The Key to the Missionary’s Work

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world . 1 John 2:2

This is the simple gospel. It is not about how kind Jesus is, or that he heals..or even what He has done for me. It is about Jesus dying on the cross as a propitiation for our sins.

I have to admit that sometimes I dance around this when I share my faith with others. It happened yesterday. I met up for lunch with a girl I went to library school with. She does not know Jesus. She's very depressed, is in a bad marriage...and generally stressed out about life in general.I knew that I should somehow share Christ with her. I listened to her. Mentioned my faith vaguely. I'm afraid the conversation really amounted to nothing. How do I get to the root of the message?

Chambers:
The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God.

A missionary is someone who is bound by marriage to the stated mission and purpose of his Lord and Master. He is not to proclaim his own point of view, but is only to proclaim “the Lamb of God.” It is easier to belong to a faction that simply tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, and easier to become a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Paul did not say, “Woe is me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but, “. . . woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And this is the gospel— “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

My prayer today is that I will be a true missionary to my friend as well as to others. That I won't do the "share my faith dance" around the key message.