Considering Methods and Techniques of Evangelism

In the next two chapters of Evangelism for the Rest of Us, Mike Bechtle discusses biblical methods of evangelism and personal techniques which reveals something of a (good) tension. The methods that we use should be biblical, but that doesn’t mean we’ll all use the same method. Or that each of us won’t use the same method each time we bear witness to Jesus Christ.

Scripture includes God’s passion for His glory in the salvation of sinners which includes our bearing witness to Christ’s person and work for that salvation. If Scripture is our norm or authority (it is!), then it reveals to us methods of evangelism. We should pay attention to the contexts of those examples of evangelism as well as how they parties involved interacted with those who don’t believe. Some of them came to faith, and others did not.

Not everyone Paul and Peter (and Stephen among others) shared their faith with came to faith. We should not expect everyone we share our faith with to come to faith either. We should have realistic expectations.

One of the examples Bechtle brings us is from 2 Kings 7 dealing with the lepers who discover Israel’s enemies had been defeated and tell the people starving in Samaria. I struggle with this example. I agree with his premise: evangelism is “one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.” A number of others have made this assertion. They are reporting a redemptive act on Israel’s behalf. I guess I struggle with this as an earthly deliverance. It really isn’t the gospel so much as a type or foreshadowing. He needed to develop this further to show how this earthly deliverance connects with God’s covenant faithfulness revealed in Christ who died for our sins and kept the law for us. This is an example of the ‘imperfect witness’ he discusses next.

What I’m saying is this. At times Bechtle himself is not really clear about what the gospel actually is. For instance, later in this chapter he misses or neglects the reality of the double imputation I mentioned above: His bearing our sin and giving us His righteousness. Salvation is not less than forgiveness but more than that. It is about pardon and being declared righteous (not simply innocent). We are imperfect witnesses, and won’t say everything right. He still sin, and we don’t always use the right words. In a book we can’t include everything (this intends to be a short book, not a tome). But we should be as clear as possible.

We evangelize as justified people, not people seeing to be justified. We are righteous and have an established, unchangeable status with God. We are not trying to earn said status. This means, in part, that we can be honest about our sin including sin toward those we want to tell about Christ. That very sin may be what opens the door to talk about Christ’s work for us. We should be authentic, not used car salesmen, who own up to our weakness and struggle but rely on the supreme and sufficient Savior. Bearing witness has an objective aspect (what Christ has done for sinners), and a subjective aspect (our testimony about how Christ worked in my life).

“We’re not saved from every problem; we’re given his strength to face them, his presence to walk with us through them, and his patience to help us grow in the midst of them.”

One way of thinking about evangelism is to introduce mutual friends. Bechtle notes that we often go by personal recommendations when looking for someone to fix our car or home and a doctor to help us with a health problem. We aren’t selling a product, but recommending a person. We can’t make the person entrust themselves to Christ.We persuade, extolling His virtues and connecting them with their needs.

He mentions some pictures of this persuasion: salt, seed and light. In terms of salt he mentions that we often present the gospel in small doses, numerous conversations. We want to make them thirsty, preserve them (restraining sin) and provide some flavor. Too much salt hinders growth. In terms of light we reflect the light of Christ, shine on Christ instead of self. Seed is something we sow, but it grows apart from our work. We only control an environment. Not all the seed will grow. Growth, or harvest, takes time. It is not immediate. All of these pictures remind us to relax. Don’t focus on results so much as the process.

In our current culture we should be aware of the loss of civility. Being salt and light means being gentle and respectful, not forceful and angry. We can be passionate, but also humble. We can’t be so worked up about moral issues that we forget our own need for the Savior.

By knowing the people around us, we can speak to them during or after the “earthquakes” that take place in their lives. They all have them. You have to be there beforehand to gain trust. He notes that often we put up obstacles, thinking that being a good witness is filling our cubicles with “Christian posters” or knick knacks. We don’t have to force Jesus into every water cooler conversation. But we can and should “build relationships with fellow employees based on the common ground found in our daily tasks.” The same is true for neighbors. I don’t walk around spouting off Scripture verses. I’m building relationships with some based on common interests. We are intended to live among the lost, and you do. You may not like it and may run from it. Salt, seeds and light must be present to make an impact. As I recently told my congregation, you are here for the gospel. That “here” is home, office, neighborhood etc. But God placed you “here” for the gospel.

