Our God Is In Control

M

y father is co-authoring a book on evanglism. He has honored me by asking that I edit his portion of the manuscript. What I've read so far is excellent. I look forward to seeing the finished product.

What really jumps out at the contemporary reader from this manual is the solid theology needed for a true evangelistic outreach. Postmodern man vilifies those he disagrees with. In the arena of evangelism, this has mainly been done by those who reject God's total sovereignty over his creation. The line goes that Calvinists don’t believe in evangelism because they think God is going to handle everything and man doesn't have a choice. Not only is this wrong, but it is a complete misrepresentation of Calvinistic belief.

We Calvinists believe that man has a choice—he has always had a choice. The problem is that man will choose the wrong thing every time. Only when God has removed man's “heart of stone” and replaced it with a “heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19) will man seek fellowship with God through repentance of his sins and trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. (Notice I didn't say the potential saving work—Jesus’ death on the cross did not create a potential for salvation; it completely paid the penalty for the sins of those who would believe.)

I am very proud of my father and of his strong stand on the truth of God’s Word. My father is the most evangelistic man I know and he is a 5-point Calvinist. In fact, by John Piper’s definition, my father is a 7-point Calvinist. The straw man is exposed and has been burned up by the pragmatic proof. If we believe that God is in complete control of his creation, not only will we share the gospel to all, but we can rest in the assurance that he will draw to him those for whom Christ has shed his blood. Our part: evangelize the world. God’s part: save the elect. We don’t need to do God’s part, nor can we. But we must do ours.