Page 5. The Magic Question.

Hi, how are you?

I want to pause here for a moment and talk a little about a subject that is very important for Christians and the Christian life, evangelism. You have, no doubt, heard the term “evangelical”. It is used to denote a Christian who practices evangelism. It is something Christians NEED to know.  I have suggested four passages below that I have heard preached-on or taught many times.  They all seem to focus on what has been called the GREAT COMMISSION.

Acts 1:8 “…………..you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” NASB

This is Jesus speaking to the disciples just before His ascension.  Can we ignore this directive because He is saying it to the disciples?  Or is this meant to be a calling to us in this day and age to also share the gospel?

Matt 9:35-38

35 And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. 36 And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” NASB

It sounds like Jesus is asking the disciples to pray for workers to be sent out to share the gospel.  The disciples are all dead now so they won’t be praying for workers to be sent out, so does this mean we can ignore this call?

Matt 28:16-20

16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” NASB

This passage is often referred to as “The Great Commission” but again the question is: Does this apply only to the eleven disciples or are we also being called to make disciples?

Mark 16:15

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. NASB

Jesus said this to the disciples shortly after He had risen.  Was it meant just for the disciples or for us too?

The church I attend supports a lot of missionaries.  Its missions budget is huge.  I also support some para-church missions organizations and individual missionaries who aren’t associated with my church.  Maybe you do too.  Does this fulfill our responsibility to send and support missionaries?  Or have you ever been personally convicted to share the gospel with someone?  A church we attended some time ago had a sign over the door to the parking lot that said, “You Are Now Entering The Mission Field”.  I think that was a not-so-subtle hint to parishioners that they were supposed to share the gospel as they went about their everyday lives.  So, have you ever done it?  Shared the gospel, that is?  Or “planted a seed?”  Or handed someone a gospel tract?  Or even let the word Jesus slip from your lips and into your conversation with someone?  There seems to be a consensus within the “Christian community” that we (ordinary believers) are supposed to be doing this.  Even though in the above scripture passages Jesus is speaking to the disciples, I personally am convicted.

Maybe you’re convicted too and if you are, what do we say?  What do we do?  When do we do it? How do we do it?  There are lots of methodologies.  Do you remember the Four Laws booklet?  I’ve gone door to door with the 4 laws booklet.  That was a product of Campus Crusade for Christ.  The “I Found It” campaign was an offshoot of Campus Crusade.  Or how about the Roman Road?  Or have you tried the Bill Fay method?  I have a friend who, a number of years ago, went to a how-to-do-it seminar on “soap box preaching”.  How about friendship evangelism?

I suppose the answer to what method is best for you is, “Do whatever you are comfortable with.”  The only problem is I was never comfortable with anything until 1999.  I was saved in February of 1974, and I probably shared the gospel 4-5 times between then and 1999.  I had been led to believe that I should be doing it, but I was scared.  Then in 1999 I joined the Gideons and found out how much fun and how easy it is to give away Bibles.  I learned that you can do that and not say a word, or maybe “May I give you a little gift?”  Then eventually I got up enough courage to say, “Oh, by the way, have you ever received Christ as your personal Savior?”  Now I usually give away several hundred of the little Gideon Testaments every year and participate in an annual distribution of  between 4000 and 5000 copies of God’s word on a college campus in our town.

Then in 2012 a wonderful thing happened.  I was diagnosed with a rather rare form of cancer; a high grade spindle cell sarcoma on my back (about the size of a golf ball).  The surgeon cried when he told me he had seen only two others like that in his 30 years of practice.  I had 30 radiation treatments and so far it hasn’t shown up again, but my oncologist told me recently that it takes only one cell to get it started again.  Don’t you just love the encouragement.

In any event, after this diagnosis and treatment, it began to dawn on me that society seemed to be adopting a new form of greeting.  Everybody seemed to be saying “How are you?”, or “Hi, how are you?” or “How ya doin?” or some variation thereof.  Being the cynical person that I am, I doubt that any of these people really care how I am, but when I ask them if they really care how I am, everybody (except two so far) doubles down and says “Yes, I really care.”

So, I started telling people how I really am, that I have cancer.  Most people don’t know what to say.  So I continue: “I have cancer, but it doesn’t really matter because I get to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven.  How about you?  Do you know where you’re going to spend eternity?”  I got to do it three times in a row while standing in line at the credit union the other day with half a dozen other people listening in.  The next day I got to do it to my dentist’s assistant.  Last night I got to do it when I went to pick up a pizza.  There were a half dozen people in line with me.  The woman in back of me said “that’s an interesting question” so a I said, “well, how about you?”.  She didn’t know so I gave her a Bible.  About a third of the people I say that to don’t have a clue what I’m talking about; another third have prayed to receive Christ as their Savior; the remaining third know what I’m talking about but haven’t prayed to receive Christ. 

I can share the essentials of the gospel in about three minutes, but I usually don’t have the time in line at Wal-Mart (or elsewhere) so I give the cashier a little Gideon New Testament and/or a little tract the size of a business card (see below) that tells how to receive Christ as personal Savior and spend eternity with Jesus in heaven.  Since I have been giving away Bibles and passing out these little tracts I have had only about a half a dozen people refuse them when offered.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “I’m not a Gideon and I don’t have cancer.”

OK, but how do you respond to “How are you?”.  Since 1974, I had been waiting 34 years for someone to ask “How can I become a Christian?”  Nobody ever asked.  Almost everybody asks “How are you?”

Let me suggest that you write out a short little script and practice it.  “Well, I’m tired but you know what, it doesn’t really matter because I get to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven.”  Or, how about “I’m hungry…” or “I’m anxious…” or “I’m thirsty….”, or I’m pregnant…” or “I’m happy as a clam…” or “I’m sad…”.  You get the idea.  “I’m ___________ (you fill in the blank) but it doesn’t really matter because………………….”

Give it a try.  It’s really easy.  Just a word of caution.  When you do this, you need to realize you are entering into spiritual warfare and occasionally you will get a little push-back.  And you’re probably not going to have time to actually pray with someone.  So what?  It doesn’t matter because you get to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven.  And, God knows all about it and He will do the rest.  PTL.

NOTHING MATTERS MORE THAN WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO SPEND ETERNITY.

THERE ARE ONLY TWO PLACES AND ETERNITY IS A LONG TIME.

But what if someone doesn’t ask the magic question?  That happened to me the other day at the grocery store.  Noah was  bagging my groceries.  I was waiting for it.  He didn’t ask.  So, I said “Noah, how you doin?”  He responded immediately with “I’m great, how are you?”.  It never fails.