More thoughts regarding our approach in sharing the gospel.
I’m thinking of the way in which we share news of any kind. Some people are skilled at sharing bad news. They know just the words to say to segue way from the pleasantries to the unpleasantries.
All of us are skilled at sharing good news. We readily share about that great movie we saw, that great concert we attended, that new store, our new car, that fabulous restaurant or killer desert. There is an excitement and eagerness in our sharing for it is sharing from the heart.
There’s always the mechanical sharing of news. The sharing because I have to or sharing because it’s my job. This is the type of sharing that we are compelled to share because we have to rather than the news itself compelling us to share. There is a difference. The Bible puts it this way:
2 Corinthians 2:17 (NASB) For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
Accepting Jesus Christ should not equate to our experiences with buying a car. You’ve been there. You’ve had both agreeable experiences and disagreeable experiences. The difference is rarely the product but the harbinger of the product. “What will it take to get you into the church today?” is not, in my opinion, the road we should travel. We are not the “closers” we are display cases. Christ within is our motive and our message. Our lives are the canvas God is using to reveal his masterpiece.
Don’t misunderstand. There is an appropriate time and place to ask challenging, commitment questions.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (NCV) God says, “At the right time I heard your prayers. On the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you that the “right time” is now, and the “day of salvation” is now.
When asked within 10 minutes “on the lot” I fear that is not the right time and perhaps one of the reasons why the message is ignored or rejected. Coming to faith in Christ is about me hearing good news so great that I couldn‚Äôt help but accept. It‚Äôs not about me accepting so you will leave me alone.
Sharing good news is easy - we do it all the time. Our eagerness to share the news of Christ quite often predicated by the fountain of which we drink. One author has put it this way:
The most effective ambassadors of the love of Christ over the long haul are those who have given themselves full permission to drink in the lavishness of God’s grace. You show me someone who drinks in spiritual blessings with great liberality, and I’ll show you someone who is spilling over with the desire to tell others how it is available. On the other hand, show me a Christian who is locked into legalism, into a joyless, performance-oriented Christianity, and I’ll show you someone who isn’t very fired up about inviting their best friends into that kind of life.
Maybe that’s the heart of the issue? What kind of life in Christ are we living? Would someone who does not know Christ desire to live that life as well? What picture of Christ is emerging from the canvas of your own life?
8 Responses to “112800099500649069”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
September 29th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Oh, Randy. I’m afraid I fall so short.
September 29th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
Good stuff! Took me a lot of years to get to this understanding, but it took a lot of years to throw off the shackles of the legalism in which I was raised. I find my talking with others about Jesus is far more natural these days and flows in the context of relationship than in the old days when I’d just bombard them with information and wonder why it worked for Ivan Stewart and Larry West (”If you died right now, do you know if you’d go to heaven?”).
September 29th, 2005 at 12:56 pm
Randy, you hit the nail dead on the head. Before we begin to worry about what “scripture chain” we need to use to close a “deal,” we need to ask ourselves how our own walk with the Lord is going. Because the truth is we may be afraid to ask ourselves that question but those that we have those intentional relationships with will evaluate our message in light of the answer to that question.
September 29th, 2005 at 1:12 pm
We may be the only Bible people ever read.
I really would like to use your words, “Our lives are the canvas God is using to reveal his masterpiece”, on my cards.
September 29th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
I think many churches have chosen the “what do i need to make happen so that you can sit in this church” sales strategy.
One thing that helps, that you haven’t hit yet, but maybe will, is that Hell is a reality, and without Christ, many will finish disant from God.
Of course, be filled with God, as Peter says, and we will bear fruit. But does our vision of people, that they are eternal beings, direct our actions, our “evangelism”. xmyeve
September 30th, 2005 at 11:56 am
And this ties in so well with our study of what it means to be a disciple. Why work to become like Jesus? Why pursue such an impossible goal?
Because the more like him we are, the more of him others will see in us.
September 30th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
Great point Steve. Thank about the people that influenced us in our walk with the Lord. Was it their words or the way they lived their lives for Christ that made the difference with us? Or at least the combination of the two.
September 30th, 2005 at 2:47 pm
Opps. That should be “think” about the people…