I am pleased to announce the availability of a new booklet to introduce people to the gospel. It's entitled: How Can I Know Eternal Life? Click on the title above for a description and preview of sample pages.
"How can I know eternal life?" Shouldn't the question be, how can I have eternal life? Isn't salvation something believers possess?
"Have" would work in the title. After all, the sure promise of eternal life is precious to those who have trusted in Jesus Christ. The joy of sins forgiven stands as a gift, offered from the gracious hand of God to all who will repent and believe. Removal of sin's guilt that renders us odious before a holy God, deliverance from sin's power that pulls us down into the pit of hell, provision of the cloak of spotless righteousness earned on our behalf--the gospel of life in Jesus Christ contains all these. That gospel is a gift and the hope of its recipients stands as a present possession.
Yet the gospel is more. It brings something greater than a treasure trove of gifts. It brings us the Giver Himself. In His high priestly prayer recorded in John 17 that showcases the glory of the gospel and the personal involvement of God in all its facets, Jesus surprises us with His description of eternal life.
"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (v. 4)
Eternal life involves not just having. It reaches to the redemptive heights of knowing God, knowing Him in restored, reconciled relationship. The Christian life embarks on the journey of growing in the grace and knowledge of this God, where goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of our God forever, not as guests but as His children, not temporarily but for eternity.
(Below is the third (of 3)installment of the CHOP Ministry Manual (p. 12), preparing participants for involvement in strategic prayer outreach to those among whom God has placed them.)
As we look to embark upon a ministry of reaching others for Christ what bearings are we given? The land we survey gives us a panorama of grace, a grace that has swept us up in its current, a grace that oxygenates and invigorates our existence in this world, and a grace that qualifies and empowers our role as ambassadors of Christ. We enjoy the standing we do only by the grace of God. His grace sustains us each and every day, leading us away from self-focus and self-dependence to find our strength and sufficiency in Christ (Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7). His grace has given us new hope, a new identity and a new home and His grace will lead us home.
With these bearings, as ones who have received every spiritual blessing in Christ because of the grace of God and who are stationed as His witnesses in this world, we turn to how we can be faithful to carry out that role. CHOP is a tool designed to equip, engage and encourage us in faithful service to our Lord as instruments of grace in His hand for the spreading of the sure hope of the gospel.
(Excerpt from Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual, Outreach Orientation, pp. 11-12)
As part of this new kingdom of hope, joy and peace, we enjoy not only the blessings of heavenly citizenship, we find ourselves as subjects and servants of a new King, workers in His vineyard, soldiers of His kingdom. No longer is this world our home. Rather we are citizens of heaven, aliens and pilgrims in this world, not occupied with building our own kingdoms or enhancing our own reputations but concerned with Christ’s kingdom priorities and values, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. In this sojourning our Lord calls us to be ambassadors of hope, declaring to those around us without God and without hope (Eph. 2:12), the sure hope of the gospel wherein a perfect righteousness is found in Christ apart from our own efforts at obedience to God’s law (Rom 3:19-24).
Our lives bear witness to this God of hope both in word and in deed. The character of our lives is to point others not to how great we are but to how great is our God (1 Pet. 2:11). That our behavior might not point to us or to any notion that salvation is by our good behavior, we are to give interpretation to our deeds as the Lord provides opportunity by verbal explanation for the hope we have (1 Pet. 3:15). Our lives are governed by the reality that Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds we are healed. We were as sheep gone astray, but now by the grace of God we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. (1 Pet. 2:24f; cf. Is. 53:4-6). Our lives are His and we live for Him.
(Excerpt from Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual, Outreach Orientation, p. 11)
Our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to Himself to belong to Him and to follow Him. He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness that imprisoned us in sin’s mastery, misery and condemnation. He has brought us into His kingdom of light and life, the very ground and reason for our worship (1 Pet. 2:9f.). Through Him we are sons and daughters of the living God, servants of the Most High.
Hope. To us belongs a hope, not a “hope-so” hope of wishful thinking but a hope of confident expectation, assured conviction and vibrant certainty. Ours is not futile hype, but a fertile hope grounded in the historical work of Jesus Christ. As the writer of Hebrews puts it: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” (Heb. 6:19-20a). This hope points to the finished, victorious, redemptive work of Jesus on our behalf that secures our salvation and secures us as heirs of eternal life. The apostle Peter exclaims the praises of such a God who graciously gives us new birth into a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3), in which our inheritance is held for us (1 Pet. 1:4) and we are held in His mighty hand for our inheritance (1 Pet. 1:5). We live out our days in anticipation of the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Every day of our lives we live as the redeemed of the Lord, children of hope (1 Thess. 5:5), different from those of the world who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). As we walk by faith, God fills our lives with faith, hope and love, causing us to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).
