Guest Blog: Brian Kruckenberg
He’s ThereÂ
For the longest time, I viewed evangelism as a process of information transfer from a person who follows Christ to one who doesn’t. For me, evangelism was usually about saying just the right thing at the right time. Lately, though, I’ve begun to see evangelism much differently.
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The Bible tells us that everyone is created in God’s image (Gen. 1:17) and that God placed eternity on the hearts of all people. (Ecc. 3:1) What God is telling us is that we are designed to live forever and He placed within us a longing for this eternal life. The junk of life and sin leaves some so far from their original design that they may appear to have no sign of God in them. But, evidence of Him is there. Somewhere under all of that sin and hurt is the life that God created for us to live.Â
Now when I talk to someone about Jesus, I don’t have to worry about trying to cram them full of information or say just the right thing. I just have to help them uncover those desires for God that are within them and help them intersect with the Creator who put those desires there. When we help people discover the God who’s been pursuing them all along, that discovery becomes much more personal and real. Â
All we have to do now is to love people enough to serve them and help them discover Jesus. How are we doing?Â
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Brian,
I agree with you on many points, but I disagree that those who are not Christian have desires for God within them. I’ll try to give my understanding without getting into too sticky of a predestination discussion.
While I definitely agree that God desires sinners to be made right with Him, I think that to tell a non-Christian that deep within them is a desire for God is misleading. The Word says that the unregenerate man is by nature a child of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), and that the said evil man is bent only on rebellion (Proverbs 17:11). See also Romans 3:10-18.
As such, I argue that it is valuable to talk about the law in evangelism. The challenge in this, of course, is to let the confrontation be in the message and not the messenger.
For through the law we become conscious of sin (Romans 3:20), and then do we realize our need to repent and put our trust in Jesus to pay the penalty that we deserve (yet many still don’t turn to Him).
It’s in light of that kind of kindness—for God to allow us as totally depraved people to escape the unbearable penalty of eternal separation from God’s love—that we are led to true repentance (Romans 2:4).
That’s how I see it. I hope I didn’t simply misunderstand what you were originally trying to say.
Mike
Yes, I too will say that I disagree with the thought that all of us have the want for eternal life with God.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 - says “God placed eternity on the hearts of all people.”
But when you look into the Hebrew words - you will find that “eternity” comes from the Hebrew’s “olam” which means: everlasting, forever, eternity; from of old, ancient, lasting, **for a duration**.
So what I find here is that God put in our hearts a want to survive - to last, not to die.
So when you look back at a verse ahead of Ecclesiastes 3:11 and with Ecclesiastes 3:11 - you find this:
Ecclesiates 3:10,11 “I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men…”
This is saying that God has put in our hearts a want to survive, a want to live for a long time.
You can take this either physically, or mentally. You can get out of this that God put in us a want to be ourselves - to not die to ourselves - and that is why it is a burden - because it is hard to die to yourself and live for the wants of God - it’s not easy.
That’s my take on this.
With Love, Jared
I get what Brian is saying. I think deep down all people have a desire to believe in something, I mean, even being an atheist takes a lot of faith, it’s just that it is directed at something entirely different. I just think when it comes to evangelism we shouldn’t be focused on proving God or trying to explain some big philosophical argument. I think of the Rob Bell quote, “Have you ever seen someone pull a photo out of their wallet and argue about the supremacy of this particular loved one? Of course not. They show you the picture and give you the opportunity to see what they see.”
Brian,
My experience, in becoming a follower of Christ lines up with what you has described. I was a person who did not believe God existed. I was in a state that needed something, that desired wholeness. I was in a living hell and it was not until I met someone who was actually living the Gospel that I came to know the person of Jesus.
I did not know another way existed, the Way, until I became friends with a person living the Way. That is when I wanted what she had. I had to have it!
She did not use the law to point out that I was a sinner. She did not even pressure me to go to church. She boldly lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ before me, inviting me into the Kingdom and she did it with out even knowing it.
