Plow and Pursue – Turning a Conversation to the Gospel | Part 1

On October 16, 2012July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical2 Comments

Last night while doing my daily scanning of blogs, I came across a post from the Resurgence entitled Everyday Evangelism by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. Great post! I highly recommend reading it before reading my post.

After an insightful, challenging, and informative article they end by saying:

We need to be patient and trust God’s sovereignty while also finding ways to present the gospel at points one and two on our scale of interest in Christ and not just at points eight and nine.

If points 8 and 9 on the scale mentioned are referring to those who are ready and willing to talk about the gospel, then points one and two represent those who do not even think about the gospel, nor really care to talk about it with others. Chester and Timmis then open our eyes to today’s reality by saying that 70% of our population is made up of those who are at points one and two. If indeed most of the population is where Chester and Timmis claim, our typical methods of sharing the gospel are flawed. If this is the case, how do we evangelize the 70%? How do we get those those who never think about the gospel to honestly think about it?

I recently read a book by R. Larry Moyer entitled: Show Me How to Share the Gospel. In his book, he provides a method he calls Plow and Pursue. I believe this method can help us talk with the “one’s” and “two’s” about the gospel, or at least get a few steps closer to having that conversation.

Plow and Pursue

Moyer’s method is simple. He says that when we meet another person, wherever it may be – a party, a coffee shop, grocery store, neighborhood, etc – we should plow into the conversation, enjoying it immensely. As you talk, ask questions in three areas of life:

(1) Family
(2) Job
(3) Background

Don’t ask these questions as a matter of formality, thinking you need to get through these before asking the other person, “Why they believe God will let them into heaven.” Instead, make sure you listen. I mean really listen and enjoy the conversation.

By asking questions centered on their family, job, and background, and really listening, we show that we are interested in them as a person, as well as it allows us to get to know where the person is coming from, how they think, and what their life has been like.

As you listen to them describe their family life, job, and background, you are able to put together an understanding of their worldview, which will be immensely helpful when speaking with them about God and the gospel.

Not only does listening provide you with information to help determine their worldview, but it also gives you hooks by which you may turn the conversation from the here-and-now to the hereafter. Here are a few ideas to help turn the conversation from the ordinary to the spiritual.

8 Ideas to Turn Ordinary Conversation Into Spiritual Conversation

(1) They mention the outdoors, you mention how impressed you are with the Creator.

(2) They mention they have a terrible marriage, you mention how your marriage is going and how spiritual things have been the biggest source of help to you and your wife as you have walked out your many years of marriage.

(3) They mention unhappiness in their job, you ask: Where do people ultimately find happiness? Or why do you think there are so many problems in the world? That question may lead you to ask: Why do you suppose the problems in the world seem to be getting worse instead of better?

(4) They mention an ailing child, you mention it is times like those that really drive you to your knees to pray. You may even pray for them at that moment.

(5) They talk about looking for the perfect job, career, etc, you ask: What in your opinion is the number one thing most people are looking for in their lives?

(6) They mention being unhappy, you ask: Why do you think so many people seem unhappy with life in general?

(7) They mention the future, you ask: What do you think is in store for the future?

(8) They mentioned being worried or anxious, you ask: A lot of people seem worried? What, in your opinion, worries people the most?

What These Questions Do

All of these ideas stem from the three areas mentioned earlier – Family, Job, Background – and are ways to naturally lead into discussions about God, spiritual things, and hopefully the gospel. As well as the personal questions help to show interest in the person, and the spiritual questions help to get them thinking.

What if We Don’t Talk About the Gospel?

Even if your questions don’t provoke a deep conversation about God and the gospel, they at least get your friend thinking about spiritual matters, and that is important. Remember the scale I mentioned earlier and the statistic from Chester and Timmis, which told us 70% of people are a “one” or a “two”. If we can get those who are at a “one” or “two” to do what they normally are not doing – thinking about God – then we can count that as a success.

