If you grew up in the evangelical Christian world, you've probably heard the phrase, "planting the seed." It's what your Sunday School teachers said to emphasize the importance of standing out from "the world": if you pray at the lunch table and say "oh my gosh" instead of "oh my God", your classmates will clamor to know why, allowing you to prime them to come to Jesus later in life.
It's what you tell yourself when you get a little older, and know you should be telling people about the crazy, incredible love of Christ, but can't work up the courage to say anything -- when you mentioned you couldn't go out on Saturday night because you had church the next morning, you "planted the seed" and contributed to that person's salvation without without stepping a toe outside your comfort zone.
What an incredible blessing it was tonight to pray over our incoming freshmen and transfer students. Lord, help us all to pursue you! #TaylorU
A photo posted by Taylor University (@tayloruniv) on
And it's possible. You could have subconsciously influenced them to wander into a church, pull a Bible out of the back of the pew, magically open it to the Roman Road, accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and lead their friends, family, neighbors, and strangers on the side of the road to Jesus.
It's possible, but it's not terribly plausible.
Planting the seed is not where our calling to fulfill the Great Commission ends.
1 Corinthians 3:6-8 says, " I [Paul] planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor." (NIV)
In all fairness, planting the seed is an important part of evangelism because it challenges us to ensure our actions match our beliefs and reminds us that only God can change people's hearts. Planting the seed is not, however, where our calling to fulfill the Great Commission ends.
Called to Courage
The perennial verses of the Great Commission instruct us to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:19-20, NIV)
Leading people to Jesus requires us to actively reach out to and build relationships with people around us. We need to share God's love by loving and supporting our friends and foes through the annoying, un-glamorous, inconvenient parts of life. Our game plan can't rely on passivity.
Biblical evangelism does not call us to caution, but to courage.
If it sounds scary or uncomfortable, that's because it is. I'm the first to admit my singular purpose for writing this article wasn't to shake my fist at the Christian community, but to admonish myself. When our natural inclination is to sit silently and err on the side of caution, we have to remember that Biblical evangelism does not call us to caution, but to courage.
Wow ... what an amazing time it was today at Take It To The Hoop! Thirty-one teams from all over the State of Indiana and more than 250 Special Olympians. Great job, #TaylorU students and Taylor Special Olympics Outreach!
A photo posted by Taylor University (@tayloruniv) on
If you've experienced Christ's awesome, redemptive love, you know it isn't something to be taken lightly. Sharing the Gospel requires us to be brave. It requires us to make ourselves uncomfortable. It requires us to go.
Special thanks to Hannah Keyser for her theological insight and for sharing some incredible verses that challenged and shaped my argument.
