I was reading a quote by G. Campbell Morgan to share it on Facebook but then I hesitated: "The man who does as he likes is the greatest slave. The man who never does as he likes is God's free man." As a born-again believer, I understand clearly what he means, as he echoes Paul: "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness but, rather, offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the Law but under grace" (Rom. 6:11-14 NIV). The man or woman who "does whatever they want to," referring to living a life of sin and in sin, is the greatest slave--a slave to sin (Rom. 6:16). The woman or man who does not "do whatever their sin nature wants to" are God's freed mortal--a slave to righteousness (Rom. 6:17, 18). But then I thought how many of my unsaved friends might misinterpret Morgan's quote.
What if my unsaved friends interpret Morgan's quote, with no context granted, and think to themselves: "So, if I can restrain my bad / sinful / evil desires and be a good person and do good to others, I can avoid Hell and go to Heaven when I die." Though, honestly, we who believe know that the unsaved cannot restrain their sinful nature and live a life of holiness--even if they think they can. Do you ever wonder how what you post online is interpreted by the unsaved? I do--so much so that I actually avoid posting certain memes because, first, I would have to explain the quote and give context in order for everyone to rightly understand what was said so that, then, the quote would lose its effect as it stands alone. I have Paul's words burned into my mind and spirit: "The person without the [indwelling Holy] Spirit does not accept [receive] the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness--and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:14 NIV).
Incidentally, I have also avoided posting prayers, verses of Scripture and theological memes because 1) I don't want the unsaved to misunderstand what is posted and end up believing wrongly; 2) I know many of my unsaved friends who unfollow their "religious" friends who post too much of the same because they get exhausted from encountering "Jesus talk" all the time (and they have actually confided in me to that effect); and 3) I don't want anyone to think that I am so unattainably holy, entirely purified and sanctified, or that I secretly think such about myself, when I'm just a struggling believer like everyone else. I fight the same flesh, the same devil, and the same world as any other believer in Jesus (1 John 2:15-17). But I am quite concerned about the effects of all-things-Gospel-related and the secular world, their language, and their ideology / worldview.
PERHAPS I CARE TOO MUCH
There is an unhealthy fear in the Christian that can silence his witness and I often challenge myself to see if my motive for not sharing a spiritual and eternal truth is for fear of misunderstanding / misinterpretation, fear of retaliation or backlash, or mere fear that my unsaved friends won't like it and, hence, won't like me. I don't want to be that obnoxious believer who, as some say, shove religion down the throats of others. But I think I should also conclude: To some unbelievers, no matter what you say religiously, they are going to be offended. Granted, some unbelievers don't care, and they just brush off all-things-Christian as a tinge of fanaticism in the Christian. But others can be quite zealously disgusted and frustrated with religious talk and religious memes and religious bumper stickers, etc., and by "religious" they really mean Christianity. Such people may say, "Hey, it's your social media account, and you can post whatever you want," while they either unfollow you quietly or merely skip all of your posts, assuming that everything you post is going to be Christianesque. Truly the apostle Paul writes such about them: "For the Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing" (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18, 23). He refers to "the offense of the Cross" (Gal. 5:11) regarding those who easily become annoyed and frustrated and disgusted with Christianity--the Gospel, Salvation from Sin and Hell, faith in Jesus, the Cross, the Resurrection, etc.
Bringing a healthy spiritual balance to social media can be tricky for me. I want to post far more than I actually do because Scripture presents us with the Revelation of God Himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and how God delights in bringing glory to Himself in not only the salvation of sinners but also in our everyday lives--the bad as well as the good days. I was just reminded, however, that God's Word "shall not return to [Him] empty, but it shall accomplish that which [He] purposes, and shall succeed in the thing for which [He] sent it" (Isa. 55:11 ESV). The hard truth of the matter is this: If I am posting the Word of God--which is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12 ESV)--and an unbeliever becomes angry, that response is part of the purpose for which God sends His Word. You ask: "Do you mean to say that the proclamation of the Word of God is used of God to make some people angry?" In a sense, yes, that is what I mean. "For the Word of the Cross is folly [nonsense and silly] to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18; Rom. 1:16, 17). Their angry response to the Word of God is revealing.