She was simply being who she was, a true follower and lover of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and asked me to come along with her.
Thanks for the post Brain!
Brian…thanks for the reminder that unconditional love is the true langauage of evangelism.
Kruck!
I appreciate what you wrote. It will help me approach people “disarmed” versus confrontational or combative. As you know I’m not smart enough to argue people into the Kingdom of heaven. At the end of the day it’s relational and love wins.
Although I agree with Mike and Jared in that most people who don’t follow Christ have this apparent desire for God, I don’t think that was the point of the post. As Brian mentioned, underneath all the muck and sin in us is a life that Jesus desires us to live. Although non-Christians may not be looking for Jesus, many are looking for a way to get past all the sin, abuse, addictions, etc. that keep them from freedom that Jesus wants us to experience. That’s why evangelism requires us to really know a person and love them enough to help them out of this captivity. For example, it does me no good to try to ‘prove’ God to somebody when they aren’t able to let go of some abuse in their childhood, which has resulted in them believing they are less than loved. In my view, evangelism would be helping this person learn that they are loved and that this abuse doesn’t define them. And somewhere in the healing process they may experience this desire for something greater, which is Christ’s love and redemption.
Sometimes, before we feel this need to teach the Gospel to a person, we have to dig deeper into the life of a loved one. As Brian also mentioned, as long as we genuinely love people and serve them then the Holy Spirit will present this discovery of Jesus.
Connecting with people is huge.
I think the best way to evangelize is meeting people where they’re at, and taking it from there.
Some have honest questions/things stopping them from reaching out to God.
Some have never pondered.
Some have decided there is no God.
and probably lots more.
I think it definitely helps tackling questions, otherwise you might never get to the underneath.
And I kinda agree to the aspect of cramming people with information :P - The Holy Spirit is around convicting people and drawing them to Christ, and in many cases we simply need to connect them to the truth.
nicky - “Have you ever seen someone pull a photo out of their wallet and argue about the supremacy of this particular loved one? Of course not.”
Hmph. You obviously haven’t been hanging out with many Grandparents. (grin)
I guess I’m not in the majority on this one. I do believe that God placed a longing for Him in everyone. I believe it stays with you until you die, saved or not. God shaped hole and all that.
Brian,
Living the life of Jesus Christ is an extremely needed thing in evangelism. In fact, if you do not live the life, you are not a Christian (Mathew 7:15-23). However, in scripture, we see a clear need to not only live the life (which is what it means to be a Christian-”little Christ”) but to also preach the gospel. Preaching is preaching and living the life is living the life. For everyone who prefers “relational evangelism”, my question is this: what about the hundreds of people you do not have a relationship with? I would submit this to you. We are never told to worry about the response of the message, but we are told to preach, and we are also told to preach the gospel to glorify God (1 Thessalonian 2:4-6). You cannot have the true gospel without talking about sin, hell, wrath, justice, repentance, love, mercy, grace, heaven, and ultimately Jesus Christ, for there is no way to the Father but by Him. We are all wicked and deserve to die (romans 3:23, Romans 6:23) but Jesus came for those who would believe to bear their sins and restore them to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5-6). We are not promised another breath and Jesus is returning full of vengeance to display His wrath on the unrepentant (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10). So we must blow the trumpet of the gospel as a warning (Ezekiel 18, 33). Jesus is either your Savior or He is your enemy (James 4), and you will either stumble and die when you hear His message, or you will live by His grace (1 Peer 27-8).
Let the word of God speak to you…
“Go into all the world and PREACH the gospel to the whole creation.” -Mark 16:15
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to PREACH the gospel-not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of it’s effect.” -1 Corinthians 1:17
“For to those who are perishing the message of the cross is FOOLISHNESS, but to us who are being saved it is God’s power.” -1 Corinthians 1:18
hey everyone thanks for the great replies. I’m sorry that I didn’t reply earlier. I’m actually traveling and am replying on my treo so rather than try and do a full reply now I will wait until i’m at my PC.
