The J Word 6: Pace Yourself

As a recap, this summer we are studying Personal Evangelism – me (as a believer) telling someone else about my relationship with Jesus as directed by the Holy Spirit. Each and every believer is instructed by Jesus to do this (Matthew 28:19) – “Go, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” Jesus is not suggesting we do this. Jesus is telling us to do this because (v. 18) “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth, therefore . . .”

What we’ve learned so far:

1. Be Social – we must be out and among people to tell some about Jesus.
2. Find Common Ground – when the Holy Spirit presents someone to us, we can find conversational common ground around family, hometown, hobbies and interests.
3. Spiritual Arousal – as we develop a conversation, we lean on the Holy Spirit for the opportunity to talk about faith, church, Scripture, prayer and, yes, Jesus. If we converse with people long enough, we’ll hear opportunity to move beyond hometowns and hobbies, and insert faith into the conversation. We don’t have to have the answers, we just have to Be Willing as followers of Jesus.

And, now we look at some Guidelines to Personal Evangelism. The first is this: Don’t Go Too Far, Too Fast.

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-2, Paul writes to the church at Corinth: “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to mature Christians. I had to talk as though you belong to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk and not with solid food, because you couldn’t handle anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your own sinful desires. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your own demons? You are acting like people who don’t belong to the Lord.”

In 1984, I was coaching a baseball team of boys ages 10-12. I was living in Statesboro, GA, serving as associate editor of the daily newspaper there. I had a good team, and I knew it. Jeff Yawn, Sean Sanders, Del Akins, Jonathan Stapleton, Jamie Sapp, and Chris Boyd were a few of the boys – now dads themselves – on that team. We won our division that year and I was able to coach All-Stars. But, the first day of practice, I was joined by two of the dads. While I gathered and completed all the necessary paperwork on the players, these two dads started practice. And, right off the bat, they put players at positions and started working on complicated cut-off plays between the outfielders and infielders. I watched in disbelief. I could tell the boys had no idea what these men were talking about, and the men were getting a little frustrated. So, here I am, 25, and I walk out to these two dads, and said something like, “We’re not doing that. We don’t need to teach them the entire game of baseball, we just need to teach them what they need to know at 10 and 12 to be competitive. Then, at the next level, someone can add to the foundation we’ve advanced.” And, so I called the boys in, apologized, and told them how we were going to it. We had so much fun that year, finished 15-5, and won our division championship. The lesson that I learned was this one: Sometimes, you can go too far, too fast – you have to meet people where they are, love and coach them right there, and nudge them on to the next level.

Each and every one of us is walking up a spiritual mountain. As new believers we are “born again” at the bottom of the mountain. Our climb up the mountain represents our spiritual growth. Spiritual growth occurs as we shed the priorities and wants and desires of this Earth, and replace them with the priorities of God to completely love Him, completely love and serve others, and make disciples. Up, up, up, we are called to climb. But, we can’t forget about those just starting out at the bottom of the mountain *or* those who don’t even know about the mountain! And, we can’t expect someone just starting a spiritual journey to suddenly join us where we might be. That’s like asking a first-grader to know Algebra, or feeding an infant a breakfast of steak, eggs and pancakes. No, we have to meet people where they are, listen and love them toward taking their own steps up the mountain of spiritual growth. One of the best testimonies we can give is to say, “Come on, friend, you can do it. I know what you are thinking and going through because I’ve been in that same place on this mountain.”

Even Jesus understood this. The backdrop of this Personal Evangelism study has been Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, John 4:13-16, he said to her, “People soon become thirsty again after drinking this well water. But, the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.” She says, “Please sir, give me some of that water! Then, I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to haul water.” And, Jesus says, “Go and get your husband.” She says, “I have no husband.” Jesus says, “Right – you’ve had five of them and you aren’t married to the one you are with now.” You see, Jesus had the opportunity to move from the analogy of the living water to real faith conversations, but Jesus instead steps back and focuses the woman on her life and her life’s decisions. She had to confront her sinful (self-focused) choices, repent from them, and then embrace the living water of Jesus.

It’s easy to say, “I can’t do that” or “that’s not my comfort zone (to talk about faith with others)” but again – you and I, as believers, have no choice. If all authority has been given Jesus and He has instructed us to go and tell others, well, we must do it or we aren’t following Jesus ourselves. (That’s not good). When someone approaches me about faith or I have those common ground conversations, I never *plan* a strategy to talk about faith. I don’t go into those conversations with this calculated, strategic method of talking about Jesus. No, I just listen to the urging of the Holy Spirit as conversations unfold, and then I act on those urgings. My experience is that He will always provide the words and the direction and the answers that I need. And, sometimes the answer is “I don’t know, but let’s find out together.”

A Warning: While we are saying “don’t go too far, too fast” we can’t use that as a stalling tactic until we find the courage to talk to others about Jesus. No, this is not a method to let us off the hook or excuse our inadequacies. Because hovering over each day of our lives is an urgency to help people discover Jesus as Savior. People – men, women, teenagers – who die without confidently confessing Jesus as both Savior and Lord will spend an eternity separated from God. You and I need to bite down on that reality. We are not living a game. I know we are a culture of mercy and grace, and of second and third and fourth chances, but in this there is no second chance after death. All around us there are men, women and teenagers who have never heard a friend or family member talk about Jesus,  and there are people who wrongly believe a church ceremony standing only on its own merit secured their eternity. There are people attending church every Sunday who believe that good works secure their place in heaven. Most sadly, are those who have attend church all their lives, know all the answers, and carry a Bible yet have never confessed Jesus as their Savior. They want to confess Jesus, I know they do, but Satan has convinced them that they will be embarrassed by doing so as adults – especially living in the church as a believer for a long time. You and I must be Christian Soldiers in all of this confusion. We must share the gospel. We must balance the urgency of the hour with meeting people where they are, and helping them along. We must tell the world that we love Jesus, and be ready for Him to send people to us.        

My prayer is this:

1. If you are clinging to the world’s priorities, I want you to let go of that and lay your life down for Jesus. I want you to say, “I can’t do this life by myself, anymore. I’m tired of doing the same old thing all the time.” You and I must get right with Jesus so that we have a story to tell those who don’t know Him.
2. If you are committed to follow Jesus, I want you to get urgent about the people in your life. Do you love others enough to ensure they hear about Jesus. You can’t save them – all you can do is talk to them. Do you love them that much? Do you value you relationship with them more than you value their relationship with the Lord? You can talk to people about Jesus without being condescending or critical or ugly. Do you love them?
3. Can you take the time to meet people where they are in life, and help them take baby-steps toward faith? Can you build a relationship that involves a lot of time, a lot of prayer, a lot of conversations, a lot of your own self-reflection? Can you be patient, be authentic, be genuine, and love others toward a relationship with Jesus – regardless of how long it might take?