He Never Forced Anyone

Badger, lure, scare, beg, embarrass, or force--these are often ministry strategies the modern church uses to draw or keep people--but all of which Jesus never did. God invites everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth while freewill remains--freewill that leaves you alone, with all the relevant facts, to decide for yourself. You're invited but you choose to go or not. And God wants us to do the same--not force anyone into or anything but wait. There's power in waiting.

Photo by Jaee Kim on Unsplash.

Circumstances won't be arranged or set up so you'd later find yourself with no choice but to give in. Things like that are "arranged" only for God's select servants who have totally surrendered to his will. His will is not forced on them though, but simply laid out, because these servants have, on their own, determined to fully surrender to God, "urging" HIM to do as HE pleases. But that again is a choice. You see, nothing is forced. Everything is by choice. And yet, on the other hand, if you dig deeper into God's will, intimacy with Him eventually negates freewill. No more choice. No more freewill. 

The Majority Chooses

But to the majority, he allows freewill. You have to come to Jesus if you want rest and prefer easy burdens to carry. Rest isn't automatic. God won't just change your situation; you have to decide to come to him and ask. And yes, he won't come to you. While he's just there around somewhere (he won't leave nor forsake you, and he's everywhere), you still need to decide to get his help, ask it and do what he says. If you don't come to him, you don't rest.

God "so loved" the world that he gave Jesus to die for our sins, but salvation doesn't come automatic. It's not whether you like it or not. You have to decide to "believe in him" so you won't perish "but have everlasting life." And "believe" here is not just reading the bible, getting bible facts and going to church each Sunday. More importantly, it's obeying. Accepting his love and believing in him are personal decisions we must make. God never forces them on us. He leaves us to ourselves to choose. No one is forced.

More about Jesus, his real ministry and being God's Flesh. Click here.

He Invites

Jesus did invite some to his discipleship, but they were asked just once, without stubborn, pestering insistence to join him or attend his "church." God sometimes does that--invite. But with no follow-ups, harassments, hypes or hard-selling. He invites once and leaves you to decide. They were told once to "come follow me," and had to immediately leave everything behind them and follow. They were not asked again.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. [Matthew 4.19]

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. [Matthew 9.9]

The rich, young ruler was also issued the invitation but backed off. Nothing is forced but offered, though it sounds compelling like a command. "Come follow me." We would say it differently today, like "Would you like to come?" Or, "You may follow me if you want to." Or, if we tried to compel people, it would sound more like desperation than Kingdomly--because we'd do it not for the Kingdom but to increase church membership and income. 

Churches today desperately pursue after people unlike how people literally ran after Jesus. That desperate pursuit is what makes them short of "forcing" people to join them. 

Even today, if you hear God's voice, it sounds compelling and commanding (but not desperate), because such is the King's voice--gentle yet emphatic--though your choice to obey or not remains intact. He won't force or corner you into joining Him. Disobedience or distancing from Him is always an option but there are consequences. And it's not a threat. It's what naturally happens if you keep away from safety. You oppose how things naturally work. God's work has been finished since the 7th day of creation. Everything has been set up--his Word is the manual on how things work--and if you go against it you suffer the results.

Like, if doctors tell you how not breathing will kill you, they're stating a fact, not a threat. Or if a gadget manual tells you how not to be electrocuted and doing otherwise can kill you, it's not a threat. It's a fact and warning. Threat intends harm. Warning keeps from harm. See? 

He Never Pesters

You never see Jesus following up or doing visitations to make people come to his bible studies or prayer meetings. Again, people had to "come" to his meetings on their own volition, and even after hearing him preach, his policy was that "whoever has ears to hear, let him hear." He didn't make altar calls or invite them to his local church or get their names and addresses for later follow ups. He simply left. People decided on their own to follow him or not, to remain in the sidelights or come closer.

Yet, the mystery here is, only those the Father draws to Jesus are able to go close to him [John 6.44]. You're not forced to go closer, but you are drawn closer if the Father chooses to. To "draw" you closer hints at a revelatory work done exclusively to your spirit so you see the beauty in Christ which others can't. Others see a poor carpenter's son. You see the Messiah. You're not forced but your eyes are opened to see the revelation. Then you decide, led by the Holy Spirit (not forced), to draw nearer.

He Never Lures

Jesus' ministry had the least attractions the modern church enjoys today--sound system, musical instruments, nice altar and building, impressive facilities, cute programs and activities, titled and degreed preachers. Jesus had nothing except his radically simple self (very repugnant to the sophisticated) and his down-to-earth disciples, a ragtag band of wanderers who just lost their jobs, roamers who seemed aimless about life. They didn't look attractive (but not without a purpose). So didn't John the Baptist. They were nobodies. 

But mind you, money was never a problem to them. They never begged or solicited for "church projects" because they didn't think these were important. 

Church projects are tools for luring people to church to up membership and income. Our strategy today is to attract people with nice things pleasing to the eyes and exciting to the flesh. But Jesus did signs and wonders that made people decide to either radically give up all (especially the ego), lose importance in men's religious circles, and follow him---or just play religion. At first glance, there wasn't anything impressive about Jesus. Or even if you gave him a second or third look. Pilate wasn't impressed at all. 

Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

It reeked of all arrogance and condescension. The bible doesn't exactly say it, but you'd discern a belittling sizing up of Jesus. But Jesus didn't do anything to impress him one bit, as if to say, "So what?" Jesus never attracts or lures people. He intentionally appears lowly and unimpressive--lackluster--to reveal people's hearts. That's what we should do today. If your ministry got rid of its sound systems, stage, facilities, nice programs and activities, elaborate altar, and church building--if you do nothing else but share Jesus Christ and not force anyone--would people come to you? Would your members stay--or would they look for another church, one that is impressive?