In the next chapter Bechtle reminds us that not only will one size not fit all for us, it won’t for the opportunities we have to share the gospel. A hammer is very helpful if you are driving (or pulling) nails. It is not so helpful for driving screws, cutting wood or wires, laying concrete etc. You need a tool box of evangelism techniques to share the gospel with the various people you know in the many different contexts. You should be building your tool box as a result. It is helpful to be familiar with evangelism explosion, the bridge illustration, the Romans Road, Two Ways to Live, the Great Story (creation, fall, redemption & glory), cultural connections (the trending section on FB to know what is going on), etc. The better you understand the Bible, the better you’ll be able to communicate it to people in a gracious way that meets their circumstances. You don’t want to be one of those people relying on a 12-in-1 tool all your life (helpful in emergencies but not too good for intentional and varied work- if that is all your contractor has, get a new contractor). Some will “fit” you better. Know your limitations, as Dirty Harry advised. Set healthy boundaries in light of your resources and limitations.

Who you are may also shape the means of evangelism. You could use these methods and techniques in street preaching or blogging. They are very different, and not for everyone. Engage in evangelism using the gifts and interests God gave you even as you share about your weaknesses, struggles and needs.

This is moving us from sales pitches to customer service. It also moves us from expert to information gatherer. Learn from the people you want to share with. Ask about their work or hobby. That is part of relationship building, but also gaining knowledge you can use in the future in other relationships. Be a person who grows in wisdom and favor with God and man. This will make you someone more comfortable with and likely to engage in evangelism.

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Considering the Secret Life of Boys

I was bored.

CavMom keeps renewing a subscription to Family Circle for CavWife. Sometimes I flip thru it to look for good recipes.

I stopped when it talked about the Secret Life of Boys. It was an interesting article on the dynamics of relationships among boys summarized from her book . Each boy in a circle of 3-5 friends seems to fit into an established role. Those roles are identified as:

Mastermind: He’s the ringleader, charismatic and good at identifying people’s weaknesses. He gains power and control over the group (think Alex in A Clockwork Orange). He fears losing his status and can’t admit when he’s in over his head.

Associate: He’s the right-hand man. He’s essentially the “best friend” who can be honest with the mastermind. He gains power by association. He has power and status he would never have apart from the mastermind. But often they lose their sense of identity apart from the mastermind.

Bouncer: or enforcer. It would be Dim in A Clockwork Orange. People skills are not his forte. He’s the one who can enforce the will of the mastermind. He often forfeits the ability to have healthy relationships.

Entertainer: he’s the village idiot who make people laugh. That is his identity: comic relief. He has to keep cutting up to feel valuable.

Conscience: here is the guy who tells the truth, and is often trusted by adults. He will be left out when the others want to cross some lines. He is often used as the smokescreen with parents.

Punching Bag: he’s like the little brother everyone loves by picks on mercilessly. He pays a high price for friendship, but feels it is necessary.

Fly: he hovers around the group, desperately wanting to get in. They often try to earn the acceptance of the rest with gifts and favors.

Champion: he doesn’t play by these rules. He makes his own friends and is genuinely liked by people in many groups. But people will turn on him when he tries to do the right thing instead of playing alone. Most parents think their kid is a champion, but they aren’t. They are rare.

The main point is that these are boys trying to act like men. They are trying to figure it out, but they have not figured it out. It is a sad parody of adult male relationships.

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Considering the Trip to General Assembly

Last year CavWife set the wheels in motion. She was envious that I got to spend time with some of our best friends from Florida. With Greenville the site for this year’s GA, she believed she and the kids should travel with me and spend time with some of our friends.

We tried various permutations. But like Jerry to Babu, it was looking like the wheels were just spinning, not going anywhere. I was not excited about the prospect of driving across the country for General Assembly, heading north for vacation and then driving back to the AZ. Not restful at all, and I had a bad back experience in April. Thankfully we found a flight deal that was only slightly more expensive than if we just flew to the Northeast for vacation.

We would fly into Atlanta, rent a van to drive to Greenville and then return to Atlanta to fly into Newark and begin our vacation. Sounds great, right?

The kids couldn’t wait. They wanted to pack about a week ahead of time. We had to keep putting them off. That is always fun.

But the magic day arrived. I had much to do to prepare for that day: liturgy for the entirety of my time away, most of my sermon prep for the week I got back … and so on.

We had an afternoon flight out of town, so we had a good lunch at home before being driven to the airport by a friend. We had a short layover in Denver that concerned me. We had 30 minutes to get from one flight to another with 2 car seats and 4 kids. I was losing sleep over this.

And then our flight out was delayed. And delayed again. This wasn’t good. But we were assured that our flight would be held since it was the last flight out of Denver for Atlanta and 17 of us were making the connection. Okay.

Though we left late, the flight was essentially uneventful. Thankfully our departure gate was not far from our arrival gate in Denver. We even had time to go to the bathroom since that flight was delayed. Soon we were in the air for the relatively short flight to Atlanta.

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Considering Saints and Sexual Immorality

Only one set of sins has its own chapter in The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung. He does not address that set of sins because it is popular to do so (in some circles it is easy to do so).

