A Grand Vision

There are only a few places in the Bible that present us with a vision of the throne room of God. These descriptions are so wonderful, it seems as if the biblical authors must have struggled to find words to explain the scene before them. We can easily imagine that at a certain point, human vocabulary fails. Mere words cannot suffice because all the adjectives and all the superlatives in all the languages in all the earth would surely fail to adequately describe the glories of the throne room of the universe. Both the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John were treated to such awe-inspiring heavenly visions. God saw fit to have these recorded in His Word as a means of communicating theological truths to His people.

A vision of the sovereign Lord enthroned in heaven is something that we need to contemplate on a daily basis in this modern world. These are unusual times we live in, and they serve to remind us that we are not in charge. Often, it seems as if the world is spinning out of control. It is a world where the rulers of this age have their day, a world in which evil reigns and entangles so many earthly institutions within its grasp, a world where injustice continues and wickedness prospers.

This vision speaks to us in the midst of all this confusion, telling us that at the centre of the universe, there is an occupied throne in heaven, and upon it sits the sovereign of the universe. This fact alone should change our entire outlook on reality. This throne testifies to the certainty that one day all will be made right with this world.

A Unique Throne

There are many grand throne rooms on this earth, each with their own splendour and majesty, each with their own subjects and realm. The magnificent throne of King Solomon was made of ivory and overlaid with pure gold. It sat atop six ascending steps, each with a gold lion on either side. Truly this must have been a magnificent and awe-inspiring sight (1 Kings 10:18-20). Consider too the more contemporary throne room of Denmark with its throne chair carved from narwhal tusks. The pristine white is overlaid with gold and surrounded by three life-size silver lions with gold eyes. Yet we can only imagine that these would pale into absolute insignificance next to the sight of the heavenly throne room. This heavenly throne is like no other; it has no rivals or close seconds; it is the highest and most exalted throne that could ever be. It is far above anything that this earth could ever know. The famous worship song, “Above All,” captures this thought beautifully:

Above all powers, above all kings
Above all nature and all created things
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man
You were here before the world began
Above all kingdoms, above all thrones
Above all wonders the world has ever known
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth,
There’s no way to measure what You’re worth¹

Truly, this throne is different from all earthly thrones. Many earthly kings have sat upon thrones, and yet, been unworthy to wield such power. Corrupted by their sinful natures, their thrones became instruments of cruelty and oppression. The famous maxim of Lord Acton often proves true: “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” As one’s power increases, one’s morality often decreases. History bears witness to this.

Yet the vision of the heavenly throne reminds us that there is a throne from which no corruption will ever flow. The psalmist puts it as follows:

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You” (Psalm 89:14).

This throne’s very foundations are the only place where the attributes of righteousness and justice are held in unity with lovingkindness and truth. These qualities are needed for a righteous rule.

The One who Sits on the Throne

A throne is the furniture of a king: The throne itself does not possess the necessary attributes, but simply points us to the one who sits upon the throne. So too, Isaiah simply says, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). No monarch on earth could compare with this heavenly scene. The King of all Kings is seen here in His celestial-palace throne room, and the train of His robe fills the entire place, signifying the supreme position and power of this almighty sovereign! Similarly, John says, “behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne” (Revelation 4:2). In both these visions, we get to witness the testimony of the four living creatures. Those creatures give us the key as to why this King is the only King worthy of the throne. They say:

“Holy Holy Holy, is the Lord of Hosts” (Isaiah 6:3).

They call out to one another with this emphatic trifold declaration of God’s Holiness! Their cry is probably the central piece of this whole scene – or even the entire Bible! No other attribute of God is referenced here, just His holiness. It is the keynote of the throne room, thus the universe. The Christian’s reality is to be different because at the centre of our worldview is a throne with a King who is exalted above everything, above all creation. This should change our outlook on everything.

The Lamb

In John’s throne room vision, we are given more details. In front of the throne we see a “lamb, standing as if slain” (Revelation 5:6). This is our beloved saviour Jesus, the One to whom all authority on heaven and earth has been given, the One who will rule this earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One who is worthy “to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12).

And ultimately, the whole of creation will cry out with that heavenly anthem of praise:

“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 5:13).

What else can we do but join the living creatures in saying, “Amen,” and then join the elders in worshiping this great King and Saviour!

Long Live the King

All Hail the Lamb

_NOTES

_{¹ Le Blanc, Leonard J. and Baloche, Paul Joseph. “Above All.” AZLyrics. Accessed 8 December 2021.}

Pastor and comedian, Joel Turner, talks with Aaron about evangelism… specifically the challenges of doing it during a pandemic, his views on top methods and best practices, the involvement of the Holy Spirit, and much more!

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The GoodLion podcast is a show by Aaron Salvato and Brian Higgins, the founders of CGN’s GoodLion Podcast Network. Each episode, their goal is to ask hard questions, push past easy answers and always look to Jesus, the God who is not safe but is very good. Visit GoodLion.io.

When Jesus told Mary that He wasn’t inclined to intervene to rescue the honor and reputation of a family that was about to suffer the consequences of their own pride, her culturally produced response moved Him to change His mind.

The cultural dynamics that were at play in this incident were very similar to those that our new neighbors from around the world live by. When this well-known event is viewed through the proper cultural lens, it’s apparent that it wasn’t primarily water turned to wine that unveiled His glory.

In this fourth and final part of a series, I conclude by examining the final two—and most important cultural beliefs and actions that were at work, and how the entire incident was actually a summary of the Gospel for people from honor and shame cultures.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE #8

As important as an elderly person’s honor and FACE is in the eyes of those who are younger than they are, it’s even more important that every person honor and respect the FACE of their parents while they’re still living.

In fact, respecting and if necessary, saving the honor and FACE of our parents is one of the “weight-bearing pillars” of God’s creation.

Honoring our parents—which includes saving their FACE when they are in danger of losing it— is the fifth of the ten commandments, and it’s the only one that includes a promise of blessing for those who obey it.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE #9

It may be helpful to view a person’s FACE like a commodity that is in their own hands, and that they exert a high level of control over. Because this is true, under certain circumstances, a person can intentionally choose to place their FACE into the hands of someone else, trusting that the other person will act in a way that preserves or possibly even increases this valuable treasure.

Taking the step to intentionally place your FACE into the hands of someone else is the cultural equivalent of the “nuclear option.” It exerts the most pressure or leverage possible to move a person to act on your behalf.

With your FACE now in their hands, if that person doesn’t make every effort to help you and thus save your FACE, they risk losing FACE themselves!

So, Mary wasn’t just telling the servants what to do, she was actually playing her FACE card on Jesus—applying the maximum amount of Jewish, honor/shame cultural force possible.

BY SAVING MARY’S FACE, JESUS ALSO FULFILLED THE LAW

Whether she realized it or not—and I think she did—she was also bringing a force greater than a Jewish cultural norm to bear on her Son.

As powerful as the culturally acceptable placement of her FACE into His hands was, it was His responsibility to fulfil the fifth commandment that ultimately moved Jesus to do something that would honor His mother by saving her FACE.

