"What, then, are we to say about the suggestion that a hearty faith in the absolute sovereignty of God is inimical to evangelism? We are bound to say that anyone who makes this suggestion thereby shows that he has simiply failed to understand what the doctrin of divine sovereignty means. Not only does it undergird evangelism, and uphold the evangelist, by creating a hope of success that could not otherwise be entertained [God ensures His word comes to fruition]; it also teaches us to bind together preaching and prayer; and as it makes us bold and confident before men, so it makes us humble and importunate before God. Isn't this as it should be? We would not wish to say that man cannot evangelize at all without coming to terms with this doctrine; but we venture to think that, other things being equal, he will be able to evangelize better for believing it."
He also talks some about the antinomy (apparent conflict, but equally valid) of God's will and man's free will. It is not a continuum as I initially thought about it, such that the reality lies somewhere on the continuum between God's will on the one end, and man's will on the other. It seems to be more that man has free will, but God's will is stronger. That's not a perfect analogy or comparison, but is as close as I get to simple statement. The antinomy is still part of the mystery of faith, just as the Trinity is a mystery as it is near impossible for us to grasp because we don't have anything in the natural world that represents it perfectly.
God commands us to pray, even though He knows better what we need than we do. Likewise, God commands us to evangelize. I have come to think of it somewhat like the example in 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." God wants us to plant the seed or water it; if He wants to grow a plant, and we don't plant the seed or water it, He will use someone else for those tasks. Don't we all want to be used by God in building His Kingdom in some way?
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