Many of you are familiar with the new movie “God’s Not Dead”. I want to say that this is not meant to bash that movie, for certainly there are aspects to the movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. However I don’t think this movie is accurate in the way it seeks to prepare you to witness to the lost on your campus.

This movie highly embraces apologetics (the defense of the faith) as preferred method of evangelism. Now it is true we are emphatically told to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3) but Jude said to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” Jude wasn’t begging you to appeal to scientific reasoning, Jude was begging you to stay true to the gospel. It is the gospel that was handed down (that’s why it and not scientific arguments are what fills your Bible) The purpose of this blog is to turn your heart back to trusting the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit as the true and only effective means of reaching the lost.

I love the statement Paul made to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20-21, “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.” What had been entrusted to Timothy? It was the sound words of the gospel (2 Timothy 1:13-14), it was the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), it was the sacred writings (2 Timothy 3:14-17). Timothy was called to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:1-5) and this was what it meant to “do the work of an evangelist.”

The sad thing is that under the banner of evangelism today

People are doing precisely what Paul warned Timothy not to do.

 

Instead of “avoiding worldly and empty chatter and opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” men are embracing them. Men are even studying them. Men are teaching them, and apparently even making movies about them. The result is that in obsessing over these types of arguments men are actually going “astray from the faith.” They are actually disobeying Jude. They are not contending for the faith which was handed down, they are instead embracing worldly “knowledge” in an attempt to be effective.

I’m asking you not to fall into this trap. Ditching the gospel for secular arguments will not cause you to be more effective in evangelism. It will only succeed in eliminating your only source of power which is the Holy Spirit and His determination to use the gospel. And while you may feel better about yourself for being able to argue down an atheist, rest assured that there are always more atheists with more dilemmas and sooner or later you will face a dilemma you are not ready for. (youtube videos refuting “God’s Not Dead” are plentiful, though most are too foul to watch) The point being is that secular arguments rarely prove anything and very rarely “win”. I want to save you from this problem and call you back to God’s determined means of evangelism.

Namely, I want to remind you that “God’s Not Dead” and so you should trust Him to do what only He can do in turning sinners to Himself. Do not take the issue out of His hands, thrust it squarely on His shoulders. He is alive! He does convict sinners! He will work through you! Just resolve to do it His way. With that in mind let’s look at a brief clip from the “God’s Not Dead” movie and we’ll talk about true evangelism.

LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE PROBLEMS HERE.

God is NOT on trial (by us or anyone else) even though the student hypothetically puts Him there.

• We are not defense attorneys, we are heralds
• He doesn’t owe anyone an explanation, He will never answer to anyone, and what people think of Him is irrelevant. Namely because even if all of humanity votes to condemn Him, at the end of the judgment He will still be God, and they will still have to answer to Him. The goal of evangelism is NOT to prove to people that God is good. The goal of evangelism is to show sinners that they need God’s forgiveness which only Christ can provide.
• Beyond that God has already proven to sinners that He exists (creation), the problem is that men don’t want to see that, they suppress the truth that is clearly seen, and for that they will stand judgment (Romans 1:18-23)
• While I don’t really like the court room analogy, it would be far more accurate to say that God is the Judge, we are the prosecuting attorney, and the sinner is on trial. The goal would be to help the sinner see their guilt and push them to throw themselves on the mercy of the Judge, who will abundantly pardon.
• In short, WE ARE NOT TRYING TO PROVE ANYTHING ABOUT GOD, GOD DOES ALL THE PROVING. That is the role of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26, John 16:7-15). We simply are called to proclaim His predetermined message.
• When we proclaim God’s message, sinners are placed on the defensive (in their heart, if they won’t admit it on the outside). They are challenged to answer the tough questions about sin, death, and judgment. Remember, God is not on trial, but sinners will be. It is better to maintain an actual reality than a hypothetical one.

 

Most of us don’t understand most of what this young man is talking about

• Does anyone in here really think they could make this kid’s argument? I honestly don’t understand at least half of what he is talking about. If you do, that’s great. I applaud your intellect, but I wish to encourage the rest of us normal folks who know we could not argue effectively in this field.
• This type of debate leaves you always on the defensive, never knowing where the argument might go, and it is virtually impossible to know enough to win that type of debate. You are constantly having to leave and study to come back and give an answer. It leaves the challenger looking superior because all they have to do is continually take you to an area of “expertise” that you are not yet familiar with

This movie paints an unrealistic, and unbiblical expectation for you in evangelism.

