by Travis Maples
Here’s Ligon Duncan at Together for the Gospel. Also for those interested in further reading into the subject of Calvinism and evangelism, Iain Murray wrote a great book you might want to read called Spurgeon V. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching.
by Travis Maples
1) Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer – because it’s by J.I. Packer and because I have seldom felt more encouraged and full of faith to evangelize than after I have been reminded of what both my role and what the role of the Holy Spirit is in evangelism. It frees you from the burden you were never meant to carry, namely changing men’s hearts and saving their souls.
2) Tell the Truth by Will Metzger —though it might not be as easy of a read as the others, it is needed in our day since there have been so many attempts to blunt or smooth over the rough edges our message. People need to hear, as Metzger says, the “bite of their condition”. He urges the sharing of the whole gospel to the whole person.
3) Speaking of Jesus by Mack Styles – because he brings decades of experience to the table. His book is packed with personal stories of what evangelism looks like in everyday life and, after all, that’s where you and I are. It’s essential to get a firm foundation in the theology that under girds action (which are what the first two are good for). But once we learn the foundational truths, it’s so helpful to hear about the actual down and dirty, nitty-gritty, messy application. He helps us learn how to turn conversations to Jesus.
4) Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman – why? Because, though I haven’t read but a quarter of it, I know we don’t put fluff in our book store at church and if that doesn’t suffice, my pastor recommends it!
Also, here are Mark Dever’s and CJ Mahaney’s recommended reading lists for evangelism.
Mark Dever
1) Tell the Truth by Will Metzger
2) Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer
3) Speaking of Jesus by Mack Styles
CJ Mahaney
1) Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer
2) The Gagging of God by D.A. Carson
3) Gospel and
Mission in the Writings of Paul by P.T. Obrien
Has anyone else read these books? If so, I would like to hear what you think about them.
This past weekend, I had one of the most intense and wierd experiences ever. I have an older brother named John, whom I love very, very much. He is absolutely hysterical. He is not a Christian. Every time we get to gether as a family, I look forward to being around him and I always pray for an opportunity to talk about the gospel with him. This past weekend my family and I got together at a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN to celebrate an early Thanksgiving.
I got to the cabin late on Friday night, and almost immediately, my brother and I were engaged in an impassioned discussion on life, the past, God, the gospel, and a whole host of other topics that more or less were unrelated. I tried to explain my need and his need for a Savior because of our sin and that Jesus Christ is that one and only Savior. I know I probably could have communicated several things much better than I did: The meaning of Righteousness, the true nature of God’s grace, the joy of being forgiven and standing blameless before a holy God, etc, but here’s the point. We, as Christians, who are still waring against the sins of our flesh that remain kicking in our members, can crave a good thing, like a family member’s salvation, too much.
Here’s what happened: I had gone through great pains to help my brother understand that I am totally depraved in my natural state and that I need to be delivered from the wrath of God for my sin. He kept coming back with comments like, “Dude, you’re too hard on yourself, you’re a good guy.” and “If you aren’t a good guy, who is?!” In addition he made several contradictory comments about how sinful he was; walking the line that he was “way to sinful to be a good guy like me”, as if he could be too far off for God to slap him in the face and drag him out of his passionate sprint toward eternal wrath and fury. In my mind, this was an attack on the Holiness and Glory of God, thinking that man, a “good guy” like me, could live up to God’s uncompromising standard of perfection. I tried to explain that it wasn’t about me being a “good guy”, but about Christ being perfect and dying in my place and God counting to my credit His perfect life. I also tried to explain that any good character I might exhibit has a definitive and miraculous work of God in my heart at convesion as its grounds not something inherent in me or some ultra will power I had developed over the years.
But as I know, but didn’t choose to believe in that moment, God saves people, not us. I can’t make my brother repent and believe the gospel. I could explain it super clearly and answer every single one of my brother’s questions thouroughly, but if the Spirit of God doesn’t do something, no change will ever take place. But in the midst of our conversation, due to my gospel zeal that turned into sinful anger, the “poop” hit the fan! My brother went on to talk about how he had been really sinful in the past, but that now he was a much better person. This comment squeezed the sopping sponge of my heart so that the sin that was inside came boiling to the surface. Because I crave his salvation too much, and it appeared all my efforts were amounting to nothing, I lashed out in furious anger:
My brother and I were out on the porch on the side of the cabin. He was leaning on the rail and I was sitting down. He had been sipping on a coke and Cap. Morgan’s mix, which was sitting on the rail. After my brother made a comment about how he was doing better, I lost it, jumped up out of my seat, yelled, “That don’t mean [squat] before a Holy God, it don’t mean [squat]!!!” (Only I did not say “squat.” Yes, that’s right, I cursed while sharing the gospel. Just doesn’t make much sense does it?) Then, with a mixture of sin and adrenaline, I slapped the coke and rum glass with my hand. It immediately shattered. Before I even looked at my hand I knew I had really blown it. I looked at my hand and it was already pouring blood.