Wow. thanks for the great responses. I’m sorry for not getting back earlier but I’ve been traveling all day. I tried to post a reply with my wireless device but it doesn’t appear to have worked.
So, here goes:
Jared/Andrew - first know that my heart is always about Conversion! If we just love people and don’t tell them about what Jesus has done for us, we’ve really done them a disservice.
I think you point out a critical piece to my post when you say that “God put in us a want to survive…” That is exactly where I was going with my post. We have a desire to live forever…or to at least to explain what happens to us when we die. Everyone has an opinion on that. Why? Because it matters to everyone.
I think that when we introduce people to the God who created them (in His image), we are introducing them to a God who can answer the eternity question that everyone has.
One side note: I read recently a collection of articles written by varoius scientist who predict developments over the next 50 years. One biotech scientist predicts that we will have the ability to live forever at some point (I don’t agree, but it is an interesting take.) Anyway, this is the question that came from it:
If people never died, what would be the Gospel?
I don’t think it changes because the Gospel has never been about avoiding hell, but rather about bringing the Kingdom to earth. Let’s live in such a way that would draw people to us and when they come and ask why we are different we can introduce them to the God they’ve been running from all along.
Suraj — I love your comment about asking the right questions. there is much power in questions that make people examine their lives.
Wow, this is close to my heart. I think one of the things the church needs to apologize for is that we try to get people to listen to us before they like us. Some people feel like they are obligated to talk before relating, because so long the church has told them that it is their “great commission.â€? People must tell anyone they meet about Jesus, and be happy about doing it, because otherwise, the guilt of someone else’s fate will ride on their shoulders forever. It’s not a fun burden to bear, and one we were never meant to have.
Great post Brian.
Brian,
You said, “…the Gospel has never been about avoiding hell, but rather about bringing the Kingdom to earth…”
Why not? Isn’t avoiding hell and entering the Kingdom simply two sides of the same coin?
While Jesus did preach on entering the Kingdom of Heaved, He also said He came to seek and SAVE the LOST (Luke 19:10, emphasis mine), and that UNLESS WE REPENT, we will PERISH (Luke 13:3,5; emphasis mine).
In my evangelism experience, so many people think they’re on their way to heaven because they’ve basically lived a “good” life. They don’t realize they’re on their way to being eternally lost because they’ve trusted their own self-righteousness instead of Christ’s. We know that this way of thinking is very common among church-goers as well.
This is where it’s valuable to talk about the law, for then when we share the Gospel message, we pray that they realize it is their only hope.
Of course, if we witness to them and they already realize their hopelessness, we don’t beat them over the brow about how bad they are.
Once again, in all this, we are to share it with gentleness and respect. If they feel confronted, let it be because the message of Christ is confronting them, and not your demeanor.
Of course, nobody likes to be confronted about their sin, but it’s necessary for us to be conscious of our need for Jesus.
p.s. - please disregard my typo above. I don’t believe in the kingdom of “heaved” =)
Mike -
I appreciate your passion for the lost and your love of God’s Word.
I fully embrace and am eternally thankful (literally) for God’s grace and His gift of eternal life to those who surrender their lives to Him.
The point I was driving home is that many people accept Christ, receive eternal life and then don’t change. Their lives look no different than before they confessed Christ as Savior. I think we do people a huge disservice when we basically invite them to accept Christ and then don’t challenge them to become like Him.
We may give it lip service but if you look around our churches you’ll see that most “Christians” aren’t following Christ. I pray that we are about bringing His Kingdom to this earth for His glory.
Thanks again for the great comments.
Hey Brian I agree with you whole-heartedly that a lot of times during evangelism we make following Jesus look easier than it is. I’ve been guilty of this many times.
Your post on this topic is a great one. Thank you so much for your guest blog!!!
Good point, Brian. Thanks.