Introduction
Can we tell someone on the street that Jesus loves them? Pastor Cam Porter explains why the gospel message centers on Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, not on a claim that God loves you.
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Transcript
Keywords: gospel proclamation, God’s love, elect vs non-elect, biblical evangelism, divine hatred of sin, providential goodness, Christ’s death and resurrection, Reformed theology, salvation message, biblical language
Speakers: Wim Kerkhoff (host), Pastor Jim Butler, Pastor Cameron Porter
The Question
Wim Kerkhoff: Does God love the unregenerate, the non-elect? Can we say “Jesus loves you” to unbelievers we meet on the street?
What the Gospel Actually Proclaims
Pastor Cam Porter: We ought to recognize out of the gate that the gospel has been distorted into “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” The warrant on which a sinner is called to come is never that. It’s the command and promise of God that whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will not be ashamed, but will be saved. If we look at the biblical evidence for gospel proclamation, take the Acts of the Apostles: the content is never “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” It’s always immediately connected to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul defines the gospel: that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, and that he rose again according to the Scriptures. That’s the warrant on which sinners are called: the perfection, ability, and willingness of the Savior who came to save sinners, not a platitudinous, universalistic idea that God loves you and has a wonderful plan.
Does that mean we can’t tell sinners God loves them? The Bible does speak of the holy hatred of God toward sinners, that he hates the workers of iniquity and is angry with the sinner every day. So is it responsible for a Christian evangelist to say, universally and without qualification, that God loves every individual before them? I don’t think so. To open a gospel proclamation with “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” is, ironically, an absence of love, because it distorts what the Bible says about God’s purposes and the nature of the gospel.
Theologians have parsed divine love in different ways: the love of benevolence, God’s will for the goodness of his creation; the love of beneficence, God actually conferring goodness on his creation; and the love of complacency, God’s particular love for the elect, delighting in and pouring out love on those who are its object. The first two are often called God’s general providential goodness: the sun shines on the evil and the good, the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But there’s a special, particular love God has for his elect specifically, not for the unregenerate or the reprobate generally, but for those on whom, before the foundation of the world, God determined to pour out his grace and mercy through the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The gospel message is not “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” It’s that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that there is a triune God who cannot look on sin approvingly without punishing it, and that he has dealt with sin either in the death of his Son or in the everlasting punishment of sinners cast out of his sight. The blessedness of the gospel is that God condescended in the person of the Son to secure the salvation of a multitude no man can number, by his death, burial, and resurrection. It’s those saved sinners, found in the Son, not having their own righteousness but that which is from God through faith in Christ, that God has that special, electing love for.
Why “God Loves You” Misplaces the Glory
Wim Kerkhoff: The Bible says we’re messed up, the world is messed up, but God so loved the world that he sent his Son.
Pastor Cam Porter: Think about what the message does when we say to a sinner indiscriminately, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” That puts the glory and the beauty on the person who is loved, not on the God who condescends, not on the Christ who is the sum and substance of the gospel. “God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life” implies I must be lovable, worthy of this divine favor. Whereas the one hearing the proper Christian message needs to hear of a holy God, of their sin, of the just punishment for sin, and of the blessedness of the Savior who came to save sinners perfectly.
Using Biblical Language in Evangelism
Wim Kerkhoff: It’s important to use the language the Bible uses. Stick to it, because it’s sufficient.
Is “Accept Jesus” Acceptable Language?
Wim Kerkhoff: I had a discussion this week about the phrase “accept Jesus.” The Bible doesn’t use that word, but either we reject him or accept him, right? I use it as a synonym for receive, though some people have a problem with that language, maybe because it’s been abused as “accepting Jesus into your heart.”
Pastor Jim Butler: I’m sure it’s a reaction to bad uses of it. It’s not my favorite language, but I’m not going to say you’re therefore messed up for using it. We should be able to have differences in a confessional context and still love each other, without losing sleep over it.
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