Today’s reading; Jeremiah 14; Matthew 19
I can’t help but notice how different Jesus’ approach to calling sinners to Himself is than so many Christians and churches today.
I’m just going to include the whole conversation here between Jesus and the man I’m talking about:
And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
There are a few things Jesus does or doesn't do in this conversation that really strike me as different from what I tend to see and hear from well-meaning Christians. And I do want to clarify here, I'm not talking about the kind of "Christian" who stands on the street corner yelling at people walking by that they are going to Hell, or carrying "God hates gays" signs around; I think the differences between those people and Jesus are obvious enough that I don't need to point them out. What I'm talking about today are the truly God-fearing, well-intentioned Christians who are seeking to share their faith out of a genuine love for the Lord and His desire to see the lost turn to Him in Christ.
To start off, Jesus doesn't try to "fix" or correct the man's theology, but works with him where he's at. When the man asks, "What good deed must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus doesn't quote Ephesians 2:8-9 at him to explain that we can only find salvation by faith in Jesus, and not by our deeds (I know, I know, it wasn't written yet, but you get my point...). Instead, Jesus gives him an honest answer, that if he would enter eternal life, he simply needs to keep the commandments, which is really true, but is also impossible. Then, as the conversation goes on, when the man tells Jesus that he has kept all the commandments, Jesus doesn't go all Sermon on the Mount on him, and start pointing out that if he has even looked at a woman in lust in his life, he is guilty of adultery before the Law. Instead, Jesus calls him to the next step that would show whether he was willing to genuinely put his faith in Jesus rather than in his own wealth and resources.
Then notice what Jesus does when the man turns away, sorrowful, at that last comment; nothing.
Jesus doesn't grab him when he walks away and try to convince him to make a different choice. He doesn't stop the man and say, "You never know when you are going to die. You could get hit by a bus on your way home this afternoon. So don't put off making the right choice here and trusting Me!" When the man is unwilling, Jesus lets him go.
Jesus also doesn't try to soft-sell the man into the faith to boost the conversion numbers on His quarterly ministry report out to His donors. He doesn't say, "Well, okay, you don't have to go sell your things to build treasure in heaven and then follow me. You can just repeat this prayer after me, then you will be assured you have eternal life, and then you can decide later if you actually want your life to look different to follow me." Jesus wasn't interested in boosting His numbers with people who could say the right things, but didn't actually want to live for Him. He unabashedly called people to a radical change in the way they lived in response to Him.
I don't mean in this that there is no place to correct someone's understanding of salvation, and point them to the cross rather than their deeds for eternal life, there are times when that is good, and right, and important, but it is clearly not every time. And I don't mean that there is no place to call someone to seriously consider the choice they are making in rejecting God's grace (Paul specifically calls us, in 2 Corinthians 5, to seek to persuade the lost), but it is clearly not every time.
Jesus was not interested in a conversion count, He was interested in disciples. He was not interested in people who had the right theology, but did nothing with it, He was interested in people who would spend and be spent for Him, who would rightly let their lives be shaped and transformed increasingly into His image. When we are Christ's feet, taking His gospel out into the world, it is not to get people to pray a prayer as "fire insurance," but to call people to give their hearts, minds, and lives over in faith to the One who can save them.
People don't need us to sugar coat the gospel for them, or soft-sell them into something less than genuine faith in Christ. It is our job to proclaim the gospel, and it is the Holy Spirit's job to convict them concerning sin and righteousness and judgement. So maybe let's look to our Lord, the One who sent us out in the first place, as our example of how He would have us call people to the faith, and trust that He is involved and will continue to call people forward, even if they turn and walk away from us as the rich man walked away from Jesus.
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