When I was younger, I used to wonder about why people weren't coming to Christ. I mean, what's the problem? The promise is for wonderful stuff like "love, joy, peace" (Gal 5:22), being right with God (Rom 5:1), eternal life (John 3:16), every need met (Php 4:19) ... you get the idea. Who would not want all this ... and more? It's not like the gospel is difficult to understand. "Believe and be saved." The Christian group, Petra, sang, "When will the world see that we need Jesus?" That was my question.
I've actually heard quite a few on this and similar topics. What do we have to do to get everyone to Christ? They offer lots of ideas, but they, essentially, boil down to "Be perfect." No, none of them say it, but clearly to achieve perfection in evangelism we have to be perfect. Or ... do we? Scripture disagrees. When will the world see that we need Jesus? Well, according to Scripture, "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor 4:4). According to God's Word, humans are "dead in the trespasses and sins," "following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air" (Eph 2:1-2). According to the Bible, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor 2:14). According to Jesus, "No one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father" (John 6:65). Apparently ... the problem is not our lifestyles or delivery.
We should have a passion to share the gospel (Mark 16:15), to make disciples (Matt 28:18-28), to be witnesses "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). No doubt. We should be living examples of Christ, especially in the area of loving one another. We should be better at sharing and living the gospel. But... we aren't the last word. When will the world know that we need Jesus? When their minds are renewed, when they are made alive together with Him, when they are in Christ, when the Father grants it. In other words, God has the last word. We just carry the message in word and deed. He gets the results. Because the point at which the entire world will see that they need Jesus will be on that final judgment day. Until then, it's entirely up the God.
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This is one of the freeing things about that doctrines of grace. It is God who is at work in the world to change hearts, and we get to participate, but we're not the brokers of salvation. We could do an awful job at evangelizing, but even that awful attempt could be used by God to change someone's heart. It is that idea that freed me from my awful belief that I'm no evangelist, I'm an apologist. I'm both. Forgive me Lord.
Editor's note: an idea for some topics for you. The deity of the Trinity. Sparked from noticing something in this post. We are said to be in the image of God, Jesus is said to be the image of God. Slight but important difference.
Back when I believed that we choose God (rather than God chooses us), I had the mindset that it was a Christian’s responsibility to develop an effective and successful “sales pitch” for faith in Jesus Christ. I strove to learn evangelistic and witnessing methods that would best convince the unconvinced--seeking to master “Winning Souls 101” and to become the best “door-to-door salesman” of sorts for the Lord. As part of my “market strategy,” I needed to be ready with answers to all their possible questions and arguments. I thought that if I presented the Gospel properly, I would naturally win people over to Jesus--the “product that sells itself.” The onus was on my efforts to represent Jesus Christ as perfectly and persuasively as I could. I now know that conversion to new life in Christ is God’s work--from beginning to end. He might use me in His work--but probably to a far lesser degree than I formerly thought.
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