If someone asked you a question as to who Jesus is and what did he do during his earthly ministry there are many answers that would no doubt fly out of your mouth. We think of him as King, Lord, Savior, healer, preacher, teacher, and on the list would go. But how long would the list go before you would say—evangelist?
Jesus Christ himself and his work is the evangel. His entire life and ministry is bound up in the disclosure of God through the promotion of himself.
Richard Phillips has written Jesus the Evangelist directing readers to learn evangelism from the ministry of Jesus, specifically the book of John. Phillips is the Senior Minister of Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC. He is also a graduate of Westminster Seminary.
The material from the book comes from various expositional sermons on the early chapters of John. Phillips’ breaks out in this manner:
Section 1: Biblical Principles for Evangelism (John 1)
Section 2: The Theology of the Gospel (John 3)
Section 3: Jesus’ Practice of Evangelism (John 4)
One observation I had in reading this book is the fitting union between theology and evangelism. Phillips grounds his principles of application in who Jesus is, what he says, and what he does. Too often theology and evangelism function like distant cousins in the church instead of being of one flesh and of one head. Phillips does a good job at grounding his methodology in biblical theology, this is encouraging.
In addition to the book serving to help pile on conviction for not being as impressed with Christ as we should be and so then less vocal about his greatness, Phillips helps to inform and inflame our hearts with a true picture of Christ that ultimately will birth and sustain faithfulness.
This book is definitely helpful for pastors who need to ‘do the work of an evangelist’ whether they are gifted as such or not. In addition it will prove helpful to all who want to be more faithful to Christ and his gospel. I should note as well that the book is hardback and is really a well constructed. Reformation Trust does a terrific job in their publishing; when a book is this nice I don’t mind paying the extra couple of bucks.
Discounted copies are available at Westminster or at Amazon.