I ran into the cabin, threw my hand under the sink, and started barking orders about how I needed water and juice to drink, and we needed to go to the emergency room NOW! So, we woke my brother-in-law up and he drove us to the emergency room. By this time the adrenaline was all used up and my hand was hurting and bleeding like crazy. We went in, and they startd attending to my wound. Every nurse and doctor I talked to asked what happened, and I told them the whole story. I got some really wierd looks. Really wierd.
The cuts in my hand were long and deep. I had to have two internal and nine external stitches. OUCH! Let me say this, the worst part of an injury like that is the pain required to numb the area around your wound so that they can sew it up. Kinda ironic huh?
Needless to say, this gave some great laughs and awkward situations for the rest of the weekend. I also learned, by experience, something that I knew from scripture already. The saving of a soul happens by a secret and somewhat mysterious work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel. It DOES NOT happen by cursing and slapping a glass with your hand. Let this be a lesson to all of you as you plead with those you love to turn from their sin and trusting in their efforts to trusting in the finished work of Christ. Share the gospel consistently and with genuine passion, then pray. That’s our role in evangelism. We can’t change anyone’s heart, no matter how many glasses we shatter!
All was not a waste, however, I think any notion that I am a “good guy” has been obliterated from my brother’s mind. He knows I’m a big fat sinner, now. So, in future conversations, I can use that interaction to share the gospel again: “See, I am a huge sinner. I get angry, I break stuff and curse. But the good news is God crushed his Son for ALL my sin, and he now looks at me AS IF I perfectly obeyed all his law because of Jesus Christ. So, Booyah! Good news, huh?” We will screw up in evangelism all the time. Use your mistakes and your sin as an opportunity to exalt the Christian’s glory: We are weak, sinful, fickle, and stupid, but God saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but becuase of His great mercy. we boast in the cross, not in how much we have our act together.
Kevin=idiot
by Travis Maples
Yesterday I was in a port-a-john as I am usually on construction sites throughout my day selling heavy equipment. As I was in there, I noticed an inscription on the wall: the three words “God is love.” That was it. No sarcastic remarks, no hateful language, no perverse comments, and no Billy loves Susie—just “God is love.” Now if you have been in as many port-a-johns as I have, you would know that it is strange to have only three words written inside. As I read them I thought “Nice! Good! True! Right—God is love.” But as I drove off I thought, “There needs to be more, we can’t stop there with unbelievers, we have to tell them the whole truth.” Then I thought about how that is exactly what so many of us today share about God and his message. “He is love!” we plead. In fact we tend to stress it to the point that people begin to think his love crowds out all his other attributes. It is easier for us to share and for others to believe in a god that is accepting of their lives without him, their choices without regard to him, and their sins in opposition to him. After all he is a LOVING God, and what kind of loving God would infringe?
Think back. Your sharing the Gospel with someone and you tell them, “God is love.” Have you ever wondered why they’re not shocked or blown away? They don’t normally respond with a “WHOA hang on a minute here!!!” Often times they nod their head and give you a pat on the back—acknowledging that truth with a kind of a patronizing “yah I know, you’re so sweet” smile on their face when you tell them God loves them. But on the flip side, what if you said, “God is holy and just and he will punish our sin if we do not repent and trust in Christ.” And that, men, is when you start getting the “you’ve got a third eyeball” look. The “you’re encroaching on me” attitude starts coming out.
Here’s how Mike Yaconelli in Will Metzger’s Tell the Truth diagnoses the problem:
“The tragedy of modern faith is that we no longer are capable of being terrified. We aren’t afraid of God, we aren’t afraid of Jesus, we aren’t afraid of the Holy Spirit. As a result, we have ended up with a need-centered gospel that attracts thousands…but transforms no one. Unfortunately, those of us who have been entrusted with the terrifying frightening Good News have become obsessed with making Christianity safe. We have defanged the tiger of Truth. We have tamed the lion and now Christianity is so sensible, so accepted, so palatable.”