CHANGING WATER TO WINE WASN’T WHAT REVEALED HIS GLORY

Apparently, when the master of the feast, (similar to the wedding coordinator or food and beverage manager for the reception), tasted the wine, he didn’t know that the wine had been completely depleted, and that what he was now tasting was plain, old water just a few minutes before.

He expressed surprise at the quality of wine the family was still serving at that point in the wedding feast, which would have increased that family’s honor in his eyes and others that he interacted with.

By turning the water into high quality wine, the family’s deserved shame and loss of FACE was covered, and even more importantly, He also honored His own mother by saving her FACE and fulfilling the law—which was basically honoring His own words.

John summarized all that took place by stating that this was the first sign that Jesus did and that it revealed His glory to His disciples.

Based on the cultural dimensions that I’ve tried to describe as succinctly as possible, I don’t believe it was His ability to turn water into wine that His disciples perceived as a revelation of His glory.

It was what that supernatural display of power accomplished for people that were unaware of an impending disaster that their own pride actually created.

HE COVERED THEIR DESERVED SHAME AND BESTOWED UNDESERVED HONOR

Not only was the family’s deserved shame covered, their honor in the eyes of those that mattered to them was actually increased, not just maintained by what Jesus did.

For those living in honor/shame cultures, this was the perfect sign to begin with in order to help people understand the good news that Jesus came to cover both their guilt AND shame before God and to graciously bestow God’s righteousness and honor upon them.

His disciples needed proof that He was uniquely glorious and their witnessing of this sign and what it actually accomplished must have been burned into their hearts and minds.

In summary, this is what they saw:

. A self-generated disaster that was produced by pride.

. A deserved loss of honor and the condition of shame that they would now live in, along with a potential lawsuit that could devastate them financially and increase the shameful condition they had already brought upon themselves.

. Jesus personally stepped into the environment/context/scene they created that was on the verge of going horribly wrong and diminishing or destroying them emotionally and materially.

. He exercised His power to do for them what they couldn’t do for themselves.

. The one with all honor and power exerted His power to cover their shame and graciously bestowed a greater level of honor than they could ever achieve by their own efforts in the eyes of those that mattered to them.

Although they wouldn’t have understood it fully at that time, His turning water to wine and what it accomplished revealed crucial components of the Gospel for people from honor and shame based cultures.

Enjoy the complete series.

When there was no more wine to supply to the guests at a wedding they were attending, Mary approached Jesus and subtly told Him to do something to help a family she cared about.

The cultural operating system that was at the base of their interaction is very similar to those that our new neighbors from around the world navigate by, which is why I believe John 2:1-11 provides some amazing on-ramps for sharing the Gospel with them.

In this third part of a series, I continue with viewing this incident through nine non-Western cultural glimpses (Enjoy Part 1 & 2 of this series).

“And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’…His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you'” (John 2:4,5).

A RESPECTFUL, BUT CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD, “NO!”

Knowing that Mary was actually prodding Him with a motherly request, Jesus makes two points in His response to the meaning of the words she had just spoken to Him.

First—using a title of respect for an older woman, (think of the word “ma’am” in our language), Jesus tells Mary that the situation isn’t something that He feels compelled to be concerned with.

He wants her to know that He’s there only as an invited guest and feels no compulsion to do something to alleviate the consequences that will be produced by the family’s inability to plan correctly.

Second—Jesus tells her that He is living in accordance with a predetermined time schedule in which key aspects of His character are already planned to be unveiled, and for these reasons, He is not inclined to do what she wanted Him to do.

In other words, to put as simply as possible, He is telling Mary that He feels no compulsion to do what she wants Him to do.

MARY PLAYS HER “FACE” CARD TO HER SON

But hearing her Son’s two reasons for not feeling inclined to act, didn’t stop Mary from trying one more time to get Him to do what she desired.

When Jesus respectfully declined her request for His help in doing something she clearly couldn’t do by herself, Mary turned to the servants and instructed them to do whatever Jesus told them to do.

This is the most important moment—the pivot point—in the story.

By saying what she did to those servants, she introduced her own FACE card into the situation.

Without understanding seven more basic facts about honor/shame cultures, along with the way people in these types of culture would understand obedience to one of the 10 commandments, those from Western cultures will never fully grasp why Mary’s instructions to the servants moved Jesus to do what He just said He wouldn’t do.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 3

In honor/shame cultures, the concept of FACE is crucial. A person’s FACE is the personal dignity, respect and fundamental honor they possess in the eyes of other people, especially those that are part of the group that person’s identity is derived from and anchored in.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 4

In honor/shame cultures, dependence and interdependence are virtues, not weaknesses. Needing others and being needed by others at many levels, including the maintaining of FACE, increases the depth of relationship and cohesion between the members of the family or group.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 5

Thus, in honor/shame cultures, every person has the implicit and unspoken—but clearly understood by all—responsibility of doing whatever possible to try to save the FACE of someone else that is in danger of losing it, whether they know the person or not.

This responsibility is significantly amplified if the person who may lose FACE is part of the group their own identity is drawn from or a part of their larger, relational community.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 6

In honor/shame cultures, if you have the opportunity to save someone else’s FACE and you choose not to do so, it isn’t just that person who will lose FACE, the one who neglected to help will too!

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 7

In honor/shame cultures, the older a person is, the more FACE they have because their value to the group increases with age. Older people are viewed as full of wisdom because of their life experience and the volume of knowledge they possess in so many important areas of life.

They are highly respected and diligently sought after for counsel and advice by younger people. The older a person is, the more needed they are and the more they are viewed as the sages, statesmen and mediators whose contribution to the group is just as valuable as before, but in a different way.

The seven cultural glimpses that I’ve described thus far are essential for understanding what was actually taking place below the surface of what took place in this incident.

Mary’s command to the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do was the result of her understanding of these fundamental dynamics of her own culture, along with the final two that I will cover in my next post.

Missionaries are sometimes called a rare breed. They leave home, integrate into a foreign culture and bring a foreign concept (the Gospel) to people who don’t know they need it. Indeed this isn’t normal living. Yet their lives are filled with the victories and disappointments we all share as Christians.

Some face extreme hardship, and by their lives, encourage us all into a deeper walk with the Lord. One such person was Doctor Helen Roseveare.

Born in 1925, in Hertfordshire, England, Helen first learned about World Missions as a child in her Anglican Church Sunday School. Her heart stirred as her teacher shared of the work in India. Helen decided at a tender young age that she would become a missionary too. Her father gave a high priority to education, and so she poured herself into academics, which propelled her to pursue medicine at Cambridge University. But as she matured into adulthood, Helen became aware of a gnawing void in her soul. She never strayed from her Anglican upbringing but longed for something more than the comfortable life she knew as a child. It was at University that the Lord reached out to her in the form of a classmate who invited her to join the local Christian Union. The prayer meetings and Bible studies inspired Helen to read through the entire New Testament, for the very first time.

God broke through to her during a weekend retreat led by Dr. Graham Scroggie. During one of the sessions, Helen received the Lord’s grace with the firm conviction that her sins were forgiven. After the meeting, she went to see Dr. Scroggie to tell him all that had transpired. He opened her Bible and wrote a prayer based on Philippians 3:10 that foreshadowed the Lord’s work in her future.

