Calvin Coolidge was vice president of the United States between 1921-1923, under President Warren Harding. He was not a very active vice president, but he took great pleasure in presiding over the Senate. One day, as he was presiding, one senator angrily told another to go “straight to hell.” The offended Senator openly complained to Coolidge as the presiding officer. Coolidge was leafing through the book of rules as he made his complaint. He looked up from the book and replied: “I’ve looked through the rule book. You don’t have to go.”
That is the good news that we have to share with the world. We have looked it up in God’s book. No one has to go to hell, for the Bible says that he, “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). The heart of God beats for every human being and longs for them to be with him in eternity. Every human being bears the stamp of God on their soul, for they were made in his image. He created them and came to redeem them. To live apart from Christ and not experience the presence of his Spirit in your life is the greatest tragedy of human existence. You can have everything this world has to give, but if you do not have Christ you have nothing. You may have more than enough money, great looks, great education, great family, but if you do not know Jesus Christ in a personal way, you have missed the point of this life. Jesus put it like this: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).
With that in mind, I want to say, first of all, that when it comes to sharing Christ with others, you must understand that: People are eternally lost without Christ. This is a truth that is often overlooked in our culture. We have redefined sin and softened the Gospel to the point where we really don’t believe that people are lost without Christ. We can’t imagine that anyone could possibly be in spiritual danger. “As long as they are sincere,” we say. “They were religious in their own way,” I have often heard. “They were such a good person that I am sure they are in heaven.” Those are nice sentiments, but are they true?
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
When people talk about their children, they say they only want them to be happy. Is that all we want for our children? Are we concerned whether or not they are moral? Are we concerned whether or not they have a relationship with Jesus Christ that is real? Are we concerned about whether they are going to spend eternity with God or without him? They may be attractive, intelligent people, but are they living for God or themselves? The Bible says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
Increasingly, there is a tendency to believe that all good people, whether or not they consider Jesus Christ to be their Savior, will live in heaven after they die. In 1992 40% of people surveyed agreed with this notion. In 1994 the percentage had grown to 46%. By 1999 53% of the people surveyed said they believed that all good people would go to heaven, regardless of their religion or relationship to Jesus Christ. The Bible says of Jesus: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). There is a judgment coming, and it is important that we are ready to face God at the judgment. If we have ignored Jesus Christ we will never see God. If we are living selfish, immoral lives there will be a price to pay. The Bible says, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:1-3).
This is our motivation for bringing people to Christ. We believe in an old fashioned idea called hell. We want to prevent people from going there. We do not want our loved ones, friends or anyone else to be eternally separated from God. What good will it do if someone is successful and happy here if they spend an eternity in hell? The apostle Paul said, “It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11, The Message).
The second thing that we need to understand is: Lost people matter to God. Jesus was called the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19). Among his followers were former tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves and murderers. He did not love their sin, but he did love the sinner. Sinners loved Jesus because he gave them hope. Forgiveness was available if they came to him and wanted to change. He made them want to leave their life of sin and live for God.
There is an interesting passage in the second book of Peter. He is trying to explain the coming judgment. He has been asked by people why it was taking so long for it to come. Why didn’t God just come and destroy all those filthy sinners in the world. Peter answered with these words: “God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change” (2 Peter 3:9, The Message).
The most familiar passage in the Bible reminds us that, “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). Do we deserve the judgment? Of course. But God who is rich in mercy saved us by the merits and death of Jesus Christ. The biblical writer expresses amazement when he says, “It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!” (Ephesians 2:4-5, The Message).
As I read the 15th chapter of Luke I am reminded of God’s incredible love for the lost. This is the chapter of lost things: a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son. In each case God is pictured as searching and longing for what has been lost. When the sinful and rebellious son comes to his senses and repents and returns home, the father runs to embrace him. He says to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:22-24). And a great celebration followed. Jesus said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7).
The third thing we must understand is: Lost people should matter to us. Some Christians act as though they hate sinners instead of love them. They look down on liars, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drug addicts, alcoholics and the like as though they were not redeemable. There is a sense of smug spiritual superiority instead of concern and a desire to reach out to them. We fail to see other people through God’s eyes. We fail to remember where we used to be and what God saved us from. We forget how patient he was with us until we came around.
If our character is to model the character of God then we have to have the same compassion he has. We have to love like he loved. We have to overlook the sin and in order to reach the sinner and express our love for them. If these people are not important to you then they will remain lost. They will die without God and without hope.
In the scripture today, Ezekiel is using a type of parable to explain our responsibility to warn people of the judgment and win them to Christ. He creates an absurd scenario. A watchman is placed on the wall of a city to look for invading enemies that may come and destroy the people inside the city and carry them away. But even though he sees the danger, and knows what is coming, he fails to warn the people inside. What possible reason could he have for not warning them? Perhaps he thought the people would be annoyed by the trumpet blast. Maybe he thought they would not believe him. It could be that he downplayed the danger in his own mind and told himself that the army approaching the city wouldn’t really harm anyone. For whatever reason, God held the watchman responsible. Ezekiel ends by saying, “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself” (Ezekiel 33:8-9).
I remember the stories surrounding the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. After the first tower was hit, people started streaming out of the buildings. But some people died in groups, because people around them convinced them they should stay put. Some of the security people on the bottom floor told people fleeing the building that the fire department had everything under control and that they were to return to their offices. Many of them did, and many of them died. The real heros were those who understood the danger and went into the building to rescue the people who were in peril.
People without Christ are eternally lost. Lost people matter to God. Lost people should matter to us. If these things are firmly fixed in our minds, then 95% of the battle is won in your quest to be able to witness to other people about Christ. You don’t need more information, you need to be convinced of the importance of the task. Eternal souls are at stake. There are some people who are able to witness so easily. It seems to come naturally to them. They can present it so well that people are interested in hearing what they have to say. But this is a gift that can be developed. You don’t have to be a theologian or a biblical scholar. All you have to be able to do is to tell your story. You may not be able to quote all the scriptures, but you can tell people how your life has changed and what God has done for you. Just by doing that you can make an eternal difference is someone’s life.
I love the story of the healing of the blind man in the 9th chapter of John. Jesus heals him and the religious leaders are upset that he has done it on the wrong day and in the wrong way. They are skeptical, and they want the man who was healed to be just as skeptical as they are. They grill him with questions. Some of them are theological, and others are difficult questions about who Jesus is and exactly how he healed him. The man simply responded, “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25). How wonderfully simple. He didn’t have a deep theological explanation of what happened, or even who Jesus was, but he was able to tell his story. His story is our story: “One thing we know. Once we were blind, but now we see.”
“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:2-3).
Rodney J. Buchanan
March 27, 2003
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
SHARING CHRIST:
THE GIFT OF EVANGELISM
Questions for April 27, 2003
1. What is our main motivation for sharing Christ with others?
2. Read Ezekiel 33:1-9. How does this parable relate to our responsibility as Christians?
3. Read Hebrews 10:26-27. According to this scripture, what is the destiny of those who are without Christ?
4. Read 2 Corinthians 5:10. Why is it important to understand the truth of this scripture?
5. Read 2 Peter 3:9. How does God feel about people who are living away from him?
6. Read Psalm 103:8-14. How would you describe the heart of God after reading this passage?
7. Read Proverbs 11:30. What should our response be to those who do not know Christ?
8. If you are not a theologian, what can you do to witness to other people?
9. Should only those who have a special gift of evangelism witness to other people, or doe we all have that responsibility?
10. Share an experience you have had witnessing to someone about Christ.
