Steve's Letter: "What's the Gospel...What's Evangelism?"

As you know, I'm not an evangelist.

To friends who wept over the world's lost, I used to say that I didn't weep because I didn't care. The whole world could go to hell and it wouldn't bother me because I didn't even know their names. How can one weep over someone one has never met?

Don't get me wrong. I've always been faithful to the clear teaching in the Bible on evangelism. I have hardly ever ducked when God brought opportunities. I can't tell you how many times I've shared the Gospel on an airplane, in a sermon, in a broadcast, in a book or in a passing relationship (sometimes under duress, but I did it). Not only that. I've been genuinely surprised at how many have come to Christ as a result of those encounters.

But I didn't care.

I think I've told you about one of my student's pastors. He wanted to share his faith with a construction worker who was working on their new building. The worker had "Rape" tattooed on one arm and the "F-word" tattooed on the other.

The pastor asked the man if he could talk to him about Jesus. The construction worker said he could if he wanted, but added, "Reverend, I'm bad. You don't want to bother with me."

The pastor told the man that Jesus specialized in loving bad people and the man said, "You don't understand...I'm really bad."

"I'm worse than you," the pastor said. Looking at the construction worker's shocked expression, the pastor continued, "Let me tell you how bad I am. I'm going to talk with you about Jesus and about how horrible it is to be lost for all eternity. After I talk with you, I'm going across the street to have lunch...and I'm not going to give you another thought because I don't care."

"Reverend," the man said, "that really is bad."

(The man, by the way, ended up becoming a Christian, getting baptized and joining the church where he now serves in the men's ministry.)

I have always been sort of like that pastor. I'll talk about Jesus to anybody when Jesus tells me to do it...but then I'll head for lunch and not give it another thought.

Of late, though, I've been feeling a bit differently. It may be indigestion, but I think it's the Holy Spirit. I've been thinking a lot about the lost and why they are so deaf to the Gospel of Christ. And, believe it or not, it kind of bothers me. In fact, it keeps me up at night.

A part of it is a disconnect between reality and what Jesus said would happen.

Jesus said, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32).

Then there is the reality. The last time I checked, what Jesus said would happen simply has not happened. Given that it is highly unlikely that Jesus was wrong...it must be us.

What should we do? Maybe we should have more courses on evangelism, pray for the lost more than we do, learn some new postmodern techniques or create another film that will point to Jesus. It could be that we aren't effectively using mass communications or planning enough. Perhaps we aren't good enough, committed enough, don't know enough or can't debate well enough.

I don't think so. In varying degrees, we've already done all of that.

What we have done is taken something quite simple and made it complicated, hard and almost impossible to do.

What's the Gospel? People are screwed up. If they go to Jesus, he will fix them, forgive them, love them and never let them go.

What's evangelism? Somehow letting people know the Gospel.

That's it? Yeah, that's it. In its understanding and execution, it really doesn't take a brain surgeon!

So, I move the previous question: Why isn't this happening everywhere, in every place and all the time?

Do you want to know what I think? Well, even if you don't, I'm going to tell you. I believe that there are two truths that we have missed (or, at least, I've missed) and in missing those truths the promise of Jesus has not yet been fulfilled. I'm going to share the first truth in this letter and the second in next month's letter.

Listen up! The first truth is this:

Evangelism isn't about what you do; it's about who you are.

No, no, no! That truth doesn't reference what you think. We've been programmed to react to a statement like that with guilt because we aren't "walking the talk" or because we haven't lived up to what a Christian ought to be. In other words, when we hear a statement like that we immediately think (it's in our twisted DNA), Oh man! If that's the problem, I must be more Christ-like.

Let me say pastorally and kindly...that's from the pit of hell and smells like smoke. In fact, that kind of reaction is the problem. Let me explain.

Paul makes a defining statement about Christians: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).

Paul isn't telling us to do something, to pray for something or to work at something...he is defining who we already are. Paul isn't saying that we should become more religious in order for people to see in us a new creation nor is he telling us to "get with it." He is defining who we are!

Someone has said that the world is run by people who just show up. I think that's true and that's exactly what Christians are called to do—just show up and be. With all our sin, our doubts, our fears, our failures, our neediness, our laughter, our freedom, our forgiveness...we need to show up. Evangelism is what happens when we are there and are real. It creates all kinds of questions for which Christ is the answer.

All we have to do is take off our masks, show up and not duck.

It doesn't matter how much you know, if you know him! It doesn't matter how trained you are, if you know him! It doesn't matter how good you are, if you know him! It doesn't matter how well you debate or answer questions, if you know him!

Just be!

We are so obsessed with "doing it right," never bringing shame on the name of Christ, about learning a Gospel presentation and learning to do apologetics, that we are always preparing and never doing...or, better yet, being.

Now, let me tell you something that has become increasingly apparent to me. Every time Christians pretend to be anything other than what we are, every time we wear "religious" masks, and every time we work hard at standing for Christ, motherhood, apple pie and the American way, we hide the reality of who we are.

Is truth important? Are you crazy? Of course truth is important.

Is obedience important? Yeah, it is, but obedience is the "surprising faithfulness" we discover when we're doing something else.

Are convictions forgotten? Of course not. I have a conviction on everything from the election to the color of the pews in our church's new sanctuary. The problem is, every time my convictions are more important than my just showing up, I get in a debate and, while I mostly win the debates, the ones with whom I debate never see the "new creation" that I am.

We'll talk a bit more about this next time around and then I'll share the second truth with you (in this business, that's called a teaser!), but for now, just go and be.

I'm writing this on primary day in Florida and I'm still not sure for whom I'm going to vote. But after I go to the polls—and I will after I finish writing to you—and vote, I'll get one of those little stickers of an American flag that says, "I Voted!"

I really want one of those stickers! There is a lot to be said for the feeling of self-righteousness when one can wear the sticker and the cretins who didn't vote can see it.

Since, for maybe the first time in my life, I'm having trouble making a decision about a candidate, you know what I thought about doing? I thought about going into the voting booth, standing there for five minutes, and then emerging with a smile on my face and a blank ballot to turn in.

That way I could get the sticker without voting for anybody.

I talked to Jesus about it and he wasn't that pleased. He told me that I already had too many stickers reflecting stuff that lied about who I am.

I think he told me to take off the stickers and to follow him to the places he would take me. He said for me to just show up and see what he would do.

I think he told me to tell you to do it too!

In His Grip,

Steve