A recent sermon has caused me to reflect on my changed understanding of personal evangelism. My son's comments in response to the sermon are also most instructive and reflect my current understanding. What's more, my son's views were expressed as we walked out of church, before he heard my views. His views were actually more insightful than mine. Minds that are uncluttered by legalism produce wonderful thoughts about God's love.
The pastor talked about our sharing our faith with others. He said that many of us are afraid to witness, because we think we are invading the other person's space. He said that, if we had a cure for cancer, we would want to share it, so why don't we want to share Christ? Our pastor made some great points. His points prompted my son's comments.
I am going to let my son's comments speak for themselves. These quotes are as close as I could come from my notes about our conversation.
Sharing Jesus with others
Mathis--"If we decide we are going to share Jesus and try to pick who to witness to, we are robbing the Holy Spirit of its role. When I have tried to witness to friends, they usually reject it. When I have been successful in witnessing to others is when they bring up God in our conversation. I have wound up witnessing to people that I would not have chosen to witness to, and I have said things guided by the Holy Spirt. For instance, one friend asked me how Christianity could be the only true religion. I told him that Christianity is the only religion with multiple authors. I told him that, since all 66 books are in agreement, there has to be something divine going on."
Are we invading other's space by sharing Jesus?
Mathis--"Dad, we are invading other people's space when we pick out someone to witness to. Unless the Holy Spirt opens that person's heart and/or directs us to witness to them, our approaching them about Jesus is an invasion and won't be taken well. It will cause that person to harden their heart further towards God."
Sharing Jesus is like sharing a cure for cancer
Mathis--"Some people don't want to be cured."
Prompting personal evangelism in a congregation
Mathis--"The way to get your congregation to tell others about Jesus is not to tell them it's a good thing to do. They already know that. The way to bring this about is to preach God's love for sinners, causing them to love Jesus more. If you truly love Jesus, you share Him."
Nice Mathis. I find that the "cure for cancer" metaphor is only half right, and that's why we feel a certain dissonance when we hear this comparison. I've also heard the comparison to sharing the joy you have about a new marriage or a newborn. "If you delight in something, you want to share it". Again, this is certainly true (and biblical), but not the whole truth.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to sharing a "cure" or a "joy", sharing our faith is also like asking someone to talk with us about their sex-life. By this I mean, it is intensely personal. To talk with someone about Jesus is to talk about someone's identity, hopes, dreams, and struggles. Attempting to share the gospel without trusting the Holy Spirit to move in his own way to bring up matters of faith in an organic fashion is an intrusion, and will often come across as insensitive, even disingenuous.
In evangelism, as in all things, we must learn to live by the Spirit and not the flesh.
thanks for your helpful comments Joe. Being raised Southern Baptist, I had to find out from experience that talking with someone about Jesus is intrusive and can be seen as insensitive or disingenuous.
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