I had quite the troubling experience this past weekend. I was at a house party and I was in this conversation with A and B. A said something to the effect of we’re all called to live like missionaries. B said what about all the places in the world where people haven’t even heard about Jesus. Then A said well, I can’t really carry that burden. Me and B were like ok, where is A going with this… Then B said the Bible clearly states that people are going to hell, I’m not going to lose sleep over it. There’s nothing that I can do about it, so I’m not going to carry that burden.
I didn’t know how to respond to that. Should I punch him, should I pray for him, should I rebuke him in front of this growing crowd, should I weep… I went with “That is the absolutely most unbiblical thing I’ve ever heard!” (Quick caveat, this is the first time I’ve met A and I really can’t speak to his character or lack thereof. A might be an amazing person who loves dogs and little kids and walks old people across the street. I don’t know. I don’t write this to slam A, but to share an experience and the frustration that came with it)
How could someone claim to know Jesus and think that way! There are facts in A’s statement. People are going to Hell. That is nothing to be blasé about. That’s nothing to take for light fodder at a party. Real, living, breathing people are going to Hell! Moms, dads, best friends, mentors, grandpas are going to Hell! They will be in the kingdom of darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, lake of fire, apart from Jesus, Hell! Because of the evilness that is still on people because of the curse of sin people are going to Hell! This is a big f’n deal! If you have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness, adopted as a child of God, eternally enjoying Christ forever, living only to the glory of God, how can you talk like that. If you know how evil you were and that apart from any work you’ve done and in fact in spite of every work you done, God redeemed your life, put his righteousness on you and effectually saved you by dying on the cross in your place for the just punishment of your evil, you must want that for everybody else. You must want God to get the glory from every knee bowing and every tongue confessing. I do not see how you could know those great truths about your now redeemed life and talk like A talked. I do not see how they are compatible. Yes, there is nothing that A can physically do to save anybody, A cannot speak life into dead hearts and he cannot give faith to anybody, it’s completely up to God’s good pleasure. Yes, Jesus has carried that burden. Yet for some crazy reason, God commands us to pray. Jesus himself, told us to ask for laborers for the harvest (Luke 10). In some crazy way, when we call out to God for salvation, he hears. Somehow, God puts it in his children to beg him for the souls of others. Somehow, in all God’s sovereignty, it is not a waste of time to pray for those who don’t know Jesus but it is spiritual warfare.
If I never see A again, I hope someone shows A how the Bible talks about people who don’t know Jesus, I hope someone shows A how God in the scheme for his glory tabnernacled amongst us as the word in the form of flesh and how that flesh was bruised and eventually terminated and how that word ultimately won by the resurrection of King Jesus, I hope someone shows A how to lose sleep over those who don’t know Jesus.