Burden or Blessing? The Sovereignty of God in Evangelism

Watch / listen to our podcast featuring this topic: “Since God is Sovereign, why do we need to share the gospel?” here!

“To the tribe or bust!”, yelled one of my roommates as I walked into my dorm room at 113 Ellery Ave. The year was 2003, and I was a student at a bible college that had a huge emphasis on raising up missionaries to go plant churches among unreached, tribal people groups. When I enrolled, I had no idea what I was getting myself in to, and no idea that the next two years would set the course for my entire life. I had come to simply study God’s word, but I would leave school with a wife as well as plans to plant a church in the frozen regions of Siberia. 

While I was in school, I was convicted as I studied the scriptures. We have a God who desires that worshippers would come out of every people, tribe, tongue and nation. We also live in a world with roughly 3,000 distinct language groups that are still without a solid church in their neighborhood and without a Bible translated into their language. In light of these two realities, God’s word gives a clear command to believers - “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20a)

As we went into our second year of school, our own tribes began to form. On the one side were those who were zealously committed to going to the mission field (hence my roommate’s outburst) - while on the other side were those who were thankful for the biblical training, but had other plans after school. Slowly but surely, I found myself joining the first tribe. Jubilant encouragement from my roommates, combined with phrases like, “America does’t need another youth pastor” or “If you don’t go, will this tribe ever be reached?” would often be said by our professors in class and heard discussed in the hallways. I graduated being convinced that this was the best thing I could do with my life, and not just the best, but the ONLY thing I could do with my life. Fulfillment of the Great Commission, in part, was dependent on me - and I tended to look down on other Christians who seemingly were not interested at all in missions.

Fast-forward almost twenty years later: am I writing this from my frozen ice desk in Siberia? Nope. I’m writing this from sunny Florida, where I have the privilege of being one of the pastors at our church. For those who are wondering, yes, we did make it to Siberia and we ended up serving for a total of four years! But, it was much shorter than we anticipated. I don’t have the space to tell you the whole story, but we ended up coming back to the US feeling like failures. The Lord was faithful to provide and grow us through those years, and we were privileged to see Him working in that area of the world…but the task wasn’t totally completed. We felt that the burden was still on us to make sure that this Siberian people group had been adequately reached with the gospel, and I guess we didn’t have the “stuff” to endure long enough.

God’s Sovereignty

I write this personal introduction to illustrate that you may feel the same way about evangelism. Do you feel guilty if you don’t take that opportunity to share the gospel with someone? Do you wrestle with yourself in your mind during that long plane flight? If there is no joy in the prospect of sharing the gospel, then perhaps it has become a burden, rather than a blessing. The remedy in this dilemma comes by understanding God’s sovereignty in salvation. To put it simply - who does the saving? Is the eternal soul of the person on your plane flight held in your hands? Will they be lost forever if you don’t open your mouth? The answer is no. The burden is not on you to save them, however the Lord may bless you with the opportunity to speak the truth of the gospel. 

A Work of God

Scripture is clear that from beginning to end, our salvation is a work of God. Ephesians 1:4-5 “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” Our salvation came about not because of our will, or the will of someone else. It came about “according to the purpose of his will.” Not only does God initiate our salvation, but he is faithful to keep us until the end. Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Our salvation is secure from justification to glorification because our omnipotent Creator caused it to be. If it depended on us, we would fall away quickly. 

Another Extreme

If we rest in the truth that it is God who calls, saves, sanctifies and glorifies, that relieves any burden that we may place on ourselves to try and “save” somebody. However, we need to take care that we do not fall into the other ditch: an apathetic fatalism (a.k.a hyper-Calvinism). This view affirms God’s sovereignty in salvation, but takes it too far, saying that God saves through His sovereign will, but with little or no use of the methods of bringing about salvation (such as evangelism, preaching, and prayer for the lost). This unbiblical view over-emphasizes God’s sovereignty and under-emphasizes man’s responsibility to preach the gospel. It clearly ignores the Great Commission passages, and other verses like Romans 10:14-15: “How then will they call on him in who they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” 

The Means and the Method

The truth of the matter is, God not only provides the means of salvation, he also provides the method. The means of salvation is the gracious work that our triune God does in saving us; the method he uses is the faithful preaching of the gospel. Each believer is called to obedience in this matter. We are to be ambassadors of Christ in every context, whether in the US or overseas. We are to be able to give a reason for the hope that is within us to anyone who asks, and we should desire to be used of the Lord for His glory (1 Peter 3:15). 

Christian, don’t shrink back from opportunities to share the gospel, but also, don’t place the burden on yourself for the outcome. The Lord knows who are his, and he will be faithful to draw all his elect to himself - what a privilege it is to be a messenger for the King!

“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 1:11