The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Corinthians 5:11a,
"Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others."
In this chapter where Paul speaks of the ministry of reconciliation between God and sinners, he calls himself and others (all believers) as "Christ's ambassadors", verse 20. He points to the compelling love of Christ, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." Verse 14.
The love Jesus Christ has for each of us should be a compelling and motivating energy in us to reach as many as we can for Jesus Christ. Because of this Paul speaks of his efforts at persuading others, "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others." Verse 11. "We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." Verse 20b.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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"Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others."
In this chapter where Paul speaks of the ministry of reconciliation between God and sinners, he calls himself and others (all believers) as "Christ's ambassadors", verse 20. He points to the compelling love of Christ, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." Verse 14.
The love Jesus Christ has for each of us should be a compelling and motivating energy in us to reach as many as we can for Jesus Christ. Because of this Paul speaks of his efforts at persuading others, "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others." Verse 11. "We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." Verse 20b.
There is a popular theology within the church today that impinges on that compelling and motivating energy that should drive us to reach others persuasively for the Lord. It is known by the acronym TULIP. The "I" in TULIP stands for a doctrine known as "irresistible grace". In this system of theology God picks who gets saved and who doesn't. The vehicle God uses, according to this teaching, is his irresistible grace. Those that God chooses are involuntarily drawn to him, they have no say in the matter, make no choice in the matter and are simply irresistibly drawn to him. (Kind of like a "roofie", a date rape drug, only in a positive sense).
Where might the need be to persuade others, to implore others as Paul did in this theology? My concern is that the motivation to persuade others might be slowing down in the adherents of this theology. The followers of it point out that since Jesus commanded us to evangelize (e.g. Matthew 28:18-20), our love for him should be all the motivation we need. I can't argue with that.
However, Paul, as our role model when it comes to evangelism, felt the need to persuade, to implore others to be reconciled to God while being energized by the compelling love of our Savior. I do not subscribe to the theology myself, but I would encourage anyone who does, not to become lax in sharing the gospel persuasively with others, which I find to be a legitimate concern.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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