So, even if you are not able to get into a full on gospel conversation, your questions may cause the other person to do something they have not done in a long time, or even ever, think about God. When that occurs, it is a success, and you are not only one step closer to having a deep challenging conversation about the gospel, but your conversation partner knows that they can talk with you about spiritual things when they have a question or thought.

Looking Forward

In my next post in this series, I will provide some questions to help move the conversation even further – from the spiritual to the gospel.

Questions for Reflection

What type of reception have you noticed in the past when you have taken the time to get to know a person before talking about spiritual matters?
Are there other bridge topics you can think of besides the outdoors, marriage, job, and children?

Resources

Everyday Evangelism

R. Larry Moyer, Show Me How To Share the Gospel, 21-25.

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What are the Ingredients for Proper Evangelism?

On September 25, 2012July 31, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, PracticalLeave a comment

Say you are planning to cook a chicken pasta dish tonight for dinner. In the process of cooking the meal, you forget to add the chicken. When everything is said and done, you will probably have a good pasta dinner, but you will not have the meal you set out to prepare. While our pasta dish will taste fine without the chicken, leaving out an ingredient in our evangelism might not turn out so well.

What are the ingredients to proper evangelism?

There are four main things we need to include in our message:

God
Sin
Christ
A call to repent and believe

Let’s look at these one at a time:

God

God is the Creator. As our Maker, He is also our Ruler. As our Maker and Ruler, He has absolute claim on our lives. We are not only to look to Him for guidance, but we are to also submit to Him and obey His commands.

Sin

Sin tells us that we have rejected God as our Creator and Ruler. In place of His rule, we seek our own.

Sin entered the world at the Fall mankind when Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s rule. As the head of the human race, all who come after them are also plunged into a world of sin and inherit a sinful nature. The result is separation from God. Since He is holy, He cannot have a relationship with an unholy people.

Sin is offensive to God. Not until we understand how offensive sin is to a holy God, and how utterly sinful we are, will we see our need for salvation.

Therein lies the problem of the human race, most people do not believe they are sinful because they measure sin by particular actions. It is easy to see that a murderer is sinful, but a good upstanding citizen, who doesn’t even have a parking ticket; why they are not sinful? The Bible tells us otherwise. In Romans, Paul says, “None is righteous, no, not one; (Rom. 3:10), which means even good people are sinners, whose sin separates them from God.

Sin not only explains why we can’t have a relationship with God, but it also explains why the world is the way it is. Disease, sickness, death, corruption, and all kinds of evil exist because of sin.

Christ

Christ is the Savior of mankind. In order to understand fully Christ’s saving action, we need to know about both His Person and Work. The reason for both is because His cross work was only possible because of His life.

Person: Jesus is the incarnate Son of God who lived a perfect life. Never transgressing one of God’s laws, which allowed Him to be the perfect sacrifice for mankind.

Work: Jesus offered Himself up as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind. In our place He hung. As He did our sins were nailed to the cross with Christ. The Perfect One became sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

On the cross, Jesus suffered the wrath and punishment of God. Wrath and punishment that we deserve because of our sinful nature. Since He took our place, He made a way for mankind to be reconciled to God.

Jesus not only died on the cross for our sins, He also raised from the grave after 3 days defeating death. After 40 more days, He ascended into heaven where He know sits on His throne as the King over all. One day He will return to defeat Satan, judge those who did not believe in Him, sentencing them to eternal damnation, renew all things, and rule the world.

All those who believe these things about Jesus will be saved.

A Call to Repent and Believe

While repenting and believing is not a part of the gospel story, it is a necessary ingredient to evangelism because evangelism aims at conversion. So we must call people to repent and believe.

Questions for Reflection

Do you believe God is our Creator, or do you believe we were created through an evolutionary process?
How do you determine who is and who is not a sinner?
Why is it necessary for us to know about both Jesus’ person and work?

