Encouraged

Evangelism is something that has never come easy to me. When I received a church email about an upcoming evangelism session, I knew that it would be good to go. However the thought of it made me nervous. This verse shared in the email encouraged me:

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’ (Isaiah 52:7)

This verse not only encouraged me, but it rang true, especially when evangelizing with Paul on the streets of Don Mills.

I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly blessed as I listened and prayed while Paul shared the gospel with a man named John. John was a chemist (and said he was also a Roman Catholic). When Paul asked him if he knew where he would go if he died and whether or not the Lord would accept him, the man seemed to assume he would go to heaven. This assumption was based on his belief that he was a good man and did good things for society, especially through his profession as a chemist. As we spoke with him, however, it was clear that relativism dominated his philosophy of life.

When Paul showed him in the Bible that Christ said He was the only way to the Father, John replied that to claim this is treading on thin ice. He said we should never tell someone directly that there is one truth.

Irony

I found it ironic that many people, in trying to show love to others by being impartial, are doing the exact opposite. Christians, in showing love by sharing the truth, come across as being incredibly narrow minded. It’s as 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Encouraged

I was encouraged that this man seemed quite engaged with our conversation and when we parted ways Paul gave him a copy of “The Essential Jesus” and his contact information. I pray for John, that he would realize the truth of the gospel and that one day he would tell others that, in fact, there is one truth. Christ is the way the truth and the life and no one can come to the Father except through Him.

I was speaking to a man the other day, I forget much of what we disguised, but I recall feeling compelled to preach John 14:6. His response was interesting: “That’s disrespectful!”  Though things got a little heated from there, I’m glad I was prompted this way because it sparked a very telling conversation.

He went on and said more. If my memory is correct, I think he started to question whether Jesus really said that (or meant that). He tried to defend Jesus (that being his unbiblical idea of Jesus), arguing that Jesus would not hold such an absolute and exclusive view.

In particular he kept commenting on the exclusive claims of Christ, saying things like: “that’s crazy,” “that’s disrespectful,” “I can’t believe that,” “that’s not right.” He talked about other religions, other scriptures and issues of interpretation. My attempts to reason with him seemed unprofitable at large (but you never know how the Lord will use those conversations!). Near the end of our talk I told him, “If I were you my knees would be shaking because one day you will stand before Jesus and He will judge you. He says in the Bible that He will judge the world. You will give an account to him.” He replied by telling Steve K. and I that we’ll have to agree to disagree and encouraged us to move on. Things ended on the friendliest note possible (in light of the nature of the exchange). Interestingly, he said what we were doing (out sharing what we believe) was good. Good? Yes, he said, “good.”

That ended our conversation. As I thought over what we had discussed, I was struck by the fervency, absoluteness and certainty of his relativism. His relativism seemed unshakable. And he was not alone. There were two others I spoke with that day who were deeply rooted in religious relativism! The one told me “when you say someone is wrong you are walking on thin ice.” The man who said this is a Chemistry prof at York U. (We talked for a long time!).

A Determined Evangelist

All that being said, not everyone believes such things. I talked to a nice Muslim man earlier that day. He would describe religious relativism as crazy. And there are lots of Muslims in Don Mills! Even so, I am determined to get better equipped to know how to better reason and preach the Gospel to committed relativists. Of course, there is nothing better than the Bible when it comes to getting equipped for the Lord’s work, but there certainly is a place for learning from others.

Alex Philip, who is a close friend of mine (and Chaplain at Peoples Christian Academy), recommended “True For You But Not For Me”: Overcoming Objections to Christian Faith by Paul Copan and Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing your Christian Convictions by . So, over the next couple of months I will be reading and reviewing selected chapters from these books. I will review them and interact with them over a number of blog posts.

So, if you’d like to read along with me, grab the books and share your comments. I pray that God will use these books to better equip us to do what the Thessalonians did – to sound forth the word of the Lord that man people may “turn from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead.”(1 Thess 1:9-10). Stay tuned!

Hungry for fruit

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to join six other Christian brothers at the Shops in Don Mills to spread the good news of God. One thing that I was hungry for that day was to see some fruit, so we prayed about it before we went out. I was paired up with Joe and the first person that we approached was a man that appeared to be in his mid 30′s (he was hovering over a valet parking sign). After sparking up a conversation about the store that was offering valet parking, we told him what we were doing.

