Tag: evangelism

WHO’S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR?

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Rev. 3:20 “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

This is a great Advent passage but not for assumed reasons. Most people connect this scripture with evangelism conversation whereby a person is invited into a relationship with Christ. Jesus is standing at the entrance of your life (the door). He is knocking, desiring for you to ‘invite him into your life’. The painting of this scripture shows that there is no door handle on the outside meaning it’s up to YOU to do the inviting.

But that’s not really the context for this passage. Rather, Jesus is speaking to the lukewarm church of Laodicea who think they are doing just fine, thank you. They have acquired wealth and don’t need a thing.

But….there are people outside this church who are missing out on life while the Laodiceans don’t really give a hoot. The church is safe and comfortable and probably wants to be left to its own strategy. Jesus is upsetting the applecart by telling them they need more than what they have. They need what he can offer.

And here’s the thing. The person outside the door is the one who is hungry, hurt, imprisoned, naked and in need. (See the final judgment scene in Matthew 25.) And Jesus is saying ‘open your arms to the least of these, the ones in need. Invite them into your life and in so doing you will be ministering to Jesus himself. WE will sit down and dine together. And you might not even know it’s Jesus according to Matthew 25.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “Christ is standing at the door; he lives in the form of a human being among us.” (From a Christmas sermon preached by Bonhoeffer)

The waiting of Advent time is the time of welcoming our neighbors, loving our neighbors in the person of anyone in need. That’s what it means to be a servant of the master and an ‘overcomer’ as stated in verse 21. You don’t overcome the world by just inviting Jesus into your life. Most anyone can do that.

The master is tarrying and in the meantime he is building his Kingdom of servants and friends to work and live with him as this creation is being restored. In the time of waiting we are the hospitable bride welcoming those in need until the groom arrives at which time the feast will begin. And the ones who ‘GET IT’ – well, they, in all their humility and hospitality, get to be enthroned with Jesus. {Revelation 3:21}

Wait, I think I hear someone at the door.

DON’T WORRY! IT MIGHT NOT BE YOUR JOB.

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I am writing for the anxious Christians who think they MUST evangelize, share their faith with all the people they meet. It’s not the responsibility of every Christian to make converts or even disciples for that matter. In general, believers are not told to go into the world and convince people to ‘accept Christ’ as if they fear for the souls of each person in their families, circles of friends or workplace.

But that’s what we are often made to think. How many books are there on ‘evangelism’, not sharing God’s love which is always a good thing, but rather trying to convince people to believe the same as we do.

If you read the New Testament, outside the Gospels, you will not find any explicit commands to evangelize anyone. You will however discover encouragement, commands, direction and even warnings about developing a Christ centered character, developing a lifestyle of love and forgiveness. And believe me, forgiveness is a lot harder than evangelism. You will learn how to love God, worship God and show God’s grace to those around you.

Paul, the Apostle, was certainly an evangelist but if you read his words to the churches and individuals he is most always writing about building up the body of Christ, the community of faith and developing a character whose chief quality is love.

In the Gospels let’s look at the words of Jesus. He called 12 disciples among others to be apostles and he directed them (Matthew 28) to go into the world and ‘make disciples’ which is more extensive and intensive than ‘converts’. This was a special assignment. On another occasion he sent 70 people to announce that God’s Kingdom had indeed come. He sent them as units of two to announce his coming, to prepare the towns and villages for he himself to come and preach. I am not sure how this translates into people going door to door, two by two, to win converts to a particular religion but that’s another matter.

See Jesus made disciples out of those who wanted to follow him. He was the premier evangelist but he does not declare that every follower needs to be a ‘soul winner’.

Billy Graham has been an evangelist. That’s his calling. But it’s not for everyone. We, individually, have been encouraged to be ready to give anyone an answer for how and why we believe in Christ and to do that with gentleness. (1Peter 3:15). Paul writes to the Ephesians church that ‘evangelism’ is a special gift given to some. One of those ‘some’ may be indeed one of us. But in general what we are commanded is to ‘have the mind of Christ’. We are to have the character of Christ, which will lead to loving others, even praying for one another and sharing Christ’s love with others. That will come in an almost natural way as we live with Christ day to day.

But don’t let anyone tell you that you HAVE to be an evangelist. You can I are called to be followers of Christ in word and deed. We are called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth wherever and to whomever God leads us. Listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying.

Why Tell Anybody About Jesus

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So I was asking myself the question, ‘Why tell others about Jesus?’ Why not just leave people alone to their own beliefs or lack thereof? Then I thought, “Why did Jesus tell his disciples to go and train other people to be disciples?’ Was it to propagate a new philosophy of life? Was it to keep everyone from going to hell because that’s not a very attractive way of love or grace? I rather think that Jesus wanted people to follow him, trust him, and place their confidence in him for all the positive reasons. Consider the following:

  1. He believed himself sent from God, embodying God to reveal the fullest picture of who God is, clearer than anyone had ever portrayed God.
  1. He was offering people a way to life. He, the author of life, knew exactly the way life could best be lived, not be external acts or ceremonies but by a heart formed in Godly love.
  1. He wanted people to know how to live each day according to what was most real, ‘THE KINGDOM OF GOD’.
  1. In the most positive sense he wanted us to know that through his ultimate sacrifice, one of justice and love that our sins, our separation from God was forgiven, that God himself was paying the price we should have had to pay for rebellion against a just God.
  1. Jesus came as the epitome of the new creation that God was initiating to bring all things together in a final wonderful way starting with this present creation and finishing with a new heaven and new earth, a re-creation of all that was God.
  1. Jesus promised hope not for this life only but for eternity. His resurrection is the validation of all that is to be new.
  1. Jesus is the perfect Jew chose to complete the Abrahamic Covenant to bless the WHOLE world.
  1. Jesus came to make sure that we knew just how much God loves the brokenhearted, the downtrodden, the lost, and the marginalized.
  1. Jesus came to bring us freedom. Guilt and shame are gone. People were rescued from the false promises and power of idols.

Take for example a man whose life was controlled by his addiction to alcohol and he, through the 12-step program, is released from that idol. He wants to share with others that message, not to beat them over the head but to share what is REAL, what WORKS, what is GOOD.

And because Jesus lives He knows each one of us, what sorrows, sins, hurts, joys and He promises to be with us forever.

So these and I am sure many other reasons are good motivation for sharing the Good News, sharing not shoving. May God help us to be faithful to Christ as we do so.