We Are Not Here To Win Souls
"We are not here to win souls, to do good to others. That is the natural outcome, but it is not our aim, and this is where so many of us cease to be followers. We will follow God as long as He makes us a blessing to others, but when He does not, we will not follow.
Suppose our Lord had measured His life by whether or not He was a blessing to others. Why, He was a 'stone of stumbling' to thousands, actually to His own neighbors, to His own nation... and in His own country 'He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief' (Matt. 13:58).
If our Lord had measured His life by its actual results, He would have been full of misery. We get switched off when instead of following God we follow Christian work and workers. We are much more concerned over the passion for souls than the passion for Christ....
The passion for souls in not a New Testament idea at all, but religious commercialization. When we are taken up with this passion, the joy of the Lord is never ours but only an excitable joy which always leaves a snare behind."
--Oswald Chambers
Suppose our Lord had measured His life by whether or not He was a blessing to others. Why, He was a 'stone of stumbling' to thousands, actually to His own neighbors, to His own nation... and in His own country 'He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief' (Matt. 13:58).
If our Lord had measured His life by its actual results, He would have been full of misery. We get switched off when instead of following God we follow Christian work and workers. We are much more concerned over the passion for souls than the passion for Christ....
The passion for souls in not a New Testament idea at all, but religious commercialization. When we are taken up with this passion, the joy of the Lord is never ours but only an excitable joy which always leaves a snare behind."
--Oswald Chambers
posted by kennyo at 10:58 AM
4 Comments:
"The passion for souls is not a NT idea...."??????
I vehemently disagree with Chambers on this one. If the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost and to give His life for many, and if Paul suffered an entire ministry lifetime for the sake of the church, where is Chambers' basis for what he says? A passion for God is connected to a passion for souls. Just because the church has failed in its approach to this truth doesn't give us carte blanche to deny something so obvious. I'm really sorry Chambers missed the boat on this one -- but it goes to show that men, no matter how great, are not infallible. It is baffling to me, coming from him.
I'm inclined to agree with your anonymous blogger even if Chambers does preface his statement with this "We are not here to win souls, to do good to others. That is the natural outcome, but it is not our aim, and this is where so many of us cease to be followers. We will follow God as long as He makes us a blessing to others, but when He does not, we will not follow". I do not see the logic or corroborating Scripture that supports Chamber's statement that passion for souls is not a Scriptural concept. Christ may only seek and save His lost sheep but they are souls He is passionate for. And that is in the Scripture.
Hank
Dear Anon;
I think you have missed Oswald Chambers' point. He did say that winning souls would be the natural outcome of a life correctly aimed as a follower of Christ. Even Paul said that he would be pleased to be a drink offering only in God's work if necessary, (Phil 2:15-17). Verse 15 explains that our aim should be Christ-likeness, .i.e,
"....so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe"
Verse 16 explains the result: "as you hold out the word of life", which is where the saving of souls comes in, by an act of the Holy Spirit, of course.
Our aim is to be blameless and pure children of God, God's aim is to do the saving work in others. Read the post again in that light and it should help.
-KCO
What does Chambers mean by this?
"The passion for souls in not a New Testament idea at all," Particularly in light of Matthew 9: 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
38 "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."
Hank
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