Alvin was the man’s name and he’s from the Philippines. After talking with him for 15 minutes about various things from the Bible Joe and I found ourselves really encouraged, for Alvin was very thankful that we stopped to talk to him about eternal things. We ended up giving him the booklet, ”The Essential Jesus,” which is basically the gospel of Luke. After giving him the book he again thanked us both as he started to leaf through it. As we walked away I found myself filled with joy for it seemed as though this man understood (in a small way) the importance of being in a right relationship with the Creator….but yet it was still short of the fruit that I wanted to see that day.

Planting, watering and watching God give growth
After reflecting on the conversation with Alvin, I started to think about some passages in Mark’s Gospel that I had previously been pondering. In Mark 10, after Jesus tells the rich man to sell all of his goods and follow him, the man leaves disheartened because he had much wealth. Jesus then tells his disciples how difficult it will be for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, which in turn threw the disciples for a loop. They thought that those with worldly treasure were favoured by God. They responded by saying, “then who can be saved?” Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” This was a comforting thought that day, knowing that it’s not up to Joe and I to give a complete storyline of the Bible followed by a smooth and graceful transition to the gospel message … and if we did that well enough, we would walk away with a conversion in our back pocket. The Bible doesn’t teach that that’s how the lost are saved. As Christians we plant and water but it is God who gives the growth and that growth will come at the right time.

Some signs of fruit?
An hour after talking to Alvin, a couple of my friends mentioned that a Filipino man in his 30′s was leaning up against a wall, reading the “Essential Jesus”! Was I ever joyful for that!

I asked him, “Hey, I remember you – I met you a couple of weeks ago with my brother. What’s your name again?” He said, “X” (I will not use his real name). I said, “So, where did we leave off?” Not answering my question, and with a smirk, he said, “I saw Jesus in my cereal this morning.” I replied, also smiling, “Did he say anything to you?” He responded, “No, but he had a beard and he tasted good.”

There must be some evil in God

Getting more serious, and in a respectful manner, he told me, “Look, I think belief in God is a nice idea and there are some reasons that support it, but it’s not for me.” I said, “Why?” He said, “Well, you (referring to me) said that everyone is made in the image of God. And people have evil desires, therefore that makes God evil. I mean, we have evil desires and if God made us this way, there must be some evil in God.”

I gently told him,”Maybe I was not clear on this last time we talked, but the desire of man has been corrupted. God created everything good, but he created Adam and Eve with a free will. Now they had the potential to choose evil and they did. Do you think that still makes God evil?”

He said, ”Yes. He knew it was going to happen and he didn’t prevent it; there must be some evil in him.” A little shocked by the logic of his argument I said, “Okay let me get this straight, you believe that because God created Adam and Eve with a free will that could potentially chose evil, that means that somehow God has evil in him.” He said, ”yes.”

I sought to refute his argument

I sought to refute his argument saying that it is necessary for God to create beings with the potential to do evil, IF the created beings truly are to be free. It doesn’t  necessarily follow that God is evil. God could have created something more like robots who could not choose evil. X thought that would be better. Of course, when an argument goes down this track we are dealing with utter arrogance: “I know better than God.”

Whatever the case, I argued: the fact that God created people with a free will, who could choose good or evil, simply means that God created creatures with a free will. It follows that this design is either wise or foolish. But as soon we enter into discussion about God, the Creator, it is unfitting for the creatures to judge him. Job learned this the hard way. God said to him,”Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” (Job 38:2-3). Romans 3:4 – “let God be true and every man a liar.”

The bus came . He had to go. I am so thankful to God for guiding me to X. I was especially encouraged that he had been thinking about our first talk. He recited some of the very truths I taught him before. For example, he said, “we are created in the image of God.”

May God cause his face to shine upon X and may he show him that “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). I hope and pray that I see him again.

Recently I had the opportunity to join Paul, Julian and Joe on a Saturday afternoon at Don Mills and Lawrence for community outreach. It was a cold, blustery, rainy, gray day and we were a bit put off by the weather. We were worried that nobody would want to stop and talk with us, but setting our faces like a flint, we sallied forth.

Some amazing conversations

As it turns out, we had some amazing conversations. We met an Iranian man with a half-hearted commitment to Islam. Paul approached him and he quickly opened up in response to Paul’s friendly and self-effacing manner. We began to talk about the differences between Islam and Christianity, in particular the contrast between the two faiths in terms of self-justification vs. atonement. This fellow knew almost nothing about Christianity – for example, he didn’t know that Christians held Jesus to be God. We had at least 10 minutes of conversation with him before his bus pulled up and he had to go.

