More than salesmen

Sometimes I get stuck in books of the Bible. For the last good while I have had a bit of trouble getting past Galatians. I’ve read it over and over and over again; my spirit just won’t let go of it. The more I read it though the more I take from it, the more I see how great and powerful Paul was just through his writing; what an authorial role model! His words and flow of text look to me as a priceless work of art and I’m only reading a translation. One particular statement jumped out at me this morning. Talking about how he received the Gospel message Paul writes, “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11-12) There are a couple of great and powerful things that leap forth from this statement. For starters, notice I wrote this is how Paul “received” the Gospel message rather than stating that this is how Paul “heard” the Gospel message. “Well duh, of course Paul didn’t just hear it, He saw Jesus on Damascus road!” Yeah that’s true, but what must be understood here is that the Gospel message of Jesus Christ was nothing new to Paul. Paul knew the message of the Christians and he fervently sought to destroy this new “heretical” movement. How many times did those early persecuted Christians share the good news with Paul? For that matter we know that Paul was present and approving of the stoning of Steven who glorified God until his last breath. So it can be understood easily that Paul had heard the Gospel time and time again. With that being said why is it that we as evangelical Christians base our evangelism on telling other people about Jesus? “Whoa, wait just one minute now! The Bible says were supposed to tell others about Jesus!” Well, in a round about way, yes, we are to tell others about Jesus, but maybe we should take a step back and reevaluate the methods we use to tell others. For Paul it took more than just words, more than just dedicated passion, more than just perseverance through persecution; to reach Paul it took an experience with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Why then do we base our evangelistic approach, those of us whom have one that is, on sharing words with those we are trying to reach? Yes, sometimes we can reach people by sharing our testimonies or explaining the plan of salvation, but how can we expect to tell anyone “good news” when in their own life they are experiencing physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual duress in his or her life. How can we reach these people? How did Jesus reach these people? Surprisingly enough Jesus used a great number of ways to reach those around him. He shared conversation with an unholy woman at a well, He reached out to the sick and hurting giving them physical relief, He showed grace to a prostitute full of disgrace, and He showed Paul through confrontation. Most times words are just not enough. When people are hurting words really don’t help, get-well cards with a little crown emblem on the back are meaningless for those dying because they can’t afford medical treatment, and an “I’ll pray for you” really doesn’t do cut it for one who is stressed and hurting. We must reach this lost and dying world, but sitting back and waiting for people to darken the door of our church ain’t gonna happen and those that do go out and tell others about Jesus usually don’t go too terribly much past that. We must reach this world for Christ; we must reach out to this world and touch it. America needs less to be told about Jesus and more to receive a revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ through those He has indwelled, commanded and commissioned to do so.