Think about Paul's words: "And even if [the glory / light / truth of] our Gospel is veiled, [the glory / light / truth of the Gospel] is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor. 4:3-4 ESV). Every single time an unbeliever hardens her heart against the truth of the Gospel of Jesus, she becomes more and more distant from God's saving grace, and she is storing up for herself wrath for the Day of Wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed (Rom. 2:5). God's Gospel about the saving work of Jesus is a display of "the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience" and people don't realize that this display of "God's kindness is meant to lead [them] to repentance" (Rom. 2:4).
So I have to remind myself that she is not angry at me. She's angry at God. She hates His ways, His standards, His sovereignty over her existence, His right to demand her repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She resents all of it, and that is why she responds as she does, and so I must resign myself to pray for her all the more. For, unless the Lord, by His "goodness and loving kindness," saves her "according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5 ESV), she will not welcome the Gospel, she will not turn to Christ, she will not be saved but will continue to be angry, frustrated, and spiritually offended by the scriptures I post. I should not be stifled in posting Gospel truths.
But we don't live in a culture that was any more hostile to the Christian Faith than the apostles of Christ in the first (and even second) century. Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen remind us that the believers in the first century were "experiencing not only physical and psychological pressures to conform to the surrounding culture" but also "social antagonism from nonbelievers" to "return to their former lifestyles," as well as "tensions within the Christian community itself, and their own spiritual doubts." People are people no matter what century or what culture. "Peter's audience (re: 1 Peter 3:15), weary of trials they were facing, seems to have been teetering on the brink of giving up."1 Peter encourages the first-century church, as well as us today, that God, by His great mercy, "caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ," and that we are "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed" in the last days (1 Pet. 1:3, 4, 5 NASB). "In this you greatly rejoice," Peter continues, "even though now, for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith ... may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:6-7 NASB).
Peter then adds: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the Name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ... [B]ut if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this Name" (1 Pet. 4:12, 13, 14, 16 NASB). I'm not sure why but I know that I often forget that the very nature of the unbelieving and unsaved culture is to reject Christ and His followers who share the Gospel. They not only do not believe (1 Cor. 2:14a), and cannot believe (1 Cor. 2:14b), but they are actual enemies of the Gospel and of God their Creator (Rom. 5:10). They are not neutral individuals merely indifferent to spiritual matters: they are hostile in their minds and their hearts against God and against His Gospel (Rom. 8:5, 6, 7, 8); and, yet, I am still called of God to proclaim the Gospel to everyone (Matt. 24:14; Acts 1:8; Rom. 10:14, 15, 16, 17). I must remember that sharing the Gospel is not an issue of waging a war of ideas, and Peter was not setting the course for a war of words and
PERHAPS I DON'T CARE ENOUGH
If God uses the Gospel of the Word of God to effect salvation in the lost--and He does (Rom. 1:16, 17; James 1:18)--then I am actually negligent when I withhold the same from the unsaved. No one likes the taste of disgusting medicine--especially gross liquid medicine. But that is what the Gospel is to the unregenerate soul! I must give the medicine of the sin-sick soul whether or not that soul wants it. The problem with the medium of social media for the Gospel is that many can just unfollow me and reject / not receive the medicine that their soul needs. But if I truly care about them then I will give it, post it, just the same. If I truly believe that God is sovereign then I must trust Him that, even if this person or that person rejects the Gospel or some other biblical truth that I post, He will make certain that someone somewhere will see it and will be affected by His own Word and inner spiritual work. The unbelieving world thinks the Word of the Cross is silly but God mocks their reaction (1 Cor. 1:18, 19, 20). God refuses to allow people who think they are wise to find Him through their own so-called wisdom (1 Cor. 1:21). "Jews demand signs" to prove God's Gospel of Jesus is true and Gentiles "look for wisdom," but "we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, [from among] both Jews and Greeks, Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:22-24 NIV).