Next came my turn. We walked into one of the bus stops, thankful for the shelter from the rain and wind. Standing alone was a Philippino woman, middle-aged, bracing herself against the cold. I introduced myself and Paul, explaining that we were from a local church and we were speaking with people to invite them along. I enquired about her religious beliefs and it turned out that she was Catholic. I asked her to explain how she believed she could get to heaven and she replied with the usual Catholic mantra of faith mixed with some variety of self-effort and self-righteousness. It was on this point that we discussed and debated for the next ten minutes. Borrowing Paul’s Bible, I pointed her to Ephesians 2, emphasizing that salvation was God’s gift, not our works. She seemed surprised. I explained that all our attempts at righteousness are woefully inadequate and even displeasing in God’s sight. This concept of the vanity of works and our utter dependence on Christ’s righteousness proved a stumbling block – she just couldn’t wrap her head around it, and she kept coming back to her own righteous works, despite my best efforts. The bus arrived, the seed was sown, and we saw her off with a friendly handshake.

Ironically, the very next person we spoke to was also a Catholic woman, and Paul tackled the same problem (more efficiently than me, I think) of trying to show the vanity of works righteousness. He brought her back time and again to Ephesians 2 and Romans 3. Sadly, the same unwillingness to recognize the emptiness of self-righteousness revealed itself. They spoke for a very long time (the bus schedule is thankfully quite slow on Saturday afternoons).

I was filled with joy

As I stood beside my brother bearing witness to the glory and all-sufficiency of our Saviour, I was filled with joy. At one point as he stood there explaining the gospel I realized that everyone in the bus shelter was trying hard not to pay attention and failing miserably (and there were a lot of people huddled into that shelter). It dawned on me afresh the desperate need of all these souls – people created in the image of God, corrupted through sin, children of disobedience, blind and dead to God and the things of the Spirit, under wrath and judgment. How desperately they need our message! What a joy to stand there and invite fellow humans to be reconciled to God.

The message we hold

One of the things I love about the practice of evangelism, at home or at work, at school or at the rink, online or on the street, is that it keeps the beautiful simplicity and incredible power of our message fresh and real. Nothing enables you to appreciate the gospel like telling someone who has never heard it before. In our hands we hold the central truth that makes sense of our world, reveals our destiny, and restores us to a right relationship with God.

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

From a medical standpoint

From a medical standpoint, it would be like writing a prescription for the cure for all cancers. This boggles my mind – how humbling to be appointed to dispense the ultimate cure for the human condition: “We have this treasure in jars of clay…” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Joy and evangelism are inextricably linked. The very purpose of our gospel is joy. “These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might be in you, and your joy might be full” (John 15:11). Moreover, there is joy in heaven at the salvation of sinners (Luke 15:7). Yet also, simply sharing the gospel brings great joy, the Spirit’s reward for testifying to the value of Christ. Such joy bears so much fruit – it enlivens our walk with God and enflames our zeal for His glory. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). This is what full Christian living is about.

So give the gospel, and get the joy.

We had to slightly yell to communicate, so Steve and I ended up sitting on the bench with her (not too close though … it was not awkward .. the benches were quite large). With a smile she told us, “I’m a stanch Catholic.” She went on to tell us of some struggles her brother is having. At that time I was able to share what Julian had been preaching on in 1 Peter 1:6-7, that God gives us trials to for the testing of our faith.

She was thankful for what I shared and went on to speak about the goodness of God and our need to follow Him even when times are tough. It was a nice conversation, and it was quite tempting to NOT push to the Gospel, BUT, being compelled by God, I knew it would not please the Lord to let this opportunity pass … how often to we have people approach us in the midst of prayer?!

I asked her, “Do you think God will accept you because of your faith in the work of Christ alone OR  because of your faith in Christ PLUS her efforts of following God?” She was quite sure that her works contributed to her reception of the forgiveness of sins. I asked her if I could show her a passage from the Bible that teaches that savlvation is by faith in the work of Christ alone. She consented. So I opened my Bible to Ephesians 2:8-9 and read it to her. She was silenced and seemed a little surprised. I went over it again, nice and slow.

However, somehow she was able to redirect the conversation. I forget how this happened but suddenly she asked me if she still needs to forgive a family member who has done many wicked things and remains unrepentant. I took her to Matthew 18:21-35 and read it to her. She seemed to want me to move on and just tell her my thoughts … but I persisted in reading Scripture – I figured, “you need the Word, not my opinions; I’m gonna give you the Word.” I emphasized that she must forgive as she’s been forgiven, that is, of course, if she believes she deserves hell and has received God’s unmerited grace. I re-read to her Mt 18:35 – “So also my heavenly Father will do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

I asked her if she had unforgiveness and bitterness in her heart (for by the way she talked, it seemed she may be struggling with it). She said, “No, I have forgiven him.” But then she asked me, “How can we know if we’ve forgiven someone?” I took her to Psalm 103 and read these words: “as for as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” I told her, “when God forgives, he completely removes the sin. He forgets it and he does not hold it against us. He does not hold onto it. It is gone.” She persisted in saying that she had forgiven him, but we continued to chat about this. I forget the exact comment she made at the end, but she basically ended up saying something like, “Maybe I haven’t forgiven him as much as I originally thought.” Then she left.