Resources

Post adapted from: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, by J.I. Packer, 66-81

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Evangelism Aims at Conversion

On September 22, 2012July 31, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical1 Comment

In my last post, I argued that the Holy Spirit was the one who closes the deal in evangelism. You can read that post here. Even so, knowing the Holy Spirit is the one who closes the deal does not mean we don’t call others to either accept or reject the message. We are not just presenting knowledge for knowledge sake. When we evangelize the lost we are challenging them to accept or reject our message. In other words, evangelism always aims at conversion.

Scripture

Let’s explore a few passages of Scripture to see that this is true.

1 Corinthians 9:19

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”

Paul desired to win others to Christ, and we should do the same.

1 Peter 3:1

“Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,”

One of the reasons given for wives to be submissive to their husbands is so that they might win them to Christ. Through their submission they model Christ’s submission to the Father, presenting to their husbands a picture of Christ’s submission, which led Him to the cross to die for the sins of mankind, so that we might have life.

Luke 5:10

“and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.””

Jesus tells them their role is not to be fishers of the sea, but fishers of men. Their aim was now to be catching men for Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:19-20

“that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

Paul implores others as an ambassador for Christ to be reconciled to Christ. So then, his evangelism aimed at converting the lost to Christ.

Conversion is Still the Work of the Holy Spirit

Even though we implore others to be reconciled to Christ, challenging them and calling them to repent, we rest in the finished work of the Holy Spirit, knowing He is the one who ultimately brings about repentance.

What Conversion is Not

Converting the lost is not calling them to take up our religious actions – We are calling for heart change, which only happens through the work of the Holy Spirit as they are converted from a life of sin to a life in Christ.

Converting the lost is not getting them to come to church with us – Again, we are after a real commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There are many God fearing, but unconverted people who attend church.

Converting the lost is not helping someone out of financial trouble – While that may give us inroads to present the gospel to them, helping someone get back on their feet doesn’t mean they have been converted to Christianity.

Converting the lost is not helping someone overcome an addiction – Even though that may help them get in the right mind to hear the gospel, getting clean is not a conversion.

What Converting the Lost Involves

Converting the lost involves calling someone to repent of their sins, turn from their rebellion against God, and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It involves helping others recognize that their relationship with God has been severed because of their sin, and it cannot be reconciled apart from Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. So then, converting the lost aims at conversion to a life in Christ, which is always evangelism’s aim.

Questions for Reflection

Do you believe there is another aim to evangelism besides conversion to Christ?
How might you define conversion?
Can you think of other things conversion is not?

Resource

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Whose Job is it to Convert the Lost?

On September 19, 2012July 31, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical2 Comments

Whose job is it to convert the lost? That is a good question. One that is worth answering for reasons we will get to in a minute. But before we do, let’s deal with the question at hand:

Whose job is it to convert the lost?

Scripture is clear. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who does the converting.

Titus 3:5

“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”

John 3:5-8

“Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.””

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1:1-2

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

The common thread running through each of these verses is that the Holy Spirit converts the lost to Christ. He is the One who works on their heart, changes their desires, breaks their will, and turns them to Christ. He is the One who raises the dead to life. He is the One who breaks the bondage of sin. He is the One who closes the deal, not us.

Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit’s work in conversion does not mean we don’t proclaim the gospel, we do. We are not off the hook for evangelizing the lost. God has always used His people to bring the gospel to others. He just doesn’t require us to close the deal. He does that Himself.

2 Important Reasons for Knowing the Holy Spirit Converts

(1) Emotional manipulation is not God’s way

There are many books and classes you can take on evangelism that will provide you with techniques to win someone to Christ. These techniques often involve emotional manipulation. However, emotional manipulation is not God’s way of converting the lost, so it should not be our way either.

Emotional manipulation does not usually result in long-term conversion. We all know, or have experienced ourselves, the junior high student who goes off to youth camp, has an emotional experience, commits their life to Christ, vowing to live differently when they return. But the effect doesn’t last more than a few weeks or a month at best. What happened? Emotional manipulation or peer pressure happened, but real heart change didn’t.

