When it comes to the mission Christ has put me on planet earth to accomplish, I am not satisfied that I am sharing Christ with others as often, as effectively, or as fruitfully as I should be. It is not that I never do. My life-long practice of constantly thinking about and reviewing my mission has produced results in reaching out to the lost and leading others to Christ. And, just yesterday, I had a prayed-for opportunity to discuss spiritual things with my next door neighbor. I am not completely failing; I would give myself a D. So, I spent the week prayerfully searching my heart about why I don’t share Christ more with the lost around me. Then I wrote out what I think Jesus’ response would be to these reasons. Perhaps you will identify with my failure.
Why Don’t I Share Christ With Others More?
1) Because I don’t think of it as a primary responsibility. It never get’s high enough on my “to do” list to get implemented. I have a demanding job, a wife to try to love well, a growing family of five children, their spouses and our grandchildren, extended relatives to think about, a house to take care of, investments to pay attention to, and bills to pay. Before I fulfill all those responsibilities each week, I start a new week, and a new to-do list.
Perhaps my Reformed Faith sets me up to be lazy in this arena. I know that no one seeks after God on his own. Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father draws him. My thought is, “Only God changes hearts. I can’t”—never fully thinking through the fact that God might just be planning to use ME to draw my lost friends, associates, and family members to himself.
I think Jesus’ response to this argument would be grief, along with the sad question, “How can you be my follower—one trying to be like me—and care so little about the lost around you?” In Luke 15:1, Jesus is criticized because the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him. Jesus, who rarely defended himself, explains the reason he pursued them with three, back-to-back stories: a) that of a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine of the sheep to go after the one who is lost, b) that of a woman who loses one of her ten valuable silver coins, which she looks for diligently until she finds it, c) that of a broken-hearted father of two boys who looks longingly down the path for the return of his prodigal son, and when that son comes home is filled with compassion, running down the path to embrace him. In all three cases there is great celebration because what was lost was found. In the same way, says Jesus, There is joy before the angels of God over every sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).
The point to the parable is that in all three cases, there is greater concern for, greater attention given to what is lost—the one sheep, the one coin, the one son—than to those who were never lost, the ninety-nine sheep, nine coins, and one faithful son. I am ashamed that I call myself a Christian, when thoroughly unlike Jesus, I have a heart so calloused that the lost all around me never get priority.
And by the way, reaching them is my responsibility. Jesus said to his followers, You shall be my witnesses, and As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Paul says that we are all ambassadors and urges us every day to put on the armor of readiness to share the gospel of peace everywhere our feet take us.
Not only that, but the second greatest commandment, which summarized the last six of the ten commandments, is Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 15 begins, as we saw, by observing that the notorious sinners of Jesus’ society were drawn to him. How could that be? Jesus was completely righteous, holy through and through. I would think they would constantly feel guilty around such moral perfection. But, instead, they were drawn to him. I think, it was very simply because he loved them. That is where reaching out to the lost begins.
2) I don’t reach out to the lost as I should because I am not sure I consciously consider the danger of being lost. Someone has said in evangelism training, “If your neighbor’s house were on fire, you wouldn’t be afraid to tell him! He NEEDS to hear your message.” I am not suggesting that our approach to the lost should start with warning them about the fires of hell. Jesus saved this approach for the hardened, self-righteous, not the majority of those he encountered. But Jesus did say, Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many (Matt 7:13-14).
I know this verse, but frankly, those entering by the wide gate don’t appear to be headed for destruction. The lost folks around me seem to be doing quite well. In fact, they seem more prosperous and successful than I am and may even have fewer problems. They don’t seem to be in danger or distress for being lost.
I think Jesus would say, “I made human beings FOR a love relationship with myself, and human hearts will always be restless until they find that unconditional love in me. You have no idea how much the emptiness inside—the craving to be valued, wanted, loved—drives the lost to destructive idols that never fully satisfy their hearts and demand a steep price to be paid. The wage of living life independent from God, no matter how nice it might temporarily look on the outside, is always death.”
3) I don’t reach out to the lost as I should because I really don’t think these lost friends will respond to efforts to share Christ with them. They just don’t seem interested and if there is anything that is scorned in our culture today it is proselytizing. If I am too forward and appear to be pushing my faith on him, I will drive my lost friend further away.
I think Jesus would say, “Don’t confuse caring for and reaching out, winsomely, to the lost with bad, reaping-oriented evangelism.” I think Jesus might also point to his disciples’ attitude towards the Samaritans. This was a very religious group of people; the problem was that it was a false religion. Have you ever tried to share your faith with someone strongly indoctrinated into a false religion or cult like Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Mormons? It is no easy task. After visiting one part of Samaria that was unresponsive to the gospel, James and John, asked Jesus, Should we call down fire from heaven to destroy them?
Yet on another occasion in Samaria, after the woman at the well shared her story with the townspeople, they headed down the hills surrounding Jacobs well, dressed in their white garments to hear Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus said to the twelve, Do not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, open up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Jesus, no doubt, was referring to the people, dressed in their normal white tunics coming down towards the well from the hills and fields surrounding the well. A few verses later, we read:
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world” (4: 39-42).
Paul wrote, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Jesus command to us is, “Don’t ever doubt the power of the gospel. Just open your eyes and see the needy lost around you who need you to point them to me.
In future issues of MFM we will try to identify the wisest strategies for better reaching out to the lost. But here might be a good place to start:
1) Pray regularly that God would cause you to care much more for the lost around you.
2) Mull over the categories in which you have relationships with the lost to see which one or two God might put on your heart to pray for regularly. These categories are:
a) Neighbors
b) Work associates
c) Extended family
d) Adults you know because of your kids’ friends (sports, music, school activities)
e) Joint participants with you based on your hobbies, sports clubs, etc.
f) Regular folks you see in your community, i.e. postal clerks, business owners, etc.
3) As you begin your day, try to remember occasionally to specifically put the armor of “readiness” on, by saying, “Lord please give me some opportunities to mention you today to my lost associates and help me not miss those opportunities but say the right, most winsome thing.”
