"I See (Former) Dead People"

I was standing in an Illinois graveyard a few years ago with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, renown pastor and author. It was early one Thursday morning, and unusually cold, with dew still on the ground, soaking my already-frigid feet. Cold toes, though, would prove to be the least of my problems. As we stood around the ornate tombstone of one Jacob Miller, Dr. Lutzer did something incredibly troublesome.

He began shouting at the stone: “Jacob, arise and come forth. Jacob, get up from the grave and come out!” This continued for what seemed like an hour. It was only really a minute or two, I’m sure, but Dr. Lutzer was relentless.

By this time, I had my baseball cap down as low as it would go, and I was looking around to make sure no one recognized me. I was more than a little embarrassed. And disturbed. Plus, to be honest, with all the fervor and zeal that Dr. Lutzer was employing, I was beginning to wonder if Jacob might actually rise from the grave, in which case I would have been out of there. But Lutzer was undeterred by Jacob’s non-response. In fact, he apologized for not being loud enough and yelled again: “Jacob, RISE FROM THE DEAD! Get up from your slumber and live!”

Still nothing.

Finally, after repeated overtures in the direction of this beautiful, yet undisturbed gravesite, Pastor Lutzer stopped and explained what was going on. He said: “I did that to illustrate that salvation is of the Lord. We have just as much ability to raise someone from the dead as we do to save someone with our persuasive speech or argumentation.”

I’ll never forget that demonstration. And I couldn’t agree more with his point. Only God can take a rebellious heart and move that person to repentance and faith in Christ. Salvation is a miracle of God. And yet, so often success in ministry is determined by quarterly baptisms, “souls saved” or “number of people led to the Lord”, as if it were in our strength or ability to save someone. There seems to be a glaring neglect of a fundamental truth about salvation that Jonathan Edwards preached so clearly: “We are dependent on God’s power through every step of our redemption.” We can do nothing on our own.

And this theocentric perspective is but one thing that I appreciate so much about Edwards; he painstakingly steers the focus of salvation away from an emphasis on human ingenuity and puts it back on the power of God. Not only are we saved by God, Edwards contends, but we are kept by God. Not only does salvation begin with God, he goes on, but it ends with God as well. Even though God may determine to use us as instruments, we get absolutely no credit for what happens in salvation—ours or anyone else’s.

The flip side of that is also freeing: nor do we bear the burden of bringing about repentance among our unbelieving friends. Because, as Edwards argues: “though means are made use of in conferring grace upon men’s souls, yet ’tis of God that we have these means of grace, and ’tis God that makes them effectual.” In other words, God makes preaching “sink in”. God causes a gospel presentation to “work”. God enables unbelievers to “understand” the message of Christ. And this is a truth of which I have to constantly remind myself.

Longtime Campus Crusade leader Randy Newman is well-known for his candid discussions regarding evangelism. In his book, Questioning Evangelism (Kregel, 2004), Newman confesses his angst over years of unsuccessful attempts to get people to “pray the sinner’s prayer”. “On introspection,” he proffers, “I’ve wondered what I haven’t said to work the same magic as so many others. I’ve found that I’m not alone in my frustration. In fact, frustration might be the most common emotion that Christians associate with evangelism (followed closely by guilt, confusion, or despair)."

I think Newman’s right. It’s easy to get discouraged when our efforts don’t yield more decisions. We can be disheartened by a perceived lack of fruit. As a pastor, I’ve delivered well-prepared sermons with as much passion and conviction that I could muster—with no apparent results. I’ve also fumbled through impromptu gospel presentations only to see God bring someone to a place of faith in Christ—former homosexuals, disgruntled housewives and self-reliant homebuilders. Praise God for HIS work! “Yea, ’tis a more glorious work of power than creation, or raising a dead body to life,” says Edwards, “in that the effect attained is greater and more excellent.” The attained effect is a heart of flesh that can finally respond to and worship God.

Certainly each of us has an obligation to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim 4:5). We must be tireless in our efforts to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19). And we should employ culturally relevant and timely methods of “winning as many as possible” (1 Cor. 9:19). But maybe we should relax a little when it comes to the results. After all, we cannot forget, as the apostle Paul points out and Edwards affirms, that as evangelists we are simply clearing out rocks and planting seeds, because it is God who makes things grow.