Metzger, also in his book Tell the Truth, writes “…we have toned down the awesome majesty of God.” But we can’t afford to water down the Gospel. We can’t wear down the sharp tip of our message which is meant to pierce hard, sleepy hearts. Our message is being blunted today by portraying a tame little safe god that is O.K. with how we’re living our life. No—he hates sin; he is and will always be opposed to it. Why would anyone want medicine if they don’t know their sick? Who would want a solution without a problem? When we’re talking to an unbeliever, we must lovingly and compassionately tell them that there is a divine dilemma. God is Holy, you and I are sinners who have rebelled against him, we have transgressed his holiness and he WILL punish sin and we WILL be held accountable for our lifestyle, our choices, our sin. Without the verbal communication of God and his holiness, man and his sinfulness, you have not evangelized in the truest sense of the word. Without the truth, Christ will never truly be cherished and treasured above all things as the one and only Savior that he is. Let’s make sure his death and resurrection are not seen as a needless, senseless act instead of a valiant, courageous divine rescue.
by Travis Maples
I figured I would spend this week writing a little bit about a couple of our more formidable opponents in our pursuit of the lost, the “fear of man” and apathy. What is the fear of man? It is caring more about what others think of you than what God thinks of you. At root it is a craving for approval; a desire for others to exalt and think highly of you. Know thy enemy because it’s right here with us at all times! The next major foe to evangelism, apathy, is a deadness of spirit that rears its ugly head in our lives from time to time. It is carelessness for the condition of those around us.
We must go to the cross to prepare for warfare against these nasty enemies. We must dwell there, reminding ourselves of who we are in light of all that God is. Once we catch a glimpse of our sinfulness in light of God’s holiness, two things happen in our souls. One, we no longer care for what others think of us because it’s there that we see what we deserve in light of what we received; we see truth. We see who it is we are to serve—God—“the one who drew me up from the pit of destruction” (Psalm 40:2). It no longer seems important what the Joneses think. Two, at the cross we lose our apathy because it melts away in the heat of God’s love for us. Often times we don’t evangelize because, as Kenneth Maresco writes, “we ourselves have become complacent with the cross” (article: “Preaching Christ Crucified”). Christians who don’t evangelize have either become ensnared with the fear of man or apathetic towards the lost. It is at the cross that we deal the needed blows to such enemies as these that reside within us.
Here are two men who were not apathetic and definitely cared nothing for the praise of men to inspire you …
Charles Spurgeon did not allow the fear of man to prevent him from serving his God and loving a lost and dying world. Apathy doesn’t grow easily in a heart so hot: “To be laughed at is no great hardship to me. I can delight in scoffs and jeers. Caricatures, lampoons, and slanders are my glory. But that you should turn from your own mercy this is my sorrow. Spit on me, but, oh repent! Laugh at me, but, oh believe in my Master! Make my body as the dirt of the street, but damn not your own souls!” (The Soul Winner)
What’s that? Still not convinced? Spurgeon was in no real physical danger of being harmed anyway? Well, here’s another old and respected dead guy, Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who did have his life on the line before a multitude of haters. Let’s see how he responded to that temptation to fear of man. According to Bruce Shelley in Church History in Plain Language it happened like this: “The authorities brought the highly respected pastor into the crowded arena, prepared to shove him to the lions—but only reluctantly. They much preferred a denial of the charge against him. He was a Christian. ‘Simply swear by Ceasar,’ the governor pled. ‘I am a Christian,’ said Polycarp. ‘If you want to know what that is, set a day and listen.’ ‘Persuade the people,’ answered the governor. Poycarp said, ‘I would explain to you, but not to them.’ ‘Then I’ll throw you to the beasts.’ ‘Bring on your beasts,’ said Polycarp. ‘If you scorn the beasts, I’ll have you burned.’ ‘You try to frighten me with the fire that burns for an hour, and you forget the fire of hell that never goes out.’ The governor called to the people, ‘Polycarp says he is a Christian.’ Then the mob let loose. ‘This is the teacher of
Asia,’ they shouted, ‘the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods.’ So Polycarp, praying that his death would be an acceptable sacrifice, was burned at the stake.”
God, forgive me for my apathetic heart that is so easily contented in my nice, warm home with my full fridge—seemingly safe, sound and convenient behind my front door. May I not be drunk with my abundance, complacent with the cross. Helps us to care more about what you think than what those that don’t know you think about us. May we draw near to the cross daily. Help us to live for the audience of One.
If you have any stories about how God used you to reach the lost and how the Holy Spirit gave you power over the fear of man I’d love to hear about it.
