Gospel Boldness

What greater need has any man than the need to know Christ? What greater good can we do to any man than to set before him the knowledge of Christ? In so far as we really love our neighbor as ourselves, we shall of necessity want him to enjoy the salvation which is so precious to us. The impulse to evangelize should spring up spontaneously in us as we see our neighbors need of Christ.

If we ourselves have known anything of the love of Christ for us, if our hearts have felt any measure of gratitude for the grace that has saved us from death and hell, then this attitude of compassion and care for our spiritually needy fellow men ought to come naturally and spontaneously to us.

There is something very wrong with us if we do not ourselves find it natural to act in this way: let us be quite clear about that. It is a great privilege to evangelize; is a wonderful thing to be able to tell others of the love of Christ, knowing that there is nothing that they need more urgently to know, and no knowledge in the world that can do them so much good. We should not, therefore, be reluctant and backward to evangelize on the personal and individual level. We should be glad and happy to do it. We should not look for excuses for wriggling out of our obligation when occasion offers to talk to others about the Lord Jesus Christ. If we find ourselves shrinking from this responsibility and trying to evade it, we need to face ourselves with the fact that in this we are yielding to sin and Satan. If, as usual, it is the fear of being thought odd and ridiculous, or of losing popularity in certain circles, that holds us back, we need to ask ourselves in the presence of God: ought these things to stop us from loving our neighbor?"

J. I. Packer in Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God