God Does Not Count Our Converts

He examines our faithfulness, and rewards our labors. The results are in His hands, not ours.

Tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. is your annual review. Sweat pops out on your forehead. Will you be able to sleep tonight? What's your boss going to say? Is he pleased or disappointed? There's reason for concern. This year hasn't been as productive as he expected. You think, I wish I were giving the evaluation, instead of the one being evaluated.

What does a boss look for in an employee? Results. Employees have to be worth their salaries. Otherwise, the people on the payroll cost more than they produce. Stated or unstated, the employer is saying, "I want to see results."

Many Christians think that God says the same thing about evangelism. The number of people whom we share Christ with doesn't matter because we think that God expects us to lead others to Him, not just tell about Him.

As a result, a couple of things can happen. Our approach becomes more high pressure. It doesn't matter whether non-Christians come to Christ of their own will or ours, just as long as they make the list. We can't afford the wasted time of sharing the gospel if we don't see a response. We think that God is keeping records. We need a yes from the lost, so we pressure and manipulate to get it. The problem is, that's not a Holy Spirit produced convert. It's a human spirit produced one, which is no convert at all.

Or the other thing that happens is we get discouraged. If we have few results, we think we haven't merited anything with God, so why keep trying? We're doomed to fail in evangelism, we think we're a disappointment to God.

What's the error in this thinking? Why is it a misconception?

Where do we get the idea that we're responsible for winning the lost? No such verse exists. Nor is there a hint that when we stand before God to be rewarded, He will ask, "How many have you led to Me?"

God holds us responsible for contact, not conversion.

What did Jesus commission His disciples to do? Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

A witness tells what he or she knows. The disciples were to tell what they knew, starting at Jerusalem, the local city—the very city where Christ was rejected and crucified. They were to go from there to the local area of Judea. With Samaria mentioned and Galilee implied, this meant the outer area of Palestine. They were then to go to "the ends of the earth," which to the apostles likely would have been Rome, the capital of the empire and the place where people congregated from every country.

The emphasis of the Great Commission is on the disciples' responsibility to bring Christ to non-Christians, not to bring non-Christians to Christ. Spreading the Good News was the issue here, not results. Beginning at home, they were to tell what they knew everywhere, starting at home!

Personal evangelism is impossible without personal contact. That's why Christ's own example stressed the need to be a friend of sinners (Luke 15:2). We can't speak to those whom we haven't contacted. We must go to them. We must be witnesses. What results from that contact is never the issue. Rather, the biblical emphasis is contact, not conversion.

God holds us responsible for faithfulness of sowing the seeds not whether they are fruitful or not!

Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthian church that he and Apollos were both used by the Lord in starting and growing the church:

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. (1 Cor. 3:5-8)

Paul planted the church. Apollos ministered after Paul left. Both were used of the Lord. Our responsibility is to be faithful in whatever we're doing, and God rewards our labors. Fruitfulness is God's responsibility.

Why is it important to understand that faithfulness is the issue? At times we will sow the seeds of the gospel, and someone else may reap the seeds we've sown. During His visit to Samaria, Christ said, “You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” (John 4:37-38). Although He was only in Samaria two days and did no miracles, Christ found a field ripe for harvest. Apparently, the ministry of the Old Testament prophets and John the Baptist had their results. Christ assured His disciples that both the sower and the reaper will have their reward.

There is a good example of this that I read about. A church office received a call from a woman. She explained that a person had dropped a tract off at her house with the church’s name and phone #. As a result of reading it, she accepted Christ and she wanted to know how to get more copies. She was thrilled with what she now understood and wanted others to know. They had no idea who left the tract so there is no way the person who “sowed the seed” even knew what their efforts accomplished. The sower may not even know what his or her efforts accomplished, but the Bible says that everyone who had a part in her coming to Christ will be rewarded.

The responsibility of bringing the lost to Christ is on God's shoulders. It is not on the shoulders of His servants. Jesus explains in John 6:44, "For people can't come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them from the dead." Christ repeats that emphasis when He says, "That is what I meant when I said that people can't come to me unless the Father brings them to me." (v.65). All we can do is bring them the message, we certainly can’t “save” them!

The pressure of bringing people to Christ is God's. We can only bring Christ to people. The only pressure we ought to feel is the pressure to make the gospel clear.

We can tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to people but only Christ through His Holy Spirit can bring about an understanding of the gospel. But God does use us to show the unsaved their condition, His remedy, and their need to trust Christ. As you evangelize, say to yourself, "I must be clear, be clear, be clear."

Remember, God holds us responsible for contact, not conversion. We have the privilege of introducing the lost to Christ, but the pressure for them to trust the Savior is upon Him, not us.
As we improve our skills we increase our effectiveness in reaching the lost. But even when multitudes respond, God brings them, not us. Any pressure we should feel is that of making the gospel clear to lost people with the intent of them trusting Christ. Whether or not they do is between them and God.