I must admit in my unbelief I did not have high hopes that anyone in my neighborhood would respond to the invitations I gave out letting them know of a Christianity Explored study in my home. Christianity Explored is a 10-week study in the Gospel of Mark that addresses three basic questions: who Jesus is, what He did, and what that means to them. At first I didn’t hear anything. Then after a couple of weeks, I received one email telling me they’d like to attend, then another, then another asking if they could bring a friend. We started with six neighbors plus my wife and myself. As people got into it, they asked if they could invite others. We built from 6 to 8 to 9 and leveled off at ten. For some, they had never been part of a Bible study before.
Several weeks into the study, I received an email from the brother of one of the participants. He commented on how his sister was enjoying the time and then he said this: “I have been a Christian for 20 years now and have been praying for my family that whole time to give their lives to Christ and this seems to be a big answer.”
He thanked me “for being there and for [my] obedience to following God’s lead.” While his words were very meaningful to me and a wonderful encouragement from God, they were just trickle added to the river of blessing I was receiving by God in getting to know these neighbors and being a conduit for Christ in their lives.
How humbling it is to think of our being an answer to others’ prayers! Yet should that surprise us? After all, it is not angels that God uses to reach our neighbors with the gospel of life in Christ. How urgent it is that we prove faithful to our call. Just as we might pray for unbelieving family and friends, asking God to raise up influences for Christ in their lives, so we might find ourselves that answer to the same prayer by others.
I met with a Christian brother recently who has been vigorously trying to get the Community Houses of Prayer ministry started in his local church. I've always admired this brother for his administrative skills and wizened ways. He knows the patience and perseverance involved in establishing new ideas, and he has exhibited this approach with CHOP in his church--starting small, building an enthusiastic nucleus, trying to bring influential leaders on board, working with appropriate committees. So far he has some enthusiasts who have seen the power of prayer, experienced the heart of God and transformed their mentality as witnesses for Christ through the CHOP ministry. But overall he has encountered apathy and even annoyance.
It seems his church has a mentality of mission that looks to foreign soil. Mission affects them as supporters of "missionaries." There is little sense of or interest in personal witness and how God might use them for the sake the gospel. Complicating matters is the academic approach of the church that is happy to be instructed in theology but reluctant to be involved in its practice. Discipleship stops at education at the expense of being equipped and engaged in service to Christ.
I'm sure these are generalizations and it would be wrong to paint each member of that church with the brush that colors the whole. However, it does highlight a problem with the church militant and the forces of Christ for the sake of gospel and advancement of kingdom of our Lord. It seems to me the culprits are lack of love for God and neighbor, absence of commitment to Jesus Christ and an obstinate view of the church as an outpost of Christ's kingdom.
I would value my readers' thoughts and opinions on the subject. I would also enjoin each us to importunate prayer, giving God no rest until He restores His church to the action of faith that believes the gospel is the only hope of salvation and that we are His appointed conduits.
Someone lamented to me this week how urgent it is for us as Christ's church to involve ourselves with our neighbors and with others in our spheres of influence for the cause of the gospel. He pointed out how no one would deny the importance of evangelism and few would suggest Christ's mantle of witness is not draped on their shoulders. Yet we often remain disinterested, unmotivated and uninvolved.
I am convinced that the closer our walk with our God, the closer we will draw to those around us to converse about Christ. This is where the Community Houses of Prayer (CHOP) ministry comes in. May God be pleased to use CHOP for the enlivening of His people, the equipping of His church and the extension of His kingdom. Below is a description of the ministry. I encourage you to get it started where God has established you for the sake of His name.
"CHOP is a ministry tool that directs prayer as a means to revive (motivation) our hearts in grace as we draw near to the living God as our loving Father and to involve (participation) us in our everyday lives as active witnesses for Jesus Christ in dependence and expectation of His working. CHOP looks to cultivate in us a greater awareness of the evangelistic nature of ordinary life in which we find ourselves every day. It kindles in us an attitude of personal involvement and expectation as the witnesses for Christ we are by virtue of being His disciples. It involves us in the actual activity of bearing verbal witness to the glorious gospel of salvation bound up in Christ alone. We look to draw near to people for Christ and draw near to Christ for people. And we do it collectively, united with fellow believers for mutual encouragement in a common mission." (Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual, p. 13).
