Speaking of cultural engagement...
Last night at our home group we discussed the first part of chapter 5 of the The Drama of Scripture (a great book btw for small group study) which deals with the early church. Basically it is a survey of the book of Acts. We agreed that there were two basic themes that seem to pop out quite clearly from this overview.
1. The rapid and vigorous spread of the gospel through...
2. The power of the Holy Spirit
This led us to discuss this question:
It seems there is a fundamental disconnect between the evangelistic tone that we see in the book of Acts and what most of us experience in our daily lives.
Why do you think this is and what can we do about it?
4 comments:
There are probably many reasons, but from my own life, I can think of four:
1. Not realizing and meditating upon the incredible power and work of the Holy Spirit, when it comes to evangelism and conversion.
2. Not realizing and meditating upon the fact that as Christians, the Holy Spirit indwells us and empowers us to evangelize.
3. Fearing man's reaction more than desiring to glorify God.
4. Taking too lightly God's grace shown to me, and taking too lightly the fact that people who do not know Christ, in the sense of repentance and personal trust, are going to spend forever (forever!!!) in eternal torment in Hell.
Some crucial answers to these sinful ways of thinking and acting (each answer meant to address *all* previous points):
1. Repentance to God, resulting in an actual change of thoughts, actions, and emotions (not always in that order).
2. Meditating upon the aforementioned truths, partially by spending thoughtful, regular time in Scripture.
3. Being an active member of a local church in which one is lovingly reminded of, and challenged about, these things (thank you, Zach!).
4. Repeat the first three, whenever needed, which is probably daily, if one fails in this area of evangelism as often as I do! By "failing," I mean simply failing to evangelize, not "failing" to convert, which I can't do, but which the Holy Spirit can and does!
Also, another answer:
5. Praying fervently for conversions in evangelism!
How could I forget that one?? How easily I underestimate God's sovereignty in salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion! We pray to the One who actually changes hearts, *because* He is the one who actually changes hearts!
Not to put a damper on the fervor, but you must remember that the events that are chronicled in the Acts are not happening on a daily basis. Sometimes there are months or even years between those things that we take as happening all in a week's time. Peter's trip to Cornelius' house was about 8-10 years after Pentecost. So it took about that long for God to finally convince one of His choice servants to go beyond his ethnic comfort zone.
Srhoyle,
Very interesting. Your comments do give some needed perspective into the situation in Acts, and they are helpful-- but I want to be careful not to *use* them to become more timid and complacent about evangelism than I already am.
Salvation is definitely by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Works do not save a person. However, a faith that is real leads the possessor of that faith to at least want to *share* the Gospel with those who do not know Christ.
The "wanting" and the "sharing" will probably never exist exactly to the degree that they should, in a Christian's life (including mine), but they should be there. May they be there increasingly in my own life, by God's grace!
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