y father co-authored a book on evangelism. The book project was put on hold a while back, but I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy of the first few chapters. 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.
Awesome! This is very encouraging. I can hardly wait to read the book he is writing.
ReplyDeleteMy father's co-author has had some health issues and this has been put on a back burner for a while. I'll check with me father to see if he'd be okay with me sending you his portion.
ReplyDeleteYou might also be interested in a blog my father set up for a Sunday school class he taught a while back. The blog is not active now because that class has finished - but there's some really good stuff there.
My father's co-author has had some health issues and this has been put on a back burner for a while. I'll check with my father to see if he'd be okay with me sending you his portion.
You might also be interested in a blog my father set up for a Sunday school class he taught a while back. The blog is not active now because that class has finished - but there's some really good stuff there.
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That would be great if he is willing to do that. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI'll check out the blog too.
Once again, it comes home that we as evangelicals need to be EVANGELIZING!! We need to start walking in obedience and let God change the heart and through the changed heart, change the culture. Our job is to "Go make disciples". Let's live up to it!!
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