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Witnessing Without Fear Part Three: Presenting the
Gospel By Massimo Lorenzini You may listen to the four-part audio presentation of this material here:
The Parable of the Fishless Fisherman They were surrounded
by streams and lakes full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss the
call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of catching fish. They got
excited about fishing! Someone suggested
that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they carefully defined and
redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing
strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had been going at it
backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman,
and no from the point of view of the fish. How do fish view the world? How does
the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all
good things to know. So they began research studies, and attended conferences
on fishing. Some traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish
with different habits. Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had yet
gone fishing. So a committee was
formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered
fisherman, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of
fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls.
But still, no one was fishing. A survey was launched to find out why. Most did
not answer the survey, but from those who did, it was discovered that some felt
called to study fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go
around encouraging the fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and
seminars, they just simply didn’t have time to fish. Now, Jake was a
newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the
Fellowship, he went fishing and caught a large fish. At the next meeting, he
told his story and was honored for his catch. He was told that he had a special
“gift of fishing.” He was then scheduled to speak at all the Fellowship
chapters and tell how he did it. With all the speaking invitations and his election to the board of directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, resigned from the board, and he said to a friend, “Let’s go fishing.” They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few! (Anonymous) Evangelism is a Process For many, the journey to faith takes place as a person grows in their knowledge of the gospel and in their awareness of their need for Christ. However, the longer people live, the more emotional, intellectual, and volitional barriers they build up to harden their hearts and prevent them from learning about the gospel. Overcoming Barriers God’s intention is to use ordinary followers of Jesus, like you and me, to slowly erode the barriers in the hearts of men and women. The erosion process takes place over time through caring relationships, meaningful conversation, and thought-provoking communication of the truth through preaching, Bible studies, reading, etc. For Christians who love to “close the deal,” this groundwork can seem like a massive waste of time. This is simply not so. It’s not coincidental that the Bible uses farming metaphors for evangelism. As any good farmer knows, picking green fruit spoils the harvest. The hard work of clearing the land, cultivating the soil, seeding, watering, and fertilizing always precedes the joy of the harvest. How Do
I Overcome Barriers?
In much the same way, significant heart barriers must be recognized, addressed, and overcome for a person to come to faith and, more often than not, this takes time. We must look for how God is already at work so we can join Him there. We do not want to force people to make a commitment to Christ. We are not to be the tele-marketers and high-pressure salesmen of God’s kingdom. Peter reminds us that it is our job to answer, not force the question. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks . . . .” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV). It is incredibly freeing to see that God isn’t asking us to “corner ‘em and convert ‘em.” He wants us to be alert for how He has already broken ground in a person’s heart and be ready and willing to join Him there. The most obvious indication that God is at work is an individual’s question or expression of interest about spiritual matters. Make an effort to see if they have any interest in spiritual truth, then be ready and willing to tell them the gospel. (More on how to do this later.) Being an
effective witness is not just what you say, but what you do. Many of us simply believe that becoming a
person of spiritual influence in the workplace and elsewhere is beyond our
reach. Some of us may have bought the lie that sharing the gospel requires a
magnetic personality, profound answers to deep theological questions, and the
ability to persuasively argue the latest apologetic for the faith. This is
simply not true. Though all of us
should be able to articulate the gospel message, we have over-complicated
evangelism. Being an active player in God’s game plan for bringing people to
himself can begin with something as simple as having a cup of coffee with a
co-worker, listening compassionately when a friend shares why she’s had a hard
week, or doing something above the call of duty for a boss or employee who’s
under the pile. In other words, serve the interests of others and you will
gain the right to be heard. Simple efforts to
serve others in the course of everyday life can have a much more profound and
