Reason #13: A Heart for the Lost

Christians can take classes, read books, attend seminars, and use other resources that help learn how to share the gospel with the lost. But unless these resources are tapped into by those with a genuine burden for the lost they will most likely never be practiced or utilized by those well-meaning students  who give time  and attention to them. I am convinced that the first step in any "evangelism training" ought to be "how to preach the gospel to yourself".  It is a deep and abiding appreciation for the gospel in our own daily life and experience that will give us a key ingredient in evangelism: a heart for the lost. Milton Vincent offers this as the 13th reason to preach the gospel to yourself daily:  

The more I rehearse and exult in gospel truths, the more there develops within me a corresponding burden for non-Christians to enter into such blessings. This is also what seems to happen to the Apostle Paul while writing the book of Romans.

In Romans 5 Paul exults in his righteous standing before God (Romans 5:1-11). In chapter 6 he speaks of the freedom from sin which Christ has accomplished in the lives of believers (Romans 6:1,2,6), a freedom which Paul latter confesses had not yet become fully realized in his own daily practice (chapter 7). Nonetheless, coming into chapter 8, he recounts the fact that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). With increasing flourish, he rehearses numerous gospel themes throughout the length of chapter 8, and he climaxes the chapter with a triumphant exclamation regarding the endless love of God which enables Christians to conquer overwhelmingly in all things (Romans 8:35-39). 

What effect do such gospel meditations have upon Paul? What emotions do they produce in him besides the obvious joy he feels when reciting them? Paul bares his soul at the very beggining of chapter 9: "I have great sorrow," he says, :and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself where accursed, separated from Christ, for the sake of my brethren, my kinsman according to the flesh."

Coming down from the heights of gospel meditation, Paul's heart is devastated by a burden for his fellow-Jews to experience the saving power of the gospel. His Burden existed long before he started writing, but undoubtedly intensified by his rehearsal of gospel truths in Romans 5-8, a rehearsal which inevitably leads his thoughts toward the plight of those outside of Christ.

Hence, if I wish to have a 'Romans 9' kind of burden for non-Christians, I should  become practiced at celebrating the gospel as Paul does in Romans 5-8. Over time, my joy in the gospel will become increasingly tinged with grief, and this grief-stained joy will lend a gospel-inspired passion to my ministry of evangelizing the lost. -Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians, p.25

Reason #12: Stimulated to Love Others

Perhaps the most compelling reason to preach the gospel daily to myself is how it effects the love I am to have for all people (Mark 12:31). We all know there are some people who are very difficult to love.  Love, as the world sees it, is based on the lovableness of the one to be loved.  The gospel however, reminds me that God loves me despite my own un-lovableness.

"When my mind is fixed on the gospel, I have ample stimulation to shoe God's love for other people. For I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown me (Titus 3:1-8). Also, the gospel gives me the wherewithal to give forgiving grace to those who have wronged me, for it reminds me daily of the forgiving grace that God has shown me (Ephesians 4:32). 

Doing good and showing love to those who have wronged me is always the opposite of what my sinful flesh wants me to do. Nonetheless, when I remind myself of my sin against God and of His forgiving and generous grace toward me, I give the gospel an opportunity to reshape my perspective and to put me in a frame of mind wherein I actually desire to give this same grace to those who have wronged me." -Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians, p.24

We love, because He first loved us. -1 John 4:19

Reason #11: My Inheritence in the Saints

 Keeping the gospel ever before us is a powerful way to to fully appreciate our brothers and sisters in Christ:

"The gospel is not just a message of reconciliation with God, but it also heralds the reconciliation with one another in Christ. Through the death of Christ, God has brought peace where there was once hostility, and He has broken down the racial, economic, and social barriers that once divided us outside of Christ (Ephesians 2:14-16; Colossians 3:11; Galatians 3:28; Revelation 5:9). 

Also, when God saved us, He made us members of His household (Ephesians 2:19), and He gave us as gifts to one another (Ephesians 1:18). Each brother and sister is a portion of my gospel inheritance from God, and I am a portion of their inheritance as well. We are significant players in each other's gospel  narrative, and it is in relationship with one another that we experience the fullness of God in Christ (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Hence, the more I comprehend the full scope of the gospel, the more I value the church for which Christ died (Ephesians 5:25), the more I value the role that I play in the lives of my fellow Christians, and the more I appreciate the role that they must be allowed to play in mine." -Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians, p.23