Over the last several weeks in Crossroads, we’ve been studying the doctrine of predestination, working our way through Romans 8, and now into chapter 9. I’ve noticed that one question is raised more than any other…how does the doctrine of predestination relate to evangelism? Phrased another way, if people are chosen by God before the world began, then why should we bother striving to reach them with the gospel? Hasn’t their eternal destiny already been decided anyway? Why bother persuading people when their destiny’s already in place?
We can all picture the stereotype…the stodgy Calvinist sitting in his cushy chair, relaxed and sipping iced tea as he pontificates his theories about God’s foreknowledge, all the while ignoring his next door neighbors who desperately need Jesus! Unfortunately this stereotype is sometimes deserved. It’s true that some have so elevated the doctrine of God’s sovereignty that, in their mind, they leave no room for human responsibility in sharing the good news. However, I want to suggest that rightly understood, the doctrines of election and predestination should actually fuel our evangelistic fervor rather than quench it. The following are three reasons predestination and evangelism are friends, rather than foes:
#1 – The doctrine of predestination emboldens our prayers for the lost – Imagine your car rolls over your leg, leaving you trapped and helpless. A toddler walks by, and you plead with her to lift the car so you can be freed. Next, a six-year-old rolls up on his tricycle and one again, you desperately plead that he will grab hold of the bumper and just lift the car up a few inches so you can pull your leg out. Next walks up a scrawny, knock-need teenager. Again, you beg him to just lift the car a bit so you can get free. Finally, up walks a massive, Schwarzenegger-like body builder, complete with German accent and Gold’s Gym tee-shirt. Once again, you cry out for help. Which plea seems most useful? Your enthusiasm may be equal in the request, but we all know that everything depends on the strength of the one to whom you cry out! Only the bodybuilder has actual power to lift the car and set you free. Likewise, the doctrine of predestination reminds us that we pray to a God who actually has the power to save sinners! He’s a God strong enough not only to predestine those he will save, but to make good on his intentions. He can enlighten the human heart (2 Cor. 4:6, Acts 16:14), draw hardened rebels to himself (John 6:44), and irresistibly call them to salvation (Rom. 8:30). He even gives the very faith they need to believe (Eph. 2:8-9)! God’s hands aren’t tied, like a salesman pleading desperately with his potential buyer. Rather, he’s a sovereign king who can open hostile hearts at will!
Before we leave the topic, one more comment on prayer: Just as a carpenter would use certain “means” (hammer, nails, saw) to accomplish his “ends” (building a house), God has sovereignly ordained prayer as a “means” towards his “ends” of saving lost sinners. So, when God intends to save a human heart, he first inspires the prayers of his people, and then responds to those prayers. From a human standpoint, the order appears as follows: 1. we pray, then 2. God saves. However, from the divine standpoint, God intends to save someone from the beginning, and he invites us into the process by first inspiring our prayers, then responding to those very prayers! This means that each of us should take stock of the lost friends, family members and colleagues that God has put within our sphere of influence. We should regularly and fervently pray for their salvation, trusting that our sovereign God may have put them in our path precisely because he intends to work in their lives!
#2 – The doctrine of predestination makes our witness worthwhile – Have you ever seen two people in a vigorous argument where each is trying to persuade the other of their position, and yet each are thoroughly entrenched in their own perspective? I see this about five thousand times a day on Fox News! By the end of the exchange, is either party moved toward the other’s viewpoint? Of course not! What actually happens is that each person, in making their case, leaves the debate more thoroughly fossilized in their position than ever before! This is precisely what it is like to try to convince someone of the truth of the gospel, when done with merely human power. We can pull out all the stops, land every Ravi-Zacharias level counter punch, and yet we find our neighbor even further entrenched in their position of skepticism than before we started the conversation. With such odds against us, who would ever be insane enough to risk their reputation to evangelize in the work place? Or who would spoil a good dinner with friends by turning to spiritual conversation? Even more, who would abandon all the comforts of western life, move to a foreign country, and dedicate their whole life to try and persuade an unreached people group? Yet that is exactly what countless Christians are doing every single day, and Christians have been doing it for centuries. What gives them the guts to take such risks? Only this: they believe in a God who not only hopes to save, but intends to save his people from among all nations. Take the Apostle Paul as a case in point. Fearful of impending danger in Corinth, he would have moved on to the next city, except that Jesus shows up and says, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking…for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10). Jesus knew exactly how many he intended to save in Corinth. He knew how many were “his people” even before they had all believed. Paul found strength to face any danger precisely because he knew his evangelistic efforts would be completely effective according to Jesus’ count.
