Telling Others

How do you feel when you're faced with an impossible job?

I while ago I got into my car, turned the ignition and nothing happened. So I opened the bonnet, and in case the neighbours were watching I tried to look capable - I wiggled a lead here and a spark plug there. In reality I was facing what is, for me, an impossible job. I cannot mend cars. And I felt a bit helpless, a bit discouraged and a bit fraught.

20 minutes later all such feelings had gone. Because the man from ATS had come. And he can mend cars. But on the other hand, in a small way, he involved me. Eg: he asked 'Which car is it, sir?' Well, I can't mend them but I can point at them. 'Could you open the bonnet for me, sir?' Yes. 'Could you start the engine and keep it revving?' Yes. And so on. So that within 15 minutes of him doing what only he could do, with me doing what I could do, it was fixed.

How do you feel about telling others about your faith in Jesus? I guess most of us feel something like me with my car. A bit helpless. A bit discouraged. And possibly a bit fraught. And the reason we feel that way is very important to grasp. We feel that way because we're facing an impossible job.

Impossible for us, that is. You and I cannot bring anyone to faith in Jesus. We cannot change anyone's mind or will. Only God can. And that's the number one lesson that will help us in sharing our faith. Only God can turn people round and bring them to faith in the Lord Jesus. In the spiritual world, only he can work under the bonnet. But as with me and the ATS man, that doesn't leave us with nothing to do. God involves us, but he only asks us to do the possible.

Let me illustrate that from Colossians 1.3. The apostle Paul was writing to a group of people who'd recently turned to Jesus as their Lord. And at the start he reminds them how they'd heard the Christian message.

You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf… (Colossians 1.7)

But look back to 1.3. Paul doesn't thank Epaphras for their conversion. He thanks God:

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus… (1.3-4)

So these people living in this place Colosse came to faith because God did what only he can do; and Epaphras did what he could. Epaphras couldn't change anyone's mind or will or bring anyone to faith. That's God's part. But he could get the message to them. And that's our part. In fact Colossians 4.2-6 tells us three parts we've got - and the good news is that even if they're not always easy, they are possible. They are:

Pray to God Live for God Speak for God

First, PRAY TO GOD (vv2-4)

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. (v.3-4)

All thinking about evangelism (which just means communicating the gospel ('evangel')) has to begin with God. Just as things are transformed by the ATS man arriving, so our view of evangelism is transformed if we remember that God is with us - on the scene, able and willing and going to change other peoples' lives.

Just turn back to Acts 18:6. Paul was speaking at 'Mission '50' (ie AD50) in Corinth. And it wasn't an easy time:

When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But… the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive… [So, v.9:] One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: 'Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no-one is going to harm you, because I have many people in this city.' (Acts 18:6, 9-10)

What transforms evangelism is beginning all our thinking with God. 'I am with you,' he says. ie, 'You're not on your own, I'm not standing at a distance asking you to do the impossible. I'll be working under the bonnet, in peoples' minds and wills.' And the other promise in Acts 18:10 is: 'I have many people in this city.' Ie, 'There are many people in this city who I intend to turn round and bring to faith in me. So, you tell them. I'll turn them.' It doesn't mean everyone will come to faith. It does mean there will be results.

Back to Colossians 4:2. We have to start all thinking about evangelism with God. Evangelism is his idea in the first place. It was his idea to send his Son to die for us. His idea to turn us round and forgive us rather than leave us to rebel all the way to hell. So we can pray for evangelism with the confidence of knowing that God is absolutely behind it. In fact, that he's going ahead of us creating opportunities. Verse 2:

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

So there's one major thing to pray for: 'that God may open a door for our message.' Ie, that God may open up opportunity for us to share the message. God is sovereign over everything: peoples' circumstances, peoples' diaries, peoples' availability, peoples' moods. So, for example, if he wants someone to come to a Mission event, he can over-rule all those things. Or if he wants us to get into conversation informally with someone, he can bring it about. So let's pray for opportunities.

Another thing to pray for is in v4: 'Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should.' It's one thing to have an opportunity, and another thing to take it. If ever we're bringing a friend to hear someone else explain the gospel, pray for that someone to be clear. And if you suddenly realise in conversation that you've got an opportunity, breathe a silent prayer that you'll be clear.

The other thing to pray for is God's work in the person who's not a Christian. In Romans 10.1 Paul wrote: 'My heart's desire and prayer for the Israelites is that they may be saved.' So, pray for opportunity; for clear communication; and for God to do in the other person what only he can do. To help them see themselves as the sinners they really are. And to see Jesus as the Lord and Saviour and Judge which he really is. And to change their minds and wills.

And what we've said so far should stop two things. It should stop pessimism. God wants evangelism to happen. If he intends your friend or my friend to hear the gospel this time round, they'll come. It might not be now - but that's God's business. As a church, we can get on inviting knowing that God wants some of these folk to hear the gospel this time. So, no pessimism.

