This is the second excerpt from Christian Smith’s excellent book Going to the Root.
The Bible helps us see where we went wrong. For the Bible makes it clear that the central and irreplaceable medium for communicating the gospel is the quality of believers’ lives together.
Jesus’ last message to his followers was: “Love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:34-35, author’s paraphrase). Actions, apparently, speak louder than words. The lives of people who genuinely love each other, for all their warts and false starts, will be a truer explanation of the good news than the most precisely pitched evangelistic message.
Peter urges Christians to, “as aliens and strangers in the world, abstain from sinful desires…. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Pet. 2:11-12, author’s paraphrase). Likewise, Paul urges the Corinthians to conduct themselves so that when an unbeliever sees them, “he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!'” (1 Cor. 14:25, NIV).
I recently heard of a Christian smoker who tried hard to keep his smoking hidden so that it wouldn’t “ruin his testimony.” Not only does this kind of attitude lose sight of priorities (smoking is ruining his lungs more than his testimony), it presumes nonbelievers can be tricked into the kingdom by lives without substance. In fact, the world is not fooled or impressed by facades of righteousness. Would we, in our evangelistic programs, like to see new believers every day? Let’s look at how it happened in the
early church.These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread and to prayers. The many miracles and signs worked through the apostles made a deep impression on everyone. The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed. They went as a body to the Temple every day but met in their houses for the breaking of bread; they shared their food gladly and generously; they praised God and were looked up to by everyone. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved. (Acts 2:42-47, JB; also see 4:32-35)
No Christian bumper stickers here. They simply lived authentically redeemed lives in community. The depth of that life did its own communicating.
Luke goes to great lengths to tell how Peter and John got to preach to the people at the temple and to the Sanhedrin (Acts 3:1-4:31). They didn’t entice the people into their church buildings with comfortable pews and films. They didn’t even intend to preach at all, but simply to pray. However, “it happened that (3:2, JB). Peter and John were simply living as channels of God’s healing love. It was only after this act of healing and love that they preached as an explanation of what had happened. Evangelism flowed naturally from living out the transforming power of the kingdom of God. No slick techniques were necessary.
Biblical evangelism, then, is not cornering people and confronting them with the gospel. Nor is it charming people with a sweet, easy pseudo-gospel. Biblical evangelism is first incarnating the reign of God in community, then answering the inevitable questions: “Why do you live the way you do? What motivates you to live so differently?” Peter wrote, “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord, and always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15, author’s paraphrase).
When I first worked on developing my writing skills, a composition teacher offered me a simple maxim: “Don’t tell me, show me.” That maxim is also the best advice for churches interested in responsible and effective evangelism. The world is sick and tired of being told about Jesus. The world needs to be shown Jesus.
As Christ was God incarnate, God in flesh and blood living in obedience to his parent, so we the church are to be Christ incarnate. We are to be Christ’s body, living out in flesh and blood the reign of God. This is a difficult project for marketing agents, but it’s the basic calling of God’s people.
Sometimes our kingdom lifestyles can bear witness without our intending it. For the past eight years, my wife and I have lived in cooperatively owned, multifamily houses with others in our community. A few years ago we and another family wanted to move together to a new neighborhood.
Our realtor was amazed. “I have never seen cooperative housing last for more than one house!” she exclaimed. “What’s your secret?”
Right then, in a way that would have never happened had I simply handed her an evangelistic tract, I had the opportunity to explain something about the kingdom. “The reason why we live this way is because….”
It is time to abandon our high-tech evangelistic outreaches, pull the plugs on the television programs, and peel off our Christian bumper stickers. Having fired our Madison Avenue consultants and dumped our direct-mail schemes, we can get back to basics. We can communicate the gospel by the witness of our lives. That means focusing our energies on becoming more fully the people of God. It means living lives which are so obviously influenced by an encounter with God that no one can find another reasonable explanation for us.
Christian Smith, Going to the Root