“Tonight you’ve entered into the first part of the verse, ‘That I may know Him.’ This is only the beginning, and there’s a long journey ahead. My prayer for you is that you will go on through the verse to know ‘the power of His resurrection’ and also, God willing, one day perhaps, ‘the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.’” ¹

When Helen graduated Cambridge, she joined the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade as a medical missionary to the Belgian Congo.

She then moved to Belgium, where she first learned French, as well as to study Tropical Medicine, before entering into the missionary call she received as a child in Hertfordshire.

Helen arrived in Northeastern Congo in 1953. She determined to work and live among the local community. They taught her how to fire bricks, and she helped build a hospital from the ground up. It was this simplicity and tenacity of spirit that earned her the endearing name, Mama Luka, after the New Testament writer and physician, Luke.²

During those first years, she also established a training center for nurses and opened a maternity ward. Through these years of hard work and struggle, the Lord revealed to Helen her sins of unrelenting willfulness, impatience and ethnic pride.³ Overworked, she found herself disputing with colleagues and nationals, until she was encouraged by her local pastor to spend a week away in prayer and fasting. Through this experience, she received renewal, but she would still be led to return to England to rest and refocus.

While on furlough in Cornwall, Helen enrolled in more medical training. There, she met a young English doctor, and soon a romance developed. Helen considered settling down into married life. Yet the Lord impressed upon her, that she was to remain single—the last thing she wanted to do. After a profound struggle with the Lord, she finally accepted the divine plan, and in 1960, Helen returned to the Congo.

In January 1960, the Belgian government agreed to decolonization. On June 30,1960, the Congo gained its independence and became the République Démocratique du Congo (RDC). But the RDC slid into a political vacuum when the Belgian Government abruptly left the region, causing inner governmental conflicts, which led to rebellions that disintegrated into Civil War by 1964.⁴

During this time, many missionaries and dignitaries returned home because they were attacked, tortured and often executed. Helen decided to stay. Hers was the only hospital in over a 100 mile radius. When the Simba Rebels came, the villagers tried to shield her, but she was brutalized, raped and taken hostage. Though she experienced the worst evil she’d ever known, Helen testified to the overwhelming sense of God’s presence.⁵ As the years passed, the Lord ministered to her and gave her new insight into what had transpired. In 1976, she shared these words at the Urbana Missions Conference:

“One word became unbelievably clear, and that word was privilege. He didn’t take away pain or cruelty or humiliation. No! It was all there, but now it was altogether different. It was with him, for him, in him. He was actually offering me the inestimable privileged of sharing in some little way the edge of the fellowship of his suffering. In the weeks of imprisonment that followed and in the subsequent years of continued service, looking back, one has tried to ‘count the cost,’ but I find it all swallowed up in privilege. The cost suddenly seems very small and transient in the greatness and permanence of the privilege.”⁶

In 1966, Helen Roseveare returned to the RDC and accepted the challenge to build a new hospital in a new location.

Arriving at the site, she discovered she had to build it from the ground up. A missionary doctor worked with her while she trained national doctors. Helen sent out an open invitation to the surrounding villages, and to her surprise, 20 candidates responded. Before they could begin their medical training, they had to help build the facility, so they made bricks and built the hospital. Unfortunately, they had no one qualified to build the roof. So when they finished the walls, their training went on hold as they prayed and waited on the Lord. Another missionary arrived whose wife needed urgent surgery. As it turned out, he was a roofer and was able to complete the 250 bed facility.

As time went on, the RDC officially recognized the new hospital which brought in governmental subsidies and more students. A new couple was appointed to oversee the mission, and by 1973, Helen’s time was drawing to a close. Her health was suffering, and she became embroiled in a student dispute with the leadership about finances. Before she left, she resolved the conflict with the students, who repented of their false accusations, and honored her by writing her songs for her farewell party.⁷

Helen Roseveare settled in Northern Ireland, where she remained active until she went to be with the Lord in 2016.⁸ She spent her later years writing, public speaking and encouraging new generations of missionaries to follow the call. She often revisited the word “privilege.” For all she endured: the hardships, the celibacy, the sufferings, etc., they all dissipated into what she called the great privilege of being used for the Lord. In this way, this energetic woman remains an example to missionaries everywhere.

Sources

¹ “A Woman of Whom the World Was Not Worthy: Helen Roseveare (1925-2016).” The Gospel Coalition. Accessed May 21, 2018. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/a-woman-of-whom-the-world-was-not-worthy-helen-roseveare-1925-2016/.

² “Mama Luka Comes Home.” Cross.tv. Accessed May 21, 2018. https://www.cross.tv/78482.

³ “Congo Rebels Reached Helen Roseveare.” Christianity.com. Accessed May 21, 2018. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1901-2000/congo-rebels-reached-helen-roseveare-11630820.html.

⁴ Wiese, Bernd Michael, and Dennis D. Cordell. “Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Encyclopædia Britannica. March 09, 2018. Accessed May 21, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/place/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/The-Congo-crisis.

⁵ ChristianFocus. “An Interview with Dr. Helen Roseveare.” YouTube. November 06, 2011. Accessed May 21, 2018.

⁶ Roseveare, Helen. Give Me This Mountain. Scotland: Christian Focus, 2006.

⁷ “Helen Roseveare.” URBANA. Accessed May 21, 2018. https://urbana.org/blog/helen-roseveare.

⁸ “Helen Roseveare.” Wikipedia. May 12, 2018. Accessed May 21, 2018. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik…

By God’s permission and design, people from around the world now live in my community and have become a part of my day to day and week to week sphere of life.

I regularly interact with a Sikh gentleman from Punjab state, India, a hard working cultural Muslim man from Iran and various culturally Muslim men from Bangladesh. My guess is that at least 60% of the people living within a mile of my house are Spanish-speaking cultural Catholics, originally from Mexico or a central American country, and who only speak English when they are at work or out and about around town.

Where you live may not be as ethnically diverse as my community, but it’s probably moving in that direction.

As a follower of Jesus who takes the Bible seriously, I’m not discouraged about the changing ethnic makeup of my community and my country–I’m actually excited about it. Why? Because I’m convinced that the God I serve, the God who has revealed Himself through His written word, is intentionally permitting these precious people from around the world to relocate in to our communities.

And He has already told us what His “end game” plan is going to be. At some point in the future, He will receive worship from at least a portion of every people, tribe, tongue and nation that He originally created to uniquely reflect His glory.

I’m overjoyed at the reality that participation in the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His followers to make disciples from among every ethnic group is no longer limited to those who leave everyone and everything behind and relocate to faraway places for the sake of the Gospel.

Oh, He still calls some of His servants to be missionaries, to leave everything behind and go to those faraway places, and He is still calling the rest of His people to send and care for those who obey and go.

But He is now giving those of us who send and care for missionaries the added opportunity and privilege to participate directly in fulfilling the Great Commission by reaching out with His love and truth to our new neighbors that He is bringing to us from around the world.

