A Clear Message

Introduction

I was 17. It was the end of my senior year in high school. I was one of about 25 students chosen throughout the city to receive the Award “Christian Athlete of the Year.” Sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, seniors from all the high schools in Nashville had to go through an interview process. There were three men asking questions during a 15 minute interview. The questions during the interview were largely what you might expect. “Tell us about your sports involvement. Tell us about your religious background. What does your Christian walk mean to you?” Then came the question which I was not prepared for. It was a question which left me speechless. “If you knew that Christ was returning in the next 15 minutes and you were given five minutes to speak to the entire world, what would you say?” How would you have answered that question? I remember I stumbled around.

Sometimes we find ourselves in similar situations with co-workers and friends. We have opened the door for a spiritual discussion to take place and suddenly our friends say something like “what makes Christians so different or why is Christianity better than something else or can you just tell me why I should become a Christian.” We must be prepared to answer that question in a short clear way so that the person asking the question understands the core elements of the gospel. To that end we are going to look at some ways to answer that question. These possible responses come from knowing the person and your own personality.

The Gospel

So let’s start at the beginning and make sure that we understand the gospel ourselves before we move on. First, God is loving, holy, and just. He is loving in that he wants to have a relationship with us. Even though we are sinners who have rebelled against him, he longs to be near us. He is holy. He is absolutely pure and he is separate from anything that is impure. He is just. God cannot just overlook broken commands. He cannot overlook sin. Sin must be punished. Justice must be served. He dispenses justice to all.

Second, we are sinners. God made us good, but our sin resulted in a breaking of relationship with God. God’s holiness reveals our impurities and sin. Our sin means that God must pronounce the sentence of death upon us physically and spiritually. The real problem is that we cannot undo or make up for our sin. We can’t do enough good things to make it all right. We cannot pay our spiritual debts.

Third, Jesus is the answer to our dilemma. Jesus died in our place. He took the death penalty for us. In doing so he expressed God’s love, upheld God’s holiness, and satisfied God’s justice. Jesus in turn offers us forgiveness. We didn’t deserve it. We didn’t pay for it. We didn’t earn it. They only way we can receive it is to hold out our hands and with great humility accept his wonderful gift. We receive God’s great forgiveness in our baptism. In our baptism we join with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection. We identify ourselves with him and God forgives our sins. To receive God’s gift through Jesus is a personal matter. Every person must decide if they will accept God’s gift. There is no substitute. So how do we give this message to one of our friends so that they can make a personal decision about God’s gift?

This requires us to know the person. Or at least to know enough to talk about what will resonate with them. So we relate the gospel to the personality and interest of the person. For instance, let’s say that you are talking to a person who is business oriented. Maybe they are in the construction business. So the message might sound like this:

Ever made a mistake in working on a project? When you discovered your mistake how did you correct it? Imagine every time you failed in life. Imagine every lie, every time you hurt someone with your words, every action that hurt someone, every time you yelled at a bad driver. How do you make all of those things right? It would be impossible. How would you know if you had done enough to make it right? The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that we never can do enough. We’ll always fall short of God’s perfect standard. What we could never do for ourselves God through Jesus has already done for us. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live, and he willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty we owed for the wrongs we’ve done. To become a Christian means to receive God’s gift of forgiveness and to give your life to him. When we do that, God adopts us into his family and he begins to change us from the inside out.

Maybe the person like sports. Can you imagine a baseball hall of fame that required perfection? The person must play consistently for at leave five consecutive years. They must play error free ball. No errors ever. They must bat 1.000. They must get a hit every time. It is simple, but also impossible. This is what the Bible says. Romans 3:23 makes it very clear that no matter how hard we try, we’ll always fall short of God’s standard. Thankfully, what we cannot do, God has already done for us. Jesus came to earth—played error free ball and batted 1.000. Like a pinch hitter, he is substituting for us.

Perhaps the best approach is the personal one. Tell how God changed your life. People enjoy hearing a good story and what better story to tell than your own personal faith journey. This is a good way to approach a person who claim to be a Christian but whose life demonstrates a lack of conviction in their walk with God. “You know, for most of my life I thought I was a Christian because I went to church, gave some money, and tried to help out here and there. I even tried to live a decent, moral life. But I found out those things didn’t make me a Christian. Then I found out what a real Christian is and I became one. If you’d ever like to hear more about what that means, I’d be happy to explain it to you, because it was the most important decision in my life.”

Final Tips

Don’t give a speech. People want to talk with you not be talked at by you. Long speeches rarely have much of a positive impact. Be prepared to ask questions and listen for responses rather than just making sure you say everything you want to say. The best spiritual discussions are short and sweet. When someone shows interest in your faith, you don’t have to dump the whole load on them. Give them the Reader’s Digest version. In this way you allow them to feel that you aren’t pressuring them but are willing for a slow deliberate process to take place.

Be bold. You won’t feel prepared anytime the question is asked. You will get this lump in your throat and your heart will beat a bit faster. It doesn’t matter how many times you have practiced and rehearsed. But when the question comes take a deep breath, say a brief prayer, look the person straight in the eyes, and start talking. People will appreciate your directness. If you believe what you are saying, then the other person may believe it too. Prayer.

Follow Jesus

If you’d like to respond to this message or learn more about following Jesus, please reach out.