1 Corinthians 5:12
"For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
Yesterday I ran into a situation that broke my heart. As I am going back to school, I have picked up a job working part time at Radio Shack here in Hillsboro. I see lot's of people throughout the day and rarely (to be honest) do I give much serious thought to the condition of their souls. But I met someone yesterday that I believe God used to shake me up in that regard.
A young woman came into the store to take care of some business and as she was paying for the item she purchased she handed me a large sum of $1 bills. She commented that she "gets a lot of those where she works." Thinking little of the comment I casually said "Oh, are you a waitress?" Her response caught me off guard. She said that "you could call it something like that."
Long story short, she was a stripper at a bar in a nearby town. She immediately asked me if I was going to judge her for what she did. About that time I seemed to have a lot of things running through my mind. How do you respond to that?
I told her that I myself am a Christian, and I do disagree with such things, however I didn't judge her as a person. She seemed shocked. I think that above all she expected a "Christian" to pronounce judgement on her. I told her that I too am a sinner, as we all are. I intended to go into sharing the gospel with her, however, about that time a flood of customers came through the door and it didn't seem like I could do that right then, perhaps I should have regardless.
She thanked me for not judging her. She told me that she knew what she was doing was wrong, but it paid for school and her kids. By this time though I could tell she was convicted. She said "I do believe in God and all that, I know He'll forgive me."
I thanked her for coming in, but I was screaming on the inside "don't leave, I need to tell you about Jesus Christ", but I had customers asking me questions. She left the store and I helped the other customers.
After the store cleared out, I was very upset. I prayed to God that He would bring her the gospel and grant her faith and repentance in Christ. I was just so struck by the fact that all she expected from me as a Christian was to pour out judgement on her, condemn her as a sinner and write her off. But the truth is, I was heartbroken for her. She was so lost in her sin. Worse still, she held out hope that God would simply forgive her because she believed He was real.
The church is often times guilty of two extremes. One extreme was that which she expected from me, to react in a condemning fashion and call her a wretched sinner. So many churches are caught up in being self righteous that they have no love or compassion for people such as this girl. They would rather condemn her, judge her as if they were God, and send her away.
The second extreme that the church tends to be guilty of is looking past her sins and simply accepting her because she "believes in God" yet shows no sign of repentance. These kinds of churches equally condemn people to Hell by their lack of concern for genuine righteousness through genuine faith in Christ.
The truth is, the church needs to be busy not judging "outsiders" or unbelievers, and yet not busy overlooking their need for genuine repentance either. The church must be able to look a lost person in the eye and tell them, "I don't judge you. I'm no better than you. I myself am a wretched sinner. However I want to warn you, because I care about you, that you are in danger of judgement. Not from me or any human being, but from a perfect and holy God."
We must find the ability to love sinners, no matter how despicable their sin. We must be willing to share the truth about the need for repentance and faith in Christ regardless of whether it might offend them. The church has no business judging unbelievers, but it is the business of the church to warn unbelievers of God's wrath towards sin and the forgiveness that rests in Christ alone.
I am still anguished that I didn't get to share the truth with this woman about the danger she was in, but I can only entrust her to God now. I do thank God however for this incident. It was reminder for me that I need to be more conscious of the state of people's souls. I am around people who need Christ every day, and everyday I let those people leave my presence without sharing Christ. I realize that there are time where it is not conducive to share the gospel, I'd be a liar if I said to you that I would never let this happen again and that I would share the gospel with every person I meet from now on that I think might need the Lord. I know I will continue to fail time and again. But I thank God for a wake up call. I need to be more broken for the lost, compassionate toward sinful people.
We as the church must always remember that saying "but for the grace of God, there go I." I'm no less sinful than that woman, I've just been granted God's grace. I pray that she will one day know Jesus too. I pray that God will continue to make me more concerned for the lost that are around me. Though I may not always share the gospel when I ought, I pray that I will fail to do so less and less.
-Jacob
Showing posts with label evangelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evangelism. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Election and Evangelism
Acts 13:48-49 says, "48And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region."
