"Turn or Burn" and the Kingdom Gospel

I wanted to share a few thoughts on one aspect of yesterday's sermon, which dealt with the subject of evangelization (one of the five "purposes of the church"). Our pastor talked a little bit about how real-life, love-your-neighbor evangelism doesn't really need to fall back on the crutch (and it is a crutch) of highlighting the sinful state of the person you're witness to, or the fear of future hell - in other words, when I'm sharing the gospel, I don't need to convince the person of how wicked/lost/miserable they are, because (and this is key) chances are, they already know that part.

(That's my paraphrase, of course, or how I understood this part of the message.)

Maybe they can't say it in "Christianese," but they know it.

Not in words. 

By experience.

Terms like "propitiatory sacrifice," "forensic justification," or "substitutionary atonement" mean nothing to them.

What does mean something to them are words like "we're barely making ends meet," "I'm not sure my life has meaning," "my son can't wait to move out," "my husband just left me and my kids," "I have trouble sleeping at night," "I'm on anti-depression meds," "I don't know if anyone would notice if I fell off the face of the earth," "I drink to hide the pain," "my sister was just diagnosed with cancer," and so on.

(Let's be honest: don't those words have meaning for us, too?)

I guess I don't see the need to tell someone that they're a sinner, and if they don't put their faith in Jesus, they're going to go to hell. I'm pretty sure they already know that life is (or can be) a living hell. I'm pretty sure they're already looking for "more."

(Again, let's be honest: aren't most Christians looking for "more," too?)

And the fact of the matter is that the "turn or burn" gospel tends to usher people into the kingdom (if they come at all) through the medium of fear, because they're afraid of the "burning" part. Welcome to Christianity, meet your new God, the one who was going to send you to a place of eternal torment if you didn't believe. 

Fear-based relationships. They only last for as long as the fear holds power.

Besides, John says that's the basis for a broken relationship with God, one that still needs fixing: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 Jn. 4:18)

Whatever you think about certain parts of Rob Bell's book Love Wins, I think he absolutely nailed it on this point. He talked about seeing the kids in Rwanda whose arms and legs had been hacked off by enemy soldiers; he talked about women who had been raped for years by a relative or by a pastor, and all the damage that was done; he talked about seeing drug addicts, counseling suicidal people, and seeing the effects of people who deliberately do evil things to hurt their loved ones. He says:

"... there are all kinds of hells, because there are all kinds of ways to resist and reject all that is good and true and beautiful and human now, in this life ... There are individual hells, and communal, society-wide hells, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously. There is hell now, and there is hell later, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously." (Rob Bell, Love Wins, p. 79)

Hell (or hells) on earth. It's all too real, and people know it - and they (and we?) are looking for some real answers, not to the question of how to avoid eternal hell-fire in the future, but how to deal with the tangible hells-on-earth that are right now.

And if the best we can offer them is "just trust in Jesus, He'll give you a one-way ticket out of this mess, and you can join me on the station platform while we wait for the Glory Train to come and get us," then we haven't really got much to offer.

Hell isn't just a future thing. Everyone knows that (at least by experience).

But how many people know that heaven isn't just a future thing either?

How many people know that the Gospel of Jesus is so much more than a glorified evacuation plan that gets us out of earth and into a distant, "out there" heaven, someday, in the "hereafter"?

How much more effective would our witness be if, when our neighbor shares her current real-life "hells" with us, we offered to pray for her on-the-spot, speaking life, healing, restoration, wholeness, and blessing into her situation, with the firm conviction and faith that those prayers are actually powerful enough to release the kingdom and punch holes in the "gates of hell" the minute we speak the words?

I haven't done enough "street evangelism" to present a conclusive statistical analysis, but the little bit that I have done has already shown me a trend: the majority of people will politely decline if you ask them if they want to hear about Jesus; on the flip side, the majority of people will happily welcome you if you offer to pray for them.

(It's probably time to admit that the church has hidden for too long behind the axiom, "the gospel is offensive," as a way of excusing unsuccessful evangelism; our message isn't nearly offensive as the way we've presented it, the way we've used it as an elitist badge, and the way we've failed to live it.)

Why are people more likely to let you pray for them than they are to listen to a presentation of the gospel?

Because the head doesn't need more information - the heart needs an encounter with God's touch.

Because "let me tell you something" isn't nearly as attractive as "let me show you something."

Because "the kingdom of heaven is upon you and within you" (see Mt. 12:28, Lk. 17:21) is far better news than "grin and bear it, we'll be out of here before too long - I hope."

Because "the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." (1 Cor. 4:20)

The fear of God may be the beginning of wisdom. But it's the goodness of God that leads people to true repentance (see Rom. 2:4).

Pastor Don read a blog piece called "7 Tips for Talking with Your Neighbors About Jesus." I think I'd like to add to (or maybe condense?) that list.

1) Show them you're interested in them as a person, not as a project - If you decide to go see a movie with them, do it because you genuinely want to spend time with them, not because you think it will create an opportunity to "witness." People can tell the difference.

2) Demonstrate your love for them before you try to tell them about God's love for them - Your message about God's love is far more likely to ring true and "harmonic" if you've already shown that you're willing to help move a couch, pay for the drinks, call and see how things are going, help hang some drywall, pinch-hit as a babysitter, and so on.

3) Offer to pray, not to preach - People don't need more religious platitudes, and they don't need more promises of prayer, they need right-now-with-them prayer. They don't need to hear about how God loves them, they need to see that He loves them, and He will demonstrate that through your prayers, sometimes in rather dramatic ways. (Ever seen someone's head cold vanish on-the-spot, or find out that they got a job within a few days of you praying for them? It's way more fun than preaching at them.)

That's it, in summary. Preach God's love and heaven-on-earth, or better yet, don't preach at all, pray instead.

Jacob