The Philosophy of Evangelism

Not a day passes but that the world is discovering the frustration that results in attempting to understand Christian activity apart from Christian teaching. To my Soviet interrogators, my faith was an incorporeal experience and nothing more. It wasn't difficult for me, knowing their definition, to understand their amazement over my actions.

The paint is that Christianity is more than an experience. Many Christian people in their haste to spread their joy, relate a subjective experience rather than objective truths. While this is a great deal safer (in that people do not seem nearly as threatened by personal experience), it is also infinitely less productive than the presentation of objective, invasive truths.

The essence of Christ's great commission rests in what He has taught us, not what He has done for us (important and precious as this is). Only Christ's teaching can work a similar inner miracle in another's life. If what we share with the world is solely a subjective experience, we run the risk of seeing it routinely tossed into the world's ever-growing bag of experiences. The only factor that sets the Christian experience apart from Krishna-consciousness, spiritism, existentialism or what-have-you, is the intrinsic truth of Christianity.

However, a philosophy of evangelism must encompass more than what we share; it must include the why. Why do we share? There appear to be two reasons why every Christian needs to share the Gospel message with others: obedience and life purpose. Although the two are linked together in the sense that obedience is the life purpose of every Christian, our immediate design is to examine this philosophy of evangelism from both an objective and a subjective standpoint.

A Kingdom Not of This World

In Evgeny Barabanov's brilliant essay, "The Schism Between the Church and the World," he establishes a fundamental flaw in the thinking of the Russian Church (and to my mind, in the Western Church as well) which left the door ajar to humanistic activists:

Heavenward aspirations often went hand in hand with execration of the earth. Too often the ideal of salvation was built on a foundation of inflexible renunciation of this world. Thus salvation itself was understood as an escape from the material world into a world of pure spirituality[5]

The Soviet State had a message for the Church, and it came in the form of a cynical resolution by the Soviet Central Committee:

You say you are not of this world, well then, there is nothing for you to do in this world.[6]

Perhaps this is a message the Church wants to hear. It would certainly appear that way when one observes her extreme reticence to handle any of the burning issues of our day. The primary line of reasoning is that admitting political and social issues into the Church tends to encourage factionalism, which in turn erodes unity. I quite agree when no clear biblical guideline is evident, but there are plenty of clear-cut issues on which the Church must take a stand.

Be that as it may, there is one thing of which we may be certain: If we do not want to be involved in this world, there are scores of godless people who will gladly take our political and social "burdens" from us. With responsibility goes authority; by abdicating our responsibilities, we in turn lose our voice and authority in the world. The Church's message to the humanistic princes of this world has been clear—"You go ahead and run things. Just let us go on with our fellowship." This "drop out" mentality was noted by Bob Dylan in his hit song "Desolation Row":

Ophelia she's 'neath the window
for her I feel so afraid
on her twenty-second birthday
she already is an old maid
to her death is quite romantic
he wears an iron vest
her profession's her religion
her sin is her lifelessness.[7]

What a travesty that the Church of Jesus Christ should be indicted for lifelessness! Our detachment from this world has made a mockery of our message. Perhaps our callousness stems from our obliviousness, but perhaps not. The fact remains, according to the words of Christ, that a Christian is one not only called out of the world but sent back into the world as well. Certainly the good news of Christianity is not limited to the world beyond the grave.

Recently I observed two women engaged in a strange, new Christian ritual. They'd spent quite some time discussing the miserable state of the world, fuming over this and fretting about that—all the while gesticulating their distress in a most remarkable manner. Eventually, just prior to wrapping up the solemn conversation, they slapped each other on the back and asked with enormous smiles, "Aren't you glad Jesus is coming to take us out of this mess?"

This longing for "home" affects us all at times, and there is assuredly nothing wrong with this. That is, until we become so intoxicated by other-worldly thinking that we neglect to maintain the present. Malcolm Muggeridge put it this way: "I often pined for total detachment from a society whose standards I despise and whose future prospects I regard as catastrophic, but in which I, nonetheless, have an inescapable stake."[8]

How many times has it happened that an athletic team has found a weak opponent scheduled prior to some important contest, and wound up getting beaten? They had their minds on future matters while their bodies were trying to conduct present business.

