The Obligation to Evangelize the World

It is our duty to evangelize the world because all men need Christ.

The Christian Scriptures and the careful and extended observation of earnest men the world over agree that with respect to the need of salvation all nations and races are alike. The need of the non-Christian world is indescribably great. Hundreds of millions are to-day living in ignorance and darkness, steeped in idolatry, superstition, degradation and corruption. Reflect on the desolating and cruel evils which are making such fearful ravages among them. See under what a burden of sin and sorrow and suffering they live. Can any candid person doubt the reality of the awful need after reviewing the masterly, scientific survey by Dr. Dennis of the social evils of the non-Christian world? No one who has seen the actual conditions can question that they who are without God are also without hope.

The non-Christian religions may be judged by their fruits. While they furnish some moral principles and precepts of value, they do not afford adequate standards and motives by which rightly to guide the life, nor power to enable one to take the step between knowing duty and doing it. Though there are among the followers of these religions men of high and noble lives, in the sight of God all have sinned and stand in need of the Divine forgiveness and of Christ the Saviour. All other religions have failed to do what Christianity has done and is doing as a regenerating power in the individual and as a transforming force in society. It is a significant fact that the thousands of missionaries scattered throughout the world, face to face with heathenism and thus in the best position to make a scientific study of the problem, bear such a unanimous testimony as to the practical results of the non-Christian religions as should forever banish any doubt or reservation regarding their inadequacy to meet the world's need.

The Scriptures clearly teach that if men are to be saved they must be saved through Christ. He alone can deliver them from the power of sin and its penalty. His death made salvation possible. The Word of God sets forth the conditions of salvation. God has chosen to have these conditions made known through human agency. The universal capability of men to be benefited by the Gospel, and the ability of Christ to satisfy men of all races and conditions, emphasize the duty of Christians to preach Christ to every creature. The burning question for every Christian then is, Shall hundreds of millions of men now living, who need Christ and are capable of receiving help from Him, pass away without having even the opportunity to know Him?

It is not necessary that we go to the Scriptures, or to the ends of the earth, to discover our obligation to the unevangelized. A knowledge of our own hearts should be sufficient to make plain our duty. We know our need of Christ. How unreasonable, therefore, for us to assume that the nations living in sin and wretchedness and bondage can do without Him whom we so much need even in the most favored Christian lands.

It is our duty to evangelize the world because we owe all men the Gospel.

We have a knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to have this is to incur a responsibility toward every man who has it not. To have a Saviour who alone can save from the guilt and power of sin imposes an obligation of the most serious character. We received the knowledge of the Gospel from others, but not in order to appropriate it for our own exclusive use. It concerns all men. Christ tasted death for every man. He wishes the good news of His salvation made known to every creature. All nations and races are one in God's intention, and therefore equally entitled to the Gospel. The Christians of to-day are simply trustees of the Gospel and in no sense sole proprietors. Every Indian, every Chinese, every South Sea Islander has as good a right to the Gospel as anyone else; and, as a Chinese once said to Robert Stewart, we break the eighth commandment if we do not take it to him. In the words of Mr. Eugene Stock, "Bring me the best Buddhist or Mohammedan in the world, the most virtuous, the most high-minded, and I think that man has a right to hear of the tremendous fact that a Divine Person came into the world to bring blessing to mankind. Whether he needs it or no, I will not stop to argue. I think he has a claim upon Christian people to tell him of that fact." What a wrong against mankind to keep the knowledge of the mission of Christ to men from two-thirds of the race!

Our sense of obligation must be intensified when we ask ourselves the question. If we do not preach Christ where He has not been named, who will? "God has 'committed unto us the word of reconciliation,' and from whom shall the heathen now living ever hear that word, if the Christians of the present day fail to discharge the debt? We know their need; we know the only remedy; we have access to them; we are able to go.

The claims of humanity and universal brotherhood prompt us to make Christ known to those who live in darkness and in misery. The Golden Rule by which we profess to live impels us to it. The example of Christ, who was moved with compassion to meet even the bodily hunger of the multitudes, should inspire us to go forth with the Word of life to the millions who are wandering in helplessness in the shadow of death.

"Give me Thy heart, O Christ! Thy love untold That I like Thee may pity, like Thee may preach. For round me spreads on every side a waste Drearer than that which moved Thy soul to sadness; No ray hath pierced this immemorial gloom; And scarce these darkened toiling myriads taste Even a few drops of fleeting earthly gladness, As they move on, slow, silent, to the tomb."

The evangelization of the world in this generation is to Christians no self-imposed task; it rests securely upon Divine commandment. The Great Commission of Christ given by Him in the upper room in Jerusalem on the night after the resurrection, again a little later on a mountain in Galilee, and yet again, on the Mount of Olives, Just before the ascension clearly expresses our obligation to make Christ known to all men. While this command was given to the disciples of Christ living in the first generation of the Christian era, it was intended as well for all time and for each Christian in his own time. That the command was not intended for the Apostles alone is seen from the promise with which it is linked, "Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." The practice of the Church in the Apostolic Age and Sub-Apostolic Age shows that the command was regarded as binding not only upon the Apostles but also upon all Christians. It was addressed to all in every place and throughout every generation who should call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true there is no express command to evangelize the world in this generation; but, as Mr. Stock has pointed out, "If we have a general command to make the Gospel known to those who know it not, there seems no escape from the conclusion that the duty to make it known to all — that is, all now alive — lies in the nature of the case." Thus the expression, the evangelization of the world in this generation, simply translates Christ's last command into terms of obligation concerning our own lifetime.

