The Holy Spirit’s Role in Missions and Evangelism
by Dr Jeffrey Khoo
Introduction
We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-14). At this period of time, the Holy Spirit is very active in fulfilling the divine plan and purpose of worldwide missions and evangelism through the church (Acts 1:8).
The church in general does recognise the active ministry of the Holy Spirit during this NT period of time. However, there is a lot of confusion over what the Holy Spirit does in His work of extending the Kingdom of God. The confusion comes primarily from the charismatic movement. Third Wave Charismatism says that the Spirit today is in the business of producing signs and wonders in order to attract the world to Christ. I have addressed this charismatic confusion in my book—Charismatism Q&A (www.febc.edu.sg/press.htm). So I will not deal with this here. I want rather to explore with you the role of the Spirit as revealed to us by Christ.
The Holy Spirit’s ministry is revealed by Jesus in John 16:8-14. Jesus said, “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” Jesus clearly delineates for us what the ministry of the Holy Spirit will be: He will (1) reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, (2) guide believers into truth, and in doing all these things, He will (3) glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus, prior to His ascension, told His disciples that they “shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit will not do the work of missions and evangelism alone. He will use the church and work through its members to spread the good news of salvation in Christ to all the world.
In light of what Jesus has said, we find the ministry of the Holy Spirit in missions and evangelism to be two-fold:
The Holy Spirit Calls Sinners into the Saving Knowledge of Christ (John 16:8)
John 16:8 says, “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
God calls people into the saving knowledge of Christ through His Spirit who has a ministry of convicting people of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Before a person can be saved, he must realise that he is totally sinful, helpless to save himself, and needs the righteousness of Christ. To escape the judgment of God’s wrath, he must believe in Christ. The outward call of Gospel preaching must be accompanied by this inward call of the Spirit in convicting a person of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, if he is to be saved.
In light of this, we should all be encouraged to do the work of evangelism. The duty of preaching the good news belongs to the Christian, but the responsibility of converting a soul is the Spirit’s. We ought not to feel guilty or despondent if people reject the gospel after we have preached to them. We are not responsible for soul-winning or soul-saving, but gospel-preaching. We need just to sow the gospel seed, it is God the Spirit that gives the increase. In Acts 2:47, we are told that it is the Lord who added to His church such as should be saved.
When we preach the gospel, we need to preach to all kinds of people: young and old, rich and poor, high and low. Sometimes, we neglect preaching the gospel to little children and to the mentally retarded. We assume that they would not be able to understand the gospel. Let us not underestimate the power of the Spirit in His ministry of bringing such people into God’s kingdom. The Holy Spirit can give such people a heightened intelligence at the point when the gospel is preached to them, to cause them to understand and accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. Let us just be faithful to do the work of evangelising, and let the Holy Spirit do His work of convicting and converting.
The Holy Spirit Calls Saints into the Ministry of the Gospel (Acts 1:8)
Acts 1:8 says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
All Christians are duty-bound to evangelise, to preach the good news of salvation in Christ (Matt 28:18-20). In a sense, we are all full-time Christian workers. We are all called to be witnesses for Christ. In our respective occupations, in our various places of work, we ought to testify for God in our speech and in our deeds. The immediate area of ministry would be our Jerusalem. That would be those closest to us—our family and relatives. Then our Samaria—our neighbours, friends and colleagues at the workplace. Then to the uttermost part—to strangers.
Some Christians are especially gifted in the area of evangelism. The Holy Spirit endows them with that spiritual gift of reaching out to the lost (Eph 4:11). They delight to do this work, and the Lord blesses their work. We have brother Joseph Chua who has given out hundreds of thousands of tracts since 1998. We have our Evangelistic Band led by Dn Tai Mern Yee who go door-to-door on the Lord’s Day once every month to spread the good news. We have sisters Mui Mui and Helen Eio who go to Kemaman and Kuantan regularly to minister to the children and young people. Wendy Teng who has done much for Kuantan in the past will soon resume her ministry there. We have FEBC students distributing our gospel bookmark—“God’s Perfect Gift”—during their weekly evangelism, which has led a few to Christ and to church. Not only has our beloved pastor Rev Dr Timothy Tow written many tracts, but also Mr Eio Eng Hua who wrote a tract on “Who was Jesus of Nazareth?” which the church prints for distribution (download freely from www.febc.edu.sg/tracts.htm). As members, let us do our part by bringing our family and friends to church so that they might hear the gospel preached every week.
There will be those whom the Spirit will call into full-time Christian service to become pastors, teachers, or missionaries. This was what happened in the Antioch church when the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Paul” (Acts 13:2). How do I know whether God has called me to be His full-time servant? There are several indicators: If the Lord has called you into full-time ministry, you would be experiencing an intense and inescapable desire to obey God’s call to do so; you would find yourself having the relevant spiritual gifts as you serve Him actively in church; and you would find spiritually minded people (especially your pastors and elders) confirming your desire and suitability for full-time service.
Let us pray that the Spirit may separate some from among us to serve God as pastors, teachers, and missionaries.
Conclusion
We thank the Lord for sending the Holy Spirit to help us in the work of missions and evangelism. Our missionary and evangelistic efforts are successful because of the Holy Spirit’s involvement. May we be very conscious of the Spirit’s role in calling sinners to salvation in Christ, and in calling saints into full-time Christian service.
THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: Chapter XIX
John 19:23, 24
Fulfilling Prophecy, Fulfilling Theology
Four soldiers (cf. Acts 12:4) were assigned the unsavoury task of crucifying three victims. As the custom was, what were worn by the executed became the property of the executioners. Now our Lord, like every Jew, had five pieces of apparel – turban, outer garment, belt, sandals, and fifthly, a tunic. Whether the soldiers divided the first four items among themselves by lot or not we do not know, but they did with the fifth. The reason was it was one woven piece without seam. To divide it would totally ruin it. Therefore they cast lots for this ‘coat’. In so doing they fulfilled another Messianic prophecy (Psalm 22:18) from David’s pen.
David, the ancestor of our Lord in the flesh, most typified His Greater Son. Many of the events in his life adumbrated those that were to occur in our Lord’s. This utterance, “They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots” was inspired by the Holy Spirit to have direct reference to Christ. It is estimated there are 332 distinct prophecies in the Old Testament which have been fulfilled in Christ. He is the Man sent by God, He is the God-appointed Saviour.
Now the deeper truth about the fulfillment of David’s prophecy in Psalm 22:18 is this, as pointed out by Hendriksen: By stripping the Victim to the last strand of clothing, our Lord became totally exposed. But it pleased the Lord that insult be added upon injury to His Son (“and we hid as it were our faces from him” Isaiah 53:3) in order that our nakedness be clothed with His Righteousness. We must ever pause in grateful abhorrence of a smitten Saviour who gave us not only His blood but also His clothes. Thank God for Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6) who removes not only our guilt but also covers our shame. He fulfilled prophecy in order to fulfill theology.
Ladies Fellowship Meeting, 1March 2006