Jesus said we were to be in the world but not of it. He said we were to be the salt of the earth. He said we were to occupy until He returned—so let's get on with it! Let's occupy territory for the kingdom of God. Let's work on preserving our society from wanton destruction by actively pursuing and demonstrating righteousness. We are behind In a game we ought to be winning!

Mannequins, Popcorn and Cheer

Those of you who are scratching your heads, asking what in the world this heading means, need some explanation.

If we are going to conquer this world for Christ, there are three points to remember: we must allow Him to speak for Himself; we must let Him do what He wants; and we must do what He says. If the following illustration will help you to remember these three ingredients, it will have served its purpose.

Definition: Mannequin—

Something which allows you to create appearance and display your own tastes.

One would almost think from the looks of things these days that Jesus Christ owns the biggest wardrobe in town. Everyone from the liberal theologian trying to legitimize homosexuality, to the local youth pastor trying to prove the great commission means halloween parties, have an outfit in which they feel Jesus looks especially nice. Church board meetings, Jesus rock concerts, revival meetings, encounter groups—you name it—after the program kickoff, Jesus will inevitably appear to rubber-stamp His support of any and alI activities. So today, as if Jesus could no longer speak for Himself, He is wheeled onto platforms, into meetings, used everywhere His name might be helpful in legitimizing men's deeds. Everybody's "dressin' up" Jesus.

How ludicrous it is to think we can force Jesus into our garments. Jesus Christ can never be a mannequin, for a mannequin is at the mercy of the clothing designer and Jesus chooses His own clothes. In addition (for the benefit of those who didn't know), Jesus only owns one suit…

And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God…

And on His Robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." —Revelation 19:13,16 (NASB)

To present Jesus Christ dressed any other way is to present a false Christ. He will only be who He is, He will only speak for Himself. Let us, each one, temper our words accordingly.

Definition: Popcorn—

Something which makes the main attraction that much more enjoyable.

We in the West are living in a system designed to provide material satisfaction. This system, as Alvin Toffler points out, is generating "experience makers" and "creating an economy geared to the provision of psychic gratification."[9] The more "in-depth" the experience, the better. In other words, an experience involving three senses is preferable to that which stimulates only two. The search is on for the total, sensual-immersion experience.

One of the leading experience manufacturers today is the movie industry. Hollywood launches lavish productions, costing millions of dollars, on a regular basis. The only drawback seems to be that although they're veritable feasts for the eyes and ears (and thanks to Sensurround, the touch), the olfactory nerves and taste buds are unimpressed.

Ah, but not for long! Accommodating as they are, proprietors of movie theaters across the land have solved the problem. The first thing that meets the eye in almost every theater one enters any more is a glass or plastic cubicle sitting atop a concessions counter with the words, "hot, salty, buttered popcorn" emblazoned across the front. At an additional cost (usually about double the price of your ticket), you can experience the thrill of titillating all your senses simultaneously. Bear in mind, however, that despite the cost, the popcorn itself is not the main attraction. It rather serves to make the main attraction just a little bit more enjoyable.

What folly to think that the King of the universe would consent to cater to our selfishness, that he would provide religious seasoning in order to make our cuisine of self-indulgence palatable.

Jesus Christ is not the main attraction in our lives. He is the only attraction. He lives in us, He is all of us—everything we do, everything we say, everything we are. He does what He wants to with our lives. This is why He will reject every effort we make to incorporate Him as an appendage to our lifestyles; even if that appendage is disguised as the major thrust of our lives!

Definition: Cheer—

Something an observer does to feel like a participant.

During my high school years, I indulged in the American craze known as football. In the Los Angeles City School System where I played (and studied a little), the fellows became varsity or B-level players depending on their "exponents" (a combination of age, height and weight). Due to my not-so-massive frame, I played on the "B" team. Since our game was played prior to the varsity contest, this afforded us the opportunity to both play and watch football every Friday night.

As a general rule the fellows on the "B" team would sit together in the bleachers and root for the varsity. I must admit that in spite of our volume and enthusiasm, we never influenced the outcome of the game. It seems strange that one could feel so much like a participant and yet in actuality be so impotent to effect any results. But just being in the proximity and atmosphere of the action wasn't enough. The only fellows truly influencing the outcome of the game were the dirty, weary players down on the field.

