Does Your Evangelism Reflect Your Theology?

Theology matters. What we think about God defines how we relate to God and how we labor for Him. For our Wednesday night teaching series at our local church, I have the privilege of guiding our congregation through a study on God’s attributes, highlighting the practical implications of those attributes. We each have a basic creed that defines what we believe about our Lord, often pointing to Him as the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent God. Permit me to ask you a straightforward question: Does your evangelism reflect those beliefs?

Omniscience
To proclaim God as omniscient is not merely to proclaim God as all-knowing, but to confess Him as knowing all things about all things. He is aware of our strengths and weaknesses while simultaneously being conscious of the needs of those we are witnessing to in a particular moment. He knows our life experiences and theirs. Because He knows this, the Lord perceives how to strike at the heart of the person He has called us to evangelize and what is necessary to equip us for this calling.

Evangelism, then, is precisely calculated to make the most of every opportunity according to the Lord's will. Even if the outcome does not result in a disciple, we may confidently obey every gospel opportunity knowing that the Lord does not only see the effect now but the future result that may come at a later date. More importantly, we advance with the conviction that the Lord knows our struggles to share, our lack of clarity, and our lack of assurance in sharing, and yet, it was His will that we do so. We could say His omniscience provokes our obedience.

Omnipotence
A second aspect of the trilogy of “omnis” in God’s character is His omnipotence. He is the all-powerful God. He prominently displays His power through both the creation of all things (Gen 1:1) and His ability to sustain that creation (Isa 40:26; Col 1:17). God wills something to happen and has the capability to sovereignly influence it to fruition so that all that He wills comes to pass.

The power of God, then, is not superseded by the volition of man. If that were the case, then He would cease to be God. The result is that the Lord's power is greater than man's refusal to accept the offer of salvation. As Steve Lawson writes, "He is able to overcome their natural resistance to the gospel and bring them to faith in Christ" (Jn 5:25; 10:3; 10:27) [1].

Omnipresence
Finally, our God is omnipresent; He is all-present, in all places, at all times. Matthew Henry reminds us that “Though God is out of sight, we are not out of His sight.” The attributes of God distinguish the Creator from His creation. Yet few characteristics help us realize our finiteness more than the omnipresence of God. While He may be physically present in all places at all times, we have yet to determine how to occupy more than one physical location at any given time. As truth-sharers, the truth of God's presence is vital to our evangelism.

It means He never fails to enter every situation and encounter with us. He is available to us in every moment, laboring in and through us while we submit to Him. To offer greater reassurance, we must remember that God's attributes are not divisible. They cannot be removed from Him so that when the Lord is there, He is there in full possession of His power and knowledge. As we share with unbelievers, seeking to share the light of the gospel, we do so not only with God at our side but with full access to His power and knowledge as applied through the work of the Holy Spirit.

If we legitimately believe that the Lord is indeed perfectly omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, then let our evangelism reflect that. Let us not hesitate, hindered by our own insecurities. Instead, let us boldly proclaim the gospel because we have the backing of the Lord's knowledge, power, and presence. May our evangelism reflect our theology.

[1] Lawson, Steven J. Show Me Your Glory. Reformation Trust, 2020.

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