The other thing is: no pride. Responses are God's part, not ours. If your friend, rather than mine, comes to an event, that's God's business. If your friend rather than mine comes to faith, that's God's business. It's nothing to do with you doing well or me doing badly. It's to do with God saving who he chooses when he chooses how he chooses. So no pride. No competing. No feeling smug if you walk into an event with three friends beside you. No one-upmanship in sharing prayer-requests. Pray to God.


Secondly, LIVE FOR GOD

This is Colossians 4.5:

Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

'Outsiders' means non-Christians - people who are not yet believers in Jesus as their Lord. People who are spiritually 'on the outside', looking in. And if that's you, this evening, can I say: 1) you're very welcome; 2) I hope as a church that we're helping you in finding the answers to things you're asking about Christianity. If we're not, please do tell us. We could always be doing better; and 3) do pray that God would make himself known to you - even if at the moment you're only half sure he's there. Ask him in prayer to make you more sure, so you can respond to him.

But what verse 5 says to Christians is: be wise in the way you act towards non-Christian folk; make the most of every opportunity. The assumption is that time is running out. None of us knows how long we've got before we die. None of us knows how long the world's got before Jesus comes again to wrap up history. And none of us knows which will happen first. All we know is that time is running out for people to hear the gospel and get back on the right side of God through Jesus.

So a Christian's aim should be to help as many people as possible have the opportunity to hear the gospel. But, says verse 5, we have to be wise in how we go about that aim. We could all go out and shout the gospel at people in Northumberland Street like the people who are already there shouting for Jesus. But, with a few exceptions, I guess that does most outsiders no good at all. The way the gospel is best communicated is across the bridge of friendship or at least acquaintance. So what does being wise in this area involve?

Well, for a start, we need to know non-Christian people. New Christians tend to have loads of non-Christian friends. Older Christians - especially if they get more involved in church or CU - can lose touch with non-Christian friends. Some of us need to watch that. Some of us need to spend more time with non-Christian friends and less with Christians. So we need to know outsiders.

But then we need them to know we're Christians. Partly for our sake. Once people know you're a Christian, you know they're watching you. And that helps your behaviour. But mainly for their sake. Because then they can watch your life and learn something about what being a Christian means. (Sobering thought!) And because then they can ask you about Christian things, whereas before they didn't know you knew anything about it.

How to let people know we're Christians probably varies from situation to situation. Saying 'Oh, by the way, I'm a Christian,' totally out of the blue, while you're discussing the Top 20 or the sport is probably not the wisest way. But dropping into conversation the fact you were at church over the weekend or on the CU house party or at CYFA is a pretty strong way of labelling yourself. I leave Bibles around my house and in my car. I read the Bible in public - eg, on trains - which people seem to find both embarrassing and interesting, and it often gets me into conversation. There are any number of ways of letting it be known we're Christians. (But if you go for one of those fish car stickers, then please do the rest of us the favour of driving decently.)

So, we need to know non-Christian folk. We need to be known as Christians. And we need to live consistent Christian lives in front of them. It's no use being known as a Christian but then letting the Lord down by not living for him. And that's where we have to make decisions about how to stay in with friends whose ways of behaviour are totally different from the ones the Lord Jesus wants for us. E.g. a Christian friend of mine got into the University Rugby 1st team. He decided on a post-match policy of 2 beers then onto soft drinks. But he soon found they just put pressure on him to have more, and game after game it was difficult and he didn't always handle it well. So he then decided to have Ribena and lemonade right from the start. No beers at all. And although they called him the 'Ribena boy' from then on, they respected him and a lot of the pressure stopped. Live for God.


Thirdly, SPEAK FOR GOD

This is Colossians 4.6:

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

If we only do the living, but don't try to communicate about the Lord, what will people think as they watch us? They'll think we're nice (for the good things we do) or weird (for the things like not getting drunk that we do) or a combination of the two. They won't associate what we're like with Jesus, so we won't be pointing them to him.

There was a fad on the student scene for what was called 'service evangelism.' The idea was you went around washing up for people in the kitchens in Halls. But if you don't move from v5 to v6, people just think you're nice or weird or both. If all you do is wash up, it's not evangelism at all. It's washing up. Ultimately, we have to speak about the Lord Jesus. Or help people to hear others speak about Jesus. Eg: from speakers at Mission events or the Tavern or Food for Thought or invitation services. Or from Christian books or booklets, or lending a sermon on tape - or whatever. And with people we're close to - house mates or close friends or family - it's easier on the relationship (and often wiser) to invite them to hear a third party speak than for us to speak direct to them. At least, bringing people to hear a third party is a good way in. But not everyone is ready to say, 'Yes' to an invitation and come to an event. Evangelism is a process. Often a long, years-long process where people begin by saying, 'No', to formal events; then they progress to saying 'Yes', but don't show up; then onto saying 'Yes' and actually coming - and so on.

