The Role of Human Persuasion in Evangelism, Part 1

1 Corinthians 9:19-22

Acts 16:3

You are accusing some people of holding extreme views, which is a misstatement drawn from a misunderstanding. You've called for a theological defense of contextualization, but you haven't offered a theological critique of it. My defense is above (I've already made it once), and I hold it in tension with this: God, not man, does the saving of souls. To argue otherwise is grossly heretical, and I don't hear anyone here making this claim.

Now we're down to a debate not between two opinions, but between the Bible and the Bible. I have argued all along for a balanced approach to this subject: man does the sowing (1 Cor. 9:22b), God does the saving (2 Tim. 1:9), God sovereignly chooses to entrust the Gospel to His Church (Matt. 16:18-19) whose responsibility it is to make disciples (Matt. 28:18-20), the first step of which is evangelism (John 3:3). I have said, and continue to say, no more and no less than this. Also recall my first comment on your last post... I meant it. Therefore, all subsequent arguments were directed not at your initial post, but at the extreme, unbalanced stances of the commenters.

Take from that what you will.

Blessings,

Matt:
You seem a bit dillusional or something ha ha. No one is accusing you of anything, I'm not even thinking about you or about something you wrote. 25,000 people a month read this blog. Do you think I was responding directly to you as I wrote? I don't even remember exactly what you wrote. And I don't follow all the conversations between those who comment. If your comment is not posted quickly it's because the person who gives them the initial reviews was unsure. Nothing more. Are you ok?

james

Amen. Jesus is always relevant, we don't make him so. Jesus is always practical, we don't make him so. Praise His Name! Thank you James, looking foward to seeing you in Bensalem! Kim in PA

James,
Gordon Z. mentioned your blog to me a couple of weeks ago. I hope to interact with you here periodically.

Great topics! These are the issues that I'm passionate about as well, so keep speaking up!

Because of Christ,

Dan

Amen Pastor James! I think of the paths I followed once I graduated high school and the wisdom I have today is worth more than gold. (Unfortunately at 18 I thought I knew it all and was going to do/become everthing I dreamed of.)

I came from a christian home and attended christian school until I graduated from High School. For college, I ended up at a secular school far away from home. I was a christian, but a fairly new believer. All the time I spent at church, home and in a christian school didn't provide me with the tools necessary to survive out in the world. I was left to my own foolishness, which lead me to believe that I had to be like the world in order to relate to the world.

I thought people would accept me and listen to my beliefs if they saw me as a real person, not "Little Miss Muffett". (A nickname I had earned several times over for my purity and naivity.)

Obviously my tactics never brought anyone closer to the Lord and the person hurt the most was me. The shame, guilt, depression, and anxiety haunted me for so long and almost destroyed me. Thankfully I have prayerful and loving parents who never gave up on me or the power of God.

I finally surrendered control and listened to God's instruction. Although it was hard to let go of my own ideas, following Jesus and believing what he taught gives more peace and freedom than anything man can contemplate.

I feel for these people who try to find ways to win others to the Lord through their own understanding. It's a difficult line to decifer between human responsibility and God's sovereign power/control. I hope they will be awakened from their inability to understand the real, active and living power of God.

I am so glad that I only need to tell the world about how Jesus changed my life and the rest is in God's hands. Arguing and persuading someone into believing is impossible. I am completely powerless without God.

Thank you for being bold and standing up for the Truth, the word of God. I have learned more from your preaching over the past 2-3 years than I did in the 30 years that proceeded them.

Wow! Your first paragraph is stated with such grace. I couldn't agree more. The Gospel will not fail if preached boldly and completely as we were commanded to do. We have to remember that it is not our clever speech or fancy multimedia presentations that draws people to Christ! As Paul exorted, "preach the word".

I'd be surprised if anyone agreed more with James' latest post more than I do. It's the Word of God, preached in power, that changes lives. I attended Moody Bible Institute. I went to Gordon-Conwell Seminary and learned from Haddon Robinson, the herald of "Expository Preaching". I decry 2 Tim.4:2 ("Preach the Word!) along with my conservative counterparts. In addition to that, I'm not a big fan of the emerging movement either. I don't see the humility in questioning the critical, fundamental truths of Scripture like the doctrine of hell or inerrancy or the exclusivity of the Christ. Our lack of understanding is due to our darkened hearts, not a lack of clarity from God's Word. Notice that Jesus rebuked his disciples for not BELIEVING that the Messiah had to suffer (Luke 24:25-26), implying that the Messiah's suffering was something that was CLEAR in the OT. The problem wasn't clarity, it was our hearts. Just like Romans 1: God's nature and will are clear, but man's darkened, hardened heart keeps him from seeing and worshiping the creator. So I'm all for this post.

