Last week, we defined the gospel as a matter of bad news and good news. That sin causes death is the bad news. That God came looking for us with the antidote is the good news. The bad news explains our plight outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ. We are lost, dead, Hell-bound. The good news explains that Jesus, stretched upon the Cross, becomes the bridge to life. In Christ, we experience new life, better life, eternal life.
And most, if not all of us here today, know that better life. We are saved. We have chosen light over darkness, life over death. We have set self aside, at least enough to cling to Jesus for life. And we are learning to do so, more and more each new day.
We've stepped out from under the very heavy hammer of the Law. We no longer need to feel guilty about sin. Sin has been washed away. And guilt for our sin is flushed from our lives as we place ourselves in the shadow of God's generous grace. We revel in our newfound freedom. And we wonder why everyone hasn't made the same decision.
Sometimes, these thoughts move us to think about sharing the Gospel. We might try. But we often give up rather quickly. We are ill-prepared. We feel a little flushed, embarrassed, to talk about God in public. It's just doesn't seem natural. Witnessing is not at all like talking about baseball, yard work or the last good meal we enjoyed.
Allow me to suggest that substance of what to say is probably the least of your concerns. It's more about comfort. Witnessing seems unnatural because it is. To share Jesus with another person is to peddle grace. And that's hard to do when we live by the Law.
I never cease to be amazed at the way we, as Christians, handle our daily lives. We are saved by grace. But in so many ways, we live under law. Not God's law, but a law we create to make life measurable. We want to know how much or how often is enough to please God. Our personal laws provide those limits.
We may say, "by grace," but we actually live another kind of life. I think this problem surfaces when it comes to witnessing. It's not that we are duplicitous, it's more that our words and actions just don't match. We want to believe grace, but our need for structure, the Law, undermines grace.
Our attention to some form of law is not invisible to those with whom we share Christ. They see it before we do. And they find it rather undesirable. We close the door to Jesus before we invite people inside. It's our language, our grimace at their ways, the seeming distance we maintain. And the longer we are in the church, the tougher we are on the lost. The cleaner we become, the less friendly we are to those who are still in the dirt.
Too often, it appears that we want people to be more like us before coming to our church. The unsaved can be hard to be around. Their language. Their habits. Their attitudes. They're just not like you or like me. They can be a lot of work, and may even cost time, money and effort.
Furthermore, what if they don't really know how "Christian" you are? That could be really uncomfortable for the chameleon Christian. Not all of us are the same at church as we are at work or play. What happens when a church friend says something your work friend doesn't know? Or worse yet, your work friend exposes you for who you really are? Ouch! Embarrassment magnified.
Many of us do undercover evangelism. We slowly work to change, or clean up, our friends before we bring them to church. What if church friends think I'm still too like them? Or we work hard to prepare our church friends for "the visit." "I'm bringing Allen from work. Don't expect much from that one!" And we will surely pick "the right Sunday" to bring our guests. Let's not expose them to something that might not be palatable for them. Let's play God in their lives, deciding what they need to hear.
Forget the stats that say "one out of four" would say "Yes!" if you invited them to church. Forget the fact that God's Word never falls to the ground, wasted, ineffective. Forget what we know about grace. Forget the biblical truth that the church is God's tool to reach the lost. It's not you that God is using to save the world. It's not me. It's the Church. We are in this together.
Jesus truly lived grace. It was the very blood that pumped in His veins. Grace flowed with His words. Grace was the impression His touch left upon a person. Grace was His response to the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus' enemies, the woman's captors, only played the law. But Jesus was all about grace:
John 8:2 . . . At dawn [Jesus] appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. {3} The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group {4} and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. {5} In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" {6} They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. {7} When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." {8} Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. {9} At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. {10} Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" {11} "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
The interruption was intended to be rude. The woman, wrapped in her bed clothes, was carefully paraded before Jesus. And not in private. This was meant to be a public spectacle. Jesus had been busy teaching about Heaven, but this interruption would be difficult to ignore. The crowd would want to know, and the men who held her, would not be easily dismissed.
The best opportunities we have to witness are often just like this. Not the time we would have chosen. Not in a quiet corner where no one else will hear us trip over our tongue. And not when we are at our best. No, evangelism happens at the bedside of a cancer-ridden body: "Where is God in a time like this?" People ask about your faith three sentences after your last curse. Or while your cigarette is still glowing over your beer: "So, do you think God will send me to Hell for drinking?"
{4} "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. {5} In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"....But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
Jesus is a master at not answering the unimportant question. It was obvious what the woman was, or at least, what she had been doing. The trap made sure of that. No, Jesus chose to answer a different question: "What about your sin?" Grace levels the ground at the foot of the Cross. We are all lost without Jesus. Is that what comes to mind when you think of your lost friend, neighbor, coworker?
We don't have to sin alongside of our friend, neighbor, coworker. But we MUST live beside them. And we shouldn't expect them to live the way we live, if we're living the way Jesus commands. They can't! They don't have the Holy Spirit to do so. But we should do whatever we can do to get them to hear about Jesus. Our own words are best. Bring them to Church or Bible study. Being around other Christians is okay, too.
{7b} [Jesus said] "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." {8} Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. {9} At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
Witness began, not with the woman, but with the environment. Jesus worked to make a safe place wherein to share words of life.
Seemingly ignoring the Law, Jesus chased away cause for fear or discomfort. (Though standing in a bed sheet, in the middle of the street before God, has to be uncomfortable.) Jesus let the woman know that she was safe in His presence.
How comfortable are your friends with you? I mean, how comfortable are your friends--who know you are a Christian--with you? Does your form of faith walk make people feel awkward around you? Not awkward in the sense they know you are different. But awkward in the sense that they know you disapprove of their lives.
I can see the woman in her bed sheet, relaxing in Jesus' presence. The market place had become a safe place. Nothing would happen to her as long as Jesus was there with her. Is that how your friends feel around you? Safe. Loved. Accepted. That's what grace looks like in that kind of witnessing relationship.
{10} Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" {11} "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
It is not easy pointing out another's sin. But it might be necessary as we seek to share Jesus, Savior. Grace makes witnessing possible. Jesus stood and looked the woman in the eye. Glimpses of her naked form beneath the bed sheet were not a distraction. Jesus looked into her soul. And he released her to choose life or death. "Go now and leave your life of sin." Can we talk to people without being distracted by how they look, or by what they say or do? Grace looks into the soul.
Grace, in our evangelism, releases people to choose. We must share! That is God's command. That was Jesus' final instruction to His about-to-be-formed Church. But we are not to judge. Lest we find ourselves judged. And we must not use the Law to force people to Jesus. We must share! There is bad news, sin leads to death. But there is good news, that Jesus raises the dead to new life.
What flavors your attempts to share Jesus with the lost? Is it the disapproving glance? The weight of the Law, what's right or wrong? Or do you speak words of grace out of a life colored and flavored by grace? Are you a filled beggar showing a hungry beggar where to get a meal?
Grace-awareness makes evangelism a lot easier to pull off. Knowing where we have come from--that we were once like our friend, neighbor, coworker--makes talking about salvation more like a real life conversation. It's not forced. It's not canned, a rehearsed presentation. Grace-awareness helps us invite those lost in the darkness into the light. We can honestly say, "God is good," and "God is love." And that is what witnessing is all about: sharing Jesus, sharing God's deep love.
