But the Preaching of the Cross...

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Then said I, Here am I; send me. -- Isaiah 6:8

Who can deny the power or requirement of evangelism?  That was a rhetorical question- NO ONE CAN.  But I think we overestimate ourselves sometimes.

We expect tares to become wheat!!!

Ok, in the first place, we know the harvest is ripe.  Jesus said so.

Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.  --Matthew 9:37-38

  

Say not ye, there yet four months, and then cometh harvest?  Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. -- John 4:35

It is the duty and work of the Christian to participate with God in the winning of souls.  God uses means to accomplish ends- He did, after all, set in motion the great law of cause and effect.

But, God clearly calls preaching foolishness.

For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. -- I Corinthians 1:21

So, God sends preachers- because He wants to.  (Romans 10:13-15)

The message; His gospel.  (Col. 1:23)

The effect; that all those who hear and believe will be saved.  (Romans 10:9)

The cause?  Here is where many differ.  Is it the man himself, choosing God?  Is it the preaching, causing the man to repent?  Or is it God saving His people (Matt. 1:21; Jn. 6:38-39)?

Preaching is foolishness, Man is altogether become unprofitable (Rom. 3:10-12), and God is, well, completely all powerful, omniscient, and Good.  (He’s GOD!)

Many say it is a combination of these three elements that convert a man, but then there would be some wisdom in preaching, some goodness in man and clearly not enough power in God.

Ezekiel has something to say about preaching being foolishness- and man being dead in trespasses and sins:

Ezekiel 37:1-10 -

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 

They were completely, utterly, and without hope, DEAD.

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?  And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 

Without the Lord GOD, they cannot.

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that am the LORD. 

He is doing the work.

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.  Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, and exceeding great army.

I appreciate the fact that Ezekiel did what the Lord commanded, regardless of the apparent hopelessness of it.

Perhaps a parable will shed some light on the subject:

Matthew 13:24-30 -

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field?  From whence then hath it tares?  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.  The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.

Are we, as workers in the harvest, supposed to gather the wheat, or convince the tares to become wheat?  Which would be more effective?

When we trust the Lord for the harvest we are no more relying on man's works to save him, but God's Work.

It would be fitting to close with the words of the Great Commission:

Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 

It really simplifies things.  Let’s just be like Ezekiel, and preach- as we were commanded to.

~JORDAN ELIZABETH