Gospel Invitations and Imperatives
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“Ask Jesus to come into your heart.” If you inhabit the evangelical world, you’ve probably heard that phrase hundreds of times. It is the shibboleth that often functions as gospel invitation at the end of sermons or evangelistic presentations. Recently my husband reported hearing a DJ on a Christian radio station insist repeatedly, “Just give Jesus your heart. That’s all he wants!” Our spiritual antennae should quiver at this point if they are at all attuned to deep engagement with the Gospels.
I’ve become curious about the history of the phrase, “ask Jesus into your heart.” How did it acquire such widespread usage in evangelistic contexts? I’m also increasingly uncomfortable with its lack of clarity (what does it even mean?) and its glaring weakness when set alongside the robust and radical invitations issued by Jesus to both disciples and would-be followers in the Gospels.
History. The phrase “invite (ask, receive) Jesus into your heart” seems to have originated within the Puritan community in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although it was frequently used to call sinners into a personal relationship with Jesus, interestingly enough "it was just as common for pastors of that era to use the phrase as a Christian act of devotion. Thomas Boston, a Scottish Calvinist pastor, encouraged Christians taking communion to receive ‘Christ in their hearts.’ Benjamin Colman, the leading evangelical pastor in Boston in the early eighteenth century, wrote explicitly that Christians should ‘receive Christ into their hearts, and hold him forth in their lives’” (Thomas Kidd, 2016). The use of the phrase as an evangelistic call flourished in the 19th-century missionary movement and was thus exported to places all over the globe. Kidd notes that there was an uptick in its use in the 1970s in the U.S., particularly in the context of children’s ministry, where it was seen as a simple way to express the gospel invitation to children. Such an approach is not without problems given children’s literal-mindedness.
Gospel invitations and imperatives. This is far from the first time that critiques have been leveled at the use of the phrase “ask Jesus to come into your heart” in the high and holy task of calling sinners into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. David Platt caused quite a kerfuffle in Southern Baptist circles back in 2012 when he questioned whether the phrase is misleading or inaccurate. Writing from within the Global Methodist Church, as we learn to embrace our magnificent mission and raison d’être to “make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness across the globe,” it seems to me urgent that we have a clear understanding of just what we are inviting people to do and be when we invite them to “receive” Jesus. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? As Bob Kaylor pointed out in a 2023 Firebrand essay, John Wesley’s own evangelistic invitations were straightforward and Scripture-shaped, each one calling for a response to the gracious work of God: “God loves you; therefore, love and obey him. Christ died for you; therefore, die to sin. Christ is risen; therefore, rise in the image of God. Christ liveth evermore; therefore live to God until you live with him in glory” (from A Letter on Preaching Christ, 1779, emphasis added). Love and obey God, die to sin, rise in the image of God, live to God—that is both clearer and more demanding than an invitation to “ask Jesus into your heart.”
In the light of Wesley’s words, and because of my unease with the evangelistic jargon under consideration, I set out on a sustained journey through the Gospels, which are filled with invitations from Jesus to would-be followers as well as imperatives that indicate just what is expected of those who accept the initial invitation. There are four insistent invitations that Jesus gives to those who would enter into relationship with him: repent, believe, follow, and keep the commandments (hear the word and do it).
“Repent” is the opening dominical imperative in both Matthew and Mark, where Jesus lays it out as the necessary response to the presence of God’s kingdom (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15). Embedded within that single command is the invitation to recognize the sinful condition that separates a person from a holy God and to turn from sin to the gracious forgiveness and restoration that Jesus offers.
Mark pairs repent with “believe,” which is Jesus’ favorite imperative in John’s Gospel. “Believe” is far more than intellectual assent to a set of truths about Jesus. Like “repent,” it involves a change of condition, as we see in Jesus’ invitation to the crowd in John 12:35–36: “If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light” (NRSV, emphasis added). From ignorance and darkness into truth and light, the gospel invitations—“repent and believe”—call for the reorientation and realignment of one’s whole person with the life and teachings of Jesus and the purposes of God.
The other two imperatives that make up “the Big Four” reinforce this. Jesus calls his would-be disciples to follow him—to go where he goes, to imitate what he does, to learn his ways, to become like him, to demonstrate the “family resemblance” (or, as Wesley might say, to participate actively in the gracious restoration of the imago Dei in one’s life). In Luke’s Gospel, “following” Jesus is the defining characteristic of a disciple, indicating a loyalty that is costly and exclusive of all smaller allegiances (Luke 9:57–62). Following Jesus involves keeping the commandments—“doing the things I say” (Luke 6:46), hearing and doing the word of God (Luke 8:21; 11:28), “doing the will of the Father” (Matt. 12:50; Mark 3:35). Repent, believe, follow, and keep the commandments—this is an “evangelistic” invitation that is both radically robust and crystal clear! It is to this that our gospel invitations should call people!
Underneath this large umbrella of invitations, there are two other sets of imperatives. First, there is a group of actions that are the direct result of being in relationship with Jesus. While we must be clear with would-be followers of Jesus that much more is required than “asking Jesus into your heart,” we must also make sure they hear the “much more” of Jesus’ promises to his disciples. Those who are connected to Jesus the Vine (John 15:1–5) are invited to live without fear (e.g., Matt. 10:19, 26; Luke 5:10; 12:4, 11, 22; John 14:1; 16:33), to have courage because of their connection to Jesus (e.g., Matt. 9:2, 22; 14:27; Mark 6:50; 10:49; John 16:33), to experience peace (e.g., Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50; 8:48), to rejoice (Luke 6:23), and to have adventures with Jesus, like fishermen who let down their nets in odd places and at odd times, only to experience outrageous abundance (Luke 5:4; John 21:6). And these fearless, courageous, peace-filled, joyous adventurers with Jesus are invited to receive his Holy Spirit (John 20:22) and to participate in regular and holy remembering of all that he has done for them on the cross (“take, eat, drink”). This is the gospel invitation!
However, there are also commands that insistently highlight the seriousness of life for those who follow Jesus. Just as our “gospeling” must present the “much more” of the extraordinary abundance of life after repentance, we must also make sure that would-be followers of Jesus have an eyes-wide-open look at the cost of discipleship. In the Gospels, Jesus’ imperatives to his disciples involve risk-taking mission (proclaim, go and tell, make disciples, cure the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons), radical holiness (hear and obey; ruthlessly remove whatever causes one to sin), alertness (beware of or watch out for inevitable external threats and the internal deceptions of sin), and countercultural commitment to the values of his kingdom (give generously, detach from your possessions, put away the sword). This is also gospel invitation!
Gospel invitations and imperatives offer people far more than the vague and easily misunderstood language of “inviting Jesus into your heart.” To those, like the aforementioned DJ, who insist that “Jesus only wants your heart,” the Gospels counter, “Au contraire!” Jesus wants all—and our evangelistic language should reflect that with robust clarity, both with regard to the initial entry into relationship with Jesus and to the costliness of living in that relationship. Jesus also promises much more to those who choose to align their lives with his and to submit themselves to the reordering of their ways and days by his Holy Spirit. Let us invite people into this!
Rachel Coleman is affiliate professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary, profesora adjunta de Nuevo Testamento for United Theological Seminary, and the regional theological education coordinator (Latin America) for One Mission Society. She serves on Firebrand’s Editorial Board.