Now that’s an accidental evangelistic prayer meeting. Be it Ephesians 2, Matthew 18 or Psalm 103, may the Lord use His Word and draw her to the Gospel of his grace.

Instantly, I asked him if he was familiar with Colossians. He was. By God’s grace, I have been working on memorizing Colossians 1. Thus, it was fresh to quote: “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col 1:19). I told him that Jesus is fully God and warned him about “another Jesus” (2 Cor 11:4). He didn’t say much but seemed to be listening.

Well, that was it, the bus came, we handed him The Essential Jesus (which includes the Gospel of Luke) with our contact info and off he went. Just before leaving he told us that a JW leader is meeting with him regularly. May God protect him from error and guide him into truth. Your never know how the Lord will use that exchange. Though it was just a shot of truth, the word is “sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit” (Heb 4:12). May the Spirit attend the Word and may the Father draw him to the Gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).

There are many great texts to use with JW’s to show that Jesus is God. The purpose of this post is not to give an exhaustive list, but here are a couple of texts that teach the doctrine of the deity of Christ:  

(1) “To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:5)

(2) But of the Son he says,
  “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
  the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8)

Also, Pastor Julian’s recent post is helpful.

We met him at a bus stop and chatted for about 3-4 minutes. Here is a little synopsis of his background and worldview. And I quote (or paraphrase):

1) “I don’t really believe anything”

2) I used to have religion, but not anymore (he had a Catholic background)

3) “Whatever makes you happy is right for you”

4) “All religions are the same” … they’re all equal

Not everyone that I meet ascribes to these tenants. Nor do all people see the world this way. Nevertheless, this kind of thinking of quite prominent in our day. There are many ways of approaching people with these beliefs. The purpose of this post is not to show how to refute each statement above, but to keep Jesus central.

Even though there is a place for showing the incoherence of a problematic worldview, and discussing issues of authority and epistemology from a number of angels, I rarely meet relativists who know much about what the Bible actually teaches about Jesus Christ. I find that addressing worldview problems and issues of authority naturally come up as I share who Jesus is according to Scripture and some of the things he said (especially John 14:6!!!). I like to give’m Jesus. They’ve gotta deal with Him! I know world view stuff is important, but Jesus (and His words) fair well the ring of worldview discussions.

We didn’t have the time to talk to this man about Jesus, for the bus came and he was gone before we knew it. Nevertheless, I thought this post may be a timely reminder on what those we are reaching are actually thinking. And I hope it is also an encouraging reminder in your personal evangelism to preach Jesus (Acts 8:35; 9:20).

For those of you who have time to read more. Here is another  window into what is becoming an increasingly common worldview in our age. What follows are the words of a teenage boy who wrote to me. He wrote this in a booklet I tried to give him – he took it and handed it back to me with the following note:

“Think about what makes you happy. Do it. Heaven is now. Hell is whatever you choose it to be … Everything is temporary. Everything. Believe in yourself. Not Jesus. You are God. You are the universe. You are the cosmos. Also, animals live in the life of freedom. Live in the life of an animal.”

May the Lord give us wisdom to know how to best reach these peoples with the truth.

Imagine being in Abraham’s shoes

Do you think Abraham would be a little concerned about his family? Some of my family members live in Guelph. If Guelph was known as “the city of sin” in Canada … and if the Lord appeared to me and looking over Guelph said to a few angels, “Shall I hide from Paul what I am about to do?” My heart would be consumed with concern, but resolved to plead and pray for mercy. What ensues in the narrative is the famous intercession of Abraham. But what’s the point?

What’s the point? (Keep reading)

Abraham is concerned that God does not “put the righteous to death with the wicked” (18:25). Abraham intercedes: what if there are 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, even 10 righteous people? God answers: “for the sake of ten I will not destroy it” (18:32). And the point? Keep reading.

