The title explains pretty well the topic.

Recently I’ve been thinking about missions, the presentation of the gospel, the plan of salvation, etc. and I have to say I’m slightly distressed at the way we (specifically the Reformed Christianity sphere) often view salvation and the process that precedes it too lightly.

I don’t claim to have the answers, and I don’t claim to have any authority on these matters. I guess these are just my young-person comments on big issues. I’ll try to keep this (rant) as short as possible, but I do know these are very important issues we should keep in our heads and on our hearts, and I’m grouping them all under the title with which I named this post.

  1. Often we are too Arminian in our practice – I’m assuing my readers are more reformed, but I may be making a false assumption. I don’t want to wave my banner for Calvin (although I would consider myself to hold fairly Calvinist theology), but I do want to wave my banner for the sovereignty of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s heart. When we as Christians push and push and push, as if their decision to repent and trust needs to happen now, we overshadow the principle represented in John 6:44. While hypercalvinism can lead to apathy, lethargy, and unconcern with missions, I believe the worst medicine for a nonchristian is to tell him “your time is now” (or other similar phrase) or even worse, tell him he’s “now a Christian” if he gives heed. Where’s God in that equation? Sharing the gospel isn’t like marketing an infomercial. While the gift is far greater than that of a commercial, and the alternate consequences far more dire, our job is not to sell a product. Our job is to present the Truth, and pray with humble hearts that God moves. This doesn’t rule out persistency, but it does rule out falsehood. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t discourage a man from every day, continually sharing the gospel with his neighbor and never saying “he must not be predestined!” Far be it from us to decide whom God has called, either for his kingdom or not! That’s where there is error in hypercalvinism (which can turn into giving up on people due to belief that they have not been called) or hyperarminianism (which can turn into pressing people into belief that they have been saved when their heart remains lost). And in the end, that’s where there is frequent error in our missional theology. Our job is not to convince the nonchristian to turn to Jesus. Our job is to present the Truth and allow the Spirit to do the convincing. Go! Go to the nations. Go and don’t stop, and share with all the peoples, and do not convince yourself someone is not destined. But at the same time, leave the saving up to God. Leave the true Work to the sovereign will of the Father. If we don’t do that, we can create eternally fatal illusions.
  2. Often we are too weighted in our presentation – I mentioned this in the Great Driscoll Debate earlier. Sourcoating and sugarcoating the gospel and our biblical messages occurs often in our presentation. For arrogant people like myself, we tend to sugarcoat things to get people in and then sourcoat them when we know we have them in our hand. Ack! Truth is the key! Jesus is the key! Not churning out numbers or converts, and not churning out crazy, off-the-wall, unloving content. Sugarcoating undermines the direness of Hell and eternal damnation and sourcoating undermines the infinite love of God. The gospel is wonderfully, beautifully the marriage of human hate and heavenly love, wordly deceit and Godly truth, carnal idolatry and eternal glory. When we skimp out on either end, or overextend either end, we undermine the true beauty of the gospel and taint the missional waters flowing from our bosom.
  3. Often we are too incomplete in our purpose – At the end of the day, we often have good intentions. We recognize the work of the Spirit in our hearts and lives, and want others to see and hear that love that their hearts might be changed too. I pray though that we don’t compact it. Salvation isn’t a choice change, it’s a life change. I don’t disagree with preaching that salvation is free (heck, if we didn’t, we’d be preaching salavation by works) but to say it doesn’t cost you anything I think stretches the boundaries. Repentence costs you your life. You don’t have your own will or life or heart when you turn to God through Jesus Christ. Your life is not your own anymore. I know there’s nothing truly theologically wrong with saying “It doesn’t cost you anything” (beacuse technically, there’s no transaction that occurs, if so, salvation would not be a gift) but I believe that can be decieving, especially to those who don’t fully yet understand the whole message. I believe that that can turn into a different philosophy (I do what I want, but I still dig Jesus) which is completely heretical. I’m not trying to be legalist by saying we can’t say certain things, let’s just make sure we make it clear that we’re giving up everything. We’re giving up our own will, choices, everything that matters to us and laying them at the foot of the Cross. If we don’t live our lives afterwards surrendered constantly to Christ, we’re still secure in the hand of Jesus, but, crap, we’ve lost the full beauty of what we trusted in! We’re not treasuring Christ as we did when.. well.. uh.. we told him we would when we were saved. I think we need to think ahead when we present the gospel. “Yes, you are saved, yes you’re eternally secure, but now that you are, seek after God! Yes, the spirit will draw you, yes, His sheep hear His voice, but make sure you’re listening! Treasure the Person you trusted in! Truly recognize the signicifance of your decision!” Vacuum-sealing, freeze-drying, shrink-wrapping the gospel and the Christian life can be a pitfall for effective and Christ-glorifying ministry. It’s serious stuff.

Okay, I’m done. Thoughts on anything?

-Riley