This last Saturday I went with my family to the "3 i Show." It's a big exhibition where companies, mostly in agriculture, show off their products. My father-in-law is a farmer, so he wanted to check it out. I'm not sure what all of the "3 I's" are but I think one is implement and maybe another is irrigation. Regardless, there were all kinds of farm equipment such as tractors, combines, you name it. But this show has evolved and they have lots of other things like car dealers, as well as entertainment and things like that. It was kind of neat to look at all the incredibly large machinery (like the $300,000 combines). But God blessed me with an opportunity at the "3 i show" that was better than just looking at monstrous contraptions.
My wife and I were looking at cars that were at the show. They had Toyota, Chevy, and Mazda and maybe a few others. We were just kind of checking it all out for fun and eventually we came to the Mazda tent. A young and eager salesman greeted me and wanted to show me all the cars they had and see what he might help me with. He seemed like a nice guy, making the usual small talk that sales people do when they are trying to sell you a car. Eventually he asked me what I do for a living, and I told him I was a pastor.
Seeing how just dropping the word "pastor" tends to change the subject a bit for many people anyway, I decided to ask him if he was "a follower of the Lord Jesus." His response was "yes." He told me how he had been into drugs and some other problems, but now his life was much better because of Jesus.
I thought to myself "that sounds great" and I was tempted to leave it at that, but I felt the need to press him a little further. I asked him a question that I often use when sharing Christ, even though the question is a little silly because I don't think it will go down quite like this on judgement day, but it makes the point. I asked him, "If God were to ask you why he should let you into Heaven when you die, what would you say?" His response was that he would tell God that he is "a great person." I became very glad I decided to press him further.
I took this young man through just 3 of the 10 commandments. I said that God says you shall not lie and I asked him if he had broken that commandment. He said that he had (I admitted that I had also) and I asked him what that made him. He admitted that it made him a liar. I did the same thing with "Honor your father and mother" and "You shall not steal" and he admitted (as did I) his guilt on all counts. I told him that we could go through more, but there was no need, he got the point.
I asked him again, what would you say to God? He said that he didn't know. You could literally see fear on this mans face. No longer was he able to justify himself in his mind before God. He knew he was guilty and that he was in trouble. I asked him "So if you can't tell God that you are good, what is going to get you into heaven?" He had no idea. (Remember this guy called himself a follower of Jesus.)
I then explained to him that we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23) and that all of us, if left on our own, are doomed to an eternity in Hell. Our works can never be good enough, our righteousness is worthless to God (Isa. 64:6). And then I told him about who Christ is and what He did. I explained that God sent His son Jesus Christ, He lived a sinless life and fulfilled perfectly the law of God that we break all the time, and then He died on the cross for sinners and rose from the dead three days later. I told this man, "If you will repent of your sin, that is turn away from it and put all of your hope and trust in Jesus to save you, He will." We cannot hope in our goodness, but in Christ's.
This guy looked at me and said "I don't believe in chance, you were meant to be here today." I asked him if he was going to place his trust in Christ to save him and he said "yes." I then shared with him the importance of reading the Bible to grow in his relationship with God and encouraged him to find a church that teaches the Bible as God's word. And I have been praying for him everyday since then. I can't read a mans heart, but I really think that we as Christians gained a new brother that day.
I tell you all of this to encourage you. I'm certainly not trying to make you impressed with me, I don't want praise and a pat on the back. It was God who saved this man and gave him faith and repentance (Eph. 2:8-9). But I tell you this to encourage you to do evangelism. The verse I mentioned at the top of this post is a clear indicator that God has appointed people to eternal life. He has done this from the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4). This should encourage the Christian greatly, because what this means is that when we preach the gospel and share it with friends, family and complete strangers, some will believe. Indeed as many who are "appointed to eternal life" will believe. God has his elect out there in this world, and when we are faithful to proclaim the gospel, when the gospel is proclaimed to the elect God will insert His Spirit into them and give them life and faith and repentance. When the gospel is proclaimed, the elect hear the voice of the good shepherd and they follow Him!
