Lifestyle Evangelism To All Christian Servants, In middle school I worked as a bus boy at a local family restaurant in Nashville, Indiana called The Colonial Room. They served fantastic fried chicken and many other home-style dinners. One day at the beginning of my shift I was sitting at the back of the restaurant waiting for our turn to clean tables. As I sat there with another bus boy, a child spilled her water on the table. My friend, Greg, jumped up and ran to the kitchen so he wouldnt have to deal with cleaning up the table. I got up, grabbed a rag, mopped up the water, gave the little girl another water glass and sat back down. The whole thing took me less than one minute. Meanwhile back in the kitchen, Greg was put to work and spent the next 30 minutes doing various tasks—all so that he would not have to clean up a one-minute spill. I learned that day that we sometimes work harder avoiding work than just doing the job in the first place. I think church has become a lot like this. I listen to Christian radio often enjoying the worship music. As I listen, it is interesting to me to hear the various things that churches do to keep their members busy. They engage in numerous community service projects. Things like cleaning up trash along a road, serving food in a homeless shelter, tutoring struggling students, mowing yards for shut-ins, finding homes for homeless pets, building a house for someone, and many more activities. Now please dont misunderstand me, every one of these can be an important way to share the love of Christ with a lost and dying world. We are commanded to serve one another. The problem is that very few of these activities include any presentation of the Gospel. Its as if we do the community service in lieu of taking responsibility for sharing the Gospel with the people were serving. We tend to make a trade as if were saying, Lord, Ill mow their yard so that I wont have to actually tell them about Jesus. Im old enough to remember when Lifestyle Evangelism took hold in our American Christian culture. The people who initially were promoting Lifestyle Evangelism were trying to teach that your lifestyle must affirm your proclamation of the Gospel. Of course you should walk the talk! But Lifestyle Evangelism has come to mean, I dont actually share the Gospel. I just live it out before them. Ever heard someone say that? Instead of using words to share the Gospel, you think you will simply be nice to them so that they will know how to repent of their sin and trust in Jesus. It sounds silly when I say it that way, doesnt it? By the way, hows that working for us? Has anyone ever walked up to you and said, Your life is so remarkable that Id like to put my faith in Jesus? Youve heard that St. Francis said, Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words. Actually it is highly doubtful that St. Francis ever said this. Duane Liftin, past president of Wheaton College says, Its simply impossible to preach the Gospel without words. The Gospel is inherently verbal, and preaching the Gospel is inherently verbal behavior. The Bible says, So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ (Romans 10:17, NLT). What if instead of being so busy doing projects, we instead simply, boldly, clearly, unapologetically told people how to be saved by placing their faith in Jesus Christ? Im convinced this would be far more effective in helping people know Jesus. Tell them about Jesus. Then serve them! Onward sharing and serving, Pastor Gary
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:29:25 +0000
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