One Reason We Struggle with Evangelism

Mike Leake

cards-casino-chips-39856I’ve been slowly working my way through the works of Francis Schaeffer. What I read this morning was deeply convicting. Schaeffer was discussing his strategy of “taking the roof off” the lives of unbelievers. By doing this, he knew that his goal was to lead a person to despair. He wrestled with this a bit but came to the conclusion that if Christianity is true then it’s the most loving thing to do. Here are his words:

We cannot do this until we have personally faced the question as to whether the Judeo-Christian system is true in the way we have been speaking of truth. When we are certain about this for ourselves, then if we love men we shall have the courage to life the roof off other people’s lives and expose them to the collapse of their defenses. We ourselves, as we face these people, must have the integrity to continue to live open to the questions: Does God exist? Is the content of the Judeo-Christian system truth? (Schaeffer, 144)

This was convicting to me because I had to confess one of the reasons why I sometimes struggle with evangelism is because of a lurking and nagging unbelief. I’m convinced that many of us functionally have nothing more than a Pascal’s wager faith. What do I mean by that? I mean a faith which is merely hedging our bets.

If you aren’t familiar with it, this is Pascal’s wager. There are four basic options:

  • Option #1: You believe and God does exist. This leads to infinite gain.
  • Option #2: You believe and God does not exist. This leads (according to Paschal) to minimal loss.
  • Option #3: You don’t believe and God does exist. This leads to infinite loss.
  • Option #4: You don’t believe and God does not exist. This leads to minimal gain.

According to Paschal it is safer to believe in God even if there is no evidence that He exists. The problem, though, is that this is not biblical belief and faith.

If I believe simply because I think it’s safer, then I’m doing nothing more than hedging my bets. Nobody dies for a hedged bet. You don’t take the gospel to areas of violent opposition “just in case” it is true.

A person that hedges his bets could come to the end of his life–find out that God did not really exist–and still be able to say, “Well at least I still had ______”. Such a life is foreign to that envisioned by the apostles. Consider Peter’s words in John 6: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Peter was all-in. He wasn’t hedging his bets. If Jesus isn’t who he says he is, then Peter has nothing.

Or consider Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Why are we of all people most to be pitied? Because we’ve foolishly thrown away everything for a farce.

You’ve got to ask yourself today, do I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only way to the Father or do I not? Enough of this living as if belief in Jesus is just a safe bet. It isn’t a safe bet. It’s an all-in bet or it’s nothing.

And if I’m all-in then I’d do well to engage in thoughtful evangelism. Thoughtful evangelism is confident enough to take the blows delivered from unbelief and tear the roof off, for their good and for the glory of God.

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Adapted from here.

Photo source: here

Read This! 08.02.18

Mike Leake

3 Reasons Greeter Ministries Are Still Relevant

We are focusing on this particular ministry at present.

11 Reasons Some Pastors Leave a Church Too Soon

God is sovereign. I’d also say that statistically speaking we pastors are more apt to leave “too soon” than “too late”.

10 Lessons for Growing Older

This was published on my 37th birthday.

Love Your Church’s Young Adults

A companion piece on loving senior adults would be helpful too. I also appreciate the main point here that we are called to love young adults and not stereotype them.

Can Your Soul Really Survive Social Media?

I don’t think we’ll seriously try to answer this question because we fear the answer.

Jesus Understands Your Loneliness

It’s hard to believe that the one who knows every heart somehow understands loneliness.

Is Your Church Really Focused on Evangelism? Maybe Not.

Given our statistics I’m not sure how a majority of churches could be focused on evangelism.

No, You Probably Don’t Have a Book in You

Ouch. But likely true.

I really don’t know why I like watching this stuff:

Read This! 07.31.18

Mike Leake

When the Preaching Fire Burns…And When it Goes Out

I’ve been on both sides of this one.

Give Your Children All of Your Attention. Some of the Time.

I really appreciate the way this is worded.

How a Book is Made

This is the process that The Good Book publishing company follows.

When Your Christian Liberty Becomes a Sin

Amen.

If I Could Change One Thing in My Church, It Would Be…

My answer? The pastor.

When Re-Conversion Is Easier Than Repentance

I’ve noticed this as well, particularly in student ministry.

Pastoral Burnout: Its Causes and Cures

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Should Churches Go Into Debt?

He doesn’t give an absolute answer, but highlights how much caution should be given to going into debt.

Paul Washer was once abducted in Peru, and his response is quite amazing:

Baptists Don’t Re-Baptize

Mike Leake 27 Comments

jong-marshes-458354-unsplashI was sucked into the black hole that is Reddit the other day. In one particular group I saw a post with this little joke:

Baptists: If a Presbyterian was married as an unbeliever wanted to join your church, would he have to be “re-married” to become a member?

The joke here is that we Baptist will not accept into membership those who were “baptized” as infants. We require them to be “re-baptized”.

Except we don’t.

I understand from the position of an outsider looking in that we are requiring someone to do something that they’ve already done. And so it’s fitting to ask why aren’t we consist and require someone to be re-married if they were married before belief. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding of our actual position.

Think of it this way. If a child acquires 1,000 dollars in Monopoly money and then attempts to purchase the latest gaming system, he’ll be leaving the store empty handed. If later on the child comes to actually possess 1,000 dollars of legal tender, his previous attempted transaction is not suddenly valid. You can never purchase a gaming system with monopoly money. It isn’t legal tender. Likewise you can never be baptized as an unbeliever. It isn’t baptism.

Now I understand that those who believe in paedobaptism will have qualms with my analogy. That’s not my point. I’m not attempting to argue credo v. paedo baptism. I’m simply trying to say that the argument isn’t about whether or not you should be re-baptized. The crux of the argument is about what constitutes baptism. Is infant baptism valid. If it is valid, then we as Baptists have no rights to require someone to be “re-baptized”. But if it isn’t valid, then we aren’t requiring “re-baptism” we are requiring initial baptism.  If you’ve never actually been baptized then you need to be baptized. According to our position, being sprinkled as an infant, being immersed as an unbeliever, or any such thing is not an actual baptism.

So, Baptists don’t re-baptize. We baptize.

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Photo by Jong Marshes on Unsplash