• In this movie, the boy wins the intellectual argument and the class votes that he is right. This just doesn’t happen Biblically. In Athens Paul was called an “idle babbler” (Acts 17:18), before Festus and Agrippa he was accused of being “mad” (Acts 26:24) and Paul Himself said that he was routinely considered a “fool” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2:2-4, 4:10) And in every case the crowd agreed. In Athens no record of a church being formed exists. Agrippa was listening when Festus called Paul mad and Agrippa admitted being under conviction but still refused to believe. In short, it was never intended for you take the gospel message into an academic setting and come out looking intelligent.

The gospel message is for the purpose of convicting sinners,

Not commending Christians.

 

• A more accurate depiction of what should have occurred in the movie is as follows. The professor challenges the boy to the debate. The boy approaches each class with nothing other than the gospel message. “I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The professor intellectually humiliates the boy, making him a mockery of ignorance and stupidity before all the students. The boy stays faithful to the gospel message and at the end of the day the professor flunks the student, but some in the classroom are truly saved as a result of his faithfulness.

 

HOW DOES A PERSON GET SAVED?

• Are sinners argued into the kingdom of heaven? Is the decision to trust Christ merely an intellectual exercise where one follows the most logical argument? NO
• Salvation is purely a work of God’s Holy Spirit. It is to move from spiritual death to spiritual life. This is far more than an intellectual event, it is a miraculous one. Lazarus, being raised form the dead is one of the most accurate analogies for genuine salvation (John 11:17-44). You couldn’t reason Lazarus out of the tomb, you couldn’t argue Lazarus out of the tomb, you couldn’t threaten Lazarus out of the tomb, you couldn’t love Lazarus out of the tomb. The only way Lazarus was coming out was if someone who had the ability to speak to the dead, spoke to him. And if someone with the ability to set him free from death, set him free. Salvation requires the power of God. Only God can bring a sinner to salvation. (John 6:44) Notice Pentecost, Peter preached the gospel message of judgment and redemption and the people were “pierced to the heart” (Acts 2:37), this was God at work, honoring His message.
• What does the Holy Spirit do? (Read John 16:8-15). He convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgment (you don’t have an argument in your repertoire that can do that), He guides men to the truth (you don’t have a slick enough argument to do that), He glorifies Jesus (too many times our intellectual arguments glorify us as intelligent, we leave looking smart, but sadly Jesus has been forgotten). The point is, if the Holy Spirit is not involved sinners will not be saved.

 

SO HOW DO WE GET THE HOLY SPIRIT INVOLVED IN OUR EVANGELISM?

• Our goal is not to argue people into the kingdom, our goal is to do whatever the Holy Spirit directs (and incidentally, this is not mystical, He has already directed us what to do) “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16) and “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heart? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14) And “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. “ (1 Corinthians 1:17) This is what the Holy Spirit requires of us.
• We simply preach the gospel. We are farmers sowing seed (Mark 4:26-29, Matthew 13:18-23). We can’t change the soil, most of the time we can’t even tell what kind of soil it is until after the gospel is presented. We simply drop the seed, God has to cause it to work. Do you see that evangelism like this takes all the pressure off of you and puts all the pressure on God? He doesn’t require you to be super intelligent or well versed in secular arguments.

God simply wants you to preach His message, and trust His power.

All He wants from you is FAITH! Faith in His message and Faith in His power.

So be bold my friends and trust God.

 

• When you preach the gospel, the Holy Spirit moves in and begins convicting hearts and exposing sin and drawing men to Christ in a more powerful and real way than your arguments ever could. You have weapons in the gospel and the Holy Spirit that far exceed anything you can produce on your own. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) 
• 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”
• 1 Corinthians 3:18-20, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.”

 

SO WHY THE RECENT INFATUATION WITH SECULAR KNOWLEDGE AS AN EVANGELISTIC TOOL?

