God, the Evangelist (Part 1)
Cornwall/Montreal
April 9, 2005
How did you come to the family of God? How did you enter a relationship with Jesus Christ? Was it God’s doing? Was it your doing? Was it a bit of both?
We’re concerned with doing the ongoing work of the church, which, as Jesus directed, is, beyond feeding the flock and caring for those already in the Family of God, to go to the world with the good news message of Jesus Christ. We’re, based on Jesus’ words to help or welcome others into the family. However, as we consider doing this, what do we expect? What can we expect? What difference do our efforts make? Are we simply to be harvesters, helping the already determined crop to go forward in personal relationships with Jesus Christ? Or, are we to be ones who prepare the soil, plant the seed, and do some weeding and watering, as well?
Some scripture indicates that coming to a relationship with Jesus Christ is entirely dependent on God. One of these is John 6.44, one that we all know very well.
However, others indicate that there’s a high measure of personal responsibility and involvement in coming to Christ. One of these is Rom.10.8, 9. This passage speaks in terms of what the individual must do, in a context that speaks of people’s seeking God.
Can you understand how what we believe about reaching out to others affects what we’ll do, or not do? If we believe that it’s all up to God, then we can, justifiably, wait for God to bring new people along, that we can, then, come alongside and assist. We might choose to be rather quiet, we could say, about our evangelistic activity. On the other hand, if we believe that individuals have a great deal to do with their own conversion, then we will be out there, talking and encouraging and helping people to understand, first, then to respond. Then, we’ll be happy to position ourselves alongside as helpers of new relationships with Jesus Christ.
In Christian conduct, what we believe affects what we do. Theology- good theology- leads to good activity. We want the best possible theological understanding in order to have the best possible actions, and this matter of what to expect to do, in evangelism, is an important topic.
As you can imagine, I am not the first person to recognize these two possible positions and their impact on the work of evangelism. For centuries, Christians have wrestled with how to approach the subject and how to view people around them, consequently. We all know that God is the ultimate evangelist, but in what way does He do evangelism? Does He do it all? Or, does He enlist mere people to assist in the task?
Understanding a small bit of church history will help us in this discussion and understanding. Where have discussions, of those before us, led, on this important topic
John Calvin was a French church reformer who lived between 1509-1564; he began his active ministry about a generation after Martin Luther, so he never met Luther, but continued in the tradition of the new, what we call, Protestant Reformation. Calvin, whose name you may recognize, and whose influence, you have certainly known, took a position that puts all responsibility for conversion on God. To quote one source, “Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ’s death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the Gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, and regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation.” Calvin was very clear on how he saw the matter, and this approach has impacted whole portions of the Christian church for the last 550 years or so.
One old Baptist deacon, who is quoted speaking to someone else about evangelization of the heathen, expresses the approach that sprang from this: “Young man, sit down. When God is pleased to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine.”
You might assume that those who believed and believe this have not done anything in evangelizing. This could not be farther from the truth. However, it has led to an approach of preaching looking for those who were part of the already determined ‘elect’, and giving an opportunity, if this was the time, for them to declare themselves. The idea of people, who were not of the elect, deciding to respond, is not considered possible, in this way of understanding how God is evangelistic.
Then, let’s consider a second Reformer. A Dutch reformer, who lived from 1560-1609, and who was taught, in Geneva, by Beza, the successor to Calvin, was Jacobus Arminius, from whom Arminianism derives. He developed an understanding which has become the belief of most Christians, and which is rooted in the idea that God has given man the choice to accept Him or reject Him. This understanding developed in response and opposition to Calvin’s teachings. Arminius believed, and taught, that one of the greatest ways in which God bestowed His nature on humanity was through the ability to choose and to exercise free choice. He developed an understanding, which the following quote summarizes: “1. God has decreed to save through Jesus Christ those of the fallen and sinful race who through the grace of the Holy Spirit believe in him, but leaves in sin the incorrigible and unbelieving. 2. Christ died for all men (not just for the elect), but no one except the believer has remission of sin. 3. Man can neither of himself nor of his free will do anything truly good until he is born again of God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit.” So, individuals can choose to respond to God and become part of the family.
Where might you sense this approach most clearly? You might be aware of an extreme of this position when you hear someone declare such as, “We won seventeen people to Christ this afternoon.”
Those, who follow Arminianism, are very active in reaching out to people, and are energetic, for various reasons, in attempting to persuade people to accept what God is offering to them.
You can understand the potential division on this matter. The Calvinists stress the sovereignty of God in salvation and tend to be quiet in evangelism. Arminians stress the responsibility of man, and tend to be activists.