He addresses them for two reasons. The first is their connection to union in Christ, which Paul draws out in 1 Corinthians 6. The second is that they seem to be the blind spot for the contemporary American Christian. That might not seem obvious to us. Each generation and culture has its blind spots. Earlier generations had a blind spot on issues of race. That is one reason the practice was able to flourish in largely Christian nations. That was why Jim Crow laws and other manifestations of systematic racism were common in this nation in which most people would classify themselves as a Christian.

Sexual sins surround us. Part of Kevin’s point is that while we still call the most grievous manifestations sin (few Christians refuse to call adultery and pornography use sinful) but we have seen an erosion of our sexual mores that represents a significant departure from the biblical standard. Things like fornication, nudity in movies, songs encouraging non-marital sex etc. have become so common place that we are not shocked anymore, and don’t seem to mind them.

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Considering the Arithmetic of Human Relationships

In Seinfeld they talked about having “hand”, short for “the upper hand”, in a relationship. This is not to be confused with George’s short time as a hand model. They were addressing the reality that in relationships there is often one in control, the one who has the most power in the relationship.

This is not particular to human. My sister-in-law’s German short hair pointer Billy was “top dog” in their neighborhood for years. Those years have caught up to him, so he’s probably lost that status. The top dog is literally the dog on top because the dog on the bottom has submitted. He’s the boss.

Yesterday on the Shamrock Farms tour, I learned that cows have a pecking order. One is the boss and all the others know their place in line and follow along. This usually makes life much easier for the dairy farmer. Control the one cow, and you control the others in her group of 20.  When you have 10,000 cows, you can see why this matters.

Relationships are all about negotiating the balance of power.  Typically the one least concerned with the relationship has more power, “hand” and is in the driver’s seat. They have less need for the other person’s love, affection, admiration, attention etc. So they are less likely to be manipulated into doing the other person’s will.  We can see this in the recent labor negotiation in the NFL and NBA. The owners typically have the upper hand- they don’t need the sport to make a living. They have other revenue streams. The players on the other hand are dependent upon their paychecks.  Unions are only successful if a company has no other revenue streams. But in these cases, they don’t.

Edward Welch addresses this in his latest book, What Do You Think of Me? Why Do I Care?.

“We prefer to be liked, loved, admired more than we want to like, love, or admire. That imbalance gives power in a relationship, and by power I mean the less invested person has less chance of being hurt. So goes the arithmetic of human relationships.”

There you have it. The person who wants out of a relationship usually has all the power, unless the other person poses a physical, emotional or financial danger.  Most of us cave in when the other person leaves. What are our options? Unless we are willing to blackmail, beat or rob them blind we recognize we can’t win and move on with life.

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Considering Modesty

I’ve written on modesty recently. It is not a popular topic. It is an under-addressed topic, including among Christians. The issue was driven home to me the other day while checking the Fox News website. Under their style section, there was an article on how to best present your “girls”. I did not click the link since I didn’t need to see “well presented” breasts. My calling is to be satisfied with the breasts of the wife of my semi-youth. Most men want to see them, but this is meant to be part of the exclusivity of marriage- I am to enjoy my wife’s, and not those of another. This is not so easy with many women wanting to display theirs for all the world to see.

In his book Undefiled, Harry Schaumburg has a number of appendices. One of them is on modesty. In light of 1 Timothy 2, he says that one of the male issues tends to be “anger or quarreling.” This is painful to hear, but you see it all the time. Too many times I hear such quarreling come from my own lips, including with my wife. I can be a contrarian at times. I am not immune.

The female issue Paul addresses in that same text is modesty. “Women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness- with good works.”

Paul hits displays of wealth. It is immodest to display one’s material wealth. It can quickly establish sinful barriers in the body of Christ. Men can be guilty of this, no doubt.  But women are especially vulnerable to this. One of the things that drew me to CavWife was the absence of flash. Of course, she was not wealthy. But aside from a few earrings, she did not wear jewelry or much make-up. Her concern was with inner beauty.

It is also immodest to display one’s physical assets with plunging necklines, short shorts, miniskirts and the like. It is a heart issue. Such people (men can also do this, and as pathetically comical as it sounds I did). In our hearts we want to be desirable, found to be attractive. And so, out of this messed up heart comes the flaunting of the physical and material so that people will notice us and find us attractive or important.

Schaumburg quotes Carolyn Mahaney regarding this:

“If we earnestly apply his word in our hearts, it will be displayed by what we wear. When it comes to selecting clothes to buy and wear, however, we can often feel lost and confused. Which items are seductive and immodest and which display a heart of modesty and self-control?”

