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Clik here to view.Any form of outreach should not primarily be ‘cut and run’, in the hope that a quick exposure to an evangelistic message is likely to communicate effectively.
How did Jesus communicate? It’s tempting to think it was because He was a great orator. He clearly was. But as you read the biblical record, you’ll find few long speeches or lengthy sermons. So He must have been doing something else. When Jesus spoke to or ate with people deemed unworthy by others, He sent out powerful signals. Eating together spoke of acceptance, acceptance sparked trust, trust released hope, hope sought salvation.
INSTRUCTIONS
Jesus’ words to His disciples as He sends them out to prepare the way for Him are instructive. Consider the order in Luke 10:5-9. ‘When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house.” If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, “The kingdom of God is near you.”’
Part of the challenge of this passage lies in the order in which Jesus suggests things be done.
1. Declare peace
This formed part of a common greeting at the time. But it was also a prayer. Does it provoke us about our tendency to pray ‘against’ things when we begin to think about how to pray for our area, town, or street? Jesus is inviting us to invite Him to bring peace to that area. The mere announcement that God’s peace is coming to that place is a form of spiritual warfare that drives away destructive forces that may have strongholds there.
2. Eat with people
Eating together allowed discussion, signified acceptance, and was a redemptive act in its own right when practiced by Jesus with the social outcasts of the day. It reminds us to be with people in the ordinary rhythms of their lives, building friendship and trust.
3. Take as well as give
Creating strong friendships depends on mutual care. It’s OK for us to lean on our unchurched friends. Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. He then gave her living water!
4. Pray for their healing
In our culture people seem ready to be prayed for, even if not all acknowledge the Healer who might come to their aid. In the Bible, healing prayer seemed to be a gateway for the message of Christ’s life. It enabled trust to grow and readied people to hear the message of the Kingdom.
5. Declare the Kingdom
The story is told of a concert in an American city, featuring a militantly anti-Christian band. Their fans sweltered in the sun as they waited for the doors to open. At one end of the street, a church group held up banners proclaiming that God hated gays. Further down the street, another church group, noting the plight of the queue, made gallons of cold drinks and offered them to people as they waited. Hundreds of young adults had some of their caricatures of Christians (encouraged by the banner wavers) undone by a simple act of acceptance and help. A church group declared peace to the crowd and helped feed them. They were much more likely to get the opportunity to pray for their needs and declare the good news of Jesus’ Kingdom to them.
Jesus often met with those considered ‘sinners and publicans’ in the company of several of His followers. We will not want to face alone some of the challenges of the culture we live in, but we will never change it by hiding in our castles and staging confrontational raids on the hearts of the lost via occasional street preaching or door knocking.
THE CHALLENGE
In towns and cities around the world, door knocking is starting to work again because its primary purpose is not to engineer a conversation but to simply make contact, offer prayer, or convey information about church events or children’s clubs. At first, you are given seconds at the door, but in time trust is built; people become your acquaintances and then your friends.
The challenge is this: Will we for ever regard the not-yet-Christian as ‘them’, objects of spiritual pity, rather than objects of God’s love? Will we be their friends whether or not they make an immediate response to our talk of faith? Are we prepared to enjoy life together with them on shopping trips, in the stands of a sports stadium, or relaxed around a late summer barbecue? Are we willing to connect with non-Christians and dare to believe that we can influence them for good, rather than them corrupting us? Do we believe that He who is in us is greater than he that is in the world?
Pity or compassion?
As we consider matters of social justice, are we motivated by pity or compassion? Pity says: ‘I will help you because I feel guilty, or maybe because I feel superior.’ Compassion says: ‘I will help you because you’re human, made in the image of God and worthy of dignity, friendship and aid.’ Jesus was colour-blind, status-blind, and gender-blind. He didn’t see the divisions we often see. He created a Church where there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free.
Jesus did not come with mere words of wisdom before scurrying home to a spiritual fortress. He lived among and ate with the ordinary people of His day. He was their friend as well as their Saviour. Who are your friends? Will you follow Jesus in befriending the lost?
© Web Evangelism Guide(web-evangelism.com), used with permission. The insights in this article are excerpted from Following Jesus by Dave Roberts, (Relevant Books, ISBN: 0-97292-763-8), with additional material by Gary Gibbs.
From Life Indeed November/December 2005