As carefully as possible, I think I have to take issue with Dr. Packer's perspective. I am particularly critical of the popular idea that believers must "earn the right" to speak to another person about Christ. Although this seems to make sense at first glance, I don't think it squares with the Biblical witness. Isn't Acts full of scenes where faithful believers are "expounding the things of God to reluctant strangers who are longing to get away"? I'm afraid that Packer's understanding of evangelism falls short at this point by unwittingly borrowing from the salesman's handbook instead of the Scriptures. The right to proclaim the Gospel has been earned by Christ himself and does not need to be granted in any way by an unbeliever. We are heralds of the King, not salesmen for a product. As a herald of Christ, I actually am tasked with the duty of "intrusive barging into the privacy of other people's souls." I am able to speak to their lives without the necessary basis of deep personal interaction precisely because my witness is to an objective historical work of God in Christ.
To tell the truth, the following sentence really scares me,
Quote:
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We have to give ourselves in honest friendship to people, if ever our relationship with them is to reach the point at which we are justified in choosing to talk to them about Christ, and can speak to them about their own spiritual needs without being either discourteous or offensive.
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Justified in choosing to talk to them about Christ? The Great Commission is justification enough for me. Where is the urgency in proclamation? This confirms my worst fears about the manner in which Reformed believers can sometimes use
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. So much great stuff in that little volume, but it is very easy to react against the excesses of revivalism and "decision"-oriented evangelism by retreating into a complacent mentality that "God is sovereign, so there is no real urgency to evangelism."
Now, don't get me wrong here. I am very cognizant of the need for a winsome witness in one sense. I believe that we must proclaim the Gospel in such a manner that others will be able to see the love of God in our eyes, never a self-righteous pride. As the old saying goes, we must be beggars pointing other beggars to life-giving bread. However,
borrowing from a wise distinction made on another recent thread, this attitude is a moral necessity for the believer, yet not essential to evangelism. I can rejoice with Paul as long as the Christ is proclaimed, even if it is not out of love (Philippians 1:18). Evangelistic power is ultimately rooted in the efficacy of
the Word not the subjective manner of the one who proclaims it.