Got Jesus?

... continued
Christians like to claim that "all you need is the Word", an unfortunate application of "sola scriptura" to evangelism. In fact, if this interpretation of the doctrine were true, Jesus would never had said ?go into all the nations preaching the gospel and making disciples. We see billboards emblazoned with a stolen advertising slogan, "Got Jesus"? Or "Jesus, He's the real thing", or with bold letters, "John 3:16". Since all you need is the Word, we've done our part to fulfill the great commission. We never have to actually do what Jesus did and get to know, create trust, show true burden and compassion for people. We just spout out clever sayings or scripture references and claim "they are without excuse". We put plastic stick-on fish outlines on our cars and think we are witnesses. *

This would probably have been effective ministry 150 years ago when people behaving badly were often feeling guilty about it because they knew better. I've often heard older people make comments like, "Oh, what could one little nip hurt?" Or, "when you've sawed as many logs as I have, one more is not going to make any difference". These statements imply a conscious decision to behave in opposition to what they believe is right. To behave "badly" implies that there is a right way to behave. These people often felt, "I should clean up my act and get back into the church where I belong." In this culture, clever reminders of their straying might be enough to prod them back.

Welcome to a culture without a conscience. This does not necessarily mean that they are so "bad" that they don't have a conscience. It means that they don't know the "right" that opposes their "wrong". They are not being rebellious. That implies a conscious act in opposition to right. They are behaving according to what they know and believe. To approach this generation with behavior oriented preaching, runs the risk of neglecting the Truth that causes people to act rightly.
The challenge to Christians is to love those whom we thought were the enemy; to show our burden and concern so that they will trust what Jesus said to be true. We must stop saying to ourselves, "if only we could cut down all those weeds, we would be able to go out there and preach the gospel". All those weeds are the harvest, my friends. They are not the obstacles to the harvest. They are not the enemies, the enemy is Satan who wants us to believe that the enemies are the very ones we need to reach.
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* In the first century, Christians used the Icthus to identify one-another, not win others. While I am encouraged when I see another Christian with a fish on his car, I don't expect that people are coming to salvation because of it. Probably as often, they are gesturing inappropriately as they pass us on the highway.


©2003 by rod lewis