How much do we trust the Holy Spirit to do the promotion for us?

Jesus Seldom Scares

Except for warning people of the consequences of sin and hell, Jesus didn't scare people to make them stay or do things for him. When a lot of his disciples left because of his teaching on eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he didn't scare them to change their minds. Neither did he talk them out of it or counsel or explain things further for clarification, hinting on an impending punishment if they left. He just let them leave. The important Kingdom principle here is you either come to him or you don't. And God will leave you to your decision.

No scare tactics. Just the Truth.

The Holy Spirit is around to convict and convince about sin, but he also won't force anyone to make decisions. Pastors scare people about losing their blessing if they don't give their tithes, or suffer wrath if they miss church on a Sunday or if they don't worship lively. Some preachers scare you if you don't keep saying amen to every sentence they utter. Jesus never did them. He trusted the Holy Spirit to do his work.

He Never Begs

Can you imagine Jesus soliciting for money? Or pleading people to come back next Sunday? Or sharing testimonies about how hard ministry life is (or how important a church project is) to draw pity and inspire people to give? Begging is not part of Kingdom building, so if you use it in ministry, you're not in God's Kingdom building--you're building man's empire--a Babel tower where man's ways and efforts are used. 

He Never Embarrasses 

People embarrassed themselves for failing to follow him, not Jesus. They presented themselves, expressed their willingness to follow, but later backed down, like the rich, young ruler. Jesus never puts you in the limelight to roast you there. Yourself, your deeds, other people or circumstances will, but not God. I've heard preachers publicly insinuate the shortcomings of people they know about--embarrass and shame them--to make them realize their sin and repent, or to make them do something. They claim the Holy Spirit made them do it. 

Well, God sometimes puts the godless to shame when they go beyond the limit but he often uses circumstances to do it instead of directly himself. The extremely arrogant Sennacherib of Assyria discovered too late that it was stupid to mock the God of Israel. He told the Israelites:

Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my predecessors. How much less will your god deliver you from my hand!”

16 Sennacherib’s officers spoke further against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. [2 Chronicles 32]

Later however, God made him eat his words.

20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. 21 And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace.

Ministers should learn how to be led solely by the Holy Spirit and not by what they know or what they have formulated. Intentionally and directly embarrassing people can produce some results but not what God had in mind. Learning how to rely on the Holy Spirit and understanding how he works is the key to doing God's will on earth as it is in heaven, exactly the way Jesus did it.

"...he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;" [Isaiah 11.3]

You don't have to embarrass erring people to make them do things. Let the Spirit of God do his work. Man's deeds or sins will find him out. God assures us that, "If you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out," [Numbers 32.23]

Prophetic Ministry

There are people who, under grace, enjoy an intimate relationship with God and trust him to the max that they have decided to forego of their freewill and fully surrendered everything to God. God tells them what to say or do and they execute accordingly--to the letter of God's spoken Word. God gives them the ability to release His Word with power and command and yet leave a person's freewill intact. 

These are God's prophets and apostles. They may release God's utterance to make people decide or tell them exactly what to do. The utterance has nothing to do with what they know about people or what they think is right or doctrinally sound. They just utter exactly what they hear from God, or what HE impresses in their hearts. 

For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. [2 Peter 1.21]

Then again, even prophecy is not forced, even prophecies designed to tell an individual exactly what he must do. A prophecy aimed at a man of God tells him accurate instructions and minute details about a matter. Although he is fully surrendered and have relinquished his own will, God still gives him a choice, although it's not really a choice between doing or not doing, because God honors your word about totally giving up your freewill to get His will alone. 

But then, it's still a choice, first, to make the prophet see what's in his own heart. Second, to make the Word or prophecy unforced on the prophet--although it is really a mandate. Under normal conditions, this presents no problem for the prophet--unless the prophet backslides and begins to entertain his own will and carnal desires. Like a lot of prophetic and apostolic ministers do.

Judas Iscariot, though personally handpicked by Jesus to be his apostle, was given a choice which Judas used carnally. He wasn't forced to betray. He chose to do it. Jesus said, the person who'd be given the morsel dipped in the bowl of water was the betrayer. That was the choice. He could've continued obeying Jesus by not taking the bread. In fact, it was a chance to make him do right. But he was determined to take it when Jesus handed it to him (when Jesus handed it to him, it was not a command. He had the choice not to take it). He had decided to betray. Jesus never forced him to do anything. He was left to himself to decide whether to take the bread or not. When he had decided, Jesus said, "What you have to do, do it fast."

He didn't counsel Judas or explain things to him for clarification. He didn't invite Judas for prayer. He just let him. He didn't force him nor dissuade him.

This is How We Should Do Ministry

How Jesus did ministry is how we should do ministry. Exactly. We cannot add anything or choose what and what not to adopt. If he didn't force anyone--or used the carnal ways mentioned here--we likewise shouldn't. If we do it any other way (any other principles), then we're not building God's Kingdom. We're building men's empires.

The key is clear. As Jesus was led solely by the Holy Spirit and what the Father instructed him through the spoken Word, so should we.

Surrendering to Jesus 

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord. Then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do (not your good deeds or religion or church), but because of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. 

In Jesus alone is salvation. 

Jesus is: “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4] 

Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His words in the bible.