In order for us to communicate His love and truth effectively to these precious people who He also created in His image and likeness, but whose cultures are radically different than our own, I believe that God calls us to think about and study what the culture of His Kingdom is, what our own cultural values are, and what the cultural values of our new neighbors are.
When we take the time to do that, we discover that:

. Western culture in general and American culture, specifically, is fundamentally different than both the cultures of the vast majority of the rest of the people that live on this planet, and the cultures and values of the people that are recorded in the Bible.

. By understanding and viewing God’s word and truth it contains through a non-Western lens, we can increase our hunger to worship Him for His goodness and grace for all people, AND our ability to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the most life-changing way possible with those from other cultures.

In my next few posts, I will unpack the first miracle that Jesus did, turning water into wine at a wedding.

But I will do so through the non-Western cultural lens through which those who were there at the time, and the vast majority of the people on our planet today, perceive life through.

Even more importantly, my prayer is that by understanding these things, when given the opportunity, you’ll have the ability to share the Gospel with those from other cultures using an emphasis that you may not currently be familiar with.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do [it].” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw [some] out now, and take [it] to the master of the feast.” And they took [it]. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the [guests] have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him (John 2:1-11).

It’s safe to say that evangelism is on the Lord’s heart. When we pray, “May your kingdom come,” I believe the Lord wants to impress it on our hearts. Yet in practice, it’s not always easy, especially for those of us who have trouble talking to people they don’t know. That can be an obstacle, but the desire to seek the lost is real for even the shyest of introverts. This is what inspired me to share the story of Jacques Guggenheim: a Jewish man who grew up in the shadow of Nazi Germany and became an evangelist to the Jewish community in Paris. Though he went on to accomplish much for Jesus, his conversion starts with a quiet family who opened their home and shared the love of Christ to him when he was a boy.

Jacques Guggenheim spent his early years in Lyon, France, in a well-to-do apartment, which caught the eye of a local Nazi high officer.

When the officer moved in, he placed guards on top of the roof. Jacques’ father was Swiss, but his mother was Jewish. He received papers from the Swiss government, placing them out of jurisdiction from the Nazis. Slowly the apartment filled up with family members, including Jacques’ uncle, an escaped prisoner of war from Germany.

The pressure became so intense that in 1942 the Guggenheims decided to flee to Switzerland after Jacques’ grandmother fell ill and was identified as a Jew by the doctors. Their family and the Jewish community in Switzerland were less than enthusiastic about the idea because the economy was suffering, and they were shielded from the news of internment camps and deportations. Feeling they no longer had a choice, the Guggenheims left for Switzerland, whether they were welcomed or not.

Prior to this, the only Christians Jacques knew were the bullies in school who abused him to the cries of “Christ killer.” It was a surprise then, during their first summer in Switzerland, when his father took him to stay with a Christian family.

The family thanked them for coming and said they were honored to house Jacques because their family had a Jewish treasure that was centuries old—the Bible. Every night, they opened the Bible and taught from it simply, explaining the meanings in a way he never heard. Although they never forced him to listen to the family devotionals, his curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn’t stay away.

The following summer, he worked hard to prepare for his Bar-Mitzvah, but the Rabbi made it difficult for him. He wouldn’t let Jacques ride his bike to the classes; he forced him to follow the Sabbath law and walk. In contrast to the Bible study with the Christian family he was staying with, the more he learned the Hebrew Text, the less he understood it. Then to add to his frustration, he realized he looked forward to their family devotions and their liberty to just…enjoy the Bible. He was jealous.

Jacques’ fascination and outrage with the family came to a peak that summer when he accused them of thievery. As he saw it, they stole his people’s Bible. It was his God after all, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not theirs.

As Jacques moved on, he turned toward art and graduated from the Beaux Arts Academy. His search for beauty took him to Italy and eventually to Naples before he fell seriously ill. Hospitalized in Southern Italy brought him to the end of himself. He’d seen the double lives that many lived, and as he lay suffering, he began to pray to Jesus. He was eventually transferred to Nancy, France, where he drew near to some Christian friends. This is what eventually led him to surrender and put his faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

From the moment he believed, Jacques was a radically changed man.

He immediately went to work to announce Jesus the Messiah to the Jewish people. At this time, there weren’t many evangelicals in France, and an even smaller number of Jewish believers. His zeal couldn’t be stopped, and he found himself involved in full time ministry. In 1977, he took over as chief editor of an underground evangelical newspaper, Le Berger d’Israel (The Sheppard of Israel). This led him to travel all over Europe, and even to the US in evangelistic outreaches and conferences until he reached retirement age.

Though he transitioned out of the Berger d’Israel, Jacques remains quite active. He volunteers for Jews for Jesus, works as a teaching pastor at his church and has returned to painting. In his 60 years of ministry, he has become a pillar for the Messianic community in France.

When asked about sharing the Gospel with the Jewish people, he unashamedly exhorts us to not forget them. He warns us though by saying, “The Jewish people are not who evangelicals think they are, nor are they who we want them to be. So we must get to know them as they are, as we would with any other people group, and share the Gospel.”

This is what he experienced as a boy in Switzerland by the family that took him in. They listened to him and invited him into their family. They simply shared from the Scriptures.

Before leaving my interview with him, I asked him if he had one more word for the church today. He sat back and looked at his office walls covered in paintings of Hebrew letters and Mediterranean landscapes. He said, “There is one thing I have on my heart for the Body of Christ. We must not say we love Israel, and despise other people groups. We need to learn to love all people, and learn to love them for who they are in order to share Jesus with them.”

Jacques’ life has given me much time to think about evangelism.

He is still very charming with a friendly, warm personality, active in sharing his faith. He embodies the books and the seminars on evangelism; although excellent, they’re geared toward the extroverts among us. In Jacques’ conversion, however, we see a simpler form of evangelism— hospitality that planted a seed in the heart of a child. God used that family and their Bible study to reach a man who would later travel the world telling Jewish people about their Messiah. It’s a story that can encourage us to continue sharing, inviting people into our homes and lives. As Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” In this way, we may just end up planting the Gospel seeds in the life of someone God might use on a much larger scale.

THE BOOK

A few months ago, I decided to reread Spurgeon’s classic work, The Soul Winner. Like most people, my view is that anything Spurgeon writes is worth the time and effort to read. This book of course is no exception. While many Christian books can be tedious and dry, the only thing I found to be dry in rereading this classic was my highlighter. Paragraph after paragraph, one liner after one liner, jumped off the page as I found God calibrating my focus for the gospel needy souls in my life.

From the time I gave my life to Christ, evangelism has always been a focus for me. Maybe it’s because I came to Christ on a Monday night at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa where the gospel was always faithfully preached by Greg Laurie. Maybe it’s because, like many of you, I realize that the foundation of Calvary Chapel is in the hope that Jesus Christ provides to any heart, no matter how dark the sin or how lost the soul.

It’s not the machinery of ministry that has built this movement. It’s the power of Christ’s cross and resurrection; a truth we can never afford to forget. With that in mind, let me share three amazing quotes from this book and some brief thoughts.

