by Jims | March 1st, 2010
Discussing the implications of our nation’s current course, two high school students asked me, “What can we do that will make any difference?” The question should resound in the heart of every believer. I do not imply that every believer needs to become a social activist or political lobbyist, but rather that every believer should become a spiritual transformer. The issue of making a difference is really not one that we should passionately pursue. The issue of making disciples must become our consuming passion.
Let’s be honest, you and I will probably never have the ear of the President, but we do have the ears of hundreds of lost people every week. More than likely we will never address Congress, but we daily address people that remain dead in their sin throughout our city. We do not sit by the phone waiting on the United Nations to call us for our opinion on current international crises, but we have already received the call of God to spread His gospel to people in spiritual crises. The greatest audience is not one in Washington or New York, but rather the audience of one God who has called us to make disciples of all nations.
It seems odd to even write words directed at stimulating the heart towards evangelism. Isn’t evangelism a result of a spiritually healthy heart? Don’t disciples that are in love with Jesus make other disciples? Is there any biblical category for people who walk close to the heart of God yet remain quiet regarding His plan of redemption? Instead of continuing down this Socratic pathway, let me answer: yes, evangelism is the result of a healthy heart; yes, disciples that love Jesus make other disciples; and, no, there is no biblical category in which silence and maturity co-exist. The oddity of continuously pushing the church to do evangelism exists because the Bible focuses on healthy hearts, not behavior modification.
Throughout my years watching Southern Baptists attempt to reinvigorate members to evangelize, I have witnessed everything from youth ministers swallowing fish to pastors shaving their heads. I too have been guilty of tactics that aimed at behavior modification. It is embarrassingly pathetic to see the lengths we go to in order to accomplish what God said we could only do through His Spirit (Acts 1:8). We preach and teach Acts 1:8 as a Spirit-empowered call to witness; then, for the sake of increasing declining numbers, we invent every gimmick, slogan or theme we can in order to appeal to the carnal nature of believers. There are a lot of fish in the belly of youth ministers and pastors with shaven heads, yet the souls in our cities remain lost and the hearts of our people remain in spiritual recession.
What is the answer? It is returning to the heart of Acts 1:8. Not to the heart of the disciples who were ready to conquer and build a kingdom, but to the heart of the One who gave the promise. The answer for spiritually weak hearts and spiritually bankrupt souls is the love of Jesus. Perhaps rather than calling our people to behave out of a weak heart, we should lead them to fall in love with Jesus. Seasons of evangelism come and go. It is easy to cheer the team into a lather to knock on doors and pass out tracts. But hearts for Jesus endure to the end. Hearts in love with Jesus know no boundaries to going and making disciples. Hearts in love with Jesus need no slogan or theme or gimmick. Hearts in love with Jesus are content to rely on the Spirit of God implanted in their hearts at the moment of salvation. So, if evangelism is powered by the Spirit, why do we spend so much time and so many resources trying to start the motor of lethargic hearts with man-centered, man-powered and man-inspired motivation?
