Sovereign Evangelism

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Ever since the Second Great Awakening and Charles Finny’s use of “extraordinary means,” some have gotten more and more bazaar in their evangelistic tactics. Earlier this month, theologian Tim Challies wrote an editorial entitled, Have We Finally Hit Peak Attractional? In it, he describes the latest efforts of Dallas megachurch pastor Ed Young to attract new members to his church—a sermon series entitled Wrastlin’, in which “four legendary guests from the world of professional wrestling – Ric Flair, The Undertaker, The Million Dollar Man, and Sting will be featured!

The problem with the attractional model of evangelism is summed up quite nicely by James Montgomery Boice when he warned “what you win them with is what you win them to” and the attractional model bears this out: If you draw people with stunts like Wrastlin’, you’ve got to keep them with other similar or bigger stunts. It may produce a crowd, but it will not produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Thankfully there is a better way—Sovereign Evangelism.

Sovereign Evangelism is evangelism that relies on the sovereign power of God rather than on marketing gimmicks. You see Sovereign Evangelism modeled in 1 Thessalonians 1. It consists of two elements:

Sovereign Preaching

Sovereign Sanctification

In each of my main points I refer to this type of evangelism as a “trumpet call.” I take this from verse 8, which reads:

1 Thessalonians 1:8 ESV

For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.

The key word here is Exēcheō, meaning to sound forth. This is the Greek word we get our English word “echo.” The idea here is that the gospel was reverberating or sounding forth like the blast of a trumpet. This is significant because later in this letter, Paul tells us that at our physical resurrection we will be called forth by the blast of a trumpet. In the same way, when a person is spiritually resurrected they are called forth by the gospel message! So let us look at the first point:

The Trumpet Call of Sovereign Preaching

This is found in verses 4-5:

1 Thessalonians 1:4–5 ESV

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

Paul is saying that he knows the Thessalonians are elect, because his preaching came with the sovereign power of God. Have you ever wondered why two different individuals can hear the same gospel message and respond to it two totally different ways? It is because for one person the message came to them only with words and not with the sovereign power of God. Scripture is clear that in our natural state we are totally incapable of responding to God’s word in faith.

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Examine your heart, do you not see that at your conversion something supernatural happened it you? You know in your heart it was not because you were smarter or more noble in character than other people. It was because of the sovereign power of God!

Look at verse 1. When Paul greets the church he always greets them by saying, “Grace to you and peace.” He does this because the grace of God must always come to us before we enjoy peace with God. The world believes we must earn favor with God, then we will receive God’s grace. The gospel reverses this—God’s free and unconditional grace always comes first.

So what does this mean for us practically when we evangelize? It means we rely on God to make our message effective and not ourselves. Too many today are watering down the gospel message by attempt to appeal to human needs and desires. This is the last thing we should be doing, because these human needs and desires are all too often what our sinful hearts turn into idols and the call of the gospel is the call to turn from idols to the “living and true God.”

This brings us to our second point:

The Trumpet Call of Sovereign Sanctification

The second line of evidence Paul saw as proof that the Thessalonians were “chosen by God” was their changed life. We read of this starting in verse 6, where Paul cites as evidence that the Thessalonians had been elected by noting that they had become “imitators of us and of the Lord.” In what way had they become imitators? They became imitators by receiving “the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

You see, when people reject the gospel, they don’t do it just with indifference, but with hostility! This is because the unregenerate person finds the gospel highly offensive. When writing to the Corinthians, Paul describes it like this:

2 Corinthians 2:15–16 ESV

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

What does the unregenerate find so offensive? We find in verses 9-10:

That they must turn from idols to serving the living and true God.

That they must trust in Christ to deliver us from the wrath of God.

The unbelievers in Thessalonica found this highly offensive and unbelievers find it highly offensive today. The reason attractional evangelism waters down the gospel is because it attacks the idols of our culture and threatens judgement upon all who worship those idols! When we preach a pure, unadulterated gospel, we come into the courtyards of peoples’ hearts turning over tables and pronouncing woe upon them if they don’t repent, just as Jesus did with the Pharisees. They hated Jesus for this and they will hate us for this as well!

It was precisely because the Thessalonians remained true to the gospel message, even in the face of opposition that the gospel sounded forth so powerfully from them. How could this be? It was because for those who were being prepared by the Holy Spirit, their message was not the “fragrance of death” but the “fragrance of life.”

Not only this, but just as some could see the “faith, hope and love” of Jesus by his actions, so now some were hearing the gospel message by the actions of the Thessalonians. It has been observed that actions often speak louder than words. The Thessalonian’s faith was not a passive faith, but an active faith. In verse 3, Paul describes it like this:

1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I used the NIV, because I think it captures the full meaning of what Paul is saying better than the ESV—the spiritual realities of regeneration produce corresponding realities in our lives. This sanctification process is just as much a work of the Holy Spirit as our conversion. This is what makes it such a powerful witness, when people encounter our changed lives, they are encountering the power of the Holy Spirit!

This is what makes it such a tragedy when a church compromises with the world—the church loses its power!

Before I close, there is one final thing I want to speak to you about:

The Trumpet Call of Sovereign Conversion Comes Like a “Thief in the Night”

There are two mistakes people can make concerning Sovereign Evangelism.

They become discouraged by a lack of results.

They write people off as “reprobates”.

This is why it is important to remember that just as the trumpet call that will call us to the final bodily resurrection will come like a “thief in the night,” so with a person’s spiritual resurrection. We don’t know the day or the hour God may have ordained a person’s new birth. Jesus told Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit who creates the new birth is like the wind.

John 3:8 ESV

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Our part in evangelism is to be faithful in preaching the gospel message and living the gospel life, the new birth is God’s part.

Let me ask you this: Did you come to faith the first time you heard the gospel? If you are like most people, probably not. What would have happened if people became discouraged and gave up on you?

The sovereignty of God in evangelism is the greatest motivation to evangelism we can have. It assures us our labor is not in vain. If we are faithful, God will accomplish His purpose!