The Fifth Spiritual Law
This was posted on a friend’s Facebook status:
“The 4 spiritual laws and sinner’s prayer is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that methodology and evangelism has done more to hurt this country than every heresy introduced by every cult combined. Millions of people in this country whose lives have never been changed believed themselves born again because we have so reduced the gospel of Jesus Christ that it means now nothing more than simple decision that will only take five minutes of your time.” ~ Paul Washer
An interesting thought, though not one I had considered before reading this.
To review, the four spiritual laws are:
- God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. (John 3:16, John 10:10)
- Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)
- Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life. (Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 15:3-6, John 14:6)
- We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives. (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8,9, John 3:1~8, Revelation 3:20)
It is hard to argue with them individually, so it made me wonder (for a minute) why Mr. Washer has such a problem with them. The same day, as I dug into my scripture study of John 15:1-11, the wondering stopped. There’s a 5th Law. That 5th Law is abiding in Christ, and all that means according to Him.
John 15 is the passage where Jesus, walking through a vineyard with His disciples, metaphorically describes Himself as the True Vine, His father as the Vinedresser, and His people as the branches. For the branches to bear fruit they must abide in Christ (He must be the source of their nutrition). Abiding is apparent by obeying His commands and bearing fruit.
In John 15:16 Jesus tells them that they had not chosen Him, He had chosen them. The four spiritual laws leave us to make a decision that does not acknowledge God’s work in us. We would not respond to the Truth of the Bible if God did not give us understanding through the Holy Spirit.
If all we have to do is hear a truth and pray a prayer – easy – I can spend eternity in heaven and live God’s wonderful plan for my life. Where is God’s sovereignty in that thinking? It reminds me of the “Get out of jail (Hell) free” card in Monopoly.
What’s missing is the “fruit.” Fruit comes from abiding in Jesus here and now (and His abiding in us). It necessarily will include pruning, hardly ever a fun process, so that we will bear even more fruit for Him. If we “lead” someone to Christ with the four spiritual laws and expect to see her in heaven – we have no idea if we have produced fruit, because we have no idea if she will produce fruit. Time will tell.
I no longer wonder about Mr. Washer’s problem with this evangelistic tool.
There will be no fruit for the one who simply says a prayer and can’t wait to meet Jesus. If, or when, we see the fruit of abiding, we can rejoice with the angels!
Hi Beth, As a former Cru staff member, I remember the folks at Bob Jones U having the same objections in 1970 to this tool Cru’s president wrote. I guess what I would say in response to this is that Cru followed up with people and always sought to disciple them. There was never an emphasis on just having a person pray the prayer and that was it. I’ve known many dedicated current missionaries and pastors whose journey began through a relationship with a Christian who shared the Four Law booklet with them . In fact, Cru was a catalyst to introducing people to the next booklet they used — Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-Filled Life? Dr. Bright (who went to Princeton Seminary) always thought that was Cru’s most important contribution as an organization. Cru and many in the Reformed church have had a solid, cordial partnership. I absolutely understand the need to repent (on a daily basis), and that the Gospel comes alive to a person when the Holy Spirit has been at work. That would not stop me from sharing the Four Law booklet with someone as a starting point. I’ll be enjoying fellowship in heaven with some people whp prayed along with me when I worked for Cru.
Thanks Pam, I do think what you’re saying is true. Sadly, there have been some Christians who pass out tracts, or make a one time presentation, who then leave those who prayed with them without any follow up discipleship. I guess we wont know until heaven how many of those were real professions of faith. I think one of the reasons this caught my attention is because I believe we have gotten lazy with regard to evangelism. We would rather invite people to church or hand them literature to introduce Christ than spend time teaching. If we look at scripture Paul and the apostles stuck around and taught, moved on and sent others to check on the new believers. The 4 Laws are still valid – I just think there is a fifth that is ignored if, as you said, there is no discipleship.
Hi Beth, I agree with your response. I guess I would say the problem isn’t the Four Laws; the problem is abandoning new believers/seekers. The Four Law booklet mentions the importance of affiliating with a local church — but it is much better to invite your new friend to go to church with you.
I have seen too many believers abandon (or never try) the hard work of one-on-one discipleship of new believers. That’s one of the things Cru emphasized — building multiplying disciples who can turn around and lead others to Christ and disciple them in the faith. I haven’t seen much interest in this in the local churches I’ve been affiliated with. Taking people to programs isn’t discipleship. Meeting one-on-one is where the rubber meets the road…..because there’s study, prayer, witnessing and serving together in a discipleship relationship. It’s what Jesus did.
My friend Marty Schoenleber, an E Free church planter, has a blog called Chosen Rebel. He is an advocate for true discipleship to occur in today’s Church. You might enjoy following him. He’s very challenging and humble. He takes on some of the pet ideas floating around these days (like people thinking spiritual formation is the same as discipleship), and gives the alternative — learning how to make multiplying disciples.
If you’d ever want to discuss further, I’d welcome that. Blessings.
Mentoring/discipleship,is one of my passions. I would love to talk about it with you sometime. I will PM you about meeting. In the meantime, I will take a look at what your friend is doing. Thanks.