The Law – Part Three – Evangelism
December 24, 2008
In the last post in this series we discussed the issue of genuine repentance. At this point we must discuss a related topic which is the issue of evangelism, so let’s take a moment and examine evangelism in light of the New Testament law. Evangelism is always a critical indicator of what our practical theology is. I use the word practical because most of us would assent to correct doctrine if we were given a test on proper belief systems, however often there is a great gulf between our mental theology and our practical theology. Our practical theology is on display in the way that we live and interact with others. In our daily living we demonstrate what we truly believe rather than what we may simply assent to or think that we believe.
Beyond our theology, there are also three things that evangelism uniquely reveals. First, it reveals how we view man’s interaction with God. The way that we communicate the context and requirements of the gospel reveal how we practically believe that man and God relate. Secondly, it reveals how we view ourselves. In our interactions with others and the sharing of our “testimony,” we reveal in a great measure how we view ourselves in general, and in particular how we view ourselves before God. Thirdly, our evangelism reveals what we think about others. The way that we relate the gospel to others, or whether we relate it at all to others, shows how we view those who are presently dead in sin.
The Effects of the Law on our Gospel Presentation
As we have demonstrated, most believers have a decidedly Old Testament understanding to God’s law rather than the New Testament understanding that Jesus clearly laid out in the Sermon on the Mount. While many might dispute that point, the reality is that our methods of evangelism illustrate this disconnect perhaps better than any other place. Let’s examine a few characteristics of western evangelism that illustrate the great ignorance of the church with regard to the law.
To begin there is the issue that we have already covered which is that we know only how to apply the law to outward behavior, rather than to the inward motives of the heart. This brings several problems both to our gospel presentation and also to our own understanding of ourselves. For one, because we are so outwardly focused, we tend to be quite ignorant of our own inward depravity. The depravity, or wickedness, of man as it is inherited from Adam is one of those things that we might be able to check off on a theology quiz, but it is not a doctrine that we believe to the point that it affects the way we view ourselves and others.
Because we do not truly grasp our own inward depravity, we are at a loss to press the gospel upon another individual who appears to be relatively moral outwardly. We are at a loss for words when they fail to have an interest in a salvation that they do not see the need of. Why do they not see the need of salvation? Because we have largely presented them with an outward salvation over an inward one and this flows from the fact that we do not articulate the inner requirements of God’s law, only the outward requirements of a law that, once they are saved, we argue against lest we embrace “legalism” over grace.
Because we do not truly understand, or perhaps even believe, in the depravity of man, we are also tempted to justify wicked behavior in both ourselves and others. As we noted, the people we present the gospel to often have a level of moral conduct that is very similar to our own. When we try to present the need for Christ, we fail because we do not know how to properly convict the heart at the root of the issue. We struggle and stumble to present to an individual their great need of Christ because the reality is that we are not really convinced that the person is all that bad, mostly because we have not ever considered ourselves to be “that bad.”
In fact, from this lack of understanding of depravity has arisen various modes of comparison, such as “good person” compared with “bad person” and the idea that some sin is worse than others. True, some sin has more extensive effects in this age, but in the eternal age, all wickedness is evil. We fail to understand this because we fail to see unredeemed man, “good” or “bad” as essentially wicked. We fail to see them as essentially wicked, because we do not clearly see how the law of God cuts beyond behavior into the very essence of each thought and impulse of the heart. The proof of man’s wickedness lies not in what impulses he restrains and what impulses he allows, the proof of man’s wickedness is that fact that the evil impulse arises at all within his being.
When our gospel is aimed at outward actions rather than inward corruption, we necessarily have trouble presenting the case for Christ. When people do not see themselves as hopelessly dead and lost, then why should they call upon Christ with the tenacity that is required for genuine salvation?
Therefore I tell you, her sins, many [as they are], are forgiven her – because she has loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. – Luke 7:47
Another way to illustrate the effect of our gospel is to examine the issue of the fruitfulness of the believers in our churches. When you hear about someone who is really zealous for the gospel and really making a difference, subconsciously you assume that they had a dramatic conversion and a difficult past. Why is that? It is because whenever we hear a testimony of a very fruitful believer or leader we are accustomed to hearing how their lives had taken them into the depths of sin and wickedness and the cried out to Jesus in desperation. Why are so many of the individuals that are so very fruitful ones that had horrible pasts? Jesus reveals that to us in Luke 7.
