![\"cfibillboard2\"](\"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/cfibillboard2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAfter twenty years in ministry, I am constantly in search of analogies that can be used to help communicate that the truths contained in God\u2019s Word. I\u2019ve often found such object lessons sitting in DC traffic, by means of bumper stickers or vanity license plates\u2026or in this case both. The above bumper sticker, affixed to the automobile of a proud atheist, addresses God\u2019s gift of common grace.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pastor John MacArthur provides a great explanation of this concept:<\/p>\n
Common grace is a term theologians use to describe the goodness of God to all mankind universally. Common grace restrains sin and the effects of sin on the human race. Common grace is what keeps humanity from descending into the morass of evil that we would see if the full expression of our fallen nature were allowed to have free reign.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Scripture teaches that we are totally depraved\u2014tainted with sin in every aspect of our being (Rom. 3:10\u201318). People who doubt this doctrine often ask, \u201cHow can people who are supposedly totally depraved enjoy beauty, have a sense of right and wrong, know the pangs of a wounded conscience, or produce great works of art and literature? Aren\u2019t these accomplishments of humanity proof that the human race is essentially good? Don\u2019t these things testify to the basic goodness of human nature?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0And the answer is no. Human nature is utterly corrupt. \u201cThere is none righteous, not even one\u201d (Rom. 3:10). \u201cThe heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick\u201d (Jer. 17:9). Unregenerate men and women are \u201cdead in \u2026 trespasses and sins\u201d (Eph. 2:1). 1<\/em><\/p>\n And yet human beings, though fallen in sin, retain a semblance of the “image of God” in which they were originally created (Gen. 9:6: 1 Cor. 11:7), and as result, God exercises such influence that even an unsaved individual is enabled to feel, love, care and perform good deeds toward his fellow man. And so, in response to the above bumper sticker, \u201cYes, God does work in the world even through the lives of people who don\u2019t believe in Him, and have rejected the gift of salvation from their sins in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, known as the gospel message.\u201d (Rom. 5:8)<\/p>\n By God\u2019s grace unbelievers can be altruistic and charitable. However followers of Christ have a calling higher than that of philanthropy. The greatest good comes in glorifying God, and making Him known amongst the nations. \u201cAltruism is not the Gospel, but only a shadow of it.\u201d2 And, as Eric Wright notes in \u201cA Practical Theology of Missions,\u201d<\/em> failure to address spiritual poverty as well as physical poverty is not, in fact, missionary activity but only common grace philanthropy:<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cMissionary activity that fails to focus on the proclamation of the gospel fails to be missionary. Philanthropy, perhaps; missions, no.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Even notable atheists, such as Matthew Parris, have recognized and affirmed the benefits of Christians offering more than common grace charitable efforts:<\/p>\n \u201cNow a confirmed atheist, I\u2019ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people\u2019s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.\u201d3<\/em><\/p>\n Common grace philanthropy is a gift from the Heavenly Father, but, far more important, is sustaining and saving grace found only in the person of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n \u201cFor in [Christ Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together…For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.\u201d (Colossians 1:16, 19-20)<\/em><\/p>\n End Notes:<\/p>\n 1 https:\/\/www.gty.org\/library\/questions\/QA194\/the-universal-grace-of-god<\/a><\/p>\n 2 https:\/\/thinkchristian.reframemedia.com\/where-atheistic-altruism-falls-short<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\n