This series on evangelism is not about a strategy, not a way to argue with people or have them pray a prayer. In fact, it begins with an apology. For some of us, the “e-word” demanded a terrible burden that the eternal destiny of our friends or family, supposedly separated from God, was on us – our knowledge and our ability to argue. For others of us it felt othering, or, worse, downright hurtful or mean – a fear driven marketing plan that included little tricks to recruit new members to fill the pews where we learned the pyramid scheme: your purpose is to recruit others, often by whatever means necessary. And if that’s been your experience, “Please forgive us. We are truly sorry.”
I realize that a great many of “Evangelicals” are still convinced that this model represents our task. But for many, the bad taste of manipulation and trauma remains. The theologian Brad Jersak is right, “The history of colonizing missionaries and door-to-door spiritual salespeople has made the e-word a sort of profanity even to faithful disciples.”
And yet, Jersak also remarks, I can’t unsee how sharing good news was central to Jesus’ ministry and to the mission of his earliest followers. Have we misunderstood and misinterpreted Jesus to create this horrible mess? Is there some goodness to evangelism that we might retrieve? I think so. So this series is not about a sales pitch but a way of being good news, a way of being frail and fragile humans offering open invitations to engage and talk about the good and gracious way of Jesus. It’s about being a healing presence in a hurting world and expressing the unconditional love of God.
I recently came across a fantastic poem that speaks of our dilemma [excerpt from Tom Barrett’s What’s in the Temple?]:
If I say the word God, people run away.
They’ve been frightened, sat upon till the spirit cried uncle.
Now they play hide and seek with somebody they can’t name.
They know God’s out there looking for them, and they want to be found,
But there is all this stuff in the way.
I can’t talk about God and make any sense,
And I can’t not talk about God and make any sense.
So you and I talk about the weather, and we are talking about God.
Because it’s good news we can’t not talk about God. And yet, because of such trauma, such pain, how can we talk about God and make any sense? Well, the Apostle Paul offers us three healing, good news practices that will help us: 1) be curious first and honor others; 2) begin with belonging; 3) focus on Jesus and keep it brief.
Be curious first and honor others.
The first thing that jumps out at me in our story is Paul’s own curiosity and carefulness in getting to know the Athenians. He proceeds with the notion that when engaging others with different beliefs there is much that is worth exploring, much we might learn from each other, much that we might share, and much that we might affirm. He starts by commending them for their religious devotion “in all respects.” He shares his personal interests in them and how “he walked around and looked carefully” at their places of worship. He doesn’t begin with their lack or wickedness. He doesn’t come off smug but seeks to find common ground, even acknowledging that they are engaging in a good faith effort at worshiping God, even if they don’t always know it.
This deep recognition of curiosity and honor isn’t unique to Paul but was a common practice in the early church. In the book of Acts, another heavy hitter, the Apostle Peter, will express the same curiosity and honor toward a pagan enemy combatant, named Cornelius. Before Cornelius even becomes a Christian, Peter will break taboos by entering his home, repent of his own mistaken belief in God’s supposed exclusion of Cornelius and othes, and acknowledge Cornelius’ own “righteousness” as well as being “accepted” by God before he ever becomes a Christian (Acts 10:34-35).
What if the gospel, in part, is being lovingly curious, like Peter, Paul, and Jesus? Being willing to listen and find common ground? Speaking with people, even with whom you disagree with, in an honoring way? If you can’t then don’t imagine that you are doing evangelism. Jesus didn’t fake curiosity or care in order to get people to make a decision so that he could then authentically be curious and care. He was always curious and always cared. You will never be able to introduce people to the kingdom of light, the transformation of love, by treating them as unlovely, unworthy, un-whatever. If evangelism is introducing people to the reality of good news then it requires good means. If evangelism is introducing people to the reality of a good path then it demands that you walk it with goodness by honoring others first.
Begin with belonging.
Paul’s approach is a distinctly different vision of evangelism than the one I had been given. I was told that sin created a big gulf between God and others and that the only way across it, to having any relationship with God, was belief. I was taught to get people to see their separation, to tell them that they were separate, and then have them pray a prayer so that they might belong. But that is not the message of the Apostle Paul in this passage, or, elsewhere. In fact, what the gospel turns out to be is a rescue mission for family members who are already in a relationship with God – and everyone, Paul tells us, is family. The thrust of Paul’s initial message to these pagan, non-Christians is that they already belong. In fact, maintaining the previous point of curiosity and honor, Paul asserts this theological truth by quoting from two pagan hymns to Zeus. The first is by Epimenides on Crete called the Cretica. The passage he quotes is:
“They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one, Cretans always liars [Titus 1:12 – Epimenides calls them liars because they believe that God is dead], evil beasts, idle bellies. But you are not dead: you live and abide forever, For in you we live and move and have our being.”
Paul also quotes the Philosopher-Poet Aratus from his book Phaenomena, writing in praise of Zeus:
“For we are also his offspring; and he [Zeus] in his kindness unto men gives favorable signs and wakens the people to work, reminding them of livelihood.”
Friends, here is the important point. Kinship is not a strategy but a theological point of gospel identity and one that we would do well to consider carefully (cf. Eph. 3:14-15). God is ever and always the Father of all and always close. Even with Jesus “the prodigal son” never ceased to be his father’s child. When he left home, his father never disowned him. The Father’s forgiveness followed him out the door. Even when he was painfully OUT of the house, he was certainly never OUT of the family. Nor was his older brother, even though he symbolized the religious teachers who rejected Christ and were critical of his inclusion of ‘sinners’. The problem was that both brothers forgot their sonship. The best the younger man hoped for was returning as a servant. He was in for a happy surprise. So if you’re here and you don’t claim Christian identity, join us any way, get involved, sit at the table, sing with us, study with us, ask your questions and share your thoughts and insights. We need you and hope you follow Jesus. You’re our brother, our sister. You belong.
Focus on Jesus but keep it brief.
What’s interesting about our passage is how brief it is about Jesus. That wasn’t just Paul, by the way, but much of the preaching from the book of Acts. Don’t get me wrong – Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection, IS the gospel, it IS our good news, but even there they keep it brief. Consider this: when the early church determined the critical elements of what the gospel was – the Nicene Creed – first written in 325 and then finalized in 381, it’s mostly about Jesus and no longer than 8 sentences.
The good and brief message, as Paul shares it, is that we have a Creator who loves all people and all of creation, who gives life and breath to everyone, who made us to live in harmony with each other because we are all family. And where that harmony has been disrupted through ignorance or sin, the Creator sent Jesus, the very image of God, to restore and reconcile all things to God, ourselves, each other, and the whole of creation through God’s judgment, evidenced by his resurrection from the dead.
Of course, judgment is such a scary sounding word. We think of it always as a negative reality but the theologian Robert Baron offers an important definition. “Judgment is always for the sake of salvation since it is bringing to light that which has lain destructively in the dark.” That’s good news. That through Jesus, all that hurts us will be defeated, all that harms us will be brought to justice, all that seeks to darken our lives will be lovingly, carefully, curiously, brought to the light.
Jesus is God’s judgment. Jesus is what God thinks about you. There’s no “sign up or else” ultimatum in the teachings of Jesus. Instead, he was gospelly curious and loving, asking questions, listening to people’s stories and sharing his own, intent on being the very gift of God’s love and, even after humans killed, rising again to prove that God’s love simply cannot be killed.
He did that for you and I still believe, that’s good news.
