Selfishness--Roadblocks to Evangelism

I turned off my electric razor and looked in utter disbelief at the pastor who had come to my motel room this rainy Monday morning. He wasn't looking at me; he was staring at the floor. Then he continued: "For the past two years I have been working with many of the finest peo­ple in this city. There is a genuine interest here in our message. I bring them along, step by step, until I am positive they will accept baptism and join the church, then for some reason they hold back. They be­lieve the Sabbath, the soon coming of Jesus, tithing, state of the dead—every­thing. But to this time not one of them has put a foot in the baptismal font. I'm sure it must be me. I must be a failure."

This was no Monday morning type of dejection. This was genuine, based on a discouragement that had been growing for some time.

"Why don't you look at the tithe rec­ords of your members?" I suggested.

There was genuine surprise on his face as he asked, "Why?"

"I just thought it might prove interest­ing," I replied.

He left. I didn't see him until the fol­lowing morning, when he knocked, en­tered, seated himself, and once more stud­ied the floor. Finally he looked up and slowly shaking his head began, "I still can't believe it! Sixty-five per cent of my members have not placed their names on a tithe envelope for the past two years! Sixty-five per cent!"

"Could this be the reason for your fail­ure in bringing these 'influential' folk into the church?" I asked him. "Do you re­member the quotation which says:

"The Lord does not now work to bring many souls into the truth, because of the church mem­bers who have never been converted and those who were once converted but who have backslidden. What influence would these unconverted members have on new converts?—Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 371."

Suicidal Satisfaction

No one can question the fact that few, if any, of our churches here in America are experiencing the growth that should be ex­pected in these critical closing hours just preceding the second coming of our Lord. Too often if the additions from baptisms and transfers exceed the losses from apos­tasy and transfers, we appear to be satis­fied. But the day has come when it is suicidal to be satisfied. Amos cried out, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion" (Amos 6:1).

God's great clock is nearly ready to strike the hour, and our task is not finished. Paul sounded the keynote in his letter to the Romans, "Besides this you know what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep—rouse to reality" (chap. 13:11, Amplified).* Indeed, the very urgency of the time de­mands greater vigor, deeper study of the blueprint, more earnest and fervent prayer, "for the night cometh, when no man can work."

The church cannot expect to receive an influx of new converts until she is prepared to receive them. God can't take an honest soul, seeking for truth, and subject him to an association with dishonest professors.

What is our true condition?

Selfishness, the sin of the world, has become the prevailing sin of the church.—Ibid., vol. 5, p. 204.

Covetousness, selfishness, love of money, and the love of the world, are all through the ranks of Sabbathkeepers.—Ibid., vol. 1, p. 140.

Is it possible that we are hiding our heads, as it were, from the alarming statis­tics that show widespread unfaithfulness in tithing and the lowest mission giving, per tithe dollar, in our history? If this is so, then we are practicing the most primitive form of self-deception. For no matter how many approaches or procedures we may de­vise to promote a greater evangelistic thrust, none of these will ever prove ef­fective until we remove the greatest hin­drance to success, which is selfishness.

Fourfold Roadblock

Note carefully how effective a roadblock is selfishness to evangelism.

1. Selfishness in the church prevents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. "God can­not pour out His Spirit when selfishness and self-indulgence are so manifest."—Counsels on Stewardship, p. 52.

The church is powerless without the ef­ficacy of the Spirit of God. This gift is ab­solutely essential to soul winning. It gives results to efforts and appeals. It opens hearts and minds to receive the rays of light. It convinces the soul of the need for Christ. It qualifies the laborers by its unc­tion.

Learning, talent, eloquence, every natural or ac­quired endowment, may be possessed; but, without the presence of the Spirit of God, no heart will be touched, no sinner won to Christ.—Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 21. (Italics supplied.)

No amount of education, no advantages, how­ever great, can make one a channel of light without the cooperation of the Spirit of God.—The Desire of Ages, p. 672.

Thus it can be readily seen that any­thing that is preventing the outpouring of God's Spirit must be removed before suc­cessful soul winning can be accomplished.

Church Support—Not Government Aid

2. Selfishness is robbing God's cause of the means it desperately needs to carry on and complete its task.

The work of God, which should be going for­ward with tenfold its present strength and effi­ciency, is kept back, like a spring season held back by the chilling blasts of winter, because some of God's professed people are appropriating to them­selves the means that should be dedicated to His service.—Counsels on Stewardship, p. 54.