The saving work of God is performed by God and God alone: "It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, [our] holiness and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30 NIV). No one can save himself, by his own perceived wisdom, or by demanding from God how a person will come to Him (like saying to God: "If You will do this or that then I will believe"). The Word or Message of the Cross is the Word God uses in the salvation of the sinner. So that, if I refuse to proclaim it, then I am shutting off salvation to those about whom I say I care deeply. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" (Rom. 10:14-15 NKJV). How shall they hear or read unless I post it on social media? I am partially joking but also partially serious. People live their daily lives online. If unbelievers refuse to hear / listen to the Gospel on TV, or YouTube (or other venues), and they refuse to attend a church to hear a preacher proclaim the Gospel, and they turn away someone knocking on their door to share the Gospel with them, then they could read a brief biblical truth relating to the Gospel online and be exposed to God's truth. I mean, I'm not trying to trick people into being exposed to the Gospel, but if it is God's means of saving people then do I not care enough about them to get their gaze in that direction when I can?
AS CLEARLY AS POSSIBLE
I am also careful about the words I use to relay the Gospel and biblical truths. Sadly, the world is unchurched, and they simply do not understand biblical language (e.g., sanctification, justification, incarnation, propitiation--amazing words that would require too many words to explain). I want the unsaved to understand what I mean the moment their eyes hit the post so I have to be as clear as possible without compromising biblical, covenantal, and eternal truths. (I assume I'm writing to believers and that is why I can use these words without explanations.) When I encounter a new believer, or someone who is at least politely listening to my brief presentation, I will quickly use the New Living Translation (NLT). This is a conservative, trustworthy translation, not a paraphrase (please do not call it a paraphrase and reveal your ignorance), coming from conservative, trustworthy biblical scholars, including Drs. Daniel Bock, Eugene Carpenter, Paul House, Eugene Merrill, Tremper Longman III, Richard Pratt, Raymond Ortlund, Jr., Craig Blomberg, Gary Burge, D.A. Carson, Douglas Moo, Thomas Schreiner, Harold W. Hoehner, Moisés Silva, Greg Beale and Robert Mounce, et al. (Incidentally, the NLT Illustrated Study Bible is also an amazing body of work that I use and highly recommend.) The apostle Paul writes: "Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about His mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this Message as clearly as I should" (Col. 4:3-4 NLT). If Paul is burdened in this manner then how much more I?
He also asks another church: "And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching this Message as God's ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for Him, as I should" (Eph. 6:19-20 NLT). So Paul's passion is that his proclamation of Gospel and biblical truths should be clear and easily understood by his listeners, that God would give him the right words to speak, and that he would do so with boldness. That should be the threefold prayer of us all: "Lord, helps us to be clear, give us the right words to speak (cf. Luke 12:12) and help us be bold--not arrogant, not brash and yelling at people, but with a gentle (Gal. 6:1; Eph. 4:1, 2; Phil. 4:5) yet respectfully bold (Eph. 6:20) confidence in Your power and grace to save the unsaved."
THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
All of the clearest of all the languages on earth, and all boldness in every proclamation, is all for nothing if the Holy Spirit is not bringing conviction and effecting the Gospel within the hearer / reader: the Holy Spirit "will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8 NIV). Jesus said that the Holy Spirit "will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you" (John 16:14 NIV). The late Dr. R.C. Sproul quotes John Calvin to this effect: "people will not be duly persuaded by such objective evidence [of the existence of God and the inerrant revelation of God in the scriptures proving the deity and ministry and atoning death and resurrection of Christ Jesus] until that evidence is reinforced by the ministry and operation of the Holy Spirit."3 But still the Gospel must be proclaimed if anyone is to be saved (Rom. 1:16, 17; 10:14), as well as evidences of God and of Christ and of the scriptures, and of course being ready to "make a defense [a persuasive argument] to everyone who asks [us] to give an account for the hope that is in [us], yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15 NASB). After all, how is a person saved except by "His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5 NASB)?
BURNED OUT
If you have tried sharing your faith with someone today you understand the central role of the Holy Spirit: without His inner work in their hearts and minds you will get nowhere. People seem to be exhausted by seemingly fake TV preachers, heretical prosperity preachers begging for money, talk of Hell, talk of repentance and obedience and holiness, the "God-just-wants-the-best-for-you-blah-blah-blah" messages (yes, I'm looking at you, Joel Osteen, and your wife, and your heretical disciples): the whole country seems like an entirely burned-out area of uninterested Westerners who have little sense or care of sin, its effects upon their own hearts and minds and how that sin offends the holy and just character and nature of God, and they've come to now adopt a false universal "we are all children of God" even though they are not born-again and adopted children of God by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ (John 1:11, 12, 13; 3:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; 5:12, 18, 19, 20, 21; 6:1, 2, 3; Eph. 2:8, 9).
