If you are a fan of the movie series “Star Wars” the phrase “Let the force be with you” was a phrase not only spoken in the movies but also a catch phrase that people used on a daily basis. The only phrase that may have equaled it was “Luke, I am you father.” The force in the Star Wars movies was according to Wikipedia; “a binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous for power in a fictional universe.” But force has another meaning that is much more true to life. It is to exert pressure upon a person or object; it has to do with strength or physical power or intensity. It can be used positively or negatively toward intended object or persons. It can also lead to physical violence if taken too far.
Last week’s topic was that we are drawn by God in salvation through Jesus Christ. It is by grace through faith and it is a gift from God so that we might have the peace of God and peace with God. God does not force anyone against their will to become one of His children and He is not from a fictional universe. How does God draw a person to Himself?
Jesus made it pretty clear as to how this is to be done just before He left the earth and ascended back to His Father. We find this at the end of the first gospel Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came to them and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” As most followers of Jesus know, this is called the Great Commission passage and it is God’s way of telling about His love and salvation throughout the created world.
God uses people in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ by using words and if God would so bring it about He can use signs and wonders and even visions and dreams to draw people to Himself. But the primary way God uses to draw people to Himself is by His children taking the truth of who Jesus is and what He came to do through the words of His book. So people take the message of Jesus around the world and tell others what and who He is and then God, through His Spirit attaches that truth to a human heart and it is turned toward Christ for salvation.
In fact God tells us in both the Old Testament and New Testament: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” This statement is quoted in both Isaiah 52:7 and Romans 10:15. And the good news is all about how God sent forth a Savior who would by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone for God’s glory alone as defined in Scripture alone give the gift of eternal life. This is not earned nor forced nor coerced but it is by the spoken word through preaching. And this preaching is not simply what is done by churches on a certain day of the week but a proclamation by those who identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Him as Savior and Giver of eternal life.
And this proclaiming begins right where we are according to the Acts of the Apostles in Acts 1:8. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will by My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” It begins locally, within your own household, and then spreads until the message is proclaimed throughout the world. This is a message for each people group in every nation and not for a few select nations. For Jesus Himself said that the end of the world will only come when, “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). There will be people from “every tribe and language and people and nation,” (Revelation 5:9) and it is all because those who follow Christ went and told the gospel to every people group in the world.
It was shared out of love for God and love for people and their eternal destination. Lost people matter to God and He wants them found. Jesus told the crowd in Luke 19:10 that “He came to seek and save the lost.” And we are to be about the Lord’s business seeking the lost and telling them and also living out what and who Jesus is so that they might turn to Him and be saved. Followers of Jesus cannot save anyone and so we do not force anyone with violence with the gospel but it is by the drawing of the Holy Spirit that a person is saved after the proclamation of the Word of God.
Followers of Jesus do not have a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous force in a fictional universe as in Star Wars. But one who does follow Jesus has the gentle yet all powerful “force” of the Holy Spirit that does the work of changing a person’s heart to follow Jesus. And as He directs the person after hearing and then receiving the truth of the gospel can they hear God say, “I Am your Father.”
Thanks to our Guest Contributor:
Pastor Ray Peters
Harvest Alliance Church
