Home Voices The Exchange How the Fall Affected Evangelism

How the Fall Affected Evangelism

2. You won’t evangelize if you’re seduced by sin.

The longer Eve talked with the serpent, the more she was tempted to slowly take her eyes off her Creator — and His rule of law in the Garden — and even the words of the serpent, and put them on the goodness, delightfulness, and the desirability of the [forbidden] fruit. 

James explains in his letter the process of temptation. He writes, “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown it gives birth to death” (James 1:14–15). 

It wasn’t the serpent’s fault for luring Eve to the tree. He didn’t force her to come over. [Not to mention, Adam slacked on his responsibilities of working and protecting the garden.] It wasn’t the serpent’s fault for twisting the truth Eve was supposed to know. [Either Adam didn’t do a good job in relaying God’s word or Eve didn’t do a good job listening.] But it was the serpent’s intention to plant seductive seeds that tempted Eve to rebel against God. 

The reality is, Eve stayed way too long at the tree. She should have fled the moment the serpent started questioning God’s words. But she didn’t. She stayed and ate replacing God with the fruit. And what becomes your god, becomes your gospel. Why do you think Eve turned around and gave the fruit to Adam? 

Billy Sunday once stated, “Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.” When it comes to temptation and evangelism, the more we are intoxicated to sin in rebellion against God, the more difficult it will be to invite sinners to be redeemed by God. 

3. You won’t evangelize if you live in shame.

In their sin, Adam and Eve sought shelter from God when they heard His footsteps. As a result of their sin, their faith and security in God quickly turned to fear and shame. And their fear and shame drove them into hiding. 

Today I believe we live in a shame-based culture. The difference between a guilt culture and a shame culture is — a guilt culture is more about a person believing they have done bad things, whereas a shame culture is more about people feeling they are bad. But this new shame culture we live in is somewhat different than a traditional shame culture. 

Andy Crouch argues that our new shame culture has emerged with the rise of social media. David Brooks, writing about this new shame culture, expresses how “everybody is perpetually insecure in a moral system based on inclusion and exclusion.” And in this new environmental system, “There are no permanent standards, just the shifting judgment of the crowd.”