A love for Christ, a passion for God’s glory and universal praise, and a love for lost sinners are among the reasons that should grip and compel Christians to pursue the salvation of unbelievers. God has ordained that the salvation of the nations occur through the ministry of evangelism and missions. The following are some God-honoring motivations that should fuel both:
1. God is passionate about His glory being declared and His praise being voiced among the nations of the earth (Psalm 96). Through evangelism and missions, God causes the nations to sing His praises. Said another way, believers evangelize the nations for the sake of Christ's holy and exalted name (Romans 1:5).
2. Through evangelism and missions, God exponentially increases the number of worshipers who glorify Him with thanksgiving (2 Corinthians 4:15; cf. Romans 1:21).
3. The gospel and its proclamation were prophesied in Scripture (Luke 24:46-47; cf. Romans 1:2). Therefore, when Christians take the gospel to unreached nations, they are participating in God’s prophetic means of bringing salvation to the ends of the earth (cf. Isaiah 49:6 and Acts 13:47).
4. The gospel is God’s power to save everyone who believes in Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16). Apart from receiving and believing in the gospel, people cannot be saved (Romans 10:14-17).
5. The proclamation of the gospel to the nations is part of God’s chronological timetable that leads to the return of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:14). Thus, there are eschatological implications associated with evangelism and missions.
6. Jesus Christ, Lord of heaven and earth, commanded His followers to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). Also, He assured them of His presence and power to witness (Acts 1:8).
7. Christians, out of love for unbelievers, should desire non-Christians to be saved from their enslavement to sin and eternal hell (Romans 6:6-7, 17; Revelation 20:14-15). Thus, evangelism is an expression of love for Jesus Christ and for lost souls whom God has judged (John 3:18). In other words, it is the Christian’s love in action.
8. Christians should also desire that God grant unbelievers the gift of faith and the forgiveness of sins, seeing that God does both for His name's sake (Philippians 1:29; 1 John 2:12).