Instead of numbers to throw out at our worship services, we should be after real conversions that are the product of real heart change. If we want this to occur, we have to faithfully present the gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to work on the person’s heart instead of using emotional manipulation.

(2) Freedom

In what ways does knowing that the Holy Spirit does the converting give us freedom?

We are free to make a mistake when we are talking with others about the gospel.

We are free to say we don’t know the answer to their question.

We are free to share as much of the gospel as we can at any given time and rest in the fact that God will use our efforts.

We are free knowing we are not the one who has to close the deal.

Prior to pastoring, I was in sales. Before each client meeting, I would learn as much about my client as possible, rehearse my sales pitch, and pray I did not mess things up, since closing the deal relied solely on my abilities. If I did not make a good impression, couldn’t answer their questions, or did not present a plausible case for why they should use my product, the deal would not be closed and my bonus would suffer.

It is not like that with evangelism. The Holy Spirit works despite our inadequacies. He works even though we couldn’t answer all the objections. He works even if our gospel presentation was poor. He works because He is the One who does the converting. And knowing the Holy Spirit is the One who closes the deal gives us great freedom.

Questions for Reflection

What techniques do those who believe they have to close the deal in conversion often employ? Are these techniques biblical? Do they produce lasting effect?
How does knowing that the Holy Spirit closes the deal change your approach to evangelism?
Have you personally witnessed the Holy Spirit using your inadequate gospel proclamation to bring others to Christ? Would you share that story with the rest of us?

Resources

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How do you know when you are evangelizing?

On September 17, 2012July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical3 Comments

When I was in seminary we had to take a class on Evangelism. Part of our assignment was to go out an evangelize. We had to comb the neighborhood, mall, bus station, or wherever, in order to share the gospel with someone. While I did not see anyone come to Christ through my efforts, there were others in class who did.

As we geared up for the assignment, the question that came up was: How do we know when we have evangelized someone? That is the question I want to answer today.

How do we know when we are evangelizing?

Scripture makes it clear that we are evangelizing when we speak the good news of the gospel to others.

In 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul was sent to preach the gospel. There he says,

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

In Matthew 28:19-20, we find Jesus’ great commission. There He says,

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

In Romans 10:14-15, Paul says,

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!

The common thread running through these verses is that we must actually speak to another person the truths of the gospel. If we are doing anything else, we are not evangelizing.

So then, we are not evangelizing when we:

Have a conversation about spiritual matters, but not about the gospel
Hand out gospel tracks
Help someone out
Work for social justice
Live in a manner consistent with Scripture

All of these things can provide in-roads to talk about the gospel with others, but they are not in and of themselves gospel proclamation.

Evangelism occurs when we verbally proclaim the gospel to others.

Evangelism is not bringing others to faith

If evangelism is the proclaiming of the gospel to others, that means that we don’t have to see someone come to faith in Christ in order to count that as evangelism. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 says,

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

It is our responsibility to spread and water the gospel seed. It is God who brings the growth. We are not responsible for changing someone’s heart because we can’t, only God can do that.

Word of Encouragement

Knowing that evangelism takes place when we speak the gospel to others should:

1. Motivate us to spread God’s Word – No one is saved through the results (Godly Living, Mercy Ministries, etc) of the gospel. Instead they must actually hear God’s good news proclaimed.

2. Free us from beating ourselves up – It is not our fault if someone does not believe. God is the one who brings the growth. We are the one’s who are called to faithfully spread and water the seeds of the gospel.

Questions for Reflection

Do you believe the gospel is spread through your actions or through the preached Word?
How do you enter into conversation with others about the gospel?
Do you find acts of mercy to be a good way to gain credibility to speak with others about the gospel?
What mercy ministries have been effective for making in-roads to gospel proclamation at your church?

