Christ has tied the salvation of real people to the obedient witness of ordinary believers. The Gospel reaches the lost when we go. Romans 10:13-15 sketches a simple chain: God’s church sends → messengers preach → hearers believe → the repentant call on Jesus → the lost are saved. If any link snaps, someone perishes without hope. Evangelism and missions, then, are not side quests for elite Christians; they are the joyful obligation of everyone who names Christ as Lord.
A Promise Big Enough for the World
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13). Paul lifts this promise from Joel and plants it squarely on Jesus. Eternal life is offered, no strings attached, to all who cry out to the crucified and risen Son of God.
Yet that universal promise raises urgent questions:
- How will they call if they haven’t believed?
- How will they believe if they’ve never heard?
- How will they hear without a preacher?
- How will preachers go unless the church sends?
Turn the sequence around and Paul’s logic snaps into focus:
- Christ and His church send believers.
- Sent believers preach the gospel.
- The gospel is heard by the unreached.
- Hearers believe the message.
- Believers call on Jesus.
- Callers are saved forever.
No missionaries, no message. No message, no salvation. God delights to save, but He does so through heralds who carry good news on “beautiful feet” (v. 15).
Why Every Christian Is a World Christian
Jesus’ final marching orders echo through all four Gospels and Acts:
- “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).
- “Proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15).
- “Repentance … should be proclaimed in His name to all nations” (Lk 24:47).
- “You will be My witnesses … to the end of the earth” (Ac 1:8).
These are commands, not electives, and they remain in force until “this gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed throughout the whole world” (Mt 24:14). Whether you cross oceans or your street, you are part of Christ’s global rescue plan.
Four Heart-Level Alignments for Effective Witness
1. Cultivate a Burden for the Lost
Paul begins Romans 10 confessing, “My heart’s desire … is that they may be saved.” Ask God to brand that longing onto your soul. Do statistics about unreached peoples stir grief? Does your neighbor’s indifference to Christ move you to prayer? Love fuels lips.
2. Practice Intentionality
Gospel conversations rarely “just happen.” They spring from prayerful planning—blocking time to meet a skeptic for coffee, learning a new language, saving for a short-term trip, applying for a passport before you need one. Intentionality means prioritizing unengaged people groups and embedding witness into everyday rhythms.
3. Depend on the Holy Spirit
Only the Spirit can raise the spiritually dead. That truth frees you from performance anxiety. Share clearly, love sacrificially, and trust God with the harvest. Faithfulness belongs to you; fruitfulness belongs to Him.
4. Share What You Do Know
Fear of inadequacy muzzles many Christians. Remember the healed blind man in John 9? All he could say was, “I was blind, now I see,” and he pointed to Jesus. If Christ has rescued you, you have a story worth telling.
Obstacles That Silence Beautiful Feet—and How to Overcome Them
- Comfort Addiction – Evaluate time, finances, and vacations through a kingdom lens. Ask, “What comforts am I willing to trade so someone else can hear?”
- Cultural Drift – Barna reports that only 64% of practicing Christians now believe evangelism is every believer’s responsibility (down from 89% in 1993). Push back by memorizing key Great Commission passages and discussing them in your small group.
- Fear of Rejection – Shift focus from possible awkwardness to eternal stakes. Pray for boldness (Ac 4:29) and remember the Spirit speaks through weakness.
- Isolation from Non-Christians – Embed yourself in contexts where unbelievers live: community sports leagues, campus clubs, neighborhood associations. Mission can’t happen in a holy huddle.
Practical On-Ramps to the Great Commission
- Pray Big, Start Small – Begin each day asking God to open a door for one gospel conversation. Record answered prayers to build faith.
- Learn a Quick, Natural Gospel Outline – What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert is my favorite book on sharing the gospel and has shaped how I articulate it.
- Join or Fund a Short-Term Team – Exposure trips ignite passion and clarify calling. Your presence or your checkbook can put a witness in front of someone who has never met a Christian.
- Adopt an Unreached People Group – Pray by name, support translation work, and look for ways to go.
- Say ‘Yes’ to God’s Nudge – If you feel the call to missions or sharing the gospel with the lost, press into that call by putting your “yes” on the table and doing something about it.
Measuring Success: Faithful Labor, Spirit-Born Fruit
Jesus told the seventy-two in Luke 10 that the harvest is plentiful, the workers few. He did not instruct them to manufacture results but to pray and then go. Some fields yield thirty-fold, others a hundred. What counts is obedience empowered by dependence.
The Vision That Drives Us
Revelation 7 glimpses the endgame: “A great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne … crying out, ‘Salvation belongs to our God.’” Your witness—spoken on a porch, in a dorm, or under a banyan tree—contributes to that choir.
So, Christian, lace up your shoes. Let the gospel fire your imagination until your feet, however dusty, are called beautiful because they carry the only news that saves. The Lord of the harvest is still sending, still saving, still worthy. Will you go?
Tethered to Truth 