“God’s Story vs. Our Stories”

“When sharing the faith with others, do you prefer to discuss the gospel of Christ and related doctrines, or your own personal testimony? That’s the question we recently asked at a convention for religious broadcasters, and you might be surprised by the answers we received.”

I wasn’t really surprised by the answers they received in their informal poll. Having been raised in conservative, evangelical churches the emphasis is on relational evangelism.  We need to love the people we’re trying to win, and we don’t want to overburden the unchurched with a lot of ‘churchy’ language about things like justification or sanctification.  We were encouraged to reach the lost with our personal stories — our testimonies.  We had to be able to give our testimony on a moment’s notice, so we had to have the essence of our conversion story and what Christ has done in our lives boiled down to a five minute presentation.

The Great Commission!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20; ESV)

I love football!  There’s a little tradition in football called the pre-game speech.  If you’ve watched any football movies such as Knute Rockne, All-American, or Rudy, or Invincible, you’ve probably seen a pre-game speech.  A pre-game speech is when the coach of the team gathers all of the players around before the game and gives them a shot of motivation before going out to play the game.  If life ever imitates the movies, after the coach gives a particularly motivating pre-game speech, the team usually goes out and thrashes the enemy.

How Now Shall We Live?

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (1 Peter 3:8-9; ESV)

When I was a kid, my parents would often get compliments on my behavior whenever I was a visitor in someone else’s home.  They would remark how well-mannered I was always saying “please” and “thank you.”  As a parent, I too get these remarks from people when my own children are visitors in their home.  What makes these comments comical is that you know how your children really act at home.  I know as a fact that I did not act in a stranger’s home the way I acted in my own home, and my vast research on the subject indicates that this is a universal trait of children worldwide.

I’ve often wondered why I, or my children, act better ‘on the road’ than when they’re at home?  Various reasons come to mind:  Perhaps all the hours of nagging and prodding have actually paid off and they are perfectly capable of acting like well-adjusted human beings?  Perhaps they’re at the home of a ’significant other’ are attempting to impress the parents?  Or maybe the novelty of a new environment means they need time to know how to ‘game the system?’  Whatever the reason, the fact remains:  Children are better behaved when they’re not at home.

If only this phenomenon held true for Christians.  What do I mean by this?  According to the Apostle Peter, Christians are “sojourners and exiles” in this world.  Perhaps to better understand the “sojourners and exiles” motif, let’s look at the OT prophet Jeremiah.  When the Jews were deported to Babylon as a result of the national sin of Israel, the prophet Jeremiah was told to write them a letter to provide comfort and consolation.  Here is an excerpt of that letter:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.  But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jeremiah 29:4-8)

The command from the Lord to the exiles was essentially “to make yourself at home you’re going to be here for awhile.”  As Christians, we’re exiles in a similar way.  We’re citizens of the Kingdom of God, and as such we have a heavenly home, but we’re not there yet; so until then we “make ourselves at home.”  At the same time, we should realize that this is not our true home.  Like resident aliens we can set up shop in a foreign land, but our hearts long for home.  The point being, like children in a visitor’s home, Christians should be on their ‘best behavior’ while we are “sojourners and exiles.”

The problem, as I alluded to earlier, is that oftentimes we don’t.  Because we more often than not walk by ’sight and not by faith,’ we lose the ‘already/not yet’ tension within the Kingdom of God as it is currently constituted.  Peter exhorts us “to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12).  He then begins to detail what this looks like in the sphere of a citizen to the government, a slave to a master, and a wife and husband.  These passages are very similar to Paul’s exhortations in Ephesians and Colossians.  The key word in these passages is submission.  The best way to abstain from the passions of the flesh is voluntarily submit to those in authority around you.  A life of submission gives witness to the gospel.

I am often amazed that Biblical witnessing isn’t so much about going around trying to proseltyze non-believers, nor is it passing out tracts.  It is primarily living a good and decent life in the eyes of the unbelieving world.  To be sure, there is a time to speak out and share the gospel, and Peter mentions that (1 Peter 3:15), but much of what makes up contemporary evangelism is essentially a ‘bait and switch’ program.  You get all chummy with the non-believer and when they feel comfortable, you hit ‘em with the gospel (usually by memorizing the Roman Road or the Four Spiritual Laws).  And don’t forget your personal testimony!  You gotta have the 30 second, 1 minute and 5 minute version of your story because you never know when and how long you’ll have to share what Christ has done in your life!

As I am understanding Peter, it is not about telling the world what Christ has done in your life (a very subjective experience, and bordering on narcisism).  It’s more about showing them Christ — PERIOD!  After detailing how we’re to live as “sojourners and exiles” in this world, Peter summarizes his point with the passage quoted above:  “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”  That is the life of Christ in a nutshell!

Bottom Line:  Christians are able to show Christ to the world because we constitute the body of Christ and because the Spirit of Christ resides within us.  As usual, the exhortation to Christian living is always based on the foundation of our position in Christ!  Peter opens his letter by praising God for our salvation (1 Peter 1:3-12).  God called us, saved us and will glorify us!  Furthermore, we have an inheritance which is ‘kept in heaven’ for us.  The call to holy living must always come after the revelation of the truth of who we are in Christ!  As Jesus said, “we shall know the truth and the truth will set us free” (John 8:32).  Our witness to the unbelieving world is our sanctified lives as they reflect the light of Christ.  I close with these words from our Lord:  “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

A Question Concerning Evangelism and God’s Sovereignty

Question:  I understand that many don’t hear the gospel, and we can’t say that God will save those who haven’t heard of the gospel because of their sins (they haven’t been accounted for). However, I do believe that they will be judged in a different manner since we do have God’s word and they don’t. If we haven’t received the law, we wouldn’t be judged by it for example. So this is established (I think), we need to evangelize.

But why is God relying on us to evangelize the whole world? Yeah some are saved, but many more are dying without a chance. Hell isn’t a joke, it’s eternal separation from God, this isn’t some theological position, this is serious. I am willing to be a missionary (and I am planning on it), but I wonder why God relies on the weak and the few to save people from an eternal hell. Doesn’t seem right.

Not that my opinion matters, but I think those that die without Christ should hear the gospel immediately after they die in some spiritual form, that they may make a choice. Some say that Jesus did this with the Old Testament prophets in the time after he died, but before he was raised.