One of the most common approaches to witnessing is to tell people how your life was transformed from awful to awesome. You know what I mean. Something like “before I was a Christian my marriage was on the rocks, I was depressed, was on the verge of being fired from my job, and wondered whether life was worth living. Once I became a Christian, however, my marriage improved, I started getting along better with my boss, and I’m happier.” The idea behind this is that if you come to Jesus your life will get better here. I call it “improved lifestyle witnessing.”
Many Christians encourage this as a method of evangelism. After all, it is easy to do, it is something you can remember because it is about you, and it is irrefutable because you are telling people things that actually happened to you. As a method of evangelism then, what’s not to like? Right?
Wrong.
First, consider that just about every cult and religion in the world does the same thing. How many cults or false religions say, “Come to us and your life will get worse”? Of course not! They promise a better life here.
Second, postmodern hearers, who believe that all truths are small “t” truths, will receive this approach as “good, I’m glad that worked for you.” And sometimes they will then add that what works for them is Baha’i, or Zen, or therapy, or Prozac, or “I get high on life” or “I don’t need a crutch,” and so on.
Third, telling people if they come to Christ their lives will get better here isn’t necessarily true. Of course we can know the fruits of the Spirit here, but we should remember that when some people come to Christ their marriages and families fall apart exactly because they came to Christ (Mat. 10:34-39). And if you live in some Muslim countries when you come to Christ, although you would experience peace with God, your family would try to kill you and you could have your teenage daughter abducted, gang raped, forced to sign an allegiance to Islam, and then you would be told you’d never see her again. That’s not an improved lifestyle here!
Fourth, if their lives don’t improve here, they will feel misled and wonder why they should continue this Christian life.
Fifth, this isn’t the Biblical example. The next time you read Acts pay attention to how the Apostles preached. They never said, “Come to Jesus, like we have, and your life will get better here.” Also, we read in Matthew 4:17 that “Jesus began to preach saying ‘repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.’” Luke 9:23-25: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life [here] will lose it [forever], but whoever loses his life [here] for my sake will save it [forever].” For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world [here] and loses or forfeits himself [forever]?”
Sixth, it confuses the gospel. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we can have an improved lifestyle here. Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven of our sins, made right with God, and live forever and ever and ever reigning with Christ (Rev. 22:5).
Now, all this being said, I’m not saying that our witnessing can’t include what God has done for us here. It can! But we must be careful to remember that an improved life here is minor in comparison to the Gospel’s central message which is more concerned with your forever.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Amen.
Yes, yes, yes.
You’ve hit on such a major frustration I have.
Ray Comfort would be applauding as I am.
This is another excellent treatise on “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” (that Jesus doesn’t offer salvation to offer comfortability).
I listened to a great podcast by Ravi Zacharias today. He touched on this issue and reminded me that “”The greatest of loves comes at the greatest of costs.” In this case, the “cost” of the cross of Christ is our very lives. Costly, but worth it!
Yes, I have always appreciated “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.”
To admit that “improved life here is minor” validates the value of Christ for this life and invalidates the “black and white” reasoning in the article in my opinion. People listen/hear when it touches them where they are, not necessarily in theological correctness.
Russ
Hi Russ,
I’m not sure I understand your first sentence.
When you say “theological correctness” I wonder how far you are taking that? What I mean is that there is a minimum content to faith, right? They can’t just believe anything about Jesus to be saved, right?
Clay
Clay, my point is that every life that Jesus “touches” is better from that point on, though “improved life” is not the theological purpose of the gospel/Christ’s death. He does set the prisoner free, in more ways than one, a very positive result.
I agree, Russ. I’m just trying to make sure we are clear about how Jesus improves our life: we have peace with God, the fruits of the Spirit, forgiveness of sins, the assurance of eternal life, etc., and not (necessarily anyway) an improved marriage or family or financial success and that kind of thing.
This is very helpful Clay. I’m currently doing some early prep work on a book on general apologetics that incorporates a presentation of the Gospel and my personal testimony into it (to be written after I graduate (hopefully) in May 2011. I’m thinking along the lines of a Ravi/Keller/Little style and presentation, rather than a more formal Craig/Geisler type book. This post is going straight into my research file!
And of course, I have BIG dreams of incorporating my apologetics degree into novel-writing!
I’ve heard this too often from well-meaning believers, sometimes calling your testimony, “The Second Greatest Story Ever Told.” I love Ray Comfort’s illustration of the man who is told that the parachute was meant to make his flight more comfortable, rather than to save him from the inevitable plane crash. Thanks for sharing this, Clay.
Dr Jones,
You da man! Lately I’ve been reading Ray Comfort’s book “God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your life – The Myth of the Modern Message.” You two are pretty well aligned on the topic of “sharing Christ” with the lost. This is a truth I and my friends have needed to hear, assimilate, and act on for many years! Keep up the great work. THANKS!
Mr. Jones,
I enjoyed this post. It argued effectively for your point, and illuminated some truths about how we evangelize. However, I was wondering what you would recommend instead of “Improved Lifestyle Witnessing.” I know there are probably a lot of answers to this question, so offering only a few would be more than enough.
Thank you,
Jessica
You’ve asked a good question, Jessica! In fact, I’m going to post on it in the future. I really encourage you and everyone else that the next time you read through Acts to pay close attention to their message. Of course, it isn’t far from Jesus died on the cross for your sins, God gave proof of who Jesus was by raising Him from dead, and so men should everywhere repent so they can be freed from sin and bondage to Satan and have eternal life.
I would hope that we disabused ourselves from technically correct, however very limited views. Making a good choice by surrendering our lives to the Lord Jesus is a start of good choice thinking and decision making, which can result in better outcomes for ourselves. While it may be true that there are circumstances that arise that challenge us and our faith, such as cancer, economic disasters to name a few – the reality is that we can opt to maintain our faithfulness to the God who has said that He will never leave us nor forsake us and see us through – and if He so chooses, can come into the stream of time and intervene.
Marginalizing the work of the Holy Spirit and espousing a view that limits perceptions to this dimension is largely due to a largely unconsciously naturalized first world Western worldview. Believers in the hinterlands who possess a simpler yet, sincere view experience more powerful works of the Lord God in their lives and we ask why we don’t see that in our technically advanced societies.