I can be confident that if i faithfully share on a regular basis, some will come. Not because I'm convincing as if I could convince a dead man to live. Rather because God has people whom He has chosen to be saved and they are sprinkled throughout the earth, waiting for the person whom God will use to preach the gospel to them.
Romans 10:14-15
"14But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
Be faithful, share the gospel, those appointed will believe.
-Jacob
This last Saturday I went with my family to the "3 i Show." It's a big exhibition where companies, mostly in agriculture, show off their products. My father-in-law is a farmer, so he wanted to check it out. I'm not sure what all of the "3 I's" are but I think one is implement and maybe another is irrigation. Regardless, there were all kinds of farm equipment such as tractors, combines, you name it. But this show has evolved and they have lots of other things like car dealers, as well as entertainment and things like that. It was kind of neat to look at all the incredibly large machinery (like the $300,000 combines). But God blessed me with an opportunity at the "3 i show" that was better than just looking at monstrous contraptions.
My wife and I were looking at cars that were at the show. They had Toyota, Chevy, and Mazda and maybe a few others. We were just kind of checking it all out for fun and eventually we came to the Mazda tent. A young and eager salesman greeted me and wanted to show me all the cars they had and see what he might help me with. He seemed like a nice guy, making the usual small talk that sales people do when they are trying to sell you a car. Eventually he asked me what I do for a living, and I told him I was a pastor.
Seeing how just dropping the word "pastor" tends to change the subject a bit for many people anyway, I decided to ask him if he was "a follower of the Lord Jesus." His response was "yes." He told me how he had been into drugs and some other problems, but now his life was much better because of Jesus.
I thought to myself "that sounds great" and I was tempted to leave it at that, but I felt the need to press him a little further. I asked him a question that I often use when sharing Christ, even though the question is a little silly because I don't think it will go down quite like this on judgement day, but it makes the point. I asked him, "If God were to ask you why he should let you into Heaven when you die, what would you say?" His response was that he would tell God that he is "a great person." I became very glad I decided to press him further.
I took this young man through just 3 of the 10 commandments. I said that God says you shall not lie and I asked him if he had broken that commandment. He said that he had (I admitted that I had also) and I asked him what that made him. He admitted that it made him a liar. I did the same thing with "Honor your father and mother" and "You shall not steal" and he admitted (as did I) his guilt on all counts. I told him that we could go through more, but there was no need, he got the point.
I asked him again, what would you say to God? He said that he didn't know. You could literally see fear on this mans face. No longer was he able to justify himself in his mind before God. He knew he was guilty and that he was in trouble. I asked him "So if you can't tell God that you are good, what is going to get you into heaven?" He had no idea. (Remember this guy called himself a follower of Jesus.)
I then explained to him that we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23) and that all of us, if left on our own, are doomed to an eternity in Hell. Our works can never be good enough, our righteousness is worthless to God (Isa. 64:6). And then I told him about who Christ is and what He did. I explained that God sent His son Jesus Christ, He lived a sinless life and fulfilled perfectly the law of God that we break all the time, and then He died on the cross for sinners and rose from the dead three days later. I told this man, "If you will repent of your sin, that is turn away from it and put all of your hope and trust in Jesus to save you, He will." We cannot hope in our goodness, but in Christ's.
This guy looked at me and said "I don't believe in chance, you were meant to be here today." I asked him if he was going to place his trust in Christ to save him and he said "yes." I then shared with him the importance of reading the Bible to grow in his relationship with God and encouraged him to find a church that teaches the Bible as God's word. And I have been praying for him everyday since then. I can't read a mans heart, but I really think that we as Christians gained a new brother that day.