It is those who truly understand their position before God and their absolute hopelessness that are the most grateful for His gift of mercy. When we do not press the issue of man’s hopelessness, he really has nothing to be deeply grateful for. When a man sees that he is hopelessly wicked, enslaved by sin, and living a vile lifestyle, then he is deeply grateful for redemption. Because we have made the issue of the law an external issue, it is those who have outwardly embraced wickedness that first see the depth of their depravity. They are quick to receive Christ’s salvation and it has its full effect in their heart. They immediately see their need of redemption and their need of a full repentance so when the gospel is offered they grasp it with everything that they have. This is blatantly obvious in the success of Jesus with the “sinners” over His success with the religious leaders.
Those who have a measure of outward morality are far less moved by their own sin and do not see themselves as utterly lost and in need of full repentance. Therefore, they may walk down an aisle feeling a little uncomfortable and thinking that they need Jesus in some way, but they do not come to Him with desperation in their heart, nor do they have the enduring love and gratitude that makes a true disciple of Jesus.
Historical revivals provide a great illustration of this point. Historical revivals always begin with deep heart works in those that are already religious. It usually begins with church attenders, church leaders such as deacons, and others that are outwardly considered to be respectable and moral individuals. When God truly comes and presses Himself on them, all the illusions are shattered, their hearts are cut and a deep repentance happens. As they see themselves inwardly, they then cling to Jesus for His mercy, some for the first time and others in a deeper way, and their heart soon is filled with the devotion and gratitude that we associate only with the “worst” sinners.
These church goers are then revived becoming full of life, joy, love, and good works. They immediately press into the One who has rescued them and cannot be restrained from telling others about what God has done. You will consistently find this sort of phenomena is characteristic of revival and is what happens when God begins to really move among a people. The “lost” are saved in a revival only after God breathes on those who are lukewarm in their love, perhaps even not redeemed though they occupy church pews.
Another effect this ignorance of the law has brought through our evangelism is the proliferation of “cheap grace.” While we rightly understand that the Law of Moses is no longer binding, because we fail to fully examine what Jesus taught, we have a dangerous tendency towards antinomianism, or in other words, “no law.” Because we do not see that God still makes a requirement upon men and it is that very requirement that leads us to the mercy of Jesus, we have embraced the idea of cheap grace.
In our desire to be free of the outward displays of the Mosaic Law, we fail to consider God’s requirements and embrace a grace that is not Biblical. Whether we say it or not, the grace that we embrace goes something like, “there is no law in this gospel age; God loves and forgives everyone; therefore it does not really matter how I live so long as I ask Jesus to cover my mess.”
Cheap grace is a monstrous problem that has come through the door of evangelism. We do not really esteem salvation because we do not really see clearly that there is much to be saved from since our theology has taught us that Jesus really ended God’s demands upon men. We have already noted that this creates believers who are lukewarm because they never truly saw their predicament and are not bound to Jesus with chords of desperate gratitude.
Not only does cheap grace make our gospel presentation all that weaker to the lost, it also produces believers who are weak because they do not have an understanding of that which God has a right to demand of them. It is only when we have an understanding of what God demands of men, as they are made in His image, that we then can have an appreciation for what Jesus has truly done for us. In summary, because in our gospel Jesus’ sacrifice makes little or no demand on the lost man or the “saved” man, it follows that it is not esteemed as “highly valuable” but rather as cheap and common.
The Breeding of Hypocrisy
It is worth mentioning one of the more dangerous side effects of the abandonment of the New Testament Law in evangelism is the breeding of hypocrisy. When we build a church of individuals who never really see their position before the present requirements of God and the great need of a rescue and new birth in Jesus, we end up with people that naturally have confidence in their own morality. They may see God more as one who needs to help them with a few rough edges or bad habits rather than one who needs to rescue and revolutionize them due to the cancer of wickedness in the very core of their being.
Because these individuals inwardly remain fairly positive about their own morality, they naturally tend to remain aloof from those they consider “wicked.” What we end up with is a church of people that tend to act morally outwardly and expect to fellowship with other people like them. Because they never saw themselves as desperately wicked before God, they do not tend to extend mercy as readily to those that appear more outwardly wicked.
It is only when we can see ourselves as rescued by Jesus and just as inwardly wicked as the most vile sinner we know, that our hearts will be filled with genuine longing and compassion for every individual we see regardless of their current condition. Without this, we naturally tend to appear aloof, arrogant, and judgmental and those attitudes are clearly recognized by the lost. They can clearly recognize that we have become a people group all composed of similar people with similar morality that look judgmentally on their morality. In fact, when our message becomes one of competing morality it can oft produce nothing more than anger in the one whom our message is aimed at. While we may consider their anger the reward of persecution, it may simply be anger because we are moralizing rather than presenting the universal depravity of man and the single solution of Christ.