CONCLUSION
If I post something spiritual and biblical online, half of my unsaved and unregenerate friends think I'm including them because "we're all children of God," and the other half are offended, frustrated, and sick and tired of reading the junk. What many call "lifestyle evangelism" isn't working. The mantra "Preach the Gospel at all times--when necessary, use words" has failed miserably. Your perceived Gospel-life is nothing but a goody-goody life to many unsaved people. "Oh, he's such a nice guy, going to church, singing in the choir, carrying his Bible, what a good person." "Oh, she's such a sweet lady, attends church, does good for others. She's a good person." People think niceness and good works get you into Heaven; and, if you try to convince them otherwise, you're thought to be unkind, disruptive, and fanatical. People have no idea what regeneration is, and they don't care, either. They just know that nice people go to Heaven and really evil people go to Hell (and, interestingly enough, they get to decide who those people are). This world is tragic. Our culture is enslaved to the Devil and his fallen, angelic, demonic coworkers. Their language and their ideology betrays them day after day. But of course it does! It always has. But we must proclaim the truth just the same and all the more. Soldier on!
__________
1 Joshua D. Chatraw and Mark D. Allen, Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018), 15.
2 Ibid., 17.
3 R.C. Sproul, Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), 188.
What if my unsaved friends interpret Morgan's quote, with no context granted, and think to themselves: "So, if I can restrain my bad / sinful / evil desires and be a good person and do good to others, I can avoid Hell and go to Heaven when I die." Though, honestly, we who believe know that the unsaved cannot restrain their sinful nature and live a life of holiness--even if they think they can. Do you ever wonder how what you post online is interpreted by the unsaved? I do--so much so that I actually avoid posting certain memes because, first, I would have to explain the quote and give context in order for everyone to rightly understand what was said so that, then, the quote would lose its effect as it stands alone. I have Paul's words burned into my mind and spirit: "The person without the [indwelling Holy] Spirit does not accept [receive] the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness--and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:14 NIV).
Incidentally, I have also avoided posting prayers, verses of Scripture and theological memes because 1) I don't want the unsaved to misunderstand what is posted and end up believing wrongly; 2) I know many of my unsaved friends who unfollow their "religious" friends who post too much of the same because they get exhausted from encountering "Jesus talk" all the time (and they have actually confided in me to that effect); and 3) I don't want anyone to think that I am so unattainably holy, entirely purified and sanctified, or that I secretly think such about myself, when I'm just a struggling believer like everyone else. I fight the same flesh, the same devil, and the same world as any other believer in Jesus (1 John 2:15-17). But I am quite concerned about the effects of all-things-Gospel-related and the secular world, their language, and their ideology / worldview.
PERHAPS I CARE TOO MUCH
There is an unhealthy fear in the Christian that can silence his witness and I often challenge myself to see if my motive for not sharing a spiritual and eternal truth is for fear of misunderstanding / misinterpretation, fear of retaliation or backlash, or mere fear that my unsaved friends won't like it and, hence, won't like me. I don't want to be that obnoxious believer who, as some say, shove religion down the throats of others. But I think I should also conclude: To some unbelievers, no matter what you say religiously, they are going to be offended. Granted, some unbelievers don't care, and they just brush off all-things-Christian as a tinge of fanaticism in the Christian. But others can be quite zealously disgusted and frustrated with religious talk and religious memes and religious bumper stickers, etc., and by "religious" they really mean Christianity. Such people may say, "Hey, it's your social media account, and you can post whatever you want," while they either unfollow you quietly or merely skip all of your posts, assuming that everything you post is going to be Christianesque. Truly the apostle Paul writes such about them: "For the Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing" (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18, 23). He refers to "the offense of the Cross" (Gal. 5:11) regarding those who easily become annoyed and frustrated and disgusted with Christianity--the Gospel, Salvation from Sin and Hell, faith in Jesus, the Cross, the Resurrection, etc.