I understand that sometimes this comes from a place of sexual brokenness, a lack of appropriate boundaries due to abuse. I remember one group I led with a female friend. One of the women in the group often wore revealing clothing. I was not sure how to address that, and should have talked with my co-leader. But one day it became clear.  She announced that the janitor at work has placed his hand on her breast. She asked us, “is that okay?”.  She thought she was community property, and by her dress he sinfully thought so too.

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Considering Nakedness

In preparing my sermon on the sin of Ham (and Noah), I was reminded of the Seinfeld episode when Jerry had a new girlfriend who liked to be naked.  There was “good” naked, and “bad” naked.  Jerry sadly discovered that his “bad” naked moment was enough to drive off the girlfriend with whom he tried to connect over nakedness.

In the account of Genesis 9:18ff, Noah inadvertently became drunk and lay “uncovered” inside his tent.  Ham, his youngest son, saw his “nakedness.”  He is contrasted with his brothers who refused to look upon their drunk and naked father.  This was clearly an example of “bad” naked.

We struggle with nakedness, at least most of us do.  We really don’t want people to see us naked.  I’m thinking of the guy next to me in the restroom yesterday who tried to fit his entire body into the urinal lest anyone get an inadvertent glimpse of his stuff.  Very few of us are exhibitionists.  Male exhibitionists tend to get arrest, and female exhibitionists tend to get jobs- but that is a different discussion.  Why do we struggle with naked?

In Genesis 2 we read this:

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

The word for naked in this pre-fall state is ‘arom.  It indicates a lack of concealment or disguise.  This is a good exposure- the type necessary for intimacy.  There was no shame associated with this.  Neither tried to hide, or said “ick”.  It was, very good.

Pere Mates

After they disobeyed God, Adam and Eve realized they were naked.  They were suddenly not so comfortable, and concealed their private parts from one another (even though they were married).  Then they hid from God out of fear.  They felt shame.  Something was different about this naked.

The word is different, though from the same root.  ‘erom has the sense of being defenseless, weak or humiliated.  It is clearly “bad” naked.

I recalled a series of letters to the editor years ago.  I responded to an advocate of public nudity.  He didn’t think there was anything wrong with walking around naked.  He was thinking Genesis 2 naked.  But the reality of the matter is that we now experience Genesis 3 naked.  Oh, we have glimpses of the Genesis 2 kind in the marriage bed, and no reasonable person freaks out if they bathe their young children or are seen by their young children.  But the rest of the time….

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The Dark Side of Sports

The defamation suit filed by Roger Clemens against Brian McNamee has resulted in some unintended consequences for the Rocket.  Lots of allegations against him regarding his personal life (which his suit claimed pointed to his sterling character).  You could see this coming, but it is still sad whether the allegations are true or not.  Roger issued a Giambi-like apology while denying the allegations.  My, that was helpful.  Either he has the worst lawyer ever, or he is the worst client ever.  This rivals the Seinfeld episodes with Kramer’s fast-talking lawyer to whom he never listened.

But another story caught my eye.  It took place in Nashua, NH.  This would be the small New England city in which I grew up.  It involved fans of the Red Sox and a Yankees fan.  And what unfolded was a pathetic testimony to how some people take this thing way too seriously.

I am an avid Red Sox fan.  I’ll admit I’ve had a few lively dialogues while attending games in Tampa (actually the Rays play in St. Pete which is an additional 45 minutes away).  Mostly that was challenging outrageous claims on omniscience on the part of Rays fans.  I once asked a guy if he was God since he seemed to know so much about the motivation of a man he never met.

The Yankees are our “arch enemy”.  I saw some ugly events as a child in Fenway sitting in the right field seats in the late 70’s.  Reggie Jackson was verbally abused continuously.  Yankees’ fans were also attacked verbally and with beverages.  I do not condone any of those actions, but detest them.  Some of my best friends are Yankees’ fans.  We have a playful rivalry, not one that is life and death.  I’ve even watched them play one another, in the playoffs, with some of my Yankee fan friends.

But, in Nashua things got ugly after a fist fight between 2 women (what are we coming to?).  One stomped off to her car and the crowd noticed the Yankees’ bumper sticker.  The taunts began.  [for the record, you may not like the Yankees, but they certainly do not stink or any related term.]  She responded by driving straight for the crowd.  Admittedly she had been drinking and her decision-making process somewhat impaired.  Theirs undoubtedly was too.  For she thought they’d move; and they thought she’d stop.  But she ran into the crowd killing a man.

Sports is no reason to kill a person.  Yet this happens all over the world, not just in Nashua, NH.  We will never be able to coexist as long as we gain our identity in someone or something other than Christ.  We will protect our idols, even if we have to kill.  This, folks, is who we are- all too often.

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