The thing that was so strong and powerful about the impact that Jesus had on the earth is that he loved people. He genuinely loved them. He was a servant to them. He set aside everything that he had a right to in heaven and he took on the form of a servant. If you’re going to be a genuine disciple maker, that must be your starting point. You must start by setting aside all the right religion. Then begin to be a servant to people in a way that builds relationships with people: genuine, honest, loving relationships.
On one occasion, when I walked into a hotel where I was scheduled to speak, the woman who owns the hotel greeted me. I told her my name and she said “Oh, yes, you are Kim’s friend.” I had walked into a place where someone else who had a relationship, had prepared the way for me by building the relationship for me before I arrived.
When you want Jesus to be recognized as he enters into peoples lives, be a friend to them. Then they will recognize Him and say, “Oh yes, you’re the Jesus my friend loves.” You see, relationship is the key to becoming effective. Without relationship it won’t work.
ALL ministry crosses a bridge of relationship !
You don’t have the authority, not in heaven and not on earth, to make any man go where he doesn’t want to go. You can’t get somebody saved who doesn’t want to be saved. You can’t make someone a disciple who doesn’t want to be a disciple. God honors our humanity and he has given us the right to make our own decisions about our lives. If you try to take that away from someone by manipulating him, pressuring him and putting all your religious guilt trips on him, all you will do is drive him further and further away from the real Kingdom of God. Oh, you might get him to engage in some religious behavior you like. But, you will not get him closer to God.
So even though you’ve heard or read someone's neat little technique or script for how to get somebody to make a decision to accept Jesus as Lord, you should understand something. That technique won’t do anything for you. In fact the Holy Spirit probably has a better technique for you somewhere in your style of living. Even your own technique won’t do anything for you unless you first build a relationship and then get to know the person well enough to help him see where he is living in opposition to himself. If you can’t build the relationship, you have nothing left to do. If you strive and argue and present the apologetics of Christianity without relationship it is likely you will have driven the person further from Jesus.
There’s a really simple starting point for the whole process of sharing the good news of Jesus. That starting point is to love people. If you don’t know how to love people, there are two things that are true. One is that you don’t know how much you are loved and the other is you’re not really thinking about other people.
If you can love people and you can’t do anything else, that’s still the very best starting point because it is the goodness of God that brings men to repentance. It’s pouring out the love of God on them lavishly that brings men to repentance. It’s not your judgment; it’s not your doctrine; it’s not your speeches; it’s not your tracts; it’s not your church meetings; it’s NONE of that! It’s the goodness of God that brings men to repentance. So hear me and hear the Lord. The way the world will know that Jesus has come, is that they will experience the love. Learn to love people.
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By this shall men know that you are my disciples because you have love ...
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His, thus Yours,
Stuart
1 comments:
This brings to mind an event in my life that tho I don't think of often, has never left me.
I was about 17 years old, and was a part of a group of young people that dressed as Mime's and acted out to music. We performed in a few churches here and there, and it was quite fun. One "gig" was on Historic Route 66, during a biker rally. Our church had a booth setup, and we performed and then we had plans to walk up and down the streets to "street witness." There was one gentleman that caught my eye, and I began to speak to him I felt I was saying all the right things to "lead him to Christ" I did feel the Holy Spirit with me, but I was also speaking out of my own knowledge. I remember asking him if he felt a void in his life, and his answer astonished me when he said "no." He was not unkind, it was not a debate of any kind. At one point I began to quote John 3:16 which of course most children of churchgoers have memorized by age 3. "For God so loved the world..." Papa took my words away. This scripture I'd know for all of my memorable existence was gone. The man sitting next to me, whom I assumed knew nothing, finished my words for me.
Something changed at that point and I became scared. I didn't know where to go with the conversation, and I no longer knew or understood what the Holy Spitit wanted me to say to this man, Kerry. So not knowing what to do, I asked him if he would walk across the street and visit with the Pastor of the Church. He did, and he was gracious. He was invited to services, but little more than that was said. He was told of Jesus, and told that it would not matter what type of clothing he wore to services.
Today as I read this post I am reminded of this experience. This was not a man who had never heard of Jesus. This was not a man who felt he was living in despair or darkness. But this was a man who admittedly was not a Christian. Nor did he want to be one. I believe now, looking back, that this mans only experiences with Jesus were similar to when the Spirit took my words away, and instead of asking Papa to give me HIS words, I panicked and took him to someone whom I considered to be of more authority than myself. What this man Kerry had not yet seen in his 50 or so years of life, is the true love of Jesus that should be pouring forth from his children. Why would someone want to join a group of people when their experiences show them that modern "Christians" are selfish and hippocritical? Modern Christians are not thought of as loving, gentle, humble and kind. I believe what I was to be taught, and am indeed still learning from this experience of 13-14 years ago, is that without relationship Kerry will never come to believe that Jesus loves him. Without seeing unconditional love, he believed that Christianity had nothing he needed.
I was led to this man not to win him over with my knowledge of the Bible. I may never truly know this side of Heaven all the reasons I was to speak with Kerry on that day. But I was taught a lot that day. There are people who have been shown the Bible, even read it and studied it, that choose not to believe. They choose not to believe because they have not seen nor felt the love of God flowing through the Bride of Christ.
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