Bringing a healthy spiritual balance to social media can be tricky for me. I want to post far more than I actually do because Scripture presents us with the Revelation of God Himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and how God delights in bringing glory to Himself in not only the salvation of sinners but also in our everyday lives--the bad as well as the good days. I was just reminded, however, that God's Word "shall not return to [Him] empty, but it shall accomplish that which [He] purposes, and shall succeed in the thing for which [He] sent it" (Isa. 55:11 ESV). The hard truth of the matter is this: If I am posting the Word of God--which is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12 ESV)--and an unbeliever becomes angry, that response is part of the purpose for which God sends His Word. You ask: "Do you mean to say that the proclamation of the Word of God is used of God to make some people angry?" In a sense, yes, that is what I mean. "For the Word of the Cross is folly [nonsense and silly] to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18; Rom. 1:16, 17). Their angry response to the Word of God is revealing.
Think about Paul's words: "And even if [the glory / light / truth of] our Gospel is veiled, [the glory / light / truth of the Gospel] is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor. 4:3-4 ESV). Every single time an unbeliever hardens her heart against the truth of the Gospel of Jesus, she becomes more and more distant from God's saving grace, and she is storing up for herself wrath for the Day of Wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed (Rom. 2:5). God's Gospel about the saving work of Jesus is a display of "the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience" and people don't realize that this display of "God's kindness is meant to lead [them] to repentance" (Rom. 2:4).
So I have to remind myself that she is not angry at me. She's angry at God. She hates His ways, His standards, His sovereignty over her existence, His right to demand her repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She resents all of it, and that is why she responds as she does, and so I must resign myself to pray for her all the more. For, unless the Lord, by His "goodness and loving kindness," saves her "according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5 ESV), she will not welcome the Gospel, she will not turn to Christ, she will not be saved but will continue to be angry, frustrated, and spiritually offended by the scriptures I post. I should not be stifled in posting Gospel truths.
But we don't live in a culture that was any more hostile to the Christian Faith than the apostles of Christ in the first (and even second) century. Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen remind us that the believers in the first century were "experiencing not only physical and psychological pressures to conform to the surrounding culture" but also "social antagonism from nonbelievers" to "return to their former lifestyles," as well as "tensions within the Christian community itself, and their own spiritual doubts." People are people no matter what century or what culture. "Peter's audience (re: 1 Peter 3:15), weary of trials they were facing, seems to have been teetering on the brink of giving up."1 Peter encourages the first-century church, as well as us today, that God, by His great mercy, "caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ," and that we are "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed" in the last days (1 Pet. 1:3, 4, 5 NASB). "In this you greatly rejoice," Peter continues, "even though now, for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith ... may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:6-7 NASB).
Peter then adds: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the Name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ... [B]ut if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this Name" (1 Pet. 4:12, 13, 14, 16 NASB). I'm not sure why but I know that I often forget that the very nature of the unbelieving and unsaved culture is to reject Christ and His followers who share the Gospel. They not only do not believe (1 Cor. 2:14a), and cannot believe (1 Cor. 2:14b), but they are actual enemies of the Gospel and of God their Creator (Rom. 5:10). They are not neutral individuals merely indifferent to spiritual matters: they are hostile in their minds and their hearts against God and against His Gospel (Rom. 8:5, 6, 7, 8); and, yet, I am still called of God to proclaim the Gospel to everyone (Matt. 24:14; Acts 1:8; Rom. 10:14, 15, 16, 17). I must remember that sharing the Gospel is not an issue of waging a war of ideas, and Peter was not setting the course for a war of words and
pitting Christians against unbelievers. ... Peter sets the tone for apologetic conversations by giving a persecuted community hope and by encouraging them to endure with joy. Peter gave downtrodden Christians not a triumphalist call to throw intellectual knockout punches for Jesus but, rather, level-headed instructions using words and phrases like 'gentleness,' 'respect,' 'a clear conscience' and 'good behavoir.' As theologian Kevin Vanhoozer notes, 'Peter's focus is not on what to say but on how to say it.' In the face of the gauntlet laid down by the Gospel's opponents, Peter called the Christian community to reasoned answers, a humble spirit, and joy. We call this approach 'apologetics at the cross.'2I don't know about you but I cringe when I see Christians in the streets yelling at people with their megaphones to repent, screaming that they're going to Hell, and that their liberal and Woke ideology is tearing the world apart, rendering certain their eternal destiny in Hell, and that God hates wicked evildoers and LGBTQ folks, but He will save you if you call upon Him through His Son Jesus Christ. I wonder how many people actually come to saving faith by their shouting efforts. I wonder, too, exactly how is that method gentle, respectful, and used of the Holy Spirit. Before I was saved, I was never drawn to people shouting such stuff at me in the streets, but I would listen to the calm-natured words of my father who would tell me the Gospel when I was steeped in sin. As a matter of fact, one of those phone calls was what the Lord used to bring about my conversion and salvation, the gentle and respectfully presented Gospel of Jesus Christ. If God uses the Gospel to save people then I must share the Gospel.
