The word “evangelism” has fallen on hard times. According to the Barna Research Group, nearly one-half (47%) of Millennials feel it is “somewhat wrong to share their personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will someday share the same faith.” This is despite the fact that they feel knowing Jesus is the best thing that could ever happen to someone (94-97%). That seems like a bit of a dichotomy, doesn’t it? Lady Gaga can help us with this…
Many of you are familiar with the smash hit movie A Star Is Born. I am neither recommending nor opposing the movie (use your own discretion – it’s the gritty stuff of life), but it helped me gain a fresh heart of compassion for people. God has often used movies to stir my heart with compassion.
As the story goes, country music star Jackson Maine (played by Bradley Cooper) stumbles upon Ally (played by Lady Gaga) during a performance in a dive bar for drag queens. She’s given up on her own dream of being a performer until meeting Jackson, who quickly takes notice of her prolific talent as a singer. You can read a synopsis from the official movie website. Jackson takes her under his wing, they fall in love, and she is propelled into stardom herself. They get married despite Jackson’s addiction to alcohol and prescription medication.
Jackson’s addiction progresses and Ally’s stardom increases, coming to a climax when she wins a Grammy and he embarasses himself on stage in a drunken stupor.
(Spoiler alert) Jackson finally decides to enter rehab. Upon completing the program, Ally’s manager confronts him privately to tell him it’s only a matter of time before he falls back into addiction and ruins her career. Not wanting to hold her back, Jackson decides to take his own life rather than being a detriment to hers.
Suicide on the rise…
Suicide is a serious issue and it’s only growing. In fact, the US suicide rate is at a 30 year high and has risen 25% in the past 17 years according to BBC News. Recently, California passed a bill to require the phone number for the Suicide Prevention Hotline to be placed on all student ID’s. No one seems to know exactly why suicide rates are increasing, but Dr. Jerry Reed of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention says there is “definitely a relationship between serious mental illness and suicidal behaviour.” Why is suicide on the rise? Though one can’t over-simplify the problem, I believe part of the problem is spiritual in nature. Christ is the hope of glory, who gives us Himself, fills us with food that truly satisfies the deep need of our soul, and gives us a purpose beyond ourselves.
Maybe you’ve never considered taking your own life, but I have. While in college, I was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction myself. After finding out one of my best childhood friends died in an unexpected car accident, I was already depressed and contemplated taking my own life. I also was there to take one of my sisters to the doctor after she had taken a handful of pills in her early twenties. Shortly after, she was also placed in the mental health ward for cutting her wrists. Thankfully, Christ found us a year or so later and things radically changed for both of us. Otherwise, I fear neither of us may be alive today.
If you or someone you know is struggling with that, seek help immediately in the way of a counselor and/or calling the Suicide Prevention Hotline.
The Question of Human Suffering
After Jackson took his own life, I grew distraught. My heart began to break for people in such pain that they feel they must take their own lives. I asked the Lord, how can You allow people to experience such pain and hopelessness that they would take their own lives and perish without knowing Your love? It seemed cruel to me that the Lord would condemn people who are in such pain to an eternity without Him. The Lord’s voice immediately flooded my heart with this thought, “Don’t let it drive you away from Me. Let it take you deeper into My love. You see, Kent, I love people more than you ever could.”
In that moment, I was reminded God doesn’t condemn anyone to Hell. Ultimately, people choose a life without Him. In fact, one must step over Jesus in order to get there. He laid down His perfect life, taking the wrath of God upon Himself to pay for our sin – making a way for us to experience wholeness through a relationship with Him and eternity with Him in the life to come.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NIV)
That night I was thinking about the movie and couldn’t sleep when Charles Templeton came to mind. A contemporary and friend of Billy Graham in the 1940’s, Charles Templeton was gaining a large platform in Canada as an evangelist. But by 1948, their lives were heading in different directions, and he began to question the Christian faith as he was about to enter Princeton Theological Seminary. He was having doubts about his faith in regards to issues such as creation. Charles Templeton relates a story in which he was reading a LIFE magazine with a photograph of a black woman in northern Africa holding a dead baby in her arms as she looked up to heaven when he thought, “How could a loving God do this to that woman?” Less than a decade later (1957), he would publicly proclaim agnosticism.
Like many, Templeton had allowed his doubts and the pain and suffering of humanity to take him away from God instead of drawing Him deeper into God’s love for humanity. It was the very same temptation I faced sitting in the movie theater.
Many years later, after writing the book Farewell to God, in an interview with author Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ which also exists as a movie that is worth watching), Templeton said this (shortened excerpt from Farewell to God):
“He [Jesus] was the greatest human being who has ever lived…he is the most important thing in my life..I adore him! Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus….He is the most important person who ever existed…I…miss…him!”
