Praying for Gospel Opportunities
“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the
Word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.”
Colossians 4:3 ESV
Nancy Pearcey is a Christian author who teaches extensively on the topic of worldview. She says:
“Every philosophy or ideology has to answer the same fundamental questions:
- Creation: How did it all begin? Where did we come from?
- Fall: What went wrong? What is the source of evil and suffering?
- Redemption: What can we do about it? How can the world be set right again?” 1
Humanity aches for paradise lost. Every person instinctively recognizes that something is off – that there was another place for which they were created. However, a diversity of philosophies regarding our human origin and the meaning of life abounds. Depending on one’s worldview, solutions to the problems of suffering and evil are vain attempts to return to paradise lost. Sadly, this search for heaven on earth is the way that leads to destruction.
A Biblical worldview possesses the answers for which humanity is longing. Genesis 1:1 explains that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This God is everlasting, and all of creation owes its beginning and existence to Him. Having created the heavens and the earth, God made mankind, as Genesis 1:26-27 describes: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Having made everything good, God entrusted His creation to the first human He created – Adam. God placed Adam in the garden of Eden to work it and care for it. Every tree that bore fruit was available for food, except the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Creator commanded Adam that he must not eat the fruit from that tree. Adam and Eve’s first act of disobedience by eating the forbidden fruit brought about the fall of humanity and thus banishment from paradise.
“Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to
work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and
at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming
sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Genesis 3:23-24 ESV
Thrust out of paradise, it appears humankind is doomed and despondent. However, Genesis 3:15 promises a solution to the world of hurt that humanity brought upon itself. God said to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Martin Luther has described this verse as the fountainhead of all other promises. It is the first promise for a solution to the life bound by sin and death.
After banishing man and woman from Eden, the Creator doesn’t abandon them. Instead, He vows to join them in exile for the purpose of redeeming them. By defeating sin and death on the cross, Jesus fulfills God’s promise given to Adam and Eve and declares to all people: All that you have lost is found in Me. Do not search for Eden (paradise); search for Me. So we can see our origin, fall and our assured redemption outlined in the first three chapters of the Bible.
Essential to the Christian life is a Biblical mandate to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). Evangelism is a means of sharing the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. Christians seek to testify of the Risen Christ by following the Great Commandment to love God first and then love others (Mark 12:29-31). However, as Christians worldwide proclaim the Good News, they face opposition from those who seek their own solutions for a fulfilled life.
Although every disciple of Jesus encounters incidents of opposition, they gladly receive and embrace the Gospel which presents His offer of salvation from what would otherwise be a life of misery. Amazingly, the church continues to grow in areas where it is considered dangerous to be a Christian. A sizeable portion of such persecution directly results from a growing church. In other words, the more a church actively preaches the Gospel, the more it grows; and the more it grows, the more it is persecuted.
Recognizing this reality of persecution for the growing church, author John Foxe declared: “But, though persecuting malice raged, yet the Gospel shone with resplendent brightness; and, firm as an impregnable rock, withstood the attacks of its boisterous enemies with success.” 2
Let us, therefore, be committed to praying that the church persecuted will boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a people desperately longing to find their true home. Eden is gone, but a new home awaits, and it is there that we will find true and lasting communion with our Creator.
“Persecution has always produced a better Christian – a witnessing
Christian, a soul-winning Christian. Communist persecution has back-
fired and produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are rarely
seen in free lands. These people cannot understand how anyone
can be a Christian and not want to win every soul they meet.” 3
May we, His witnesses, find Gospel opportunities and act on them.
Floyd A. Brobbel
Chief Executive Officer
The Voice of the Martyrs Canada Inc.
Endnotes:
1 Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity, Crossway Books, 2004, pg. 25
2 John Foxe, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/the-fourth-persecution-under-marcus-aurelius-antoninus-a-d-162.html
3 Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ, The Voice of the Martyrs, USA
