You have to know when to stop evangelizing

By Elizabeth Prata

Matthew 28:19-20 famously says,

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.“

This is known as The Great Commission, where Jesus, upon the occasion of His departure from earth, told His disciples to evangelize, baptize, and raise up more disciples.

Mark 16:15 says, And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

So, we do. We share the Gospel (using words). It is our duty and our privilege.

So it seems like it would be a dereliction of duty to quit giving the Gospel to someone who rejects it. But it isn’t. If a person has been shared with and given the blessed Gospel of God, not only once but a few times, and they reject, it is OK to stop. In fact, sometimes they entrench further into their depravity and sin each time we bring it up. Rather that push the issue, stop and let the Holy Spirit do His work. If that person has been chosen and elect, they will at some point come to see as the scales fall from their eyes.

As Paul is a great model for sharing the Gospel he is also a great model of when to stop sharing the Gospel:

Acts 18:6, But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.“

If they were blaspheming, their minds were definitely not ready and that meant their heart was not accepting either. Let them go and move on to more fruitful fields. Also, if they were blaspheming, they were heaping sin upon themselves. We don’t want that for them. Just let them go and let the seed germinate if it is going to.

Here is another example-

Acts 19:9, But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he [Paul] withdrew from them and took the disciples away with him, and had discussions daily in the school of Tyrannus.

They were becoming hardened. Sometimes when we share the Gospel with a loved one, we can spiritually see them hardening. We feel them moving away from Jesus, not toward.

Sometimes it is OK to stop giving the Gospel if they ask you to stop. If you have shared and are satisfied with your clarity in that share, and the next time or two you’ve raised the issue and they say ‘stop’ then respect that and just love them.

This verse is kind of a brutal description, but remember, it’s advice from the All Omniscient One-

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:6).

And we remember Matthew 10:14, where Jesus instructed them,

And whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust off your feet.

So, is the person you’re sharing with stomping on the Gospel, rejecting it in a blaspheming way, or just weary of the ‘Jesus-talk’? It is OK to stop. It is actually loving to keep on loving them but refrain from continuing the Gospel share so that they do not blaspheme or harden. But pray for them.