In our zeal to get the word out about the gospel of life in Jesus Christ, we tend to put an emphasis on speaking. Of course, Scripture does ask how people are to hear without someone preaching (Rom. 10:14). A presentation that unfolds the glorious logic of the gospel amidst the glorious illogic of grace has great value. (Note the GOD's good news icon on the CHOP home page for a systematic presentation of the gospel.) Speaking, however, does not mean merely spouting off.
In what I consider to be one of the best instructional manuals for the proclamation of the gospel the Old Testament has to offer (Isaiah 6 is a close companion), God in Isaiah 55 provides a presentation of the gospel (vv. 1-2), focusing on the everlasting covenant (v. 3) bound up in Jesus Christ (cf. Is. 53) and the call to listen to God (cf. John 5:24) and repent (vv. 6-7), the wisdom of God (vv. 8-9) and efficacy of the Word in the purpose of God (vv. 10-11).
In Isaiah 55:2, the prophet asks the question, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread..." Part of listening is seeing where people are investing their efforts for spiritual life and what currency they are using (usually works righteousness). Then we can urge upon them the call to "listen diligently" to God that they might delight themselves in that which will truly satisfy and lead to eternal life (55:3). God uses us to convey what He says to which people are to listen.
In other words, we want to engage people for the gospel at the point of their searching. That means we will need to listen. This sort of evangelism will be conducted in dialog rather than monologue. When we say the gospel must be preached that does not necessarily bring to mind the pulpit ministry model. Rather it addresses the dispensing of truth instead of some sort of negotiated plan of salvation. When Paul tells Timothy to "preach the word" and to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:1-5), he is engaging Timothy in the same sort of reproof and correction (cf. 2 Tim. 3:14-16) we see in Isaiah 55.
The title of Ronald Johnson's book on evangelism captures the concern, How Will They Hear If We Don't Listen? "If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame" (Prov. 18:13) is one of the many communication principles of Proverbs 18. That principle applies to the communication of the gospel as well. As Christ's ambassadors, we have only one answer but we minister that answer to people in keeping with the work of the Holy Spirit who gives ears to hear and creates itches we need to listen to in order to scratch.
God instructs us in prayer in various ways and at various times throughout His Word. We sit in with Jesus' disciples as He responds to the request, "Lord, teach us to pray." The mechanism and mechanics of prayer are unveiled to us in teaching points on the subject giving us a practical theology of prayer. Prayer is illustrated for us in places like Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9. The psalms comprise a prayerbook leading us in multifaceted prayer. Paul's prayers in Ephesians, Phillipians and Colossians expand our framework for prayer beyond our parochial concerns. We are commanded to pray, enjoined to pray and constrained to pray.
But our God instructs us in prayer even beyond the more conspicuous teachings or examples of prayer. As we navigate the terrain of redemptive history in our regular reading of God's Word, we would do well to keep our eyes open for nuggets of prayer buried within the text that are easy to gloss over in our haste.
Genesis 20 serves as a good example. Abraham is traveling in Gerar. He represents Sarah as his sister rather than his wife. Abimelech, king of Gerar, pursues Sarah as an unattached woman. God speaks to Abimelech in a dream and alerts him to dire consequences because Sarah is Abraham's wife. As we read this account, we shake our heads in disgust at Abraham's lack of trust and in befuddlement wondering what God is communicating in the event. Yet buried in the account is a nugget on prayer.
God lays out His solution to Abimelech's predicament: "Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live." (Gen. 20:7) God showcases the role of Abraham as intercessor and prayer as God's means for the promised ends. Since God had communicated to Abimelech directly, couldn't He have just told him to return Sarah to Abraham and let bygones be bygones? Instead, God shows us that He deals in prayer. In so doing, He gives prayer a place and value, lending it a certain weight as we hold the weapon of prayer in our hands. Ten verses later we see how it plays out: "Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children."
Notice how stopping to pick up this nugget and study it enriches our notion of prayer, giving us appreciation for the extraordinary value of prayer in the workings of God. It emboldens us and raises our expectations in our role as appointed intercessors. The Bible is filled with such nuggets, easily missed unless we're looking for them.
As we embark on a new year, our Lord alerts us to struggles, challenges and temptations. He assures us of the supremacy of His abiding presence with us and the sufficiency of His abounding grace in whatever He sets before us. On the cover of the weekly prayer guide I publish for my personal use I have a reminder to help me keep my bearings as I navigate those sometime stormy seas that threaten to undo me. Distress gave birth to the reminder as the Spirit of God girded me up with His truth and sustained me. I share it here as one seeking to comfort others with the comfort I myself have received from God.
I can handle all things
trusting God's providence
that brought it to me
in Christ's strength
that is perfectly sufficient for me
for God's glory
that is to be my goal over my comfort and convenience.
May the peace of God guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.