An analogous situation exists in Christendom today. This contest is between the forces of heaven and the powers of darkness. The stakes are far higher, however, when you consider the value of a human soul. Every Sunday the evangelical bleachers fill with eager believers. The cheering section is even replete with cheerleaders in the form of choir directors, associate pastors and song leaders. When the music begins, we sing "I Surrender All," when in actuality we offer very little, or "He Is Lord" when He is not. Somehow we can feel the tide of the battle turning when we sing " Onward, Christian Soldiers" in spite of the fact "Protestant churches have long ago become like N.A.T.O., a headquarters without an army."[10]

Why sit we here until we die?

There is an interesting story in the book of 2 Kings that speaks in the simplest of terms to the deteriorating situation of an ailing Church. Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, had decided to besiege Samaria. If one possesses sufficient patience, laying siege can be a very effective military tactic. Often It involves nothing more than encircling a fortified position and waiting. In time, supply routes are cut, and the enemy will either starve or surrender.

The whole operation actually went quite well for Ben-Hadad. This becomes evident when you scan the menu inside the city:

Donkey's Head…………………………………80 shekels (silver)
One Pint of Dove's Dung.………………5 shekels (silver)
Boiled Sons………………………………………no price mentioned

The situation was bleak for the inhabitants of Samaria.

Numbered among the residents of the city were four leprous men who sat at the entrance of the gate. Given their perspective at the time, life's silver lining was pretty tattered. As they looked outside the city, they saw the Syrian army perched like vultures awaiting their prey. Inside the city, starvation had taken its toll and panic was beginning to set in. Then, as they tried to cover their eyes from the sight, they were reminded of their own leprous, decaying flesh. Finally, motivated by desperation, they came to that pivot point where one realizes things are not going to improve and, for better or for worse, decided to "do something." They asked themselves, "Why sit we here until we die?"

Perhaps for the Church of Jesus Christ, standing in the twilight of a spent civilization, it is high time we ask ourselves the same question. A fatalistic, apocalyptic policy of laissez-faire doesn't seem quite in order while society is decaying and collapsing around us. Do we doubt that society is collapsing? In light of the ample visual and statistical evidence available today, it is doubtful that anyone other than a naive idealist or fanatic optimist could believe it is not. Nevertheless, the question remains: Just how bad do things have to get before we take action? Are we waiting until our nation is completely trampled into dust—until we are ultimately and utterly consumed? Why sit We here until we die?

When you read further in this biblical account, it's interesting to note that four desperate lepers discovered that God had driven the Syrians out of their camp. God had spoken earlier through Elisha concerning the release that was to come, bur the officialdom would have none of it.

Then Elisha said, 'Listen to the word of the LORD; thus says the LORD, "Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria." And the royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, 'Behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?' Then he said, 'Behold you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.' —2 Kings 7:1-2 (NASB)

The cynical unbelief of the royal officer became his death sentence. Unlike the four lepers who had also concluded the situation was nearly terminal, he neglected to add two vitally important ingredients to the situation—hope and action. Did not the word of the Lord through the prophet Elisha provide sufficient grounds for the exercise of faith and the manifestation of hope?

When we respond to the Word of the Lord with hope and action, we will surely live to see His deliverance. If, on the other hand, we allow circumstances to foster unbelief, then we shall perish.

So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned to have change of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had said… —2 Kings 7.:16-17 (NASB)

In the New Testament this same issue is addressed in Jesus' parable of the pounds (Matthew 25:14). Jesus, speaking of Himself, describes a certain nobleman who prepares to leave on a long journey. He gathers his servants together in order to deliver parting instructions. As they stand before him he gives pounds (or talents) to each one with the command, "Occupy till I come."

Eventually the nobleman returns to reckon with his servants. One has gained ten pounds, another five. Yet another comes with the word that his pound is wrapped up in a napkin and safely hidden. The master is delighted with the productivity of the first servants. The last servant, however, is a different matter. His report ignites the nobleman's fury.

