Sharing the gospel is the most important thing we do. I don't mean the most important thing we (pastors) do, or even we (disciples). Human beings. It's the most important thing any of us can do (Mark 8:36, Ezekiel 3:17-21). Maybe that's why we're so afraid of it? ๐ No, and I get it! I do. It's hard. You get all nervous, and you get ready for a fight, or for unanswerable questions, or to be put in a position where you need to (gulp) actually help somebody through making a faith decision for Christ. I get it!
But, still, most important.
Many people have tried (I think with some success!) to help people feel more comfortable by making a script for them. "They say this, you say that" kindof thing. I once had a guy on a street corner ask me to select "yes" or "no" by pointing to a placard he was holding. The question was, "are you a sinner?" Haha. Now the stick I was holding to select "no" (oh, I played along--you bet!!) had an opposing magnet in it so I literally couldn't select "no." That's when he began with the "Romans Road": "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Honestly, I usually kinda hate street evangelism, but this guy was alright. He was trying. I'm never against somebody who's honestly trying (though their tactics can sometimes make my butt itch... ๐๐ฒ).
My grandfather (on my mother's side) was a street evangelist. He actually had a business card printed up. I never heard him preach, but it's always been interesting to me that I have that in my DNA. Because that's sooooo not me! I think I would honestly rather get hit by a car than have to do street evangelism. It's just so... weird! (Sorry, grandad!)
That's one of my objections to using a "script." There's just no way to make it not weird. I mean, people in plays use scripts. They memorize them and spend hours learning how to deliver them believably, emotionally, with conviction and purpose and pathos. But that's OK because I know what I'm in for. I go to a play, I expect actors. I don't expect them on the street where I live. I don't expect them outside the grocery store.
Actors had a much harder time in the world of the Bible than they do these days. They're effectively royalty now; but time was when they were the lowest (not joking) sector of society, maybe just north of slaves. They were considered ridiculous, like court jesters. In fact, did you know that the Greek word for "actor" is "hypocrite"? Yep--hupocrites (แฝฯฮฟฮบฯฮนฯฮฎฯ). Haha, Jesus was effectively calling the Pharisees and whoever "actors," and he did not mean it as a compliment (Matthew 23:13,15,23,25,27,29)! The verbal form, hupocrinomai, literally means to "pretend" or "make believe." You can see the connection to some of the Pharisees of Jesus' day. They were pretending to love God, but they didn't really. They were just playing make believe.
And that is very much not what I think Jesus wants you to do. If you feel averse to going out on a street corner and putting on a show for him... um, good? Very very good. Yeah, please don't do that. ๐ฌ๐ค There are maybe times in life when we need to take to street corners. I mean, Jesus had John the Baptist. As weird as they come (Matthew 3:4), but God specially called him to do that (Luke 1:15-17). I am not (sadly) John the Baptist. I can't proclaim without acting, without putting on a face.
The gospel is an opportunity. It's the time we get to share what people most need to hear. I think we can all remember a time we felt far away from God, from good, from love or acceptance or a family. God knows we need him. And, sometimes, we even know that ourselves. The gospel is about meeting that need with the person and work and love of Jesus Christ. The problem with street preaching (and I do, fundamentally, have a problem with it--full disclosure, and John the B notwithstanding) is that it doesn't care about the other person very well. I mean, that's the thing with acting, isn't it? The person in the romantic scene isn't being romantic with you. They're acting. They person angry on the screen isn't angry with you. They're not really crying and they're really swooning. They're acting.
And, if my life is utterly wrecked, I don't need somebody who fake cares about that.
I don't need crocodile tears, or generalized theological statements. I need love. I mean, that's what we need. Love. The love of God. I... guess... we can learn about that love from an actor. Probably better from someone who really loves us though, huh? I mean, that's why Jesus is mad at the "actor" Pharisees. They put all kinds of burdens on people but don't lift a finger to help them (Matthew 23:4). They don't really care.
Now, hear me: I'm not saying my grandfather didn't really care. But he also didn't really know, did he? Not without forming a relationship with the people he was preaching to (and I hope and trust that he was doing that). And times have changed. 1950's Charleston, West Virginia is a VERY different place than 2023 Franklin, Massachusetts. Believe. That. ๐ Grandad Clifford (for whom I am named!) probably did know many of the men and women he chatted with. Charleston has never been accused of being a "big city."
But we're not there. We have to earn the right to be heard. And so, I want to give you just one... pointer, if you will, for how to speak the gospel in a way that others can hear. Does that work? It isn't the Romans Road. It isn't a script. It's a theological proposition. And that is this:
God is already talking to them.
