What do you expect when you preach or teach? Do we expect results or are we just glad they listened? Micheal Green in his book Evangelism of the Early Church states that the early church looked for a response from their hearers. I think that in our churches today many seem to lack the power of the Holy Spirit at work. We have settled for just having an audience rather than looking for a response. We should expect results!What did the early church look for? According to Green they anticipated three responses.
- Repentance. The early church looked for the individual to repent from their sins. We have made a mistake in the early church to not express the need for repentance when someone makes a decision to be a Christ follower. If they are concerned that they will have to give something up they have not really embraced repentance.
- Faith. Green says, that "repentance toward God is matched by faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ." While the gospel does not spell what this faith is specifically in every occasion. There is a consistent belief in Jesus Christ. Paul's teaching was that faith in Christ entailed a belief in who Jesus was, His crucifixion and resurrection, His ascension into heaven and eventual return.
- Commitment. The final expectation is that of a commitment. Again Green says, it is a commitment onto Christ. In our attempt to make the gospel "marketable" we have made coming to Christ. Coming to Him requires a commitment. Will the new Christ follower fully understand what that means? No probably not but we should not hide it from them either. The commitment is most often demonstrated by a commitment to baptism.