IT’S THE GOSPEL

“Beloved teachers, may you never be content with aiming at secondary benefits, or even with realizing them; may you strive for the grandest of all ends, the salvation of immortal souls! Your business is not merely to teach the children in your classes to read the Bible, not barely to inculcate the duties of morality, or even to instruct them in the mere letter of the gospel, but your high calling is to be the means, in the hand of God, of bringing life from heaven to dead souls. Your teaching on the Lord’s Day will have been a failure if your children remain dead in sin…. Resurrection, then, is our aim! To raise the dead is our mission!” (Spurgeon, The Soul Winner, 1895, p. 64)

There should be nothing more precious to us and primary in our preaching than the gospel of Jesus Christ. For the soul winner, everything springs forth from the gospel. It is the seed that brings forth the root, the trunk, the branch and the fruit. It’s not only precious because of the fruit it produces but because of what it has done and continues to do in us personally. But make no mistake, the power of the gospel alone brings forth fruit for God’s glory (John 15:8).

Our message isn’t encouraging moral reform or church going; it’s for people to be resurrected by the power of the gospel. We beckon people to come to a Person not a religion; to the one name that can save them, the name of Jesus.

A CHURCH ON FIRE TO SEE LOST PEOPLE SAVED

“I like to burn churches rather than houses, because they do not burn down, they burn up and keep on burning when the fire is of the right sort. When a bush is nothing but a bush, it is soon consumed when it is set on fire; but when it is a bush that burns on and is not consumed, we may know that God is there. So is it with a church that is flaming with holy zeal. Your work, brethren, is to set your church on fire. You may do it by speaking to the whole of the members, or you may do it by speaking to the few choice spirits, but you must do it somehow. Have a secret society for this sacred purpose, turn yourselves into a band of celestial Fenians whose aim it is to set the whole church on fire” (Spurgeon, The Soul Winner,1895, p. 56).

If God’s people are spiritually on fire for anything, it should be to see the lost saved. There’s a battle for the very soul of God’s church in America. We are a nation of consumers, and that influence is beginning to consume Christians. Gatherings are geared to satisfy the most superficial impulses, and the thought that “it’s not all about us” is gone with the wind.

May God send a fresh wind into the hearts of our pastors and churches that stokes an unquenchable fire for the lost to be saved. John Wesley once said, “I set myself on fire and people come and watch me burn.” May that fire be lit in our lives first.

BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL DO THE WORK

“The most likely instrument to do the Lord’s work is the man who expects that God will use him, and who goes forth to labor in the strength of that conviction. When success comes, he is not surprised, for he was looking for it. He sowed living seed, and he expected to reap a harvest from it; he cast his bread upon the waters, and he means to search and watch till he finds it again” (Spurgeon, The Soul Winner, 1895, p. 22).

At every church gathering we preach the gospel and extend an invitation for people to respond. By God’s grace we see many come forward to receive Christ weekly. On the other hand, when I was church planting in New Hampshire, saved souls seemed harder to come by. Nevertheless, we never gave up believing in the power of the gospel to save.

No matter where God has planted you, His purpose for your life is to proclaim the gospel, to hold it up as the light in the midst of darkness, believing that it is powerful enough to save ANY soul. God is the one who does the saving; we are the ones who do the proclaiming.
One of Satan’s most powerful tools to silence the preacher is discouragement. Keep praying, keep preaching and keep believing, whether in the workplace, in your home, at the ballfield or in the pulpit! As Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

As I’m writing this article, one of the greatest soul winners, Billy Graham, has at last heard Christ say, “Well done good and faithful servant!” Billy has personally experienced, in the fullest sense, the power of his preaching. His life has left us so much to emulate and to pray for. His preaching and its impact is unsurpassed, and his integrity is unchallenged. While Billy Graham’s ministry was unique, let’s ask God to give us what He gave Billy; an unsurpassed love for the gospel of Jesus Christ, a deep and genuine burden for lost souls, a lifelong commitment to Biblical integrity, and above all, a desire for God’s glory to be magnified in the greatest way possible through our lives.

May God make soul winners of us all!

When I awoke this morning and made my way downstairs, the first thing Cheryl said to me was that Billy Graham had passed away. I immediately responded with a smile and the words, “Good for him.” The reason I responded like that was because years ago, I read Billy’s autobiography, Just As I Am. I recalled how he concluded his story: “I know that soon my life will be over. I thank God for it, and for all He has given me in this life. But I look forward to Heaven. I look forward to the reunion with friends and loved ones who have gone on before. I look forward to Heaven’s freedom from sorrow and pain. … most of all, I look forward to seeing Christ and bowing before Him in praise and gratitude for all He has done for us, and for using me on this earth by His grace–just as I am.” Today, that longed for experience was realized for Billy Graham.

Billy’s life and ministry were extraordinary, to say the least.

When Cheryl and I visited the Billy Graham Museum at Wheaton College a few years ago, we were both astounded at the magnitude of Billy’s influence and impact on America and the world. Of course we already knew quite a bit about Billy and his ministry. But seeing firsthand the photos, newspaper articles, and film coverage of his relationships with presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens, religious figures, celebrities of all sorts, and the coverage of his crusades gave me an appreciation and respect for his life and ministry even beyond what I already had.

There are a number of things that stand out about Billy as a Christian and as a minister of the Gospel. At the top of my list would be his genuine humility. Billy displayed a Christlike humility that only increased with the passing of time. When one considers how often fame and success lead to arrogance and pride, Billy was a bit of an anomaly, even among religious leaders. Many people were taken aback by his sincere meekness and humility while he simultaneously spoke out boldly for Christ.

Billy was, as a preacher, both simple and profound. When I would listen to him preach, I would find myself marveling at the simplicity of his messages, yet at the same time, being in awe of their power. With Billy I always sensed what the apostle Paul expressed in his letter to the Corinthians: “My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).

Billy’s power was due to his faith in the power of God’s Word.

One of his most common sayings was: “The Bible says …” For Billy, what the Bible said is what mattered most, and whenever he was preaching, being interviewed, or answering questions, he always made a beeline for the Bible.

I think my favorite Billy Graham quote is this: “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict. God’s job to judge, and my job to love.” Billy did indeed love people and wanted to get the Gospel to as many as he could. His love for others did at times cause him to be highly criticized and falsely accused of compromise. He was pejoratively referred to by some Christians as “ecumenical” and compromising because he associated with Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Liberal Protestants, and Jews and would invite them to participate in his crusades, even to the point of having them occupy the stage with him. I remember hearing him say in response to these accusations that if anyone compromised, it was not him but those who disagreed with his theology and yet participated in the crusades. He said with absolute conviction: “I have never compromised the Gospel.” I would have to agree that he never did compromise the Gospel but preached it faithfully to the end.

Well done, Billy. You fought the good fight, you finished the race, and you kept the faith. Now there is in store for you “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,” will give to you on that day (2 Timothy 4:8).

I was amazed to read the headlines today, “Twitter Engineers to ‘Ban a Way of Talking’ Through ‘Shadow Banning,’” “Algorithms to Censor Opposing Political Opinions.”

According to a Twitter engineer, “Twitter is ‘shadow banning’ to stealthily target political views.”