Why was the master angry? What was the basic difference between the first servants and the last? I think it can be summed up in a word—inactivity. He simply didn't do anything with his pound. He had somehow failed to understand, or more likely failed to act upon, his master's instructions to "Occupy till I come." The consequences were severe.

And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. —Matthew 25:30

The Master's servants still have difficulty interpreting His instruction today. Many seem to be convinced that it means, "Occupy this church pew until the Lord returns." It has become simply a matter of obtaining our salvation, wrapping it up nicely in religious trappings and waiting. "Suffocating indifference" is the way Leonard Ravenhill put it:

We Christians are so willfully smug to the lostness of men! We are chronically lazy and so callously indifferent! As lax, loose, lustful and lazy Laodiceans, we are challenging God to spew us out of His mouth.[11]

Who will release the prisoners of the earth? Alexander Solzhenitsyn in a recent, smoldering editorial asked this poignant question: "Do we have the freedom of indifference to a distant alien's trampled freedom?"[12] Consider the following scripture before you answer.

Deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, O hold them back. If you say, 'See, we did not know this,' does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work? —Proverbs 24:11 (NASB)

Solzhenitsyn continues:

In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand-fold in the future.[13]

If we wait for history to present us with freedom and other precious gifts, we risk waiting in vain. History is us—and there is no alternative but to shoulder the burden of what we so passionately desire and bear it out of the depths.[14]

A Mysterious Army

Our generation has, probably had more than its share of revolution. It doesn't really matter whether you study the "professionals," a la Lenin, Mao and Castro, or the special interest terrorist groups, be they German, Japanese, Italian or Palestinian—the results are identical. Revolution begins with a barrage of inflamed rhetoric and ends with bloodshed and tyranny. When the dust has finally settled, one tyranny has replaced another in the name of progress.

Karl Marx said that "Philosophers have only interpreted the world differently; the point is, however, to change it." The fact remains that neither Marx nor his successors approached the problem of changing the world with enough force. Their weapons of destruction, both ideological and military, were (and still are) far too feeble. All the apparatuses of war in any nation's arsenal are just as capable of being destroyed as they are of destroying. Furthermore, as history has proven, one ruler's ideology is vulnerable to being replaced by the next. In order to change this world, it's going to take a force that is not of this world.

Such a force exists. God is raising up a mysterious army unlike any of which the Pentagon or the Kremlin have ever dreamed. It is unique, powerful, growing, but it is not new. It cannot be stopped by any weapon or barrier known to man. It is relentless and determined. There are no conscripts in this army, it is entirely volunteer. It is an army made up of the dead… who are all very much alive.

I shall not give the impression that the princes of this world are afraid or unable to make war against this army, but it can't be destroyed. Trifling with this heavenly army becomes a study in frustration. The enemy dispatches one soldier and ten more spring up in his place. As I mentioned to a Soviet lieutenant in 1973, the repressive regimes of the world would be wise to take notes from history, for whenever the Church has been persecuted, that is precisely when it has flourished. The blood of martyrs has always been the seed of the Church. It has been estimated that for every Christian that perished in the Roman coliseum there were twelve to sixteen new converts in the stands. It's like trying to put out a fire by dousing it with gasoline. The most effective action against this army is no action.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me… —Galatians 2:20

As one surveys the life of our Lord Jesus, the magnitude of His accomplishments cannot help but diminish all tendency toward self-congratulatory conversation. Jesus accomplished infinitely more in just thirty-three years than most of us could hope to conclude in a full lifetime. As J. Oswald Sanders observed, "He spent His time doing things that mattered."[15]

In Jesus' High Priestly Prayer, there are recorded for us some of the most thrilling words in the entire Bible.

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. —John 17:4

These words are an example to us. I wonder how many of us, were we to be ushered before the throne of God today, could make such a statement? Let us order our lives in such a way that we might one day experience the deep, eternal satisfaction of repeating these words of Jesus before our Father.

We end by posing C. S. Lewis' question, from his book Mere Christianity: "One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. If there is a God, you are, in a sense, alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about your next-door neighbors, or memories of what you have read in books. What will all that chatter and hearsay count (will you even be able to remember it?) when the anesthetic fog which we call 'nature' or 'the real world' fades away, and the Presence in which you have always stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable?"