It’s Personal
Unable to sleep, my thoughts then drifted to Greg – a friend of my Dad’s I met in my early twenties. Greg needed a place to stay for a while so my dad took him in. My dad has always had a caring heart for people in need, to the point where he has been taken advantage of at times. I had a few opportunities to talk to Greg, and maybe shared briefly about my faith, but I failed to share the whole gospel with him. A few months later, Greg was found dead in his truck on the side of a dirt road. He had shot himself.
I don’t blame myself for His death, but I do take responsibility for my own inaction. I could have and should have shared the love of Christ with him, but I didn’t.
In that moment, I was reminded of the brevity of life and the urgency of sharing the love of God and the gospel with people.
Evangelism Starts with Compassion
What moved Christ to live life the way He did – loving, healing, and eventually sacrificing Himself on a cross for us? The answer is compassion.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matt. 9:36 NLT)
It’s compassion that compels us to reach others with the love of Christ. If you want to reach people with His love, it starts with compassion. Compassion is a strong word.
Biblical compassion means to yearn for people with pity and sympathy deep in your bowels.
The Latin, compati means “to suffer with” or as counselor and pastor Kegan Mosier says, compassion is sympathy in action.
Most times, when Jesus performed a miracle, the Bible tells us He did so out of compassion.
But where does compassion come from and how do we get it? An abundance of compassion or the lack thereof is a symptom of something deeper.
Compassion That Leads to Action
Compassion surfaces when we are vibrantly and deeply connected to God as Jesus was. When that is the case, it is impossible not to have compassion for people. Jesus told us He only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19). He was literally feeling the Father’s heart for people. You can’t manufacture that type of compassion. It only comes from one place.
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. (Psalm 86:15 NIV)
We don’t have a compassion problem, we have a connection problem.
When intimately connected to Jesus, the same way He is connected to the Father, compassion flourishes (see John 15:1-8).
What are We Waiting For?
Once our connection problem is solved, Jesus’ words come to life,
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38 NIV)
It’s compassion that drives us into the harvest. We treat these words as a good suggestion, when in reality, they are strong command. “Ask” is the Greek word, dĕŏmai, deh´-om-ahee. It means to beg. And “send” is the Greek word ĕkballō, ek-bal´-lo. It means to eject, bring forth, cast (forth, out), drive (out), or expel. So you could say it this way:
Beg and plead with God to drive you and others out and into the harvest field.
That’s a little different than as him to send out workers. Remember, when Isaiah encountered the Lord, he said, “Here am I, send me!” If we’ve truly encountered the Lord and have a vital connection with Him, we will do the same.
Don’t Over-complicate Evangelism
I think we over-complicate evangelism. Starting off is as easy as looking someone in the eye and asking, “Do you know God deeply loves you and cares for you?” The gospel or good news starts with love.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NIV)
Recently, I was having dinner in an airport after coming back from the Send event in Orlando. After dinner, I looked the waitress in the eye and said, “Can I tell you something?” She leaned on the table and said, “Sure.” I proceeded to ask her if anyone had ever told her that God deeply loves her. She told me her sister goes to church and she had told her, but she couldn’t go because she had to work every Sunday. The Lord began sharing with me how He saw her, and as I related it to her she was obviously touched. I told her when she is ready, God is waiting with open arms. She had to get back to work so wasn’t able to take her through the gospel, but I did leave her with a gospel tract I use – after leaving a good tip! If you don’t know how to start, “Did you know God deeply loves you” or “Is there anything I can pray for you about ” is always a good way! The more you do it, the easier it will become. A few may respond negatively, but most will not. And even if they do respond negatively (which for me has been rare), isn’t their inestimable value as someone made in God’s image worth a little ridicule?
If they seem interested, here are two ways I like to share the gospel:
- The Romans Road – Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10
- Steps to Peace with God by Billy Graham. There is even a great booklet with pictures.
Let’s remember, it’s not just about saying a prayer, it’s about becoming a disciple. It’s great if they respond, but then the hard work begins as you invest in them, and invite them into your community of faith. You can also do that before they put their trust in Christ. Jesus invited people to follow Him before that trusted in Him. But it starts with compassion. You won’t dare to look someone in the eye and tell them of His radical love for them if you aren’t abiding in His love and feeling His heart hurt for those around you. Once you do it becomes easier.
Why not go deep in relationship with Him, allow Him to break your heart with compassion for people, and let it drive you into the harvest to start telling people about the amazing, transforming, sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. Then trust Him with the result. Ultimately, if people reject the message, they are not rejecting you. They are rejecting Jesus. You are simply the bearer – and hopefully a demonstration – of the good news. But that’s not where it stops.
The 4/5 Rule
I call it the ⅘ rule. We are responsible for 4 out of 5 steps of the process. We plant the seed, we water the seed, God brings the growth or increase, we harvest the fruit, and we make disciples.
So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Cor. 3:7 NIV)
Happy harvesting.
PS – Here the message where Gina and I sing a song from A Star is Born in this sermon from Journey Church!
Love this, Kent.