Gulp...Evangelism.

Evangelism! Gasp! (WAIT! Don't tune out and skim this or close the window to go back to other Facebook searching.) 

What usually happens when you hear the idea of evangelism - insert guilty feeling. Slight glimpse of I should do that quickly passes by as fears come one by one to grip you and remind you why you haven't done it. I'll do it after... and your schedule suddenly is much fuller and there's just not the right time fit in there. If there was time, you wouldn't really know what to say, how to start? How to close? What to say in the middle? I should know this! Ah dang it. More guilt now.

I think this all comes down to what we assume "evangelism" means. Jesus said to "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you." -Matt 28:18.

So that was the command to the disciples, lets see how they carried it out. They turned around and told people about Jesus that they had walked with, who they talked with. They went to the places they knew people were and places God's Spirit or an Angel told them to and just shared with them. In fact like the second or third time they've gotten busted for blowing up peoples paradigms and religious boxes, they respond with "we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20) That's it. That's it? What's it?

What are we sharing with people? Are we sharing an idea and a philosophy? Are we sharing a concept or belief that we're holding onto? Or have we experienced life with this God we talk about and sing songs to every Sunday? If we've actually experienced life with Him, then share that. That's what the disciples were doing. They were like "Pssh, I don't know about you, but I saw Jesus heal this guy of cancer and the tumor just disappeared, another chick had a demon (or a couple) inside of her and was all messed up but as soon as J-man said one word to her, BAM! Flat laid out on the ground like a 3 month old baby sleeping. Dude, it was trippy, but awesome." Then they went on to share the rest of the story. "Man, then a bunch of religious people didn't understand Him and thought He was starting up His own path away from God. Dudes got jealous and killed Jesus. Man, made it rough too. It's not like He couldn't have stopped them though. Shoot, all the stuff we saw Jesus do, He could have stopped them all at any point. I mean, I know that now, looking back. At the time, man, I chickened out and went running for the hills. I was loaded down with questions and fear and doubts and...I was just a pansy. So Jesus dies, right? We're all mourning over Him, our friend, our teacher, this father figure/big brother. Dang, we had bought into this and left everything, burnt a lot of bridges, and cut a lot of ties in the process. But then God raised Him from the dead. I know, I know, I didn't believe it at first either. But I saw Him, I talked with Him, I touched Him, I ate with Him. He really did come back to life. He really is the Savior, the Hero that we've been told about in prophesies/legends past. They're all true and it's all Him. He's given us a chance to turn from being selfish, ignorant, indifferent, lazy, evil, and just plain dumb and chose Him and follow Him. His ways mean life because He is life. It's your call, but I'd almost beg you to do this. It's been hard at times, but this is what I was made for. This is what it means to finally come alive. This is the full weight of all our hopes and dreams. This is life, dude. This is it. There's no other way to have this. No other way to have this intimate, euphoric connection with God - it's just Jesus."

They weren't sharing a theoretical standpoint. They weren't trying to convince someone of a standpoint they were banking in. They just straight up walked with God and shared out of that. Yeah, but they at least got to talk and walk with Jesus. That would have been a lot easier to believe.Yeah, I've thought that too. But I realized I had a few things wrong, 1) I was having issues believing, 2) I didn't realize how hard that would be to start something out of nothing when the whole world is against you. They weren't creating a new product to sell, they were actually going against the majority of the world's thoughts and starting something new. 3) I didn't understand John 20:29 as Jesus is talking and says it's good that you see me and believe, but blessed/happy/happier is everyone who believes and hasn't seen me. He said we'd be happier than they were. Jackpot. and 4) I didn't understand the benefits of having the Holy Spirit with us. Jesus said it's actually better if I leave so you can have Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). That messes me up cause personally, I would enjoy having Jesus on my couch. But I'm learning the amazingness of having the Holy Spirit inside of me working in and through me. It looks a lot more like surrender than it does getting it right.  

Ok, ok... so what does this look like?

I don't know. What does your relationship with God look like? What stories do you have together? How has God been there for you, with you, through you? Have you had a bad day and it got better? Have you almost ran out of gas and prayed and you made it? Have you prayed for a job opportunity? Have you prayed and seen someone healed of cancer, broken leg, headache? Have you asked for a very specific sign and He came through? Have you had a dream and shared it with someone who had the same dream? Have you had a dream that explained what was going to happen in the future and it did? Have you spoke in languages you didn't understand but other people did? Have you spoke in other languages you didn't know and somehow your heart felt comforted? Have you had a thought or idea about someone and shared it and it was exactly what they needed to hear? Have you ever been overwhelmed with compassion for some stranger that you had no idea who it was or why? Have you ever randomly just broke out in laughter so much you felt drunk? Did you have horrible parents but somehow you have this healing because you've heard God say I love you? Have you ever caught a sunset or song or movie and for some reason it had more weight to it than ever before? Maybe your life with God looks something like that? Maybe that's where you start?  It's your relationship. If you don't have anything to share from your relationship with God, then ask Him to start one. Then make history with God. Invite Him in on your life and see what happens. Make history with God, build that relationship.