Shadow banning is really a way of “sanitizing” thought by eliminating ideas that are not in line with their current ideologies.

As described by a Twitter engineer, “One strategy is to shadow ban, so you have ultimate control. The idea of a shadow ban is that you ban someone, but they don’t know they’ve been banned; because they keep posting, and no one sees their content. So they just think that no one is engaging with their content, when in reality, no one is seeing it.”

It is nothing but another attempt at natural selection – survival of the fittest ideas!

As believers in Jesus Christ today, the world system is aggressively seeking to shadow ban – sanitize – our voice, and ultimately, our lives. We need to be acutely aware of the spiritual basis of a “shadow ban” – which is a weapon from the enemy attempting to build a stronghold against our testimony. To silence our witness for Jesus Christ, the enemy needs to threaten us so that “no one sees our content.”

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal or based on computer algorithms.

Our weapons against shadow banning is to recognize the power of social media, acknowledge that the various forms of social media are designed and monitored by a fallen world system. Knowing this, we are to use these media sources with the full understanding that our content may be banned. Our weapons are mighty however – because only God can pull down the strongholds of these forms of social media. As the human race has once again attained a power beyond its ability to control, we must remember Nimrod who sought to build a tower up to heaven and make a name for himself (Genesis 11:4). Interesting how we will face the same consequences that the world encountered – by God bringing a confusion of the language!

“Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). The consequences of these actions are so similar today, “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:7).

God dealt with Nimrod’s attempt at a shadow ban by destroying their algorithm used for communication. The pride of man continues to seek to control over mankind just as Nimrod did. It is also interesting that Nimrod is referred to as a “hunter of souls,” and a type of the antichrist.

How then are we to battle the Silicon tech giants, the agents of Nimrod, who are the seemingly gatekeepers of ideas, and ultimately, thought?

How do we combat our thoughts being silenced or sanitized?

As the passage quoted above continues, we are to bring our thoughts into captivity – not only within the algorithm of the computer technicians, but to the obedience of Christ. Instead of our thoughts being sanitized by them, we are encouraged to have them brought into God’s control. How do we do this? Isn’t social media the only way we can effectively communicate?

As believers we must realize that prayer is the most effective form of communication in the universe.

To have constant access to the Creator of the universe, we have the ability to converse with Him in any form of language – words, tongues or groanings! He knows our thoughts. In Psalm 139:2 it says that God “knows our thoughts afar off,” and He has provided us with the ultimate communication algorithm that transcends all of the tech giants’ ingenuity. We have no need to sit at a computer 24/7 and live and breathe algorithm development. We are encouraged with:

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

Even though our thoughts may be shadow banned by the world, we have a voice that transcends even our language – a groaning, cry, sigh – that cannot be uttered. An eternal voice of communication that is heard in heaven. Our God is greater than any imaginable algorithm, and He will use all of our thoughts for His glory if we come to Him first and let Him sanitize them – with salt and light. Our voices are needed in this world, and God uses social media – we just have to realize that our God desires to hear from us first, have our thoughts captivated or sanitized by Him – then present them to the world. Let’s seek Him first and His righteousness (Mathew 6:33), then look at the social media sites that are begging for your attention!

Patrick Johnstone, author of Operation World, will be our keynote speaker for the 2018 Global Missions Conference, happening January 2-5. Registration for the conference is still available!

How will future historians write about the first decade of the 21st century? I reckon they will comment on the massive tectonic shifts in political alignments, economic upheaval, ideological failures, global connectivity, etc. of that decade.

Consider the following:

1. Christianity has become global and indigenous for the first time in history. We have had the greatest ingathering of people into God’s Kingdom ever known. This peaked in the 1990s. I look back over the past 50 years with amazement at all the answers to prayer for Kingdom growth! Most Christians have not realized this was happening because we are too focused on the bad news and the general spiritual decline in the West.

2. There were major breakthroughs in Africa from the 1960s, Latin America in the 1970s, East Asia in the 1980s, the former Communist World in the 1990s, and in some Muslim nations in the 2000s (especially Iran and Algeria).

3. In 1960 there were possibly 43 countries with no known indigenous group of worshiping believers. Now there are less than eight – most very small.

4. The center of gravity of evangelical Christianity has moved from the West to the non-West.In 1960 only 20% of Evangelicals were in the non-Western world; by 2010 this had become over 60%.

5. A global mobilization of missionaries from nearly every country to every country.

The Present Changes

The first decade of this millennium was a time of pivotal change:

• 2000 – The publication of the first full list of the world’s peoples and languages (The World Christian Database, Joshua Project)

• 2001 – “911” and Jihadist Islam’s war on other forms of Islam and also the West is generating massive flows of refugees, a developing Sunni-Shia “Middle East War” leading to a huge disillusionment among Muslims.

• 2003 – The Allied invasion of Iraq with all its strategic mistakes and cultural blunders –marks the beginning of the gradual loss of Western dominance morally, economically and in politics.

• 2005 – Missionaries from Asia, Africa and Latin America became more numerous than those from the West

• 2007 – The year when the majority of the world’s population became urban rather than rural. This will result in 90% of the world’s population in 2100 being city dwellers.

All these are related and deeply impact the way we need to function as missionaries.

The Future Challenges

These developments will mean massive re-thinks of our strategy in:

1. Urban ministry

For years we have focused on the least evangelized people groups in the world. Such unengaged groups today are few and small. During the 21st century the number of languages that will become extinct is estimated to be over 2,000 of the 6,500 spoken today. Children will speak the main languages of the cities. We have to do missions in a different way – mainly through intense, intentional discipling of future leaders. Cities will increasingly be the focus of our ministry.

2. Hostile governments

The decline of Western influence has accelerated. Many Muslim lands ignore the UN Human Rights and religious freedom promises to which they signed up. Since 2015 the governments of China, Russia, India, Nepal, Myanmar (over half the world’s population) have passed legislation limiting or banning evangelism and conversion because they know they will not be challenged by the West or the UN. Persecution of Christians has become widespread – how do we function as a mission force in such a world?

3. Islam

How do we disciple the millions disillusioned with Islam? I reckon that in 1960 there were less than 60,000 believers in the world who had once been Muslim. By 2015 this had risen to probably 10 million. In my home church in England, we are baptizing former Muslims every month – mainly Iranians, Afghans and Kurds.

4. Multicultural teams

How can mission teams from multiple countries work effectively without slowing down the work to cope with our cultural differences? We can only do this by taking our cultural identity to the cross and embracing a biblical Kingdom culture!

Are we ready for these challenges; there is still lots we have to do to evangelize and disciple the 21st century world!

When an individual Christian or the key leaders and members of a local church come to understand the bigger picture of God’s plan for humanity that He has recorded in His written Word, His Spirit will move them to engage at whatever level possible in helping to bring about His endgame of receiving worship from representatives of every people, tribe, tongue and nation that He Himself created.

One simple way to discover the bigger picture, which includes His endgame for humanity, is to freshly examine in chronological order, the central truths communicated at seven key moments from within the real life history He has given us of His interaction with certain individuals and specific groupings of people.