Like prayer, we must keep in mind that God’s ordained “means” for accomplishing his “ends” of saving sinners includes the verbal witness of his people. So, when God intends to save, he inspires and empowers his saints to share the message. God get’s all the glory, and we have the privilege of joining him in his work! Be encouraged, friends. Your efforts and words and witness are worth it!
#3 – The doctrine of predestination alleviates us of guilt and frees us to evangelize with joy – I remember a scary video shown to us as junior highers in youth group. It pictured a car load of kids who die in an auto accident, only to find themselves standing in line as they wait to see if they’ll be allowed into heaven. One girl finds her name written in the book of life, and so she’s assured she can walk “to the right,” toward the door that says heaven. However, to their horror, her friends find out that their names are not listed, and so they’re instructed to go to the left, to the “other place.” At the climax of the film, one of the lost friends turns to the saved girl and says, with tears streaming down her cheeks, “Why didn’t you tell us!” Of course, this film was just perfect for scaring junior highers into becoming little Billy Grahams. Or…now that I think of it, maybe it was counterproductive – it left you feeling so guilt-ridden you were practically paralyzed! This kind of guilt is extremely common among Christians, especially if we feel like the ultimate responsibility for saving souls lies with us. We feel guilty that we don’t evangelize frequently enough, or that we haven’t told enough people. And even when we do share, we feel guilty that our presentation of the gospel wasn’t clear enough! This logic, that converting souls ultimately rides on our shoulders, should leave us sleepless every night. It should drive us to abandon every unnecessary task of every day, and spend every waking moment out on the streets, pleading with as many people as we can! No day jobs, no time with family, no leisure, not even time for worship. Just speak to as many people as possible. In other words, evangelism becomes completely utilitarian: save as many people as you can, because the ultimate world-wide burden lies with you! However, when we see God as the one ultimately sovereign over his master plan to save his people, whom he has chosen before the foundation of the world, we are completely relieved of the guilt that people’s destinies ride on our shoulders. Here this: there will be no one in heaven blaming their friend for “not telling them.” Rather, they’ll blame themselves for rejecting the God who revealed himself to them in countless ways throughout their life (Rom. 1:18-20, 2:14-16). When God gets to be in charge of his own evangelistic project, we are freed up to simply be a part of what he is already doing! Evangelism becomes an important part of our total life of worship, but it doesn’t become everything. Rather, we find creative and intentional ways to joyfully work evangelistic witness into our friendships, workplace, and family life. We become restfully conscious that God alone saves sinners, and yet we enthusiastically join in God’s plan as tools in his hands. God could have just saved the world by himself, but he has invited us into the process to be his “means” toward his glorious “ends.” Seen in this light, the evangelistic task is less of a guilt-ridden burden and more of a joy-filled honor.
How do you help your shabby lawn become the most envied turf on the block? Create the right environment for it, of course! The right combination of water, fertilizer, and sun can produce green blades even your dad would be proud of. The reverse is also true…get the combination wrong, and your lush grass will be a past memory.
It’s the same with fish…once again, I learned my lesson by getting the environment wrong. I recently bought my kids two gold fish, thinking these little guys had the best chance of survival in a house as busy as ours, because everyone knows “It’s impossible to kill gold fish.” As such, I was shocked one day as I entered my kids’ room and found one of our two hearty fish bobbing upside down on the surface. After consoling my kids through their tears and officiating a back yard fish funeral, I dutifully cleaned the tank, hoping to preserve the life of our second fish. We even bought a replacement fish that day, and by bedtime, there were two happy swimmers fluttering through the water. And then it happened…both fish died the next day. Three fish down in two days! What could possibly be the problem? Eventually we discovered that each morning, in addition to my regular and apportioned feeding of the fish, my two oldest children were dutifully (and surreptitiously) feeding the fish as well. As a result, the fish were gorging themselves, and suffocating in toxic water caused by excess food and defecation. And so it is, you CAN kill a goldfish!