REGULATORS, Mount Up!
by Travis Maples
It’s Saturday, and all you guys must be on your way back to Knoxville by now. I was not able to go to the men’s retreat in Charlotte. I brought it up to my boss and he was not a big fan of the idea. So I stayed back. My wonderful wife, seeing that I was bummed about not being able to join the men in such unique fellowship, surprised me with an overnight stay by myself at a cabin in the Smoky Mountains for a personal retreat. She knows how much I love the mountains, the woods, cabins, fireplaces, and some good books to get into. She wanted me to have the opportunity to combine those things with time alone for prayer. Since today is my day to post about evangelism and here I am praying and reading about prayer, I thought I’d combine the two. So here is Spurgeon reminding us that evangelism must be rooted in fervent prayer: “The soul winner must be a master of the art of prayer. You can not bring souls to God if you go not to God yourself. You must get your battle ax and your weapons of war from the armory of sacred communication with Christ. If you are much alone with Jesus, you will catch His Spirit. You will be fired with the flame that burned in His breast and consumed His life. You will weep with the tears that fell upon Jerusalem when He saw it perishing. If you cannot speak as eloquently as He did, yet shall there be about what you say somewhat of the same power which in Him thrilled the hearts and awoke the consciences of men.” (Soul Winner, p.231).
Contributor: Travis Maples
Evangelism. C’mon, say it with me men: “evangelism.” Let it just roll off your tongue. Even as you said it your heart may have started to pound, beads of that salty stuff started to run off your forehead, and your palms may even have started to gather that swampy moisture you can’t wipe off to save your life. Some of us don’t like talking about it. Some of us treat evangelism like that weird uncle in your family. You love him, you’re glad he’s there and a part of the family, but you just don’t like to be seen with him. But there is just no escaping the role it needs to play in all of our lives as Christians. Read through the book of Acts and you will soon see it wasn’t just the Apostles who were sharing the gospel. It was the whole church (Acts 5:42; 8:1-4, 25; 11:19-21; 13:32; 14:7; 15:35; 16:10; 17:18).
This is what Scripture says about the church: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people…” (I Peter 2:9-10). Let me reiterate this point! Who was Peter talking to in 1 Peter 2:9-10? Peter was addressing the Church—you and I—not the resident evangelist or pastor alone. Saying, “Sorry, evangelism just isn’t my gift,” is like saying, “Sorry Grandma, helping you cross the street just isn’t my gift.” Here’s another illustration to catch your attention. Say you’re driving down the road and you learn that up ahead the bridge is out. You instantly whip around that rusted-out ol’ beater you drive and start heading the other direction. You start feeling sorry for all the poor saps that are about to drive off the bridge into oblivion. But you don’t feel that it is your gifting to say: “STOP!! THE BRIDGE IS OUT!” meanwhile forgetting that you wouldn’t have known if someone hadn’t flagged you down. Don’t forget, this isn’t about personality or gifting, it is about being a Christian in a lost and dying world.
So fellas, you know why you need to share(see last Saturday’s post). You also know who it is that needs to share(YOU). So whether you’re in class or on a jobsite or in an office your role is the same. You’re a herald with a proclamation from the King, an ambassador with a message to a foreign land from your real country theKingdom of
Heaven. Get verbal up in this place!
Men, here at MANSPEAK Saturday’s have been set aside for the topic of evangelism. Our hope is that this will inspire and encourage you to enjoy God in the declaration of His gospel. It is also here that I will post helpful resources and tips as well as other topics regarding evangelism.
So with this first post I would like to challenge the fellas to step up to the challenge given to us by Jesus in his last words while on earth. He has called us to “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). What an exciting job we are called to! But other than the obvious fact that Jesus has said it and we should obey, what other reasons are there for evangelizing? Why evangelize? Getting the why right will help prevent us from treating evangelism as another “to do” in our lives.
1. For our joy.
2. There is a real hell, it is a terrible place, and people will go there if they don’t repent and trust in Christ.
3. There are places and peoples who don’t worship God.
It’s this first reason I want to go into today—our joy! Joy is to be had in evangelism!
John Piper has said, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” When are we most satisfied in God? I know that my satisfaction in God increases when I am telling others how great God is by sharing the Gospel with them. My joy, already given to me in Christ, is completed when I am telling others of the treasure in the field that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13:44. Christ himself is that treasure! Our Joy is in not only telling them of the treasure but in seeing them enjoy the treasure also. Let’s experience the joy of God as we “proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.”(1Peter 2:9)
Take a minute to ponder the following quote from John Piper, found in How Does Christian Hedonism Relate to Evangelism? “…joy which is our Christian duty to pursue does not reach its climax in a private communion with God. Rather, it reaches its fullest extent only when it is compounded by the joy of seeing others share in it with us. And these are not two different joys as if the good of man were somehow in competition with the glory of God. The sharing of a joy is that same joy in consummation.” – Piper How Does Christian Hedonism Relate to Evangelism?
Lastly, check out this resource that will assist you in your evangelistic endevours. Mark Dever has called it his favorite evangelistic tool. It’s called Two Ways to Live and you can access it here at Matthias Media http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/
From Travis Maples, contributor
