A Proper Altar Call

A Proper Altar Call Acts 2:37-41 The “Altar Call” plays a very important part of many Evangelical worship services. We want people to accept Christ as Savior. This is right because the Scripture states that God Himself is not willing that any perish. Considering the dread alternative of eternal punishment, we have a great deal of motivation to get people to confess Jesus as Savior, especially our friends and family. No one wants to see anyone condemned to hellfire; therefore, the importance of the end is taken to justify the means. Whatever it takes to get one to commit to Christ, one should do. Paul is quoted in 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 to support this idea. But does the end justify all means? To take an extreme case, should one try to convert someone at gunpoint? The Emperor Clovis took such an approach. When he became a Christian, he ordered his soldiers to get into two lines, one to be baptized, and the other to be executed. Obviously, there were many baptisms on that day. Perhaps for some, this became the real means of their salvation. For others, it was an exercise in pragmatism. When we look at this, we should realize that this was not the best means of evangelism, even if it worked for some. It also created many hypocrites. It put the veneer of Christianity upon barbarism. Now getting back to altar calls, we should ask the question about what a true altar call is, and whether it is the most effective means of winning the lost. People like Charles Finney used the altar call to try to capture someone’s “free will” to follow the desired the end of becoming a Christian. All sorts of psychology is applied. The emphasis was upon results. But who gets to say what the real results really were? Winning people to Christ was reduced to properly going through the steps. If one just followed these steps, it would win people to Christ. We reduced salvation to getting someone to say the “sinners prayer” and then submit to baptism. We have the “Romans Road” and quote five scriptures out of context as a means of evangelism. We have evangelism explosion. We have “crusades.” Were people won to Christ? There are many people who can testify that their lives were changed forever at a crusade. But there are many who make a profession of faith and never darken the church door. I think an examination of this passage will shed light upon our evangelistic methods. What we see here is the reaction to the church’s first sermon. Before we go and craft new methods to reach people for Christ, we are obligated to look here. Peter had just finished his Pentecost sermon. After explaining the phenomena of the descent of the Holy Spirit, he centers in on the person of Jesus. He shows that the Old Testament prophesied of him. The wonders and signs He did also prove that Jesus was God’s chosen one which God had planned from the very beginning. He tells then twice that the One whom God approved had been crucified by them. But God’s proof of His acceptance of the work of Jesus was that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Peter goes on to talk about Jesus’ exaltation to the Father’s right hand. The descent of the Holy Spirit who had descended this very day also was proof. Altogether, Peter offers incontrovertible evidence. When He finishes with saying that the very One whom they had crucified had been made by God both Lord and Christ. It is at this point that the hearers felt undone. They had crucified their Messiah, and God’s response was to raise Him from the dead, and not only from the dead, but to the pre-eminent position in the Kingdom. He is not only Christ, but Lord. The resurrection was also coupled with the final judgment. We see this at Mars Hill in Acts 17. Because Jesus is the divine Son, they had crucified the Creator as well. The Holy Spirit’s job according to Jesus is to convict people of their sin. They knew they were in trouble and deserved the most severe judgment for what they had done. The text says that their heart was stabbed. So they were asked Peter and the rest of the Apostles: “Men, brothers, what can we do?” They were desperate. Peter and the Apostles did not try to elicit a response from them. They did not cajole or threaten hellfire. This was totally unnecessary. The altar call, so to speak, was initiated by the listeners who were provoked by the Holy Spirit. And Peter did not respond with: “Just sincerely say the following sinners prayer and be baptized and you will be good with God. The truth is even more amazing than that. They were told to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of their sin. To repent means to rethink the situation and accept the new way of thinking in the Greek idea of repentance. In Hebrew thought, it means to turn back from the way they were headed, which was leading them to eternal judgment and to turn the LORD. In other words, the message of the gospel is not a mere appeal to one’s emotions. Even the heart in both Greek and Hebrew thought is better translated “the mind” as “kidneys” are used for the emotional self. The even greater gift would be that instead of fear and judgment, the new believers would receive the Holy Spirit. What a turn of events. Their actions deserved eternal death and punishment. They had committed the most horrific crime imaginable. It was an outrageous sin. But the grace of God had shone on them instead. They would receive the Holy Spirit and eternal life. What an amazing turn of events. Their sin would be forgiven. They had just heard of God’s foreknowledge and predestination concerning Jesus. Now they could see that this happened by God’s deliberate plan, not to judge them eternally, but to save them. And not them only, but for the “whosoever will.” This meant their children too. The term “afar off” probably refers to Gentiles being included rather than those who would be born at some time in the distant future. However, these are included in the statement “as many as the LORD our God shall call. The text says that 3000 of those who had heard the message believed and were baptized. This was some altar call. O that we could even see a tenth of that number truly confess Jesus in our churches! In the Old Testament it says at one point that 3000 people perished for their disobedience. Noe 3,000 who had been disobedient were saved and restored. The greatest act of love in history had conquered the greatest act of disobedience. They thought they could conquer God by crucifying Him, but instead they were conquered by Christ’s cross. O what joy! When we look at this, how should this affect our evangelistic methods. We could try to ape what happened here as far as the actions are concerned. We could try to make people speak in tongues. We could try to overwhelm their will with shouting and loud music. But what we see here is the response to the Word of God properly spoken by believers who were full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is equally God along with the Father and the Son. This means that the Holy Spirit is Lord and not our servant. The Holy Spirit is not a force we manipulate. He is not like a strong horse that can be tamed by bridle and bit. What happened here is that Jesus was properly preached. The message was directed to the minds of the hearers. It was rational. It presented the case clearly. The whole purpose of Pentecost and the giving of the tongues was so that the message of God could be clearly understood. Differences of languages was not to be a barrier. So the first and most important step in our evangelism is to rationally lay out the facts. Emotion will follow. We don’t directly try to stir up emotions. We convince them of the situation. Even though we did not crucify Jesus physically, our sin still made the necessity of Jesus’ death. We, then, crucified Him too. We cannot blame the Jews or even the Romans to absolve ourselves of responsibility. Yes, Peter accuses the Jews of crucifying Him. This is because He was speaking to Jews. What we have to show to our congregations is that we made Jesus’ crucifixion necessary. Without Him we stand as condemned as the Jews who heard Peter speak that day. We are also given the same promise as they were if they repented, believed and were baptized. So if I were to sum this up, I would say, “It’s not the method, it’s the message.”