PERHAPS I DON'T CARE ENOUGH
If God uses the Gospel of the Word of God to effect salvation in the lost--and He does (Rom. 1:16, 17; James 1:18)--then I am actually negligent when I withhold the same from the unsaved. No one likes the taste of disgusting medicine--especially gross liquid medicine. But that is what the Gospel is to the unregenerate soul! I must give the medicine of the sin-sick soul whether or not that soul wants it. The problem with the medium of social media for the Gospel is that many can just unfollow me and reject / not receive the medicine that their soul needs. But if I truly care about them then I will give it, post it, just the same. If I truly believe that God is sovereign then I must trust Him that, even if this person or that person rejects the Gospel or some other biblical truth that I post, He will make certain that someone somewhere will see it and will be affected by His own Word and inner spiritual work. The unbelieving world thinks the Word of the Cross is silly but God mocks their reaction (1 Cor. 1:18, 19, 20). God refuses to allow people who think they are wise to find Him through their own so-called wisdom (1 Cor. 1:21). "Jews demand signs" to prove God's Gospel of Jesus is true and Gentiles "look for wisdom," but "we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, [from among] both Jews and Greeks, Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:22-24 NIV).
The saving work of God is performed by God and God alone: "It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, [our] holiness and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30 NIV). No one can save himself, by his own perceived wisdom, or by demanding from God how a person will come to Him (like saying to God: "If You will do this or that then I will believe"). The Word or Message of the Cross is the Word God uses in the salvation of the sinner. So that, if I refuse to proclaim it, then I am shutting off salvation to those about whom I say I care deeply. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" (Rom. 10:14-15 NKJV). How shall they hear or read unless I post it on social media? I am partially joking but also partially serious. People live their daily lives online. If unbelievers refuse to hear / listen to the Gospel on TV, or YouTube (or other venues), and they refuse to attend a church to hear a preacher proclaim the Gospel, and they turn away someone knocking on their door to share the Gospel with them, then they could read a brief biblical truth relating to the Gospel online and be exposed to God's truth. I mean, I'm not trying to trick people into being exposed to the Gospel, but if it is God's means of saving people then do I not care enough about them to get their gaze in that direction when I can?
AS CLEARLY AS POSSIBLE
I am also careful about the words I use to relay the Gospel and biblical truths. Sadly, the world is unchurched, and they simply do not understand biblical language (e.g., sanctification, justification, incarnation, propitiation--amazing words that would require too many words to explain). I want the unsaved to understand what I mean the moment their eyes hit the post so I have to be as clear as possible without compromising biblical, covenantal, and eternal truths. (I assume I'm writing to believers and that is why I can use these words without explanations.) When I encounter a new believer, or someone who is at least politely listening to my brief presentation, I will quickly use the New Living Translation (NLT). This is a conservative, trustworthy translation, not a paraphrase (please do not call it a paraphrase and reveal your ignorance), coming from conservative, trustworthy biblical scholars, including Drs. Daniel Bock, Eugene Carpenter, Paul House, Eugene Merrill, Tremper Longman III, Richard Pratt, Raymond Ortlund, Jr., Craig Blomberg, Gary Burge, D.A. Carson, Douglas Moo, Thomas Schreiner, Harold W. Hoehner, Moisés Silva, Greg Beale and Robert Mounce, et al. (Incidentally, the NLT Illustrated Study Bible is also an amazing body of work that I use and highly recommend.) The apostle Paul writes: "Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about His mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this Message as clearly as I should" (Col. 4:3-4 NLT). If Paul is burdened in this manner then how much more I?