Having said that, though, every once in a while there are times when I can understand the "sanctified frustrations" (perhaps we'd call it "righteous anger") of those in the emerging movement. I believe that many of them are frustrated with the church's inability to show the relevance of God's Word. Unfortunately, much of this frustration has led to various unbiblical methods for "contextualizing the gospel", as we know. But I would just say this: without a doubt we must "contend for the gospel" and enter "The Truth War" as John MacArthur calls it. It's a biblical mandate. We're soldiers, called to fight. And one critical way of fighting and contending for the truth is to respond to error through books and blogs and debates.

But let us not forget this one thing: if we are unable to demonstrate the relevance of biblical truth to modern listeners as pastors and teachers, WE WILL LOSE THIS WAR. After 8 years of theological education, I've learned that we are excellent at learning the original meaning, but pretty bad at seeing how it is significant for the person in the pew. We are excellent at exegesis, but weak on homiletics. We are skilled at interpretation, but unskilled at application. For example (and I'll leave it at this): Deuteronomy 22:8 commanded the Israelites to build a fence for their roof tops. How might we preach from this passage in a way that would convict and challenge the modern listener?

I believe that most emerging types would listen to preaching all day long if we preached with the relevance and passion that Jesus preached with. And I believe that the role of preaching would be rightly restored to its rightful place in the church. But that confidence won't come simply by arguing for the importance of preaching, but by preaching well.

Thanks.

Actually, I'm not all that OK. Sorry for my sensitivity. Seemed like this post was directed at "youthful" commenters (myself and a couple others) from the last couple of threads. I made the original comment about "speaking to people in Swahili". Guess I put 2 and 2 together and came up with 5.

Down in a very deep valley right now.

Grace,

Could it be both in Corinthians 9:19-23 and in
Act 16:3 what is happening is the contexualization of himself not a contexualization of the Gospel or its message?

I have made myself..
I became weak...
I made myself a jew...
I made myself as one not under law...

Back to my times in Zambia. I remembered while I was going from house to house proclaiming the Good News we came to a market place. While in the market place we came to a woman's store front and I pointed to a food item and asked what are those? Those with me proceded to buy some so that we can have them for lunch?

In my mind, I was like, there is no way I could eat those without some miracle of God. By the way, I asked the person who bought them what they were and he said, "catapillars". I immediately prayed silently, "OH dear Jesus, help me!!!"

After finishing walking around that rural village we went back to their home to EAT. :( On that day I finally realized the meaning of why we pray before we eat. I was very concerned about my reactions and how would I act when they pass me the plate to try some. Again, I better understood, "Pray without ceasing."

Somehow, On that day God provided the Grace and there was an unusual sense of His presence which drew us together like never before. To the Zambian I became a Zambian and as a result I won many. Funny thing is, I didn't even know that God was bringing me through 1 Cor. 9:19-23 and Acts 16:3 until later.

Again, this was not my idea of human persuasion, I believe that it was God making ready Good soil, He was breaking up the fallow ground of their hearts so that His Gospel might go forth with power.

One thing about relational evangelism is that it has given the church and the churched an excuse to refused to be Transformed (7-3-07). For the sake of "winning" the lost we have become spiritual losers. Remember the kids in school that tried so hard to be cool? They would walk down the hall and most other kids would think loser. Preppy pastors worshipping to a laser light show with crazy effects dancing behind the words songs that are supposed to bring us before the throne of Christ. For the sake of being cool, we willfully draw a line in the sand and tell the Lord we will come no farther. Instead of following Christ we are chasing the crowd. Instead of following Christ, we stop and find a comfortable place along the way where we can build a Christ-Vegas to draw a crowd of comfortable christians seeking to influence other comfortable people and those seeking more comfort. The only thing truly transforming in these churches are the buildings and budgets. I once had a pastor I worked with at a seeker church tell me "I appreciate your zeal but if you expect people to change like that, you are going to be disappointed because they won't. I'm afraid you'll get frustrated with ministry and quit." I quit, in fact we should all quit. Quit settling for a "good enough" this is as far as I go, I've arrived, relevant christian life. Let's encourage people to look at God with a sense of awe and not our ministry. Let's train them to live a life of surrender to our Savior and experience the life transforming power of Jesus Christ, instead of stopping half way and saying "me first".