The issue is not that morality does not matter, because it does, the issue again is that we must press the issue of inward morality so that the most moral among us sees themselves as just as wicked a sinner as the more flagrant sinner. When we press this issue, we can build a people who are all deeply grateful for their redemption, clinging to Jesus in absolute love, and actively pressing that love upon all that they meet regardless of what type of sinner they may appear to be. Without that, we breed an aloof hypocrisy in our churches that is decidedly unloving and has no effect on the lost.
The Message of Behavior Modification
Because we do not press the issue of the law of God and inward corruption, we have resorted to a message that amounts primarily to behavior modification. We no longer preach that men need God because they are hopelessly wicked within their hearts and they desperately need a new birth. Rather we preach that they need Jesus because their marriage is a mess, their children are a mess, they have no peace, they have no joy, they are going to hell, they are in financial difficulty, they need purpose, and so on ad infinitum.
The result is rather than preaching Christ as the great rescuer of men that makes them into His own image as they pass through the process of repentance, we preach Christ as the one who can fix their issues and enable them to be the best they can be. In short, we create a humanistic gospel where man remains the focus. God is not the focus, we are because the issue of the new birth is not presented as the chance to have our old self destroyed and a new self, alive in God, birthed in it’s place but rather it is presented as the thing that will remove those aspects of your present life that currently trouble you.
Not only is this focus blatantly obvious in our evangelism, it continues on throughout the teaching given to believers. Glance upon most of the content that is preached in churches. Is God the preeminent focus? Are we called to the consideration of God Himself? I fear not. I fear most sermons revolve around us. They revolve around enhancing our life and solving our problems through the person of Jesus as though He were our personal butler or rich uncle that can clean up our little messes. Now hear me clearly, I am not making a call to intellectual sermons that are devoid of life and merely pretending to be “deep” under a facade of spirituality, but saints we must again make Jesus Himself the focus of our preaching.
If we are to love Him with our hearts, minds, soul, and strength then that love should be self evident in all that the church does which includes preaching. After all Biblical preaching is the proclamation of the King and His Kingdom, not pseudo-psychological remedies for man’s personal shortcomings. We are not to preach behavior modification, mere facts or even dry theology, but to preach out of a vibrant, burning heart alive in relationship with the living God. This endless focus on behavior modification, which is what sadly dominates a vast number of evangelical pulpits, is essentially man centered and will never produce the vibrant Christianity of the New Testament.
The Issue of the New Birth
While there is not room to address this issue, it is worth noting that the issue of the new birth must again be presented first and foremost in our evangelism. We should not be so eager to get men to pray a prayer or make a decision, but rather we must lead men into and through an authentic wrestling with God.
While God has many unique ways of bringing a salvation experience, it must be a new birth. Some may be more outwardly dramatic than others, but a new birth is required. A birth requires that one move from one realm and one way of living to the next. In a birth, the child has been living in liquid and now must breath air. They have been sustained by a cord and now must be sustained by food and drink. The child has been accustomed to darkness and now must come into the light. They have been held captive in a small area and must now live in wide spaces. In order to make this transition, the child must be pressed through a painful and disconcerting process so that they pass from one realm to the next.
So to, we must see believers “delivered” through a process where God presses salvation on them and they wrestle with Him until we see them pass through the canal of regeneration into becoming a new person. Just like a natural birth, this process may be virtually instantaneous in some and take longer in others. It may have more outward drama in some and less in others, however it must be a new birth. Decisionism won’t due. Leaving meetings with a more positive emotion will not do. Nothing less than a new birth will do. We may expect new believers to demonstrate some immaturity and make some messes as young children do, but we must see the evidence of a new life.
Final Notes on Evangelism
I have to make a final note here on evangelism. The issues raised here are issues we must consider if we are to understand evangelism rightly. That being said, we must always realize that the Spirit is the one who draws men to repentance. Salvation is a supernatural process and a supernatural God can bring men to repentance however He wishes. We see this example in Jesus who interacted with different individuals in different ways.
What is important is that we have a proper concept of what salvation really is, what the estate of man really is, and what must happen if men are to truly be redeemed. The exact process that God takes an individual through may be unique to that individual, but God will bring these issues to bear on the individual in His own way. While we must contend for these things that our evangelism be right, let us be careful not to declare a work that God has initiated in a heart invalid if it does not conform to the pattern or sequence of events we expect. While we want to have correct understanding of the things of God, we must always be careful not to turn an understanding of His principles into a rigid formula.
Now, we must also note that in God’s mercy there are those who receive salvation without being completely aware of their inward iniquity. While this may happen, if such an individual goes on in God they will reach a point where God will begin to show them what is truly in their heart. This will lead to a deepening of their spiritual life as they begin to see what they perhaps did not see initially and that is the root of evil in their heart that God has come to cut out.