I tell you all of this to encourage you. I'm certainly not trying to make you impressed with me, I don't want praise and a pat on the back. It was God who saved this man and gave him faith and repentance (Eph. 2:8-9). But I tell you this to encourage you to do evangelism. The verse I mentioned at the top of this post is a clear indicator that God has appointed people to eternal life. He has done this from the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4). This should encourage the Christian greatly, because what this means is that when we preach the gospel and share it with friends, family and complete strangers, some will believe. Indeed as many who are "appointed to eternal life" will believe. God has his elect out there in this world, and when we are faithful to proclaim the gospel, when the gospel is proclaimed to the elect God will insert His Spirit into them and give them life and faith and repentance. When the gospel is proclaimed, the elect hear the voice of the good shepherd and they follow Him!
I can be confident that if i faithfully share on a regular basis, some will come. Not because I'm convincing as if I could convince a dead man to live. Rather because God has people whom He has chosen to be saved and they are sprinkled throughout the earth, waiting for the person whom God will use to preach the gospel to them.
Romans 10:14-15
"14But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
Be faithful, share the gospel, those appointed will believe.
-Jacob
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Why Apologetics?
In so many words, if not the exact word, I get called "arrogant" more and more often. I've given some real thought to this. I mean after all, if indeed I am an arrogant person, that is not a good thing to be. However, the more I thought about being called arrogant, I started thinking about "why" I am being called arrogant. And pretty much it comes down to this. I make "truth claims." I do it all the time. I say "This is right, true and good." And by so doing I imply, and often directly point out that "This is wrong, false and bad." And that makes me arrogant in the eyes of many people.
Frankly, I don't care. If I was making dogmatic statements about things that Scripture is silent upon, then that would indeed be arrogant. If I talked about how wonderful I am, and said that I was the greatest Christian thinker since C.S. Lewis or Cornelius Van Til, that would be arrogant. But I don't think I really do that. Oh don't get me wrong, I'm a horrid sinner! I make many mistakes on a daily basis, but I don't claim infallibility or perfect knowledge. If I did, I would be horribly arrogant as would anyone apart from God Himself who would say such a thing.
But again, I don't think that this is why I am being called arrogant. I'm being called arrogant for echoing Scripture. I am being called arrogant for saying that Jesus Christ is Lord and God and no enters Heaven apart from faith in Him. And I go further to say that it is not by works but by God's grace, through faith which are all gifts of God not of our own selves.
Why do I tell my L.D.S. friend Pat that he is wrong in his beliefs? Because if I am right and I understand Scripture correctly, Pat will go to Hell for all eternity unless he repents and turns his heart to Jesus Christ, the one that the Bible teaches and not the book of Mormon.
Why do I tell my friend Gregory that he is wrong and in danger of Hell if He does not reject the Roman Catholic gospel, because I love him, and I love pat, and I love all of you who read this now and want you to have eternal life!
Why do I do apologetics? That is why do I defend the historic Christian faith? One, I do it for the Glory of God. It is my desire to know Him and make Him known as He reveals Himself in the pages of Scripture. Truth matters to God! Jesus made emphatic truth statements all the time, and He wasn't much liked for it either often times. But as God reveals His truth in His word (the Bible) I want to bring Him glory by proclaiming and defending that truth. As if He needs me, no not at all. God is more than sufficient to take care of Himself, He does not need me!!! But I love HIM! I want to speak for Him because He is my world and I am zealous and jealous for His glory! He doesn't need my defense but when people attack Him and His truth I can't help but stand for Him because He is my God who saved me, who loves me, and whom I will spend eternity with! I cannot help but shout "Glory to the one true God!!!" And I am obedient to Scripture when I fight false teaching and ideas that oppose the truth of God. As it says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." I love God and I defend Him because of it, not because He needs me.
Secondly, I do apologetics because I love you. When a person is blind and deaf and standing on a train track with a speeding train coming at them, what is the loving thing to do? Watch them get hit? Or do everything you can to push that person out of the way of that train? Anyone who believe that there is a way to heaven aside from God's grace through faith in the Jesus Christ presented in Scripture (Eternal God) is in danger. I do apologetics to attempt to show them the danger they are in, and then I show them the narrow road that is difficult, but leads to life.