1. Abraham’s Descendants Are Blessed…to Be a Blessing to All People

He told Abraham that He would bless him and his descendants and that they would be the group of people that He chose to be the channel or vehicle of His love and desire to bless people from within all of the ethnic groups that He created (Genesis 12:1-3).

He then repeated His plan to bless Israel and to bless the ethnic groups through them, to Abraham’s son Isaac, and to his grandson, Jacob (Genesis 26:4; 28:14).

2. Israel’s Priestly Role for All Humanity

He told Moses to remind Israel that He had delivered them from bondage in Egypt and that they were a special group of people, a “kingdom of priests” who were in a unique relationship with Him, called to represent Him to all people and groups who were not in the same relationship that they were in and interceded on their behalf to Him (Exodus 19:3-6).

3. A Temple Where More Than Just Israel Worshiped and Prayed

King Solomon, obviously influenced by his father, King David, included a court for the Gentiles as part of the grounds of the first temple constructed in Jerusalem.

With thousands of Jews gathered at the dedication of the temple, Solomon stood on a platform and prayed for God to bless the temple and His people, Israel.

Guided by God’s Spirit, Solomon also declared that non-Jewish people from different countries would hear of God’s greatness and come to the temple to worship and pray to the God of Israel.

What Solomon said next was another window into God’s bigger picture for humanity.

He pleaded with God to not only hear the prayers of these non-Jewish worshipers, but to also answer their prayers so that as they returned home, all of the people of the earth would know Him and fear Him, following Israel’s example (2 Chronicles 6:32,33).

4. A Jewish Baby’s Birth is for the Good of All People

When God sent an angel to announce the birth of Jesus to Jewish shepherds, the angel told them what took place that night was good news that would produce great joy for ALL people, not just Israel (Luke 2:10).

When that angel was joined by a multitude of others, and they all praised God together, they declared that God was glorious and that peace was now embodied on earth as a demonstration of God’s goodwill toward all humanity, not just Israel (Luke 2:14).

5. A Lamb That Takes Away the Sin of Any Member of Humanity

At some point during the height of his ministry, John the Baptist saw and recognized that Jesus was walking toward him.

He immediately invited everyone listening to behold Jesus and declared that Jesus is the Lamb of God that came to take away the sin of the world, not just Israel’s sin (John 1:29).

6. Outward Focus from the Initial Invitation to Follow

In the very sentence in which Jesus called His first disciples to follow Him, He made clear that their relationship with Him was for a purpose larger than their own interests.

Although He was clearly inviting them into a personal, intimate and interactive relationship with Him that would benefit them in ways they never dreamed of, He wanted them to know from the very beginning that the blessing of being in relationship with Him also brings the responsibility and privilege of helping others to enter into the same blessed union with Him that they themselves enjoyed (Matthew 4:19).

7. The Message of His Death and Resurrection Must Go Global

After miraculously appearing to His gathered disciples and eating a few bites of food, Jesus told them the whole Old Testament pointed to Him and then helped them to see and understand the scriptures in a way they never had before.

He then told them that because everything in the Old Testament had to be fulfilled, two key things needed to take place.

First, that He had to suffer and then rise from the dead, which is what they had all just witnessed.

Second, that the message of repentance and remission of sins that are only found in His name must be preached to all ethnic groups wherever they live, even as that message is preached to the people living in their own villages, towns, cities and country.

If They Needed a Fresh Review, What About Us?

Even after almost three years of being with Him on a day to day basis, Jesus had to do a fresh review of God’s Word in order to get them to see the bigger picture of what God was really doing (Luke 24:42-47).

If they needed that kind of review to understand how much global missions matter to God and should matter to His people, a fresh review for believers and local churches in our day is necessary too.

Billy Graham said, “The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is strategic. We are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear the responsibility for the next one; but we do have our generation. God will hold us responsible as to how well we fulfill our responsibilities to this age and take advantage of our opportunities.”

It has been said that the best evangelism tool is not tracts, nor crusades nor apologetic arguments, nor even servant evangelism; but simply being a faithful witness (and I would add that we need to be a witness with both our lives and our lips). I remember as a teenager that one of my worst experiences with a group of Christians was when they tried to share the Gospel with me. It was a drive-by (not a drive-by shooting like you hear about in Chicago or South Central LA, but a drive-by nonetheless). This was what I call “drive-by” evangelism!

One night some friends and I were hanging out in a mall parking lot late at night, most likely about to be up to no good. Suddenly a minivan full of Christian kids came flying up to us aggressively in the parking lot, and we assumed we were going to be struck by a water balloon or worse. Without warning, they rolled the window down and threw a bunch of gospel tracts out the window at us and kept driving, yelling out the window as they peeled off, “Jesus loves you!!!”

Picture that: The most important message ever given to man, the greatest news we can ever share with someone else, was just tossed out the window at our feet as if we were catching beads at a parade.

This is the essence of “drive-by” evangelism. Why is drive-by evangelism truly a problem? Here are three reasons:

1. Many people have demonstrated a poor Gospel witness with their lives.

Most of us have seen the spiritual damage that a poor witness can do for the gospel. Using Google’s “predictive search,” if you go and type in, “Why are Christians so,” look what pops up. These results are based on historical searches that real people have looked up. But I warn you. Don’t do so with liquid in your mouth, because it is bound to be spat out! These searches occurred because somewhere in the past someone who purported to represent Jesus actually misrepresented Him.

Many restaurant servers have admitted that Sunday afternoons are the worst days to work because the tips are so bad. That is usually when Christians have left their morning worship services and are going to be “salt and light” and “cheap” to the world. And that’s just tipping poorly. What about more grievous sins, like when a pastor falls into sexual sin? How does a local community see our message when the shepherd of a faith community is not even practicing what he preaches? Or when the guy at your workplace tells everyone he’s a Christian, but he is the guy who curses like a sailor and is pugnacious and dishonest and displays lust and wickedness and not godliness?

The gospel message is offensive enough without us helping make it more offensive with our sinful behavior! The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. It is also the power of God for salvation to all who believe. Men will get tripped up over the offensiveness of the Christian message, so why would we want to add a few more hurdles in there with our sinful behavior?

2. Drive-by evangelism doesn’t show genuine care for the person receiving the good news.

Like my friends and I in that mall parking lot, the “victims” of drive-by evangelism feel very little vested interest on the part of the evangelist. There is little risk, little involvement; no relationship, nor vulnerability on our part when we toss tracts at people we don’t know. The person who is on the receiving end of this poor method of evangelism feels almost violated or punched randomly in the gut by the gospel. Certainly the Lord can and does use random encounters, and if we don’t have the means to serve and live among certain people, we must resort to “faster” means to get the word out. But this should be a concession, not a normative practice. When Philip encountered the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, he spent enough time to share Christ and see the man won to faith, but as soon as the man was baptized, Philip was “caught away” (Acts 8:39), and the man “went on his way rejoicing.” These situations will happen, undoubtedly.