Resource

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12 Steps to Stop Not Evangelizing

On August 28, 2012July 31, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical2 Comments

“Evangelism” When you hear that word I am sure there are many different emotions associated with it for you. Some of you get excited and are ready to share the hope of Christ with others. Some of you think back to your conversion experience when someone was bold enough to talk with you about the gospel. While some may cringe thinking of the last time you went out knocking on people’s doors.

Not a Popular Topic

For most people evangelism is not a popular topic. I believe the reason is not because we don’t like doing it, but because when we look at our own life, we see a lack of evangelistic effort. And well, we just don’t like talking about those areas in which we are failing.

A Necessary Conversation

Even though many are failing at evangelizing the lost, I believe it is a necessary conversation to have. As those who are saved by God we are to take up God’s mission, which is to bring redemption to the world. Part of this mission is physical – serving others, helping them with their needs, etc – but the ultimate mission is spiritual. As Christians we are God’s ambassadors. We are the ones He uses to bring the gospel message to those who have not heard (Eph. 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 15:19-20). So then, we must speak to others about the gospel.

Excuses

But when it comes to evangelism you hear all kinds of excuses as to why we don’t evangelize the lost, such as:

I don’t know their language.
Evangelism is illegal in my country
Evangelism could cause problems at work.
I don’t have time.
I don’t know non-Christians (Probably the most common excuse).
People don’t want to hear the gospel.
They probably already know it.
They will not be interested.
I doubt they will believe it.

Some of these are legitimate, some of these are not. Some of these you have probably used in the past or even recently. Never-the-less, instead of focusing on the negative, I want to provide you with 12 things that may help you stop not evangelizing.

12 Ways to Stop Not Evangelizing

(1) Pray – We need to pray that God would give us opportunities to share the gospel with others. You may be amazed at what God will do and what opportunities He will give.

(2) Plan – If our schedules are busy, then why not plan a time to speak with others about the gospel. We may plan times throughout the week to put ourselves in a place where we can build relationships with others. As well as we may plan a time to talk with another person about the gospel by setting an appointment with them. Or we can carve out time to nurture the relationships with people we already have that are lost. Whatever it takes, we should plan to talk with others about the gospel.

(3) Accept – We have to accept that as Christians it is our job to evangelize the lost. We are God’s ambassadors and we have been sent to spread the gospel.

(4) Understand – God uses those who are not gifted with the gift of evangelism to share the gospel with others. This means evangelism is not reserved only for those who claim it is their spiritual gift. While they may be better at it than us, evangelism is the task of everyone.

(5) Be Faithful – We need to be faithful to God. This means our allegiance does not lie with man, but with God. It means that we have to be ok with offending people.

(6) Risk – We need to be willing to take risks in order to share the gospel with others. This could mean risking a conversation with them. It could mean risking giving them a book that may or may not offend them. It could mean risking your time to develop a friendship with someone so you can share the gospel with them. It may even mean risking your friendship with them. Whatever the risk, it is worth it.

(7) Prepare – Often we don’t evangelize because we do not understand how to handle the arguments people make against Christianity. We don’t know where to point them to in Scripture to answer their questions. We don’t know how to direct a conversation to a place where we can talk about Christ. But these are not reasons to not evangelize. Instead, we are to diligently prepare. This does not mean we have to all become apologists or professional evangelists. It just means we have to be willing to study a little.

(8) Look – After praying for opportunities to share the gospel, we need to be on the watch for these opportunities.

(9) Love – The reason we share the gospel is not to put another notch on our evangelism belt. It is because we love others. So then, when we don’t share the gospel we are being cold to others, promoting self-love, and desiring our comfort more than their salvation.

(10) Fear – We should fear God not man.

(11) Stop – We should stop thinking since God is sovereign I don’t need to share the gospel, or that I have to convince others to believe this message. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict and convince. It is our job to share.

(12) Consider – Consider what God has done for us in Christ. How He has saved us through the sacrifice of His Son. How Jesus died for us even while we were sinners. Consider also that God is glorified when we tell others about His gospel. Consider our love for God. Matthew 12:34 says,