I came to Christ three years ago having been brought up in the church for the 30 years prior. I am 50 years old. When I was regenerated in 2007 I was left with many a thought to ponder about what true evangelism is. In addition to the love, appreciation, and indebtedness that acoompanied salvation I would also come to deal with the confusion and anger directed at the method of evangelism that brought me to the false security I held for 30 years. How could I have been so secure in my salvation for so long only to find that it was all false. After all I had not missed a bible study. I prayed, I taught every week, attended fellowship, and I could speak of the things of God with the most learned men in our church body. I had affection for God. How then could the last thing in the world I was looking for find me? For 30 years I had no doubt that I was going to spend eternity with Christ. Every year that passed my assurance grew stronger and stronger. How horrific it would have been to have been face to face with my God and Savior ready to hear the two most longed for words any failthful servant could wish to hear but instead have Him who is omniscient say to me,"I don't know who you are, depart from my presence"!
May God be praised. Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for the work He has wrought in my life. What men led me to believe by way of modern day evangelism would have been my death warrant. They would have sealed my fate for all eternity had God not interviened miraculously. I live each passing day anew in Him. He is everything to me. This is what modern evangilism misses. Where is the life in Christ? Where is the Christ in man?
As I have listend to many a sermon on this God blessed site where truth is spoken because it purposes to Glorify God, I have come to understand many of the problems with modern day evangelism. We desire to speak life into men. After all we would want that no man bear the wrath of God since there is One who has already done this. The problem with what men have been presented in most evangelism is that heaven is an escape from Hell and Christ is the tool. Men are not very interested in God although He holds some minor fascination in their minds. They are interested in escaping the eternal flames and torment presented in evangelism. Who wants to burn? Modern day evangelism feeds into this as it purposes for them to accept God to make this escape successful. That is what most evangelism presents to men even though it be by good intention.
There is a conceptual place that men create in their own minds called Utopia. Even though men have labored to define and refine it, it has always been a reality in mens minds. This then is heaven. This is where men are served. God plays a major role in it's creation but a distant role in it's maintanence. This is a place of reward for men. For a life lived having been more good then bad.
Heaven in modern much modern day evangelism is presented as the utopian escape from hell, but as much as Utopia is not Heaven; Heaven is not Utopia. Heaven is a real place and it is Heaven for one reason and one reason only; It is where God dwells and reveals Himself. It is not a place where God serves man but rather a place where His servants bask in His Holiness and Righteousness for all eternity.
If heaven is percieved by those who want to escape the wrath of a God they no nothing about, then I would present that it is not much different than the utopian concept. Men in their own timing are in such a rush to save others from hell that they do not share who this God is that men have lived apart from. One going on a blind date knows more about the date they have yet to meet then the majority of men who have supposedly been led to Christ.
Heaven is the place where the servants of God will commune with Him for all eternity. If that will not motivate men to forsake all for Him then the problem is exposed. The problem then is that this affection and endearment to God is not achieved solely by agreement or confession to the truths of God. Salvation comes by miracle. God must change the inner man and bring him to spiritual life.
When and How God brings men to salvation is not our business. It is our mission in this vapor like existance on this planet to have a relationship with the Lord continuously. His will as our own. He as the first and foremost love of our life. We are to enjoy this and from that like a river of living water, overflow into the lives of all around us. He will give us all we need. He will give us the love that is good for our wives. He will give us the love that is good for our children. He will give us a desire and heart to share what he has done and is doing in our lives. We will share the beauty of God and reveal what He has shared with us in His word. He will also give us an incredible love for our fellow saints.
If a person were to commit themself for life to be married to another yet had never met their future spouse prior to the ceremony we would think them insane. Is this not modern evangelism? Is God in a rush to bring men to a confession or would He rather they come to know Him? One whom God has done a work in will surely desire to live for Him and even tell others of the God that saved him from his life of rebellion. We are trying to save men and then teach them who they were saved from. We must get back to understanding what regeneration is. We must stop pronouncing salvation upon men and let them come of their own volition. No music! No begging! No canned verses! We need to be vessels. We need to be priests. We need to reveal and be faithful to what He has provided us to share with others.
My salvation as any out there came by way of the miraculous work of God. I was listening late one night to a man who's sermons are on this very website. He was speaking about marriage. I was listening to it because my marriage needs help like most marriages. It was the last thing I wanted to listen to but for some strange reason I clicked on it. The evangelist spent the first minutes not speaking specifically to marriage but to the sovereignty of God. I had studied and even taught on this but God chose to give me eyes to see for the First time in my life. Then within minutes He made me aware that I was in His presence. When a human stands before the Almighty he is on a ground that is most holy and he is where he does not belong. Not even in the same Universe. It was a terrible place to be even though I was in my own bedroom. I could do nothing but point to myself and say I am not worhty to be alive. All my filth and all my rebellion was brought before me. I could do nothing but grieve and repent of who I was. He had not been the Lord of my Life. Then I was aware of the wrath brought upon Jesus. I could do nothing but cry and say," No Lord, not Him, not for me"
I was not wothy but then again who is? Once again I did not go looking for this. It was the last thing on earth I was expecting.
May we all fill ouselves with Him and not interfere with the act of salvation that is His and His alone. We just need to do as the man I was listening to that night. Reveal what He has shown us about Himself (God). It is by word and deed and we do it because we love Him so. If one be truly saved wild horses should not be sufficient to hold him back.
I would recommend the following sermons: Tozer- What think ye of Christ? Paris Reidhead- So great a salvation (14 part sermon series but worth it) Most of Washer's stuff on the gospel.
ybiC