However, most of us will have more contact with people then just 30 seconds to give them a drive-by gospel. My rule of thumb is that if I have more than five minutes together talking with a stranger, perhaps the Lord wants me to simply come right out and ask, “Do you know Jesus?” Or saying something like, “The world seems crazy right now! It makes you really contemplate life and death and the future. So what are your spiritual beliefs?”

3. Jesus demonstrates incarnation at its best.

We typically reserve our celebration of the birth of Jesus for the Christmas season, but it is important not to miss perhaps the most important doctrine about Jesus: His incarnation. Jesus, according to Isaiah 7:14, is “Immanuel, God with us.” Jesus demonstrates to us how we are to live a faithful Gospel witness in the very action of how He came from heaven to earth.

Jesus Christ was born of a woman. He was born to parents. He had uncles and aunts and cousins. He hungered. He thirsted. He got tired. He fell asleep. He yawned. He had internal organs, hands, feet and hair. His family was a part of a tribe of people in Israel. His family had traditions and beliefs. They celebrated holidays. They celebrated birthdays and traditions and sat around and had conversations. They laughed and cried and talked together. The application of this is powerful: God wanted to identify with us! Whenever I read the genealogy of Jesus, I am just so blown away that there are actually people listed! The Father loves us enough to send His Son to become one of us. He certainly could have broadcast His love and truth and nature from afar for all the world to see. But He sent Jesus to become one of us, to exegete the Father to mankind.

Augustine of Hippo said, “Man’s maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.”

Jesus, the Word, became flesh and dwelt among us. He “tabernacled” among us. The tabernacle is of course the location where God’s glory met man’s need, which was fully realized in Jesus. However, you and I are a temple of the Holy Spirit where His presence abides (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are to be “Christ incarnate” to the world, and that means willful, intentional, relational community that is purposeful and prayerful. We must be “in” the world and display with our lives the Gospel message we affirm with our lips.

Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 “So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”

As we have opportunity, let us consider how we may live the gospel with incarnational intention, not merely in drive-by encounters. Thankfully in my life I had great examples of Christ-followers who shared Jesus and loved Jesus, and their message resonated with me until one day I too trusted my life to Jesus. If not for their faithful witness, I may have never found Christ. I’d still be in darkness, wondering what happened years ago in a mall parking lot with some church kids who had the right intentions but a missed opportunity to truly help some hurting, lost teens. When we do this faithfully, people will begin to take notice and will ask us “the reason for the hope that we have.” Are we ready to answer?

“You are writing a gospel, A chapter each day, By the deeds that you do, By the words that you say; Men read what you write, Whether faithless or true, Say—what is the gospel, According to you?” -Paul Gilbert

Many find it confusing that in some places the Quran encourages peace, and in others it says to “kill the infidels.”

The Quran was not written in chronological order. It takes some sorting out, but when a particular surah was written is important. Mohammed wrote the Quran in two phases:

THE MECCA PHASE 609-622 AD

The period when Mohammed’s followers were in the minority and had to ingratiate themselves with Christians and Jews.

THE MEDINA PHASE 622- 632 AD

The period when Mohammed’s followers were gaining complete control over the lands where they lived. This period divides into an earlier and a later phase. The first part is transitional and the later phase is when Jihadism comes into play.

ABROGATION

Mohammed declared that his later (Medina) writings nullified his early writings (Mecca) when they were contradictory. Suras 2:106, 16:101, 13:39, 17:86.

A good website on abrogation in Islam is https://www.meforum.org

We may say that true Islam is not represented by Mecca Moslems, but rather by the (later) Medina Moslems. In America our contact with Islam would be with Mecca Moslems. However, we need to see what Islam does when it dominates. For example, what freedom does Saudi Arabia allow Christians and Jews in practicing their faiths? Some say Moslem extremists are aberrant, not the real Moslem. But these fundamentalist Moslems take Mohammed literally. They may be the truest Moslems.

Christians are challenged to love all Moslems, but that does not mean that we ignore their motivations.

As aspiring proclaimers of the Gospel we need some essential equipment. First, we must have a true conception of God and how He perceives people. Wonderfully, this is available to all, as Jesus said: “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” As we consider Jesus, as He looks over the wretched, struggling, crowd, we see how God the Father sees people, including ourselves.

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary (exhausted) and scattered, (isolated) like sheep with out a shepherd (Matt. 9:36).

Is this how we understand God? That He is seeing us and is “moved with compassion?” Or do we imagine God mad at the world and fed-up with us? Or is the image of God, more pagan than Christian? Do we envsion God to be more like Zeus with his lightning bolts ready to throw, than like God as revealed in Christ?

If it is, then repentance is in high order! As G. Campbell Morgan said, the Greek word “repent” means “a change of mind, of conceptions.” When God says “Repent!” He is saying, “You’re not seeing things rightly!” But there’s great hope as our thoughts of God and man can be straightened out by simply “fixing our eyes on Jesus.”

In Hebrews 4:15, the good news of how God thinks and feels about us becomes even more specific. We’re told that God “sympathizes with us in our weakness,” or more specifically in our “sin-struggle.”

Are “compassionate” and “sympathetic” descriptions that come to our mind when we consider God thinking about mankind? In John’s Gospel he describes Jesus as God’s heart (love) and logos (mind) manifest in flesh. Do we truly see God as compassionate and sympathetic toward us, desiring all to be made well (saved)? Or does our conception of God need some changes?

In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus shares with His disciples God’s yearning to gather to Himself all the exhausted and isolated, everywhere, to make them well. “Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38 italics mine).

Next we need to understand that in this call to proclaim the Gospel, God is more interested in what we are, than what we do. Notice, Jesus said to His disciples, “Therefore pray.” He didn’t say, “Therefore go and make this happen!” Jesus later commissioned His disciples to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). He tells them “before you go, first, wait, for the Spirit to come upon you” (Acts 1:8).

Why wait? Wait, means to “wait and pray” until the Holy Spirit empowers us, as witnesses of God, in Christ. Without this empowering, without this authority, we really shouldn’t go anywhere, or preach anything. By the way, contrary to what some imply, Jesus never said to his disciples, “Go witnessing!” Read it carefully. He said in Luke 24:48, “You are witnesses.” In other words, “You’ve already come to see and know the Father, as you’ve seen Him in Me, therefore go”

Being a witness is not something we primarily do but something we are. Witnesses of God in Christ have come to know and believe that God is love, and that God has love for us (1 John 4:16 italics mine). They’ve got the “goods” and are thus ready to make the “delivery”.

Imagine if during a cross examination in a court trial, it was discovered that the witness had not actually seen or heard anything concerning the particular case. That witness would be dismissed as having no credibility or authority.

The Holy Spirit empowers us as witnesses by enlightening our “eyes” to see the Father in the Son. Seeing and believing, we enjoy Him and the Gospel; then we go and tell what we’ve seen and heard. This is our blessed job description as laborers in God’s harvest!

Listen to John, the witness:

That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:3-4 italics mine).

May God give us this essential equipment that we may fulfill our “job description” as proclaimers of the good news! Oh that we might know and enjoy the Gospel, that it might be seen in us and felt through us as we proclaim it. May we be powerful witnesses of God’s great redeeming love, the Gospel of Jesus Christ!