So, what do we find in the Bible? Actually, a clear look at the Bible shows that there is truth in both position, and that we likely need to draw from both traditions as we develop an approach to reaching the world, as Christ instructed as the main activity of the church. Salvation flows from God alone. He devised it, revealed it, purchased it at immense cost on the cross, and applies it by his Spirit to the human heart. On the other hand, God does not force his will on his creation- this is the surpassing glory of our humanity. We have the ability to choose. (I believe we know this, intrinsically, although extreme Calvinists might deny that we ‘really’ have choice.) However, it more than appears that throughout scripture we see men and women exercising that right, sometimes for God and sometimes against him. We see the challenge of Jesus to the wills of men. We see the insistent appeal to repentance and faith in Acts and in all the epistles. For sure, no one can repent and believe unless God gives them it, but then we cannot do anything without his enabling, and the life that he alone gives us. God gives many great gifts when we ask, including the ability and opportunity to repent. We are called to make the response he enables. There is a human strand as well as a divine strand in evangelism.
For a moment, consider some examples of men and women exercising their ability to choose:
Deut. 30.19- urge to ‘choose life’.
2 Sa.24.12- David had to choose one of 3 punishments.
Prov.1.29- did not choose fear of the Lord
Isa.65.12- people chose what did not honour God.
One passage illustrates the paradox between the two positions very clearly- John 6.37- in the first part, you could not have divine election more clearly spelled out. But the verse continues and speaks very directly of the human choice we have- to come or not to come. As we think of this verse, we recognize that way behind my choice of him was his choice of me. We cannot begin to understand why he should have set his love on each of us and called us. But he has, and this election is more significant than any frail human response. But it is the ground on which personal response is possible at all. The two strands are not incompatible, but go together very clearly. Election and free will go together.
Let’s see another passage where the two strands are together.
Isa.49.1-6, 8-9- we see what God has done, and what Israel has done and will do- both sides of the coin. We see that Israel is given as a covenant to the world, of the time.
Isa.43.11-12- two strands- what God did, and what they are to do- “you are my witnesses.”
We see the same two strands in the NT.
Eph.1.13, 5, 4- Paul recalls how the readers who ‘heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and…believed’ were ‘destined…in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ’ and ‘chosen in him before the foundation of the world’.
In being evangelistic, we do not honour God by seeking to suppress either one of these twin biblical themes- God’s election and our response. Both are true. Both are important. Actually, we have to keep both in mind in an age that is too people centred, as we are involved in fulfilling Jesus’ final instruction to go to the world and to preach and baptize and make disciples.
Understanding this will have a number of benefits for us all and this is why I thought it worth thinking about together, and understanding together. I hear people, as we’ve discussed evangelism, comment on the reality that no one can come to God unless God calls them, period. I’ve heard people, on the other hand, expressing the idea that all we need is lots of activity and people will come. Both are correct, but neither stands alone, and we must understand this.
1. Understanding the two strands will keep us from being either proud of success or desolated by the lack of response. If we have a deep confidence in God’s overarching sovereignty, peace will replace guilt-driven activity, and humility will replace self-confidence.
2. It will not allow laziness. The sovereignty of God and the need for response impose responsibility all around. God does not treat us like robots. We have the responsibility to make known the good news in every way possible. Even that Baptist man who chided the young man, that I quoted earlier- William Carey- was one incredible missionary from England to India- you can read of him and can’t but be impressed- and he was an extreme Calvinist. He went to be available as a ‘harvester’ of those God had elected to salvation.
3. Most importantly, reliance on the sovereign grace of God is our only hope in evangelism. Where else can we look? We must not simply turn to human pressure and sales techniques, and work springing from the flesh. Faith, like grace, is a gift of God.
Acts 18.9 & 10- God told Paul that He had many people awaiting conversion in Corinth, so Paul went. Like him, we need to go out and not be afraid. God had the people. Paul had the commission. It made him confident, bold, patient and prayerful. Today, God has the people and we have the commission. We are to be confident, bold, patient and prayerful, too.
One church leader- the first President of our church had it right, in something he said while I was at Ambassador College, in the early 1970s. He spoke of our individual need to tackle life this way. “Pray as if it all depends on God. Then go our and work as if it all depends on you.” This is the precise and correct balance. In prayer and faith, we need to be extreme Calvinists. In effort, we need to be extreme Arminians. Bringing this balance to evangelism that we do will help us to be right where God wants us, and with all the fruit possible.
At the end of this message, I want you to take a few moments to thank God for His sovereignty. And I want you to take few moments to thank Him for investing us with free will and the incredible ability to be godly in making choices, including the choice to follow Him, as Jesus leads us. If you want, Jesus invites you to the table, to take of Him, which enables extreme gratitude, on both fronts, and the innate ability to do what needs doing.
We can you accept the need to hold the paradox, of two extreme points of understanding, at the same time? A lot of our Christian lives involve this holding of seemingly equal, yet contradictory ideas, at the same time. We need to do it. In the middle, of course, is Jesus leading us forward. He is the One who came and lived the paradox. He brought the gospel, but looked to where God wanted him to minister. Take a few moments, with God, to affirm your accepting of the paradox, and to ask God’s help in understanding and living from what we’ve discussed today.