positive impact than canned talking points. Impacting someone’s life has a lot more to do with being a thoughtful person than with fancy theological words and memorized strategies. Small acts of kindness are a way for even the most reluctant witness to cultivate the soil, and join God in the process of evangelism. Have you noticed how friendliness is usually reciprocated? How can you tell what barriers are keeping someone from hearing the gospel? By asking good questions (more on this in a moment). God can use whatever
efforts we attempt, as imperfect as they may be. But one thing He cannot use is
our silence. We must break
the sin of silence and share Christ with the lost people God brings into our
lives. Unfortunately we
have been led to believe that success in witnessing is leading someone to
Christ. However, biblically speaking, success is living the Christian life
day by day, sharing the gospel, and trusting God for the results. Success
is not bringing someone to Christ. We are not able to convert anyone. Only God
can do that. Our responsibility is simply to be faithful to what God commands
and leave the outcome in His sovereign hands. Gospel Content and
Methods What is our message? The gospel is the good news about Christ. There is a sense in which the gospel includes all truth about Him. There’s no need to think of any aspect of biblical truth as incompatible with or extraneous to the gospel. In fact, since Christ is the sum and the summit of all biblical revelation (Heb 1:1-3), every truth in Scripture ultimately points to Him. Therefore none of it is out of place in evangelism. One could accurately say, then, that our message is the whole counsel of God and when speaking to unbelievers we can show them the gospel ramifications in all of that truth. No single formula can possibly meet the needs of every unregenerate person. Those who are: · Ignorant need to be told who Christ is and why He offers the only hope of salvation (Rom 10:13). · Careless need to be confronted with the reality of impending judgment (John 16:11). · Fearful need to hear that God is merciful, delighting not in the death of the wicked but pleading with sinners to come to Him for mercy (Ezek 33:11). · Hostile need to be shown the futility of opposing the will of God (Ps 2:1-4). · Self-righteous or attempting to be “good enough” need to have their sin exposed by the demands of God’s law (Luke 18:9-14). · Proud need to hear that God hates pride (1 Pet 5:5). · All sinners must understand that God is holy and that Christ has met the demands of God’s perfect righteousness on behalf of believing sinners. (1 Cor 1:30).[1] Every gospel presentation should include an explanation of Christ’s sacrificial death, burial, and victorious resurrection as a substitutionary atonement for sinners who believe. Every gospel hearer should know why central to the Christian faith is a bloody cross. The AtonementNever describe the
cross of Christ (His death, His sacrifice, His blood, etc.) without including
that He did it as a substitutionary
atonement for our sins because a holy and righteous God requires death as the
penalty for sin. Sadly, though, we
don’t hear much of a gospel that is based on a message of substitutionary
atonement these days. Instead, we hear about the love of God divorced from the
cross, or the cross as merely a demonstration of God’s love. But we must ask
ourselves why God used a bloody cross to demonstrate His love rather than a
bouquet of flowers? There must be a reason; and there is! We’re used to the
fact that liberal theologians deny the biblical idea of the atonement of Christ
propitiating the wrath of God. But increasingly, but many evangelicals do too.
They may not intend to, but they advocate a view of the atonement which is
really equivalent to a denial of it. Or, at best, they simply don’t communicate
the biblical view of the atonement. It goes unspoken. Louis Berkhof, in
his Manual of Christian Doctrine (1933) wrote: They
ignore the idea that the atoning work of Christ served the purpose of appeasing
the wrath of God against sin and of gaining His favor for the sinner. According
to them the atonement did not effect a change in the attitude of God to the
sinner, but only a change in the attitude of the sinner to God. What they call
atonement is really reconciliation. Christ suffered and died to reveal to
sinners the great love of God, and thus to awaken a responsive love in their
hearts, which will induce them as lost sons to return to God in a penitent
state of mind. This view of the atonement certainly does not do justice to the
representations of Scripture respecting the work of Christ. It ignores the
justice of God, which requires atonement, and fails to give any adequate reason
for the death of Christ.[2] This inaccurate view
of the atonement is what is prevalent in modern pop Christianity—modern praise
music and Contemporary Christian Music are prime examples. It is the air we
breathe in popular evangelicalism. We are accustomed to
saying that Jesus died for us, but we can also say that Jesus died for God.
Think about it, does the requirement for Christ’s death issue from you? Are you
the one who came up with the idea that Jesus should die? Of course not. It was
the wrath of God that necessitated our Savior’s death. Propitiation. Jesus died to be a propitiation. That is,
Jesus’ death on the cross turned away God’s wrath from us as it was placed on
Christ. The cross of Christ appeased or placated God’s indignation against our
sin. The Old Testament picture is the mercy-seat on the ark of the covenant.