The narrative transitions

Then the narrative transitions to the destruction of Sodom but the salvation of Lot and his daughters (19:1-28). Though Peter writes of “righteous Lot” in the NT (2 Pet 2:7), in the flow of Genesis 18-19, Lot seems to be in a backslidden state, for he is certainly not depicted as righteous by his lingering (19:16) in response to the angels urgent warning to get up and go (19:15)! We read that the angels had to seize him and his family “by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him” (19:16). He fails to have faith that God will provide for him in the “hills” (where the angels direct him), and asks to be sent to the little city of Zoar. In the larger context, we see him make decisions based on what is pleasing to the eye (13:10-13; cf Gen 3:6!). Thus, though Lot is “righteous” before God (2 Pet 2:7), we see him behaving in an unrighteous manner. Yet, Abraham is pictured as the man of faith (though he has had his own struggles!).

The point: God remembered Abraham and saved Lot

Why focus on the backslidden state of Lot or the righteous concern of Abraham? Well, the narrative transitions back to “the place where [Abraham] stood before” (19:27). This recalls the scene when Abraham intercedes for Sodom. And this is what Scripture says: ”when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow” (19:29). He doesn’t remember Lot and save Lot. In other words, it was not because of Lot’s righteousness that he was spared. He remembered Abraham and saved Lot. Were there ten righteous people in Sodom? Nope. It was destroyed. But, Lot was spared. Why? See the typology (and here is the point!): on account of the righteous one, others receive mercy (look at 19:16)!!!

Abraham is a type of Christ

God remembers Abraham, and saves Lot. God remembers Christ and saves us! Abraham is a type of Christ here. And all of this reveals the mercy and grace of God. Christian, we were like Lot, lingering and not heeding the voice of God, but because of Christ, God took us by the hand, “the Lord being merciful to [us]” and saved us “not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace” (2 Tim 1:9). We receive mercy because of Christ!

The purpose of this post

The purpose of this post is to consider the Gospel in the OT. May we find our hearts warmed and strengthened by the grace of God. But may we speak of that grace to others. Some unbelievers have heard the stories, but has anyone taught them the point? When we find people familiar with the OT stories, may God give us the grace to show how it is primarily about Jesus Christ. God help us.

Talking with a Skeptic: what are you going to do with Jesus?

My brother Joel asked the young man if he was up for talking about the Gospel while waiting for the bus. He said, “no, I don’t think it’s a good idea” (but with a smirk on his face). I asked,”why do you say that with a smile on your face.” He replied, “Look, my parents forced Catholicism on me …” and this led to a lengthy dialogue about Christ, truth, religion, false Christianity and faith. 

He had many objections and questions – he was quite skeptical of Christianity (and all religions), but he  was willing to listen.  One question struck me: What about you - why did you believe?” I thought hard and told him what happened: “I just found myself believing.” I went on to tell him not only that, but my faith is a reasonable trust. I talked about our need to deal with Jesus Christ. We talked about his resurrection; I argued that true Biblical Christianity best makes sense of the historical figure, Jesus Christ - he rose from the dead and we gotta deal with Him. 

I said, “In church, on Sunday, my pastor said that everyone will be judged by what they make of Christ. Everyone relates to Jesus Christ in some way. Even you, if you say you don’t want to even think about it and look into this, you are making a decision to NOT follow Christ. (He nodded in agreement). What will you do with Jesus? You really need to read the Bible to look into these things. If I wanted to learn about you, I’d go to your friends and family, people who know you best, not someone who lives hundreds of years after you – go to the source. Matthew, who wrote one the Gospels, spent three years with Jesus and he wrote about him.” He agreed that this was the logical way to learn about Jesus, but sadly, when I offered him literature (a little booklet of the Gospel of Luke called The Essential Jesus), he would not take it.

May the Lord use the truth that was spoken to draw him to Christ, especially the word my brother spoke to him: “whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16b). The man had asked us, “What happens to those who believe?”

A Word for Christians

If your faith is in Jesus Christ, you find your identity is in Christ, not your performance, gifts and service. You are defined by Christ, who He is and in the great salvation he has worked for you (His efforts, His performance, His rejection, His vindication = Him) … not the effectiveness or quality of your evangelistic efforts! Praise God that Christ “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24), even our sin of not loving our neighbours by telling them the most important command/Goods News they need to hear. But let us remember: Jesus paid for these sins. There is no condemnation. None. Not even a hint! But oh that we would be holy as He is holy. Unlike OT Israel, may we obey our Saviour in our time of exile as we await the imperishable  inheritance God is keeping for us (1 Pet 1:4)! And may we do the very thing He created us to do: “proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet 2:9). May the “God of all grace” (1 Pet 5:10) give us much of His supply.