All I can really say right now is "wow" and thank you. I completely agree with what you've said. However, I must admit that at times I do caught up and try to use my own strength to win people over. I of all people should know that it doesn't work. My parents tried for years to reach me. When I finally was saved it was a direct call from God that brought me to Him. Although for a short time I made the mistake of thinking I did it all on my own, not realizing how many people had me in their prayers. Honestly listening to anyone preach use to just be like blah, blah, blah and reading the bible...yeah right. It was like this long, weird, unbelivable story that made absolutely no sense at all. When God called me back to Him I was in a desperate state. I had hit rock bottom, my heart was shattered and my hope completely gone. No man said anything to me about God. He himself came to me in a vision. Satan had me by the ankles, pulling me down toward the fiery pits of Hell. I could feel the heat scorching my skin. I was crying and screaming, fighting with all my strength. Suddenly I felt someone’s arms around my chest. I didn’t have to think twice who it was. The two were having a tug of war with me. Finally the Lord pulled me up above the clouds. He leaned in close to me and said, “You are surrounded by the wrong people, but the right ones are to come.” I knew I had to give my life over to God. Every time I attempt to do anything in my own strength, everything starts going wrong. It can be so hard to just trust in Him and know that He has a plan for you and would never lead you astray, but that's what faith is. The path I was on before would have led me to glamour and fame, but I was sooo miserable. I read the bible now and everything is so clear. I really can't believe that there was a time when I didn't get it. I couldn't stand listening to you before and now I can't get enough. Bottom line is it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. EPHESIANS 2:8,9

Of the times that I have shared the gospel with people, the only ones that seemed to have an impact where the times I left saying "Boy did I blow that". I guess God has kept me grounded in the knowledge that it is not about me, but only he gets the glory. I do feel thankful that he sees fit to use me in such a way though.

I'm glad someone with influence has said something about this "I led so and so to Christ" foolishness. We need to quit thumping our chests, and just be biblical, and/or obedient to God. Around 5,000 people per day die in the U.S., and a good many of them go to hell. That is sobering, and inspiring. Dennis

No kidding! It's about time someone put the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 9:22b) and the author of Proverbs 11:30 in their places.

Lord, forgive us when we read into people's words more than they are saying... for being eager to find someone to criticize.

THIS IS HARVEST BIBLE CHAPEL'S PILLAR #4:
Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with boldness (Ephesians 6:19-20)

It is more than a bit troubling to see the emphasis in recent years on church growth. While what is being published and propagated is not all harmful, the tendency to rely on such things to grow a church should be alarming to the Church.

Harvest Bible Chapel has certainly been growing of late, and we are not opposed in any way to the idea or reality of large churches. Concern pastors, leaders and people whose sole aim is to have a large church. The endless counting of people and the inevitable "how big is your church" inquiry, and what C.S. Lewis calls "the posing and posturing and look at me aren't I a good boy" are doing more harm than good to the Kingdom of God.

Though it began with a good goal, we believe the church growth movement has compromised both the pure message of the gospel and the biblical method for its propagation. The focus on human persuasion in evangelism has produced an array of church growth methods that could be accurately subtitled "how to plant weeds in your garden" instead of "how to harvest a healthy crop."

What is curious is that the early church appears to have placed no emphasis on evangelistic methodology. Instead, their approach was simple and powerful-they were BOLD!

The Greek word translated "boldness" in the New Testament is a word which literally means "openness" or "candor," or "to speak freely especially in the face of hostility." It does not imply using a loud voice, or an obnoxious presentation of spiritual truth that disregards the willingness of the listener. Boldness is the Spirit-directed conviction that one must share the good news of Jesus Christ and not fear the response or reproach of the listener. Spirit-led boldness has been replaced by "the fear of man which brings a snare" (Proverbs 29.25). Who are we to think that we can share the gospel in a way that makes people feel comfortable, when early church leaders like Steven, James, Paul, and Jesus Christ Himself were beaten, ridiculed and ultimately killed for boldly proclaiming the truth!

Modern proponents of what we might call the "subtle gospel" must consider the Apostle Peter a fool for saying, "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:13). Would to God that the unsaved in our day could see our boldness and marvel, realizing that we have "been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). It is right there in Acts 4! We rely on God for supernatural boldness, some respond and receive Christ, while others become very angry and reject or even attack us. Then we continue in prayer for boldness.

Boldness is not the easy way, but it is God's way. Our fear of man is understandable-even Paul asked for prayer "that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak" (Eph. 6:20)-but timidity or fear is not acceptable. Our problem is that we want to share Jesus and remain popular with those who reject Him. We want the approval of His hearers more than the approval of God (look at Galatians 1:10). We have opted for a sociological approach to sharing the gospel, rather than a supernatural one.

At Harvest Bible Chapel we are always challenged to be people who are bold witnesses for Jesus Christ, to "go out into the highways and compel them to come in." We will not always reach the ones we want to reach, but we will discover that all around us are people whom God has ripened to the gospel through the painful circumstances of life. Though some Christians are more gifted in evangelism than others, all believers are called to be bold witnesses for Jesus. Boldness is not something we can work up ourselves, but it is something that Jesus gives to those who persistently ask. "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1).