Each year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place
and sprinkled the blood of a slain goat on the mercy seat. Inside the ark was
the two tables of stone which had the Ten Commandments written on them. This
annual event is a picture of the wrath of God which was satisfied only by the
sprinkling of the blood of a substitute. Hebrews
2:17, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He
might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to
make propitiation for the sins of the people.”[3] 1
John 2:2, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only but also for the whole world.” 1
John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and
sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” So Jesus’ death
satisfied God’s justice against our sin and allowed us to be reconciled to Him.
This is why the death of Jesus, a horrible crime, can be spoken of in positive
terms: Ephesians
5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Isaiah
53:10-11, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When
You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong
His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see
the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant
shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.” Jesus died as an
offering and a sacrifice to God, not to us. Ransom. Jesus also died as a ransom for us. Mark
10:45 (Matt 20:28), “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 1
Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the
Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due
time.” But to whom was the
ransom paid? Ransom is the paying of a debt or the redemption price as the
buying of a slave out of the slave market. The One we were indebted to was God.
Jesus paid our sin debt and released us from it. So, in both of these
biblical terms, propitiation and ransom, we see that Jesus’ death was required
by God and directed to God for the salvation of man. We greatly err when we
speak of Christ’s death without showing that His death was primarily to satisfy
God’s justice, then secondarily to benefit man. Contrasts in
Gospel Content (Slightly adapted from Tell the Truth by Will
Metzger, 3rd ed.) It is important to contrast the content and presentation of our message with some of the faulty popular views today. It is the difference between man-centered and God-centered evangelism.
How to Present the Gospel We can learn to share our faith by following a simple
approach that gives us guidelines, yet without coming across as a canned
approach that sounds stiff and impersonal. My suggestion is to Relate, Create, Convict, Reveal, Invite,
and Warn.[4] Be sure to ask
application questions of the individual as you go through the following points
of gospel truth with them. See the appendix titled “Questions for Discerning
Genuine Salvation” of this manual for sample questions. Basically you want to
ask them questions that help you discern their comprehension of each point and
their conviction about their spiritual condition apart from Christ. Example:
“Have you broken God’s moral standards as summarized in the Ten Commandments?
What do you think would happen if God were to judge you according to the Ten
Commandments? What has God done to save you? What must you do to be saved?”
Simply insert questions like this throughout your explanation of the gospel. Relate As a general
practice, learn to be hospitable. Make it a personal goal to cultivate hospitality
and showing yourself helpful and friendly to others. Be the first to greet
others. Show a genuine interest in their lives. Find out what their temporal
needs are and be willing to help them if possible. Learn to ask probing questions about their thoughts
and feelings and then be a good listener when they answer. Make an effort to relate
to them on the earthly plane. As an example, if
you come across someone that you want to witness to, start with a comment on
something innocuous (not likely to irritate or offend) like the weather or
compliment something about them, their home, their car, their clothes, their
hair, etc. Just be friendly and show an interest in them. Create During any kind of
conversation you can inject a question that turns the conversation to spiritual issues. For example, you
may be asking where they are from originally and after they answer you may ask
if they had a religious upbringing. This approach is very natural and keeps you
from getting into an argument pitting their beliefs against yours. Use
questions like fishing bait. Remember the question mark (“?”) looks like an
upside-down hook. Once they bite, then you have their attention to turn the
conversation to the gospel. So you can create
an opportunity to turn the conversation to spiritual matters. By using good
questions you can create an interest in spiritual truth. We can summarize our
approach to the non-Christian by the acronym S.A.L.T. S – reminds you to say something. A – reminds you to ask
questions, which is a way to find out how God is at work in their heart. L – reminds you to listen, which the best way to know what’s going on
and gain the opportunity to accomplish your goal. T – reminds you to turn the conversation to
spiritual matters. The Questions.[5] Use these questions (or similar ones) for
diagnostic purposes, to see where the person is spiritually. Try not to get
into a discussion about their answers that will side-track you. Just listen,
nod your head, and move on to the next question. Your purpose here is only to
find out what they believe. 1. Do you
have any kind of spiritual beliefs? 2. To you, who is
Jesus? 3. Is there a heaven and a hell? (If “yes”, “Who goes to heaven? Who
goes to hell?”) 4. Where will you go when you die? What
are you basing your hope on? 5. If what you believe were not true, would you want to know it? Or,
you may ask something else like, May I share with you what the Bible says about
these things? Or, Would you be interested in knowing what the Bible teaches
about these things? The last question is
merely to get their permission to share with them so they don’t feel like
you’re “shoving it down their throat.” Another way you can
ask their permission to get God’s answers to these questions is to say
something like this, and notice what I’m doing here, “You know, I once had
beliefs very similar to yours. Then I began to learn that God has given us a
way to know the answers to these and many other important questions. May I
share with you what I discovered and how you could know it too?” Do you see how
disarming this approach is? Carry a Marked
Copy of the New Testament.