We are not, I think ever, the first person to talk to someone about God. God has already been doing that, really all their lives (Psalm 19:1-4). Now, it is customary, when you come into a conversation, that you catch up on where the conversation is--where's it's going, where it's been--so that you step all over it and ruin it. Bad form, and I'm not sure God would appreciate that. ๐ No, if I'm at a party, and I want to insert myself in an ongoing conversation, what I might do is to sidle up close, overhear enough of the chit-chat to know where it's going, and then jump in with a helpful or funny or heartfelt comment to compliment what's already being said. "Yes, and," if you will, rather than, "no, but."
We love our "no buts" in church history. ๐ We, the historic church, has loved to insert itself--abruptly and without context or grace--into the various conversations the world's been having. And, maybe not "rarely" but certainly not often enough, have those comments been helpful or heartfelt. Too often, they've been a bit violent, jarring the conversation toward a topic we'd rather talk about, based on grounds we'd prefer. Ugh. We are a bad party guest sometimes.
Be a good party guest.
Listen. Learn. Get involved in the conversations that other people are having. You're so bright! God gave you a mind and a spirit--and, most of all, his Spirit--to be able to navigate conversations with skill and care and insight. Use what God has given you to not be "violent" in how you share the love of God? Don't steal the conversation. Don't play the actor and steal the limelight. Listen. Care. Hear what they're saying about life and the world and God. Hear what they're saying God has been saying, and then respond to that! Haha, there's this great story in Acts where an Ethiopian eunuch is headed home from Jerusalem, and God takes the apostle Philip and plop puts him right in the road in front of the eunuch's chariot (Acts 8:27,29). You see, God had been having a conversation with the eunuch already (Acts 8:28), and he was now asking Philip to help fill in some of the blanks (Acts 8:30-31). To carry on a conversation God had already been having! And so, Philip did. He explained the gospel that God was already sharing with the eunuch (8:32-35).
And that, boys and girls, is how it works. We. Are. Not. The. First. Voice. God is. God goes ahead of us. He leads us (or we have no chance and are being unfaithful). We are followers of his--looking for where he is working and joining him in it. We are so quick to speak, and so reticent to hear the experience of God--the voice of God--in the lives of others. Ugh. We are really stinking up this party! But we don't have to. We can learn to love the work of God in others, even others who don't know God yet.
I mean, one of the things I love the most about NEC is that we get all of the awesome people who are hearing from God and they just don't know what it means yet, you know? But they're honest. And they share. And I'm telling you--I'm telling you--that I can sometimes hear the voice of God in them. Why would I not listen??
Don't be violent. Care. Don't be hypocrites. Listen. And then join in.
That's how we share the gospel. The Roman's Road is fine, especially because it points people back to Romans, which is one of the kick-buttiest books of the Bible--especially chapter 8. ๐ But don't beat people with Romans, please. Don't beat them with anything. "Yes, and" them. Find God at work in them, and then join that. Jesus did this with the woman at the well (John 4). He told her all about her life (John 4:39). He listened and helped her understand how God had been working to bring her back to himself all her life. Same thing with Paul at the Areopagus (Acts 17). He reflected back to them things they already believed--statements their own poets and philosophers had said about life and God--and several of them came to put their faith in Christ that day (Acts 17:34). Do you get how crazy that is?? Paul was on trial for his life, and he just showed what he saw of God in them (the real God, not the city full of idolatry) and they responded.
God loves people (John 3:16--gonna quote this passage til I die ๐๐ค; also, and apropos of nothing, I just realized that my birthday is on 3/16!!! I mean, I knew that, but I never made the connection before--thanks, Maureen!!) Can we stack hands on that? So, if he loves people, it only stands to reason that he would've tried to actually communicate that at some point, wouldn't it?
This is my problem with scripts, and with the Romans Road (as it's presented--again, I love the Romans Road!) They don't know that. They are actors (even if they are very, very good actors). They don't know the lives of the audience. Scripts can't speak to a person like a true friend can because only a true friend (from last week: "one who loves someone else," right?) can listen with enough care and wisdom and just curiosity to hear what God has been saying.
Listen for what God (the real God, not people's imaginings ๐) has been saying in the lives of your friends, and then reflect that back to them through the lens of Jesus. That's evangelism. That's how to share the good news.
And, just to cap this off, I do want to help you remember what the gospel actually is. What is true about God?