Don, you rock.

Check it out... You (all) may not have guessed it, but I am totally appalled by the "church growth" movement. I went to Willow Creek once, and once was enough. It was so not centered on Jesus... very obvious they were trying harder to "meet people where they were" than to proclaim the Gospel and its inherent Cross. The numbers game is just sick. And most emerging folks share my sentiments.

I think it's very helpful to note the differences between the pragmatic/seeker-driven/modern churches and the emerging/missional/postmodern churches. The emerging movement seeks to reclaim Historic Christianity, both in the way the Church approaches theology and practices its ecclesia. The pragmatic movement seeks to build and fill bigger barns at almost any cost; the emerging movement seeks to build deeper, stronger relationships within the Church and with the immediate communities in which local fellowships exist. Pragmatic is institutional; emerging is grassroots. Pragmatic is about building empire; emerging is about incarnate truth as a transforming reality, on the personal, familial, and community level. Pragmatic thinks it serves both God and Money, but scripture exposes this lie. Emerging is countercultural, and is highly skeptical of infusing the values and principles of Western society with the values and principles of Jesus, which are frequently in stark contradiction.

In short, there are three main "camps" of church models: Traditional, Pragmatic, and Postmodern. They could be described as "uncultural" or irrelevant, "co-cultural" or culture-immersed, and "countercultural" or culture-scrupulous, respectively. Ironically, the emergents are getting blamed for what the pragmatics are predominantly guilty of. An honest look at the emerging movement will reveal that emergents are working towards a more bold, biblically authentic experience of mission and ecclesia, not less. Too often, evangelical leaders brush off the emerging movement as if its primary representatives were people like Brian McLaren and Tom Wright. These are just a couple of international figureheads that some emergents latch on to. Most emergents are very conservative doctrinally, morally, and ethically, and are committed to a radically Christ-centered, whole-life Gospel. Forget postmodern philosophy and liberal theology... that's just good old fashioned liberalism. Some emerging churches may be guilty of this, but an enormous majority of emergents are on the opposite (Right) end of the spectrum. The emerging church movement transcends the liberal-conservative conversation.

I was listening to a report from Voice of the Martyrs on the radio as I was driving home from work. It seems that in places like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran where believers are beaten, tortured, and even killed for following Jesus the church is growing by leaps and bounds. Wonder what kinds of evangelistic methods are being used in those places??

I just want to thank the person who wrote the above comment. That was both clear and compelling. I wish that statement could be read by everyone in the church. Thank you!

Amen!!! Pastor James,
(theological ingredient)How did the church get so far away from the truth? Whatever happened to biblical evangelism as we follow Jesus's foot steps in scripture? Jesus gave the law to the proud and grace to the humble. (Law) Mark 10:17,Luke 10:25,John 4,)(Grace)John 3(Nicodemus) I was saved at Baptist church, but not at service.I had been witnessed to before,but I was proud and unbelieving even though I was doing religion as a Catholic.
I was working as a contractor at this church and it was if God had showed me a movie of my life of failure and sin. At that time I feared if I was to die I definitely would go to Hell.I went into a classroom and layed facedown and cried out to God with humility.I don't need to finish the story to tell you that God doesnt need man,but he did choose to use us as his instrument. He has been using me ever since that day to preach whole Gospal.
Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
A person has to know their terminal disease (SIN) before they will ever appreciate the cure! We have to present the Law,Gods Righteousness,Sin,The Judgement,Hell,and finally The Cross,Repentence,believing and trusting Jesus!!! Reading your Bible daily and obeying what you read.

In Christ,Kurt

Yo Deborah. Seriously... what's up! If only we Americans had the priviledge of fearing for our lives daily because of our faith, then maybe we'd see Christ as our all-encompassing reality, His Word our food and drink, and His Body (the Church) our means of survival. Maybe we'd realize that we actually NEED Christ (and one another!) to get by in this world. Oh, we Americans need Him... we're just too consumed with our endless storehouses of mudpies to realize that a vacation at the sea awaits us.

"We" are the ones to be pitied, my friends, not "them". Thank you Deborah.

James,
Great stuff, I came by WITW a couple of years ago and your exegetical approach was awesome. It was the kind of delivery that was a gift from the Lord. I just took my first Sr. Pastorate this last year in the church my wife and I were married in over 26 years ago. God has soooo used you to make me think and make me act! Stay healthy, there aren't a lot of your breed around. You are a motivation and model to fellas like myself.

God Bless you!
Krag