Go ahead, call me arrogant. But I love God, and I love you. I know I'm far from perfect, but when it comes to the gospel, I know I have it right. So I will continue to shout "Glory to God" and proclaim Him as He proclaims Himself, and I will continue to try and push you out of the path of that eminent train. And if you are a Christian already and think I should just leave people alone, wake up. God saves people, but God uses us to proclaim. Romans 10:14-15 says, "14But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
If you think you have the answer of how a man can have eternal life, you do not love me if you do not tell me.
May the Spirit of God convict you to know Him, and to make Him known.
In Him -Jacob
Frankly, I don't care. If I was making dogmatic statements about things that Scripture is silent upon, then that would indeed be arrogant. If I talked about how wonderful I am, and said that I was the greatest Christian thinker since C.S. Lewis or Cornelius Van Til, that would be arrogant. But I don't think I really do that. Oh don't get me wrong, I'm a horrid sinner! I make many mistakes on a daily basis, but I don't claim infallibility or perfect knowledge. If I did, I would be horribly arrogant as would anyone apart from God Himself who would say such a thing.
But again, I don't think that this is why I am being called arrogant. I'm being called arrogant for echoing Scripture. I am being called arrogant for saying that Jesus Christ is Lord and God and no enters Heaven apart from faith in Him. And I go further to say that it is not by works but by God's grace, through faith which are all gifts of God not of our own selves.
Why do I tell my L.D.S. friend Pat that he is wrong in his beliefs? Because if I am right and I understand Scripture correctly, Pat will go to Hell for all eternity unless he repents and turns his heart to Jesus Christ, the one that the Bible teaches and not the book of Mormon.
Why do I tell my friend Gregory that he is wrong and in danger of Hell if He does not reject the Roman Catholic gospel, because I love him, and I love pat, and I love all of you who read this now and want you to have eternal life!
Why do I do apologetics? That is why do I defend the historic Christian faith? One, I do it for the Glory of God. It is my desire to know Him and make Him known as He reveals Himself in the pages of Scripture. Truth matters to God! Jesus made emphatic truth statements all the time, and He wasn't much liked for it either often times. But as God reveals His truth in His word (the Bible) I want to bring Him glory by proclaiming and defending that truth. As if He needs me, no not at all. God is more than sufficient to take care of Himself, He does not need me!!! But I love HIM! I want to speak for Him because He is my world and I am zealous and jealous for His glory! He doesn't need my defense but when people attack Him and His truth I can't help but stand for Him because He is my God who saved me, who loves me, and whom I will spend eternity with! I cannot help but shout "Glory to the one true God!!!" And I am obedient to Scripture when I fight false teaching and ideas that oppose the truth of God. As it says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." I love God and I defend Him because of it, not because He needs me.
Secondly, I do apologetics because I love you. When a person is blind and deaf and standing on a train track with a speeding train coming at them, what is the loving thing to do? Watch them get hit? Or do everything you can to push that person out of the way of that train? Anyone who believe that there is a way to heaven aside from God's grace through faith in the Jesus Christ presented in Scripture (Eternal God) is in danger. I do apologetics to attempt to show them the danger they are in, and then I show them the narrow road that is difficult, but leads to life.
Go ahead, call me arrogant. But I love God, and I love you. I know I'm far from perfect, but when it comes to the gospel, I know I have it right. So I will continue to shout "Glory to God" and proclaim Him as He proclaims Himself, and I will continue to try and push you out of the path of that eminent train. And if you are a Christian already and think I should just leave people alone, wake up. God saves people, but God uses us to proclaim. Romans 10:14-15 says, "14But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
If you think you have the answer of how a man can have eternal life, you do not love me if you do not tell me.
May the Spirit of God convict you to know Him, and to make Him known.
In Him -Jacob
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
You need to read this... believe me.
The following is a link to a post by Erik Raymond on Irish Calvinist. It's an encouragement for evangelism for those time when we struggle with having the desire to do so.
http://www.irishcalvinist.com/?p=648#comment-1792
-Jacob
http://www.irishcalvinist.com/?p=648#comment-1792
-Jacob
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