I encourage you to always carry a small New Testament.[6]
It’s important to carry it with you so you are always ready to share the Word
of God wherever you go. Mark the verses in your Bible that you use in
witnessing so they can be easily located
(see the list of suggested verses in the appendix of this syllabus). When you
want to share a passage of Scripture with them, as much as possible, hand them
your New Testament and ask them to read it out
loud and tell you what it
means. This way they can’t say it’s just your interpretation. If they
misinterpret it, ask them read it again until they get it right. You may have
to ask them to look at the context of the passage. Present the Two Ways to Live Outline Begin by presenting the Two Ways to Live outline.[7] Convict (Boxes 1-3 of the “Two Ways” Outline) God (“Two Ways” Box 1). Use the Word of God to speak to their conscience and convict them of their sin against a holy and righteous God. Begin with a presentation of the person of God: God is the sovereign, holy, and loving Creator. He alone has an absolute claim on our lives and sets the standard for right and wrong. Emphasize the Creator/creature distinction—“God made you, therefore He has authority over you.” Spend a good deal of time describing God as He is presented in the Bible. God is: Personal, one, spirit, eternal, independent, holy, just, perfect, sovereign, omnipotent (see pages 8-11 of the excellent gospel booklet titled Ultimate Questions by John Blanchard available at www.cvbbs.com for only $0.70 in quantities of 100 or more). Man (“Two Ways” Box 1). Explain what the Bible teaches about who man is. Man was created in God’s image (or “as” God’s image, to bear His image and likeness on earth). Man was to live eternally in loving fellowship with God bringing Him glory by obedience to God’s commands. Man was created to be the steward of the earth as God’s vice-regent reflecting His love, justice, and truth. Fulfilling this designed purpose is our reason for existence. Fellowship with God is the only source for significance and satisfaction in life. All attempts to seek for other sources are vain and evil: “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). Sin (“Two Ways” Boxes 2 & 3). Explain the nature of sin, what it is. It literally means, “to miss the mark.” But what is the mark? Is it defined psychologically (self-destructive behavior)? Sociologically (that which violates social conventions)? Or, theologically (that which violates the will of God)? Colin Powell said in a television interview that child prostitution is a “sin against humanity.” But when we talk about sin, we must be clear that the standard is God’s standard, not man’s. Without God, there is no sin. Question 14 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism says: “What is sin? Sin is any want [or lack] of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” First John 3:4 (NIV) says, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (“transgression of the law,” KJV). God’s moral law is summarized in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20; Deut 5) and reflects His holy nature and righteous character. Idolatry is sin because God is the only true God. Lying is sin because God is truthful. Murder is sin because God is the loving life-giver. The first and second great commandments are to love God and to love one’s neighbor (Matt 22:36-40). All of God’s commands are fulfilled by love (Rom 13:8-10). Sin is, therefore, a failure to love God and neighbor as we ought. The essence of sin is autonomy—seeking to live one’s life independently of God rather than reflecting His glory and truth back to Him. In more common language, sin is selfishness, self-centeredness, self-worship. Use the moral law of God (e.g., the Ten Commandments) to show them their sinfulness before a holy God. Show them that God’s standard of perfect righteousness is unattainable by self-effort. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Explain the practice of sin. Rejecting God, people live self-centered lives and arrogate to themselves the role of determining right and wrong. People sin by having ungodly thoughts, words, and deeds—all of which are noticed and recorded by God for the Day of Judgment. Explain how God sees all our actions, hears all our words, and knows all our thoughts, attitudes, and motives (Matt 12:36; Heb 4:12-13). God will hold us accountable for sins of omission as well as sins of commission. That is, when we fail to do what God has commanded us (omission), and when we do what God has commanded us not to do (commission). Sin is not only a matter of doing the wrong; it is also not doing the right (Jas 4:17). Explain the consequences of sin (“Two Ways” Box 3). Since man is a sinner (rebel) by nature