Which is why, verse 6, conversation - out there, in the informal, everyday world - is so important. To which your reaction may be, 'But I can't tell people the gospel just like that in conversation.' If you mean you wouldn't be able to, then can I say you should become able to. If we're Christians, we need to learn how to explain the gospel. That's what we've been doing in Home Groups recently and in Focus on the Gospel. You could pick up the book Know & Tell the Gospel by John Chapman and get learning. But when you say, 'I can't tell people the gospel just like that in conversation,' you may mean, 'You can't just blurt it out!' And on the whole I agree. But Paul isn't suggesting just blurting it out - like a conversational equivalent of the 'shouters' in Northumberland Street. Look at the end of verse 6:

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Which assumes you've been asked a question. In which case you've got permission to speak. One of our fears is: 'They don't want to hear about this.' But if you've been asked a question, you have permission to speak. So one of our aims should be to prompt people to ask us questions.

Often, if we're living consistently for the Lord, our lives will prompt questions. Eg: while she was a student, a Christian girl I know lived on a staircase in halls. The college delivered ½ pint cartons of milk for people each day and left them in a crate at the bottom of the stairs. This Christian girl lived right at the top. And she would come down, collect her carton, but also deliver everyone else's carton on the way back up - leaving one outside each door. Well, one day, a rather hung-over fellow-student in her dressing gown opened her door just after this Christian girl had gone by with the milk.

'Stop!' said the girl at her door, sounding somewhat irritated. 'Is it you who's been doing this all term? Delivering the milk, I mean?' 'Yes,' said the Christian. 'Why do you do it?' asked the other girl. 'I thought it was helpful.' 'But why are you doing it?' 'Because I want to be helpful, I guess.' 'But why?!!' So the Christian took a breath and said, 'Because I'm a Christian, I guess.' To which the girl at the door said, 'Will you come in and have a coffee with me and explain that please?'

What's that? Permission to speak! Sometimes our lifestyles (v.5) will prompt the questions (v.6). But it's good to try to fish for questions in conversation. If you're discussing something with someone you may be able to slip in something like, 'Well, as a Christian, I think…', or, 'As a Christian I couldn't…', etc. 'What's being a Christian got to do with that?' they might ask. Permission to speak! Or asking people questions about what they believe often leads them to asking you what you believe. E.g. in the Globe international students' café the other day, I was talking to a student. He asked, 'Who runs this café?' I said, 'It's a group of Christians… Do you have any beliefs of your own, from family or where you come from?' 'No,' he said, 'I don't believe anything.' That, of course, is true of no-one. Everyone has beliefs. So I said to him, 'You must believe something! For example, what do you think happens after you die?' 'Nothing,' he said, 'You don't exist any more.' 'Well that's a belief, isn't it?' I said. And he looked at me, and it slowly dawned on him: he believed something! And the next thing he said was: 'Why? What do you believe happens after you die?' Permission to speak!

Two final things about conversation. One:

Let your conversation be always full of grace... (v6)

That may mean, 'be gracious' - ie courteous, and respectful of whether the other person wants to talk about Christian things. But it would be an unusual use of the word 'grace'. Paul usually uses 'grace' to refer to the heart of the gospel - God's undeserved, unexpected love shown to us in sending his Son to die for us so we could be forgiven. So he may, rather, be saying: get round to that as much as you can. It's all too easy to talk about the church or CU or Christian morality, but never talk about Jesus. And in particular, grace.

I got into conversation about Christian things with an elderly lady on a train. After a while she said, 'I think it's too late for me… You see, I've been rather a bad girl, you know.' Intriguing! I wondered what was coming next. But clearly she thought God accepted people who earned their acceptance by their goodness. I needed to get 'grace' in there, quickly! So I said, 'Well, it's not good people who go to heaven, it's forgiven people.' And we got talking about that. The other thing is:

let your conversation be… seasoned with salt… (v6)

Salt is distinctive. It stands out against the background. And Paul says Christians should drop the distinctive things of the gospel into conversation. The truths that stand out. Things that draw the lines. Eg: at the Tavern this week I talked to a guy who'd worked in an office with several people from other religions. And they'd all agreed among themselves that they basically all believed the same thing ('different paths up the same mountain'). 'What do you think of that?' he asked. Well, salt was needed! Against the bland, background lie that 'all religions are saying the same thing', I had to say: they're not. They all fundamentally contradict one another. So they might all be false. The one thing they can't all be is true. Salt!

Well, that's Colossians 4:2-6 on telling others. Pray to God. Live for God. Speak for God. And the order matters. If we don't live for God, then when we speak for him, our lives will let our witness down. But above all, we need to go back to God in prayer. Because this is God's work. He can open opportunities and open minds. And he can change us.

It may be we feel a failure in this area. It may be we feel a mixture of willing and yet unwilling. Well, think how Jesus told those first disciples, 'Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' (Mark 1:17) What if we all prayed regularly, 'Lord, here I am. I haven't been all that good at this in the past. I don't feel as willing as I should be. Please help me, and make me a fisher of men'? What a difference the answering of that prayer would make - to us, and to the people around us who don't yet know the Lord.