Souls of men

Change is something we humans do not like much. It makes us uncomfortable, uneasy, out of place and more. We are capable of fighting it, in fact we fight change with every fiber in our being, good or bad which is quite interesting. Whoever we are, we have a natural inclination to oppose change but most of us, when we are provided the benefits of the change, we willingly embrace it. A friend of mine recently said he stopped being afraid of making decisions when he understood that his being afraid was because of lack of information. The moment he started getting information about the thing he feared, he stopped fearing. I don’t know where you stand on all of this but I would like to make the point that part of the reason we find it difficult to change is because often times it affects our identity and beliefs. What we believe shape our worldview, it shapes our actions and the risk or change we are able to welcome. When Paul wrote to the Roman church, he addressed the belief system and identity of many Jews. Many of the underlying questions that the Jews had, Paul responded to those and it is not surprising to see that many did not believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are often quick to judge or rebuke the unbelief of the Jews as something they should have been able to accept without much thought but the reality is Paul taught them something that appeared contrary to what they grew up believing as God’s chosen people: salvation was by faith and not by works and as if this was not enough, Gentiles could be saved too, if they put their trust in the messiah! How could anyone in their right mind believe something that seemed to cancel everything they knew about the Law and God? We ought to have a lot more sympathy for them. In my reading of the book of Romans this week, I couldn’t help but notice that first, patience is a virtue we must have when we present Jesus Christ to an unbelieving world, second, we need to be able to understand where people are coming from and go from there and finally, we need to remember that salvation is an act of God, not of man.

First, patience is a needed virtue when presenting the gospel to the lost. Paul is excellent at this because in every city he went to, he first went into the synagogues to reason with the Jews, and after being rejected he went to the gentiles. It was a cycle Paul continued until his death. I was personally shocked to see that the first six chapters of Romans were very much addressed to the Jews, debunking their beliefs system which must have permeated in the church culture of Rome. Paul did not just debunk their belief system for the sake of debunking but to the effect that the church be free in Christ. He wanted the glory of God to reign, he wanted the brethren to live together in a manner worthy of the Lord, he wanted the brethren to understand they were now new creatures in Christ. As new creatures belonging to a new world, they were to act differently than what they grew up acting as; they were to learn to die to themselves instead of living to the please the desires of the flesh. Paul knew this would take time but he also knew it was necessary and important that this gospel be preached to them and that their new lifestyle come from the gospel and not from their culture or upbringing. Paul answered all questions that he could anticipate or questions that he knew his audience would anticipate surrounding the Law, God’s justice, salvation, being declared righteous, grace, faith and the like. To be able to do this in writing shows the amount of patience Paul had and I would add love as well for his audience. I love that about Paul, he was definitely a great example of not giving up to evangelize to loved ones who do not know Christ. Giving up was not an option and more than that, he kept pressing on. May the Lord increase our love for the souls of others who don’t know Him!

Second, we need to understand where people are coming from and where they are. This takes me a bit out of Romans and into Acts when Paul found himself in the city of Athens. He got there because the Jews in their jealousy were seeking him in Thessalonica because many believed in Jesus after having proclaimed the gospel there. So, believers made Paul flee to Athens. While in Athens, as he was waiting for his companions, Paul did not waste time but immediately made the most of every opportunity. As he says in Colossians “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” (Colossians 4:5). Instructions he wrote to many churches were first implemented by himself during his ministry. Sadly, many of today’s teachers and leaders do not obey their own instructions but we see that this was not the case with Paul nor was it the case with Christ. Anyway, I digressed. How exactly did Paul understand where he was and the people of the town? By observing the place he was at. He took time to know his context within the framework of what was of interest to him (proclaiming Christ). He went into the marketplace and noticed that the city was full of idols (Acts 17:16). He kept observing and found one that was inscribed “to an unknown God” and that was the door to Paul’s message. Paul did not try to make the Greek look Jews, nor did he attempt to make them eat the Jewish way. Paul’s intent was that God be glorified in the life of these Greeks who were lost. Paul wanted these Greeks to know Jesus Christ and believe in him. I personally believe this took a lot of dying to self for Paul to do. After all, education about the Law was his thing, he was like a fish in the water when topics of theology would come but here Paul just wanted to announce to Athenians that Jesus had died on the cross to save them too! We hear a lot of this idea of dying to oneself in the bible but I wonder have you ever thought of what it means for you? I say for you because we all live different lives but what we each sacrifice will look differently from one person to the other. What, for the sake for the souls of men are you willing to give up? Last week, my pastor challenged us to amass wealth in heaven and not on earth. One way of doing that is to ensure we put our money in the things that please God so that our hearts follow. For Jesus taught us that where your treasure is there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). His point was that our heart will follow our treasure or what we treasure. Therefore, is the souls of men on your treasure? If not, can you start praying for that to be the case? How about supporting missionary organisations or missionaries that are in the field proclaiming this gospel? Too much? How about beginning to pray diligently for an unreached people group? Too far detached? How about your neighbour or family member who does not know the Lord? We would be surprised at how quickly the Lord answers such prayers because this is the heart of the matter, He wants all men to be saved, including the worst of sinners and that is His wonderful doing!

Third, the work of salvation is an act of God, not of man. Indeed, this is not a statement that is controversial in Christian circles however when we look at the way many churches have been conducting themselves in their evangelism or should I say their search for members, we see that there is a fight for numbers. An unspoken competition arises between pastors and their congregations about the number of people that “gave their life” to Christ or the number of people that responded to the “altar call”. It becomes something that we did, if we hadn’t preached the good news, they would not have believed or if we hadn’t said the altar call, these people would not have accepted Christ. So, our efforts become restricted to ensuring that people “say the prayer” of salvation. The irony of it all is that when Jesus gave powers to the disciples and sent them two by two, while these were rejoicing that the devil and its demons were fleeing them, Jesus told them to rejoice instead that their names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20). Similarly, we too must just rejoice that our names are written in heaven. When we present the gospel to an unbeliever and he accepts it, we rejoice with him that his name is written in the book of life but we do not accredit the salvation to our doing for only the Spirit of the Lord can convict a person and show him his faults. I believe this is the reason in many charismatic movements, when God does not operate the way they think He should, they feel the urge to “help” Him by saying things He did not say (prosperity gospel) or faking miracles. Unfortunately, we too, who are not in such movements help God and end up distorting His message too. May the Lord have mercy on us! Our role and assignment here is simply to be the evangelist, the person who tells the evangel which is the message of the good news – God gave his one and only Son, Christ Jesus, to be a sin offering on our behalf, to take the penalty that our sins deserve so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life, which entails no longer living for oneself but for the Lord. That’s it, the good news of Jesus Christ. What happens after is up to the Holy Spirit, ours is just to tell. May our feet be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace and may we all be beautiful feet to a dying world (Ephesians 6:15; Romans 10:15). Amen.