God loves you. Christ died for you. The Holy Spirit is available to you. And so, here's the last thing I need to say. Sometimes, God will ask you to bring someone home. Haha--scary stuff! ๐ What I mean by that is that, occasionally, someone will want to make a decision for Christ when we've explained Christ in their lives. They'll want that. They'll want him, and life with him, and salvation through him. How do we do that?
It's been customary in the west to "pray the prayer." I love the prayer. Don't tell me I don't love the prayer; I prayed the prayer! Several times! ๐ But, it's another "form," like the Romans Road, but this time it's a form for how to "respond in faith" and "be saved."
OK, the first thing I want to say is that you don't have to "pray the prayer" to be saved. The thief on the cross didn't have to (Luke 23:40-43). Just sayin'. ๐ What the prayer is trying to do is to formalize Paul's statement in ahem ROMANS, where he says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved; for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Romans 10:9-10). It's commonly used as the "end" of the Romans Road. Again, that's fine.
But there are other ways. And, again here, be about your friend more than you are about your form?? ๐ When the thief (mentioned above) put his faith in Jesus, Jesus simply said, "today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). I think that wins for the best all-time response! But, what the thief did to Jesus when he put his faith in him is what we're talking about. How did he "respond in faith"? He was dying, and he didn't want to die, but he had resigned himself to it. As he said, he "deserved it" (he was a murderer, not just a thief). He wasn't asking anything for this life. He was asking that Jesus take care of his soul. "Remember me," is what he said, "when you come into your kingdom."
When the woman at the well responded--and this is truly awesome--she really did become a street preacher! She, a woman who had been shamed all of her life, went into town and immediately began to claim... what? That Jesus was special. She didn't know exactly what he was. Samaritans didn't have the same categories that Jews did. But she knew he was different, and as much as she knew, she told. This is one of the most important responses we can make as new Christians: to go tell someone about it! When Romans says, "when you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord,'" this is the kind of "confession" he's talking about. Testimony. Tell other people about finding the love of God, knowing the power of his forgiveness, feeling the newness of life that God's Spirit brings. The word Romans uses for "confession" is actually usually translated "promise," or "bear witness," or "assure," or "testify."
And, one of my favorite responses truly is when people responded to Jesus directly. These usually ended in a party! Haha, no joke! When Matthew started to follow Jesus? Party (Luke 5:27-29). When little Zacchaeus came down from the sycamore tree? Party (Luke 19:1-10). If you think about it, that's exactly what Jesus promised the thief on the cross: the single best-ever after party "in paradise"!
Let's be very careful about controlling how other people respond once they've responded in faith, is all I'm saying. Like we should be conscious and aware (and super grateful!) that God had always been talking to them and leading them to himself, we should also and equally be aware and grateful for how God may ask them to respond. The rich young ruler was asked to give everything away, for example (Matthew 19:21). I wouldn't ask every person on the street to do that. ๐ Saint Paul was asked, quite literally, to suffer (Acts 9:15-16).
No, we aren't trailblazers in the faith, I think. We don't cut new roads, God does. What I do think we do here--what it is most important to do here--is to be a trail guide. These people won't have gone through the process of new life in faith yet. Of course they haven't! And they may be... a little worried. A little anxious. Now that I believe that God loves me... what now? What's the next shoe to drop? Life change is scary, even when it's positive.
And so this is my last little jab at street preaching and recommendation for sharing the good news with the people you love (or are willing to love): be prepared to walk with them into the next life--their new life. Don't leave them at the doorstep, but invite them in! Invite them to church. Invite them to your small group. Invite them to Journey, or Worship Night, or Celebrate Recovery. Like you wouldn't help deliver a newborn baby--and, folks, this is a metaphor God himself uses, so pay attention--like you wouldn't deliver a newborn baby and then leave it on the side of the road, we cannot bring someone into the faith and then give them a pat on the back and say "good luck" and drop out of their life. Paul moved around more than anybody else in the ancient world that we know of, but he kept up with all those he brought into the faith (Romans 16--again with the Romans... ๐).
Anyway, you get it. Love people. That's what this whole thing is about, right? And a person's eternal life is... yeah, that's the most important thing about the person is it not? So, that's why I say that sharing the gospel is the single most important thing you can do as a human being. In order for us to do it well, we need to continue loving that person by 1) listening to what God has already been doing in their lives so that we can help them believe the thing that God is already trying to help them believe (that he loves them); 2) leading them through the process of responding to that new faith in God through Christ by again listening to what God may have been asking them to do all along; and then 3) loving them through those early stages of faith where they don't necessarily have the strength or wisdom or experience to navigate their new life on their own.
Sound like a lot? It isn't. It's just loving people. It's just that... this is how "loving people" works, you know?
