InSlaveryToChrist
Puritan Board Junior
God is the center of all things. Everything is from Him and to Him. For us, this means that likeness to God should be our highest and endless goal of existence. But this goal is not only our duty, but, through proper thinking and understanding, it is also our happiness, and thus our motivation for fulfilling the duty.
When we think about evangelism in general, one factor is always emphasized to motivate the sinner to run from hell to Christ, namely, the personality of the Gospel, that is, that the Gospel is for "me". We should be very careful to note that the Bible does NOT use this kind of language. It is very similar to it, but there is a difference. Sinners who receive the Gospel in the texts of the Bible, never emphasize the personality, but rather the sinfulness of themselves. Without proper use of hermeneutics, passages like the following can easily be misunderstood:
"We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)
We love God because He first loved "us". Who is the "us"? SINNERS. We love God (or, at least, should love), because He loved sinners like us. Do you see the emphasis here and the obvious conclusion? We should love God for being merciful to sinners in general. There is nothing whatsoever in us -- other than our sinfulness -- that should work as a catalyst to motivate us to serve God in hearing the Gospel, and thus it is simple selfishness of us to receive the Gospel on those terms.
How does this affect our evangelism? We do not stress the fact that salvation is for the sinner personally, but that the salvation is for such a sinner like him/her. It is mandatory to make the sinner understand God is to be our highest motivation for absolutely anything, and nothing in us. If you love the fact that God loved you, there should be just as much reason to love God because He loved sinners like you, and ultimately, because He IS merciful in His nature.
I hope everyone reads the above patiently. Feel free to comment and give me your thoughts on this.
When we think about evangelism in general, one factor is always emphasized to motivate the sinner to run from hell to Christ, namely, the personality of the Gospel, that is, that the Gospel is for "me". We should be very careful to note that the Bible does NOT use this kind of language. It is very similar to it, but there is a difference. Sinners who receive the Gospel in the texts of the Bible, never emphasize the personality, but rather the sinfulness of themselves. Without proper use of hermeneutics, passages like the following can easily be misunderstood:
"We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)
We love God because He first loved "us". Who is the "us"? SINNERS. We love God (or, at least, should love), because He loved sinners like us. Do you see the emphasis here and the obvious conclusion? We should love God for being merciful to sinners in general. There is nothing whatsoever in us -- other than our sinfulness -- that should work as a catalyst to motivate us to serve God in hearing the Gospel, and thus it is simple selfishness of us to receive the Gospel on those terms.
How does this affect our evangelism? We do not stress the fact that salvation is for the sinner personally, but that the salvation is for such a sinner like him/her. It is mandatory to make the sinner understand God is to be our highest motivation for absolutely anything, and nothing in us. If you love the fact that God loved you, there should be just as much reason to love God because He loved sinners like you, and ultimately, because He IS merciful in His nature.
I hope everyone reads the above patiently. Feel free to comment and give me your thoughts on this.