Evangelism is just relationship sharing and love sharing. You know how to share a relationship and introduce a person. That's all that evangelism is. Share your relationship, introduce Jesus. Let Him woo the other person. Ready...Set...Love.

Correct Roles

Sometimes in our war against sin and our war for purity we have swing the pendulum too far to the other side. We go from being ignorant or accepting of sin to searching and analyzing every motive thought and action throughout our day which leads to deep introspection and a constant awareness of sin. What's wrong with being aware of sin? Isn't that a good thing to always be on guard and ready to fight? Yes and no. Yes, the heart is good to want to be pure, but no when you have greater attention on sin than you do on God. Plus, if you're attention is on fighting sin then you probably don't understand the cross where 1) Jesus fought for you when you couldn't(Romans 5:8), 2) Jesus defeated the power of sin and death (1 Cor 15:55-57), 3) He finished the work (John 19:30), 4) because of that you, Christian, are dead to sin (Romans 6:11).

Ok? So...what's the point? Good theology, yeah sure...I agree. Right?
The point your theology is directly manifest by how you think and interact with God in life. Note, "in life" not "in church." For example: If you really believe God is waiting to be gracious to you (Isaiah 30:18) then you will gladly hang out with Him all day and talk to Him about everything that comes up, good and bad without fear of punishment or disappointment. But if we imagine God to be constantly frustrated with us and upset at our inability to get it together, then we'll only approach Him when we think we're being pleasing to Him because everything's going well that day or we're feeling super spiritually on it. The truth of the matter is that we have become one with Christ (Romans 6:5-7; John 17) and He really is actively excited to spend time with you and enjoy you and you enjoy Him.

So how back to the war on sin: if we're the one's who think we will get us clean (which most people will argue with that statement knowing that it's Christ who makes us clean, but still live like it's up to them to do it), then we will find ourselves constantly searching ourselves, our motives, our actions and behaviors to be clean, be pure, get everything out we can. "Yes, it is Christ, but it's still our responsibility..." responsibility to do what? Be a surgund/patient or just a patient?

The problem is when someone becomes ignited by the Holy Spirit's passion for purity, they will take that passion...their marching orders and take off to go work on it. We must allow our whole self to be redeemed at once because if we miss the fact that Christ died for relationship and unity with us, then we'll go take off and do it on our own rather work together with Him. We let Christ do what needs to be done, not what we think needs to be done. Sometimes this is scary because we're afraid if we let go then nothing will happen or that we won't get there fast enough. But really, that's just not trusting God to be God and purify us.  This isn't a new problem in the church. The people in Galatia had the same issue where once they were saved, they thought it was up to them then to keep themselves pure. Paul responds,

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?               - Galatians 3:1-3

We've got to let God make us clean, not run think it's up to us to kill every evil desire in you.

What I'm not saying:
"We don't have to do anything. We just sit in life and la te da. Do whatever and Jesus will do everything for us." No. That's dumb, crazy, and well... boring. But if you look at the way our relationship with Jesus looks, it involves Him initiating - us responding. We love because...He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) He's the groom who pursues, we're the bride who responds. He brings salvation, we receive it. He stirs hearts to himself, we enunciate what He's saying/doing and people get saved. Why do you expect your healing and purity to be any different?

Let me phrase/rephrase it this way, imagine God talking.
"I love you. (cause that's the way He starts talking). I enjoy you. I love spending time with you. Don't worry about sin or dirt in your life. I am strong enough to take care of that. Remember the cross? Took care of it. Remember how I said to abide in me? I really did just mean spend time with me and follow me as we walk together and I'll take care of the rest. Look, your job is to fully enjoy me and to respond as we walk through life together. If there's a problem, a hurt, a sin, an issue, a behavior that's wrong, you don't need to go searching for it. I already  know it's there. I know when you're ready to deal with it, and when that time and situation comes up, I'll bring it up and I'll take care of it. It's  your job just to agree with me and allow me to do my work. You partner with me. I'm the one doing surgery here. You can't operate on yourself. Don't try to fix yourself or go digging inside. I know when it's right and when to deal with it. When it's the right time, I'll bring it up and I'll deal with it and your job is just to not run and hide from me. Don't go separate yourself from me. Spend time with me and I'll bring it up and heal it. IF I DON"T BRING IT UP, then enjoy me. I'm not just your surgen. I'm your friend. I enjoy you. I actually enjoy spending time with you. I'm not just your fix it friend or your fix it Father. I really enjoy hanging out with you. Just spending time with you."

And that's often where our two world's collide. Trying to fix our selves for God, or thinking all of our time with God has to be "purifyingly intense" when really you can just enjoy spending time with Him. I mean, Jesus did a good bit of work on the cross already. Then you died to join Him when you became a believer. So perhaps today, rather than fixing yourself, you let God be God and enjoy Him for all of who He is.