The Great Evangelist

Have you ever seen a Rube Goldberg machine? Picture one of those contraptions that starts with a Ping-Pong ball sliding through a pipe. The ball hits a toy car, which then launches onto a race track, which pulls a string, which ignites a match, which pops a balloon, which—well, you get the idea. The final stage might be hundreds of steps away from the ball in the pipe, but you could trace the whole system one link at a time. A long, complicated chain of cause-and-effect: that’s basically a Rube Goldberg machine.
Now imagine that same machine. This time the Ping-Pong ball starts not one race car, but ten of them—and each car pulls ten strings, and ten matches for each of those strings, and ten balloons for each of those matches…and yet, at the end, those thousands of links prove to have all been working towards one glorious, spectacular result.

That’s our universe, in a nutshell, multiplied a couple of trillion times over, and with organic, living links instead of inanimate objects—and with God fashioning every link: “He works all things according to the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11). What’s the starting action? The cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). What’s the end result? “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). What’s the power behind every link? Nothing less than the Holy Spirit—the Spirit who brings life (Ezek. 37:14), glorifies Christ (John 16:14), and empowers believers like us to speak boldly of Jesus (Acts 4:31).

Notice where you fit in. Not the designer of the whole organism (that’s the Father), not the starting point (that’s the Son), and not the power behind it (that’s the Spirit). Just a part. But a significant, meaningful part.

Do you see what all this means for evangelism? The burden doesn’t lie on us! God, in his triune glory, is the great Evangelist. For the glory of his name and the good of his people, God is at work to spread the gospel around the world. He uses everything to accomplish his purposes. Everything. Every single thing. Weather patterns. Wars. The clash of empires and the explosion of technology—and a warm greeting in the checkout line, a hot meal waiting when the neighbors return from the hospital.

Do you see what all this means for evangelism? Every moment is bursting with eternal significance! Oh, there’s mystery here, to be sure. We choose. God controls. And yet our choices matter. And yet God is not subordinate to our choices. That’s a mystery, but a precious mystery—a mystery that changes how you view the guy lifting weights beside you at the gym and the elderly lady who just moved in next door. The conversation you strike up or the moving help you offer all fit into the cosmic, eternal, glorious plan of God. “There are no ordinary people,” C.S. Lewis said. And, we might add, no ordinary moments.


For the next three weeks, we’re going to consider encouragement to evangelize. Here’s where we must begin: God is the great Evangelist. Through the work of his Son, in the power of the Spirit, God is creating a people for himself. He is always at work. And we have a part. So let’s open our eyes. Let’s exult in the precious mystery of his plan. And let’s go join him in his work!