Articles
What Are We “Inviting” People to Do?
I was recently having a conversation with an aged sister in Christ when she expressed
concern over the fact that these days, it seems most of our invitations at the end of sermons or
devotions are offered in a very nonspecific fashion. We often extend them in the form of “if you
know what you need to do to get into a proper relationship with Christ” or even more generally,
“if you have any needs we can help you with.” I too believe we need to be precise in telling
people what needs to be done at these opportunities for a number of reasons.
1) Anyone who has sold anything or tried to persuade people to act in a certain way
learns pretty quickly that one does not get very far without a specific call to action. What do you
want the respondent to do and why? What “needs” are we talking about? As the dear lady said to
me, “Are we talking about a ride home?”
2) The examples in the New Testament do not point people to having their needs taken
care of. Indeed, if we are going to be like Christ, having our needs met only applies in one sense:
man’s need is to glorify God. How does one do that? To start with, by obeying Him in the way
He says (Lev. 10:1-3). So when the people of Jerusalem asked the question you want anyone to
ask themselves at the end of a lesson about spiritual things, “What shall we do?”, Peter
answered, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins”
(Acts 2:38). He was pretty specific. Did he have to explain every nuance of faith and the
Christian life before doing so? Hardly. And 3,000 were baptized. Did some fall away from that
salvation? Undoubtedly. But the possibility that someone would obey without full understanding
does not seem to have deterred Peter, or, for that matter, Philip when he taught the eunuch, or
Paul and Silas when they told the jailer to believe, resulting in the baptism of his household in
that hour.
3) Some today say, “We want people to obey, not because of the threat of hell, but
because they understand the love and grace of God.” Apparently Peter missed the memo on that
one as well: “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your
brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who
does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people’” (Acts 3:22-23).
