Meet my Friend

Let me ask you an ‘in your face’ kind of question. Have you ever been instrumental in bringing a person to a living relationship with Christ Jesus?  It is not my intent or motive to create guilt, but I am aiming to renew a sense of urgent commitment to the work of ‘evangelism.’  Jesus gave a universal directive to all of His followers – “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mark 16:15, NIV)  Due to the excesses of a previous generation when Jesus appeared to be product to be marketed, where morality convictions and cultural issues got tangled up with the Good News about Life, some (might I say most?) American Christians seldom do the work of an evangelist.

“Well, Jerry, I’m just not comfortable shoving my religion down somebody’s throat.”  Well, that’s a relief. Neither am I!  When I was a teen, my local church handed me some literature, pointed me to streets in our town, and told me to go knock on doors to ‘witness.’ I hated it then and still do. In my youth,  I absorbed the idea that it was my duty as a Christian to take on what I saw as ‘sin.’  I became adept at condemnation of all manner of social ills and in all the noise, Jesus’ loving voice of invitation got lost. Somehow I sensed that the emphasis was on the wrong things, but the Moral Majority (what an arrogant name) was in vogue. Evangelical Christians were forming voting blocks and we were going to save America from all those godless people (i.e.- people not like us).

We fulfill Jesus’ command to preach the good news by making an introduction.  We do not need to sell Jesus! We do not need to beat people over the head with the Bible.  We do not need to draw attention to sin with flamboyant denunciations.  By our life and words we say, “meet my Friend.”   Christians are peace-makers, bridge builders.  Our work is not to tell people to ‘go to Hell.’ We invite them to come with us to Heaven.  "Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. … The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:14-21, NLT)

When our lives are completely devoted to Him there will be a kind of beauty that radiates from us. No, it’s not perfection. We are still flawed individuals and we fail.  The radiance is Christ in us, who removes our pride, destroys the power of sin and guilt, and fills us with unquenchable hope. The message is never about me, always about Him.  Does this mean that no one will ever be offended by our message?  Jesus answers that. “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the One who sent me." (John 15:18-21, NLT)  

The Gospel cuts both ways.  It invites, and when rejected, it judges!  (Remember, the Gospel does that, not us.)  If others hate me for my projected spiritual superiority, my religious arrogance, or my refusal to show compassion, shame on me. If they hate me because I love Jesus, because I refuse to participate in their schemes, or because the Spirit in me makes them aware that they are not who God desires them to be, I will gladly endure their rejection.

Evangelism (the work of bringing the Gospel to others) is intentional, not passive.  Jesus said, "You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest." (John 4:35, NLT)  Let’s pray to see our friends who are without faith in God like Jesus does; compassionately, in need of life and light.  Let’s pray for wisdom, learn the Scripture, be authentic in our faith and then say, “Meet my Friend!”   The joy of seeing someone come to faith, understanding the love of the Father, and gaining eternal life is incomparable.

Here’s the word from the Word. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NIV)  I believe that, do you?

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