and by choice, he is, therefore, separated from God and unable to partake of eternal life. Because of this, people experience the consequences of sin which include physical and spiritual death (Rom 6:23). As a just and righteous God, He hates sin because all sin is an affront against His holy nature and rebellion against His righteous rule. God will rightly judge all who commit sin against Him with everlasting destruction in hell. But, man thinks more highly of himself than he ought. “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord” (Prov 16:2, NIV). “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?” (Prov 20:6, NKJV). Sinners must be brought to the end of themselves and forsake all hope of achieving heaven on their own merit. The hardened heart must be prepared to receive the seed of the gospel. What plows the hard heart? · Preach the moral law. · Preach the holiness of God. · Preach their need for repentance. · Preach original sin (sin nature, spiritual death). · Preach the need for a new nature (regeneration, new birth). · Preach on the dangers of dying in sin (judgment, eternal hell). · Preach that the more truth they reject, the greater their condemnation. Do not proceed to Reveal (God’s solution to sin in “Two Ways” Boxes 4-6) until they show signs of conviction. This part is critical because without genuine conviction of their sinfulness and guilt before a God of exacting justice, they will not flee to the cross of Christ alone for deliverance. The grace of God in Christ is only appreciated against the dark backdrop of our sinful and dreadful condition. Signs of True Conviction 1. An awareness of a wrong relationship with God. It’s not enough for one to have a sense of need, but of a particular need—the need for restoration of fellowship with God; a need to get right with God. It is the realization that, as one stands at present, one is in a relationship with God that spells only rejection, retribution, wrath, and pain for the present and for the future. It is an intolerable relationship to remain in, and so a consequent desire springs up that, whatever the cost and on whatever terms, it might be changed. 2. Conviction of sins: a sense of guilt for particular wrongs done against God. True conviction includes owning up to specific sins, not mistakes or failures or problem areas or weaknesses; but sins that were willfully done in direct violation of the law of God written in the heart (Rom 2:14-15) and in God’s Word. 3. Conviction of sinfulness: a sense of one’s complete corruption in God’s sight and one’s consequent need of a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) or the new birth (John 3:3). True conviction evidences itself by the desire to be rid of one’s own depraved nature. There is a holy loathing of one’s own sinfulness, defilement, and guilt. Perhaps the shortest way to tell whether a person is
convicted of sin is to take him through Psalm 51. When such a person shows conviction of sin and feels the heavy burden of his own sinfulness, he is then ready to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Proceed to show him the only solution to his dire problem. Reveal (“Two Ways” Boxes 4 & 5) Jesus. Present Christ—His person and work. Describe His incarnation (God became man), atonement (died on the cross for our sin), resurrection (rose from the grave), ascension (into heaven), and present session (seated at God’s right hand interceding for us right now). Jesus is the God-man, born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit and sinless in nature and deed. He is the only one who has ever lived in perfect obedience to God. He is the sinless One who vicariously lived the righteous life God demands of us. He perfectly kept all of God’s law and His perfect righteousness is imputed to the believer. Jesus also provided a substitutionary atonement for sin through His death and resurrection. He bore the punishment for sin we deserve by receiving in His body God’s judgment for it in His death on the cross. He triumphed over sin and death by His resurrection from the dead. Christ’s atonement satisfies God’s justice and makes redemption possible for all who believe. If we believe in Him and trust in what He did as an acceptable sacrifice for our sins, God will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus came to earth to perform a rescue operation of sinners and to magnify the justice and love of God by His death on the cross. The cross is where God’s love and justice came together. The biblical way to emphasize God’s love to the unsaved is to demonstrate how God showed His love for sinners at the cross. · For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). o For God loved the world in this way . . . (Holman Christian Standard Bible). o |
