It’s not my place to convince anyone of the truth of Christianity. Christians are called to be neither an arguing attorney nor judge. All I’m called to do is be a witness, nothing more, nothing less. As Jesus said:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26-27)
And while being a witness, I’ll rely on the Holy Spirit to do the convincing. As Jesus also said, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12-13).
Finally, notice the role of the Holy Spirit. D.L. Moody once said, “There is no better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.”
Do you have friends or family you’d like to introduce to Jesus? If you’re like me, the idea of doing such a thing can be almost terrifying. I have plenty of memories from before I became Christian of pushy evangelists who did more to drive me away from Jesus than pull me to Him. They had only the greatest intentions, but their excessive boldness just turned me off. Maybe that’s why I’m definitely not a pushy evangelist myself—not my style.
Anyway, I have an idea for a possibly less pushy way to introduce someone to Jesus. Give them a book about Jesus. What I’ve found is letting someone else speak to my friend through the pages of a book is far easier than me trying to find the words myself. And based on my experience with this particular book, I think this approach might work for lots of people.
Of course I’m talking about the novel I recently published, We Called Him Yeshua. After all, a big reason I wrote this book was to provide a way to easily introduce people to Jesus. And I wrote it as a novel because it’s far easier for many of us to follow a story, than some kind of preachy sermon in a Christian non-fiction style (though, those are some of my favorite Christian books).
The story in We Called Him Yeshua shows Jesus not only as the Son of God, but also as the son of man, as he liked to call himself. The characters in the story (along with those who read it), see Jesus as another person, though of course a person with incredible power.
Look, it’s easier to understand and relate to a person, than to a God. For those who don’t know Jesus, maybe first getting to know him as a man will give them the desire to get to know him more fully. Maybe after reading We Called Him Yeshua, they will then want to read about Jesus in the Bible.
If you’re interested, please check out the book now, while the price is still as low as Amazon will allow. This coming Monday, April 27th, the price will increase. Click on the image below to go to the Amazon book page.
Julie is a friend who has a passion for “bringing people to Jesus.” Her passion comes from a sincere conviction that God is calling her to this task. Her energy and dedication also come from a heart-felt concern for anyone she knows who does not also know Jesus. Her motivation is honest and completely centered on the well-being of the other person. There is no selfishness or condemnation in any of Julie’s efforts to introduce someone to the love of Jesus. She lives in near-poverty just so she can be close to the people she feels called to save.
Many people believe that we Christians are responsible for “bringing people to Jesus.” After all, Jesus Himself told us to: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:19)
By her desire to bring people to Jesus and the salvation He offers, my friend Julie does tend to take her calling to extremes however. Packed with emotion, concern, zeal and a real sense of urgency, she tends to push pretty hard on her prospective converts. And many times I fear she pushes them right out the door.
Do you wonder; is Julie an example of what Jesus really meant when He instructed us to make disciples of everyone? Or is the truth somewhere else? I believe that it’s not my job to “bring people to Jesus;” I believe its Gods intention to do the hard work of actually bringing someone to His Son. As Jesus said…
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37)
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” (John 6:44-45)
He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” (John 6:65)
I believe the truth is that we are just to be a witness, to testify to what we know:
“And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:27)
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations,” (Matthew 24:14)
In a complex court trial, it’s rarely the testimony of just one witness that sways the jury; it’s the testimony of all the witnesses, who were paraded past the jury by a skilled attorney. In our efforts to evangelize and help “bring someone to Jesus,” we need to realize that we are just one in a potentially long line of witnesses. And God is the skilled attorney, bringing forward the right witness at just the right time. It’s God who does the hard work of bringing the “jury” to the desired conclusion.
If our efforts to help bring people to God end up pushing them away, we need to look at our motivation and methods. Compared to my friend Julie, my methods are very passive. Outside of this blog site, I’m not very outspoken when it comes to talking about the salvation of others. I never hesitate to divulge my true faith, but I try not to push my faith upon others. I like to subscribe to the advice of St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” Though I like to change it a bit to, “Preach the Gospel at all times, using words only when absolutely necessary.”
I wonder if it was that kind of wordless evangelism that Jesus had in mind when He said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
While Julie’s motivation is based on humility and a sincere concern for others, I’ve seen other evangelists whose motivation appears to come from a different source. I’ve met many who sincerely believe they are fully qualified to be both witness and attorney; to take someone and lead them all the way from their old life, to a new life with Jesus. They believe they have the wisdom, knowledge, power and perseverance to do the whole job. Where does this belief come from?
As is the root cause of most of our problems, here again is the ego. It’s our ego and hunger for pride that draws us to the belief that we are qualified to do the hard work. After all, if all we do is the easy work, the work of just telling the truth, and letting God do the hard work of bringing others to salvation; then where is the credit for us? As a witness we get no credit, since all the credit goes to God, the attorney.
But that’s just it! Credit is not what it’s all about. A sense of accomplishment is not what we should be after. We shouldn’t witness for Jesus out of a desire for a pat on the back. We should witness out of our love for Him. All the credit for anything good that happens in our lives should go to God.
So as I’ve said before, humility is the secret. If you really want to be a servant for God, helping bring others to Jesus, then cultivate your humility first. And leave all the hard work for God. As D.L. Moody once said, “There is no better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.”
It’s not my place to convince anyone of the truth of Christianity. Christians are called to be neither an arguing attorney nor judge. All I’m called to do is be a witness, nothing more, nothing less. As Jesus said:
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