4th century. As he rode through the gate of the city of Amiens in France, he noticed a half-naked beggar freezing beside the road. Taking his sword, Martin cut his own cloak in half and gave half to the beggar. That night, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Martin, standing at the foot of his bed, wearing the cloak he had given to the beggar.
“He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.”—Proverbs 19:17 (NKJV)
Jesus assured us, in no uncertain terms, that what we do to the least significant among us we do to Him.
“Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and lodged Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.
“Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You? And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.
“Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me with help and ministering care.
“Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [[g]in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me. Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life.”—Matthew 25:34-46 (AMP)
Mother Theresa was asked how she could stand to care so lovingly for lepers and to hug, handle, and hold people with rotting flesh. She replied, “When I hug them, I am hugging Jesus.”
Whatever we say or do to even the very least of God’s children, we do to Him.
Discipleship Practice:** Valuing People as God Does**
Objective: To learn to value people as highly as God does
How often? Daily for 3 weeks or until it becomes a habit.
• Purpose in your heart that you will take a genuine interest in the life of each person that you encounter today.
• When you are with another person, think of this person as Jesus Himself, residing in this person’s body.
• Speak to this person with the same respect, the same consideration that you would use in speaking to Jesus Himself.
• Treat this person with the same honor, the same high value that you would treat Jesus Himself.
• Prepare yourself every morning by asking God to help you see people as He sees them, with the same priceless value. Each person that you encounter is someone Jesus died for.
• As you begin to treat people with the same high value that God has for them, don’t be surprised if they respond to you differently.
o They may look at you with suspicion at first.
o They may test your sincerity.
o As they realize you are sincere, they may become more appreciative and friendly.
o This may break down any defensiveness they have and allow you to have deeper friendships with them. This will allow opportunities for deeper ministry.
God is love (1 John 4:8). Pray that God would give you His love for people; that God would love people through you; that you would become love as God is love.