He also asks another church: "And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching this Message as God's ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for Him, as I should" (Eph. 6:19-20 NLT). So Paul's passion is that his proclamation of Gospel and biblical truths should be clear and easily understood by his listeners, that God would give him the right words to speak, and that he would do so with boldness. That should be the threefold prayer of us all: "Lord, helps us to be clear, give us the right words to speak (cf. Luke 12:12) and help us be bold--not arrogant, not brash and yelling at people, but with a gentle (Gal. 6:1; Eph. 4:1, 2; Phil. 4:5) yet respectfully bold (Eph. 6:20) confidence in Your power and grace to save the unsaved."
THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
All of the clearest of all the languages on earth, and all boldness in every proclamation, is all for nothing if the Holy Spirit is not bringing conviction and effecting the Gospel within the hearer / reader: the Holy Spirit "will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8 NIV). Jesus said that the Holy Spirit "will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you" (John 16:14 NIV). The late Dr. R.C. Sproul quotes John Calvin to this effect: "people will not be duly persuaded by such objective evidence [of the existence of God and the inerrant revelation of God in the scriptures proving the deity and ministry and atoning death and resurrection of Christ Jesus] until that evidence is reinforced by the ministry and operation of the Holy Spirit."3 But still the Gospel must be proclaimed if anyone is to be saved (Rom. 1:16, 17; 10:14), as well as evidences of God and of Christ and of the scriptures, and of course being ready to "make a defense [a persuasive argument] to everyone who asks [us] to give an account for the hope that is in [us], yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15 NASB). After all, how is a person saved except by "His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5 NASB)?
BURNED OUT
If you have tried sharing your faith with someone today you understand the central role of the Holy Spirit: without His inner work in their hearts and minds you will get nowhere. People seem to be exhausted by seemingly fake TV preachers, heretical prosperity preachers begging for money, talk of Hell, talk of repentance and obedience and holiness, the "God-just-wants-the-best-for-you-blah-blah-blah" messages (yes, I'm looking at you, Joel Osteen, and your wife, and your heretical disciples): the whole country seems like an entirely burned-out area of uninterested Westerners who have little sense or care of sin, its effects upon their own hearts and minds and how that sin offends the holy and just character and nature of God, and they've come to now adopt a false universal "we are all children of God" even though they are not born-again and adopted children of God by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ (John 1:11, 12, 13; 3:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; 5:12, 18, 19, 20, 21; 6:1, 2, 3; Eph. 2:8, 9).
CONCLUSION
If I post something spiritual and biblical online, half of my unsaved and unregenerate friends think I'm including them because "we're all children of God," and the other half are offended, frustrated, and sick and tired of reading the junk. What many call "lifestyle evangelism" isn't working. The mantra "Preach the Gospel at all times--when necessary, use words" has failed miserably. Your perceived Gospel-life is nothing but a goody-goody life to many unsaved people. "Oh, he's such a nice guy, going to church, singing in the choir, carrying his Bible, what a good person." "Oh, she's such a sweet lady, attends church, does good for others. She's a good person." People think niceness and good works get you into Heaven; and, if you try to convince them otherwise, you're thought to be unkind, disruptive, and fanatical. People have no idea what regeneration is, and they don't care, either. They just know that nice people go to Heaven and really evil people go to Hell (and, interestingly enough, they get to decide who those people are). This world is tragic. Our culture is enslaved to the Devil and his fallen, angelic, demonic coworkers. Their language and their ideology betrays them day after day. But of course it does! It always has. But we must proclaim the truth just the same and all the more. Soldier on!
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1 Joshua D. Chatraw and Mark D. Allen, Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018), 15.
2 Ibid., 17.
3 R.C. Sproul, Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), 188.
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