I don’t have much to add to the following quotation. (Originally I was only going to put a small portion of it, but it was so good I could not stop.) We wonder why our churches are filled with so many nominal Christians. Granted Jesus told us there would be tares among the wheat (Matt.13:24-30), but at the same time are our evangelism strategies just adding to the problem?
“Some evangelism strategies seek to make the Gospel attractive to unbelievers by fronting all the benefits of Christianity and saving the costs for later. They promise that you’ll experience more satisfaction, less stress, a better sense of community, and an increased sense of meaning in life- and you’ll be prepared for eternity to boot!- if you’ll just make a decision for Christ now. Perhaps all of these things are right around the corner for the listening unbeliever. Yet what does this kind of “benefit evangelism” do to the biblical Gospel? It makes the Gospel to appear to be all about me and improving my lifestyle and making me happier.
… the Gospel is not ultimately about me. It’s about God making His holiness and sovereign mercy known. It is about God’s glory, and gathering worshipers for Himself who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is about God vindicating His holiness by punishing Christ for the sins of all those who repent and believe. It is about making a name for Himself in the world by gathering a people and separating them to Himself for the spread of His fame to the nations.
'Benefit evangelism' fills our churches with people who are taught to expect everything to go their way just because they became Christians. But Jesus promises persecution for following Him, not worldly perks. We want to build Christians and churches who preserve through hardship, who are willing to suffer and be persecuted and even die for the Gospel of Christ, because they value God’s glory more than the temporal benefits of conversion. We don’t want people to become Christians because it will reduce their stress. We want them to become Christians because they know they need to repent of their sins, believe in Jesus Christ, and joyfully take up their cross and follow Him for the glory of God.”
Taken from "The Deliberate Church", by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander
1 comment:
To joyfully pick up their cross daily they have to know what they are dieing and what they will living for in place of their old life. It may be true that so many churches don't tell people about the cost but they also don't tell them about the joy complete and eternal, as Paul put it. People and churches love to focus on one side or the other, but it's both all the time. For God's Glory He saves us and that's to our benefit!! We don't die a second death in-fact we start living better now!! Not without problems but knowing the problem and trials will turn to gold, not real gold but a real treasure in heaven that rust cannot touch not moth destroy!
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