Equipping the Saints as Evangelists

And our third goal is to equip leaders in evangelism by instilling them with an in depth knowledge of the gospel message, that they may defend it and make it clear in their labors in evangelism and discipleship.

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."  Ephesians 4:11-12

 

We believe that the first, and most basic training for believers, is in the clarity of the cross, and the doctrine of salvation.

14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

For many years, when I read the above passage, my ears heard it correctly, but my mind heard "Breast plate of holiness."  And I interpreted this verse as a call to holiness. 

Certainly, the Bible commands us to be holy.  But the fact is, we are not holy.  Nor can we be truly holy while we inhabit a body of sin and death.  But holiness is not the same as righteousness.  Holiness is dependent on how we conduct our lives.  We are told to live a holy life.  Righteousness, however, is the believer's legal standing before God in spite of how we live our lives.  We are proclaimed "not guilty" or "righteous" not because we have lived a good life, but because the sinful life we have lived was paid for by the death of our Savior.  Righteous is a key term in the salvation of mankind.  It is the legal declaration when the payment of our sins by our Lord is applied to our own personal account.  And "a man is justified by faith, apart from the deeds of the law."  (Romans 3:28).  We will take a life time trying to live in the holy manner commanded by our Father.  But no believer should enter his second month as a new believer without a clear understanding of the work at the cross by which he was made "righteous" in the sight of God.  The doctrine of salvation is the first priority in the discipleship of a new believer.

And when I realized that the reference was to righteousness, and not holiness, I realized something else about this passage:  Virtually every item in the Full Armor of God is directed to the gospel message . . . the defense of the gospel message, and the spread of the gospel message.

First and foremost, the discipleship of a believer must root them in Christ crucified . . .  the truth and the purity of the message of salvation.  If it does not do this, discipleship is little more than misguided cheerleading.