In this command of our Lord we have "a motive power sufficient to impel disciples always with uniform force; which will survive romance; which will outlive excitement; which is independent of experiences and emotions; which can surmount every difficulty and disappointment; which burns steadily in the absence of outward encouragement, and glows in a blast of persecution; such a motive as in its intense and imperishable influence on the conscience and heart of a Christian shall be irrespective at once of his past history, of any peculiarities in his position, and of his interpretation of prophecy." This command has been given to be obeyed. It is operative until it is repealed. The execution of it is not optional but obligatory. It awaits fulfilment by a generation that shall have courage and consecration enough to attempt the thing commanded. It should move to action all real Christians; for, in the words of Archbishop Whately, "If our religion is not true, we ought to change it; if it is true, we are bound to propagate what we believe to be the truth." "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" If ye love me ye will keep my commandments.

It is our duty to evangelize the world because this is essential to the best life of the Christian Church.

If all men need the Gospel, if we owe the Gospel to all men, if Christ has commanded us to preach the Gospel to every creature, it is unquestionably our duty to give all people in our generation an opportunity to hear the Gospel. To know our duty and to do it not is sin. Continuance in the sin of neglect and disobedience necessarily weakens the life and arrests the growth of the Church. Who can measure the loss of vitality and power that she has already suffered within our own day from her failure to do all in her power for the world's evangelization? The Christians of to-day need some object great enough to engage all the powers of their minds and hearts. We find just such an object in the enterprise to make Christ known to the whole world. This would call out and utilize the best energies of the Church. It would help to save her from some of her gravest perils — ease, selfishness, luxury, materialism and low ideals. It would necessitate, and therefore greatly promote, real Christian unity, thus preventing an immense waste of force. It would react favorably on Christian countries. There is no one thing which would do so much to promote work on behalf of the cities and neglected country districts of the home lands as a vast enlargement of the foreign missionary operations. This is not a matter of theory; for history teaches impressively that the missionary epochs have been the times of greatest activity and spiritual vigor in the life of the home Church. So the best spiritual interests of America, Great Britain, Germany, Australasia and other Christian lands are inseparably bound up with the evangelization of the whole wide world. The dictates of patriotism, as well as of loyalty to our Lord, thus call upon us to give ourselves to the world's evangelization.

But the most serious and important consideration of all is that the largest manifestation of the presence of Christ with us as individual Christians, and with the Church at large, depends upon our obedience to His command. There is a most intimate and vital connection between "Go ye and make disciples of all the nations," and 'Lo, I am with you alway." The gift of the Holy Spirit is associated in the New Testament with spreading the knowledge of Christ. More than that, the power of the Holy Spirit was bestowed for the express purpose of equipping Christians for the work of preaching the Gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth, beginning from Jerusalem. If the Church of to-day, therefore, would have the power of God come mightily upon her — and is not this the great need? — she will necessarily receive it while in the pathway of larger obedience to the missionary command.

The obligation to evangelize the world is an urgent one.

Every reason for doing this work of evangelizing at all demands that it be done not only thoroughly but also as speedily as possible. The present generation is passing away. If we do not evangelize it, who will? We dare not say the next generation will be soon enough. The Church has too long been in the habit of committing the heathen to the next generation. "It is not possible for the coming generation to discharge the duties of the present, whether it respects their repentance, faith, or works; and to commit to them our share of preaching Christ crucified to the heathen, is like committing to them the love due from us to God and our neighbor. The Lord will require of us that which is committed to us."

The present generation is one of unexampled crisis in all parts of the unevangelized world. Missionaries from nearly every land urge that, if the Church fails to do her full duty in our lifetime, not only will multitudes of the present generation pass away without knowing of Christ, but the task of our successors to evangelize their generation will be much more difficult.

Our generation is also one of marvelous opportunity. The world is better known and more accessible, its needs more articulate and intelligible, and our ability to go into all the world with the Gospel is much greater than in any preceding generation. All this adds to our responsibility.

The forces of evil are not deferring their operations to the next generation. With world-wide enterprise and with ceaseless vigor they are seeking to accomplish their deadly work in this generation. This is true not only of the dire influences which have been at work in the unevangelized nations for centuries, but also of those which have come from so-called Christian lands. By the liquor traffic, by the opium trade and by the licentious lives and gambling habits of some of our countrymen we have greatly increased the misery and woe of the heathen. All non-Christian nations are being brought under the influences of the material civilization of the West, and these may easily work their injury unless controlled by the power of pure religion. The evangelization of the world in this generation is not, therefore, merely a matter of buying up the opportunity, but of helping to neutralize and supplant the effects of the sins of our own peoples.

Because of the infinite need of men without Christ; because of the possibilities of men of every race and condition who take Christ as the Lord of their lives; because of the command of our Lord which has acquired added force as a result of nineteen centuries of discovery, of opening of doors, of experience of the Christian Church; because of the shameful neglect of the past; because of the impending crisis and the urgency of the situation in all parts of the non-Christian world; because of the opportunity for a greatly accelerated movement in the present; because of the danger of neglecting to enter upon a great onward movement; because of the constraining memories of the Cross of Christ and the love wherewith He loved us, it is the solemn duty of the Christians of this generation to do their utmost to evangelize the world.