• Christians wrongly assume this makes them more effective. Somewhere along the line someone decided that secular arguments would help us win the day, but they don’t. The problem is not that men don’t know the facts about God, it’s that they suppress the truth about God (Romans 1:18-23).  As Adrian Rogers said, “An Atheist can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.”They love their sin and don’t want to leave it. They don’t have a knowledge problem, they have a sin problem and intellectual arguments can’t solve that problem.
• Secular arguments allow Christians to save face in an academic world. Don’t be fooled, academic arguments won’t cause sinners to like Jesus more, but it might cause them to like you more. As already noted, we are fools for Christ. We are offering forgiveness through a condemned man, redemption through a rejected man, and life through a crucified man. We hold that the God of the universe actually became human flesh, and then humbled Himself to the point of death at the hands of sinners in the most hideous way imaginable. We contend then that this dead man rose from the dead, thus validating His successful work on the cross, ascended to heaven, and will come again to judge the world. That message makes Jesus look great, but it will make you look like a fool – so be a fool for Jesus!
• Listen to what Paul said to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 4:8-13 “You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.”
• Don’t be fooled there, Paul isn’t saying that the Corinthians really are filled and rich and kings and prudent and strong and distinguished. He is laying the sarcasm on thick! What he is saying is that the ambition of the Corinthians is nothing like the ambition of the actual apostles. Whereas the apostles sought to be faithful and as a result were condemned, a spectacle, fools, weak, and without honor, the Corinthians are in search of a much better reputation, not faithfulness. (Make the application as you will) How is it that we think we can fulfill the same calling they fulfilled and receive honor when they fulfilled it and received only scorn? Something clearly doesn’t add up. Friends, if you follow Jesus you’ll be treated like Jesus for a slave is not greater than His master (Matthew 10:24-25, 2 Timothy 3:12)

Christian, as you go back to your schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods, I simply want you to know that God is not expecting you to scientifically prove why evolution is wrong or why big bang is wrong or why circular reasoning or moral secularism or any other academic thing is wrong. God is simply asking you to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to all the saints.” God is asking you to “guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” God is asking you to not be “ashamed of the gospel”. He is asking you to be bold and simply trust that He knows how to draw sinners to Himself. His method is the gospel, His power is the Spirit, He wants you to preach the first and trust the second.

 

If you really believe that “God’s Not Dead”,

Then prove it by trusting Him to do what He says.

You may indeed be called a fool.

You may indeed be rejected as ignorant,

But do not be discouraged that puts you in great company!

 

One final story I would share with you that I heard from Adrian Rogers:
(Though I can’t remember the names, it was told as a true story)

There was an atheist in a small southern town who took special delight in humiliating Christians with his intellectual arguments. One day a new young preacher came to town and the man zeroed in on him. Seeing the new preacher on the sidewalk, the atheist quickly crossed the street to confront the new preacher. The atheist said, “I hear you’re the new preacher in town.” The preacher responded, “Yes sir.” The atheist then said, “Well I wanted you to know that I think you’re a fraud and a phony. I think you are doing more harm than good. I think that book you preach from is a myth. Jesus can’t be proved as real, dying, or as having risen from the dead. Your argument is full of holes, and I challenge you to prove to me that your God is real.”

The young preacher replied, “It is appointed a man once to die and then comes judgment.” (quoting Hebrews 9:27). The atheist quickly interjected, “Stop right there, if you want to prove anything to me you’re going to have to use something other than Bible. I already told you that book is full of holes and can’t be proven. You’re going to have to argue with me on an intellectual level.” The preacher responded, “It’s appointed a man once to die and then comes judgment.”

At this the atheist chuckled. “Wow, are you really that stupid that this is all you can say? You don’t know anything other than that?” The preacher responded, “It’s appointed a man once to die and then comes judgment.” The atheist continued his mocking, “I thought we’d have a nice conversation, but you’re obviously too dumb to even have a conversation, all you can quote is that worn out old book.” And again the preacher, “It’s appointed a man once to die and then comes judgment.”

Finally after a few minutes of this the atheist became agitated, and snapped at the man, “Well I can see that there will be no intellectual stimulation for me today, you’re obviously too stupid to have a regular conversation. You won’t last long around here, even the blind sheep in your congregation will quickly see how dumb you are.” And the two parted company.
Later on in life, the atheist recalled this true story and shared how as he walked home that day he had to cross a small bridge over a small stream, and as he crossed even the bullfrogs below seemed to say, “Juuuudgment! Juuuudgment!”. All of the intellectual reasoning in the world could not overcome the unrest in his heart. This man ran to Christ for help and became a believer.

My question for you to ponder is this.
Could the young preacher have said anything as profound or penetrating or as effective
As what the Holy Spirit was saying to that man’s heart through His perfect word?

“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

 

Grace to You,

Bro. Rory