Jesus Loves You
I've come to accept some colloquial phrases, being from the south. Let me expound on a few. "Bless it.." " help it", "let go and let God", "hey y'all", and the ever popular " Jesus loves you." We usually proclaim this one from a high and mighty horse.
I must admit that some of these phrases crack me up every time I hear them exclaimed. The typical scenario is that so and so requests prayer for so and so. The typical response will be a casual "bless it", said with a low and soft southern draw in the voice.
There is one phrase I feel we hide behind and neglect to expound on it's heavily weighted words. "Jesus loves you." We casually throw this phrase out to the hungry man we buy a meal for. We sling this phrase at children when passing out food for growling tummies. Yes, it's true- Jesus loves me, you, ya mama-n-them. But what does it mean??
If I walked up to you with a pill and said take this and you will be healed. Your first response would be, am I sick? To which I would respond, yes! I would then proceed to tell you that you have a terminal disease and without that pill you won't make it. You might or might not choose to take the pill.
Evangelism is much like this scenario. We will walk up to someone and do a good deed in Jesus name, and walk off saying Jesus loves you, as though that deserves a mic drop.
Profound as it may be, you need to deliver the good news and the bad news. I got to help an elderly man this past weekend. He cut his hand open on a cart at a big box store. He was bleeding badly. Long story short we got some bandages and cleaned him up. He tried to pay me for the bandages but I told Him no, Jesus already paid for it. He looked at me very confused. This was not a man who understood this phrase. Immediately the Holy Spirit told me this man was not a believer. Not an atheist, but someone who had never heard the Good News. A family came over to load the man's groceries. Before I walked away I asked the man if He knew that Jesus loved him.
The man said who is Jesus and why does He love me. At that moment all words left me. I was in front of an older American gentleman who didn't know who Jesus is...
I have shared the Gospel with lots of people, but in my cliche, westernized Christianity I forgot for one moment that not everyone has heard the message of the Gospel. God sent that family who came and helped load groceries. The man with the family was a "closer"of. sorts He proceeded to explain who Jesus was and why He loves him. It was beautiful. We have to share the good news and the bad news. I prefer the bad news first. Bad news- we are all sin sick and it is sure to kill us. Good news- we can have life everlasting if we put our faith in Christ.
Next time you engage in ministry, take the time to explain who this Jesus is and exactly why He loves us. We can't simply offer the cure without revealing the sickness. It's not enough to say a phrase. Invest in it, believe in it's ability to change some one's life, and please- take the time to share why the love of Jesus is all we will ever need.
http://radical.net/sermon/behold-his-love/
I must admit that some of these phrases crack me up every time I hear them exclaimed. The typical scenario is that so and so requests prayer for so and so. The typical response will be a casual "bless it", said with a low and soft southern draw in the voice.
There is one phrase I feel we hide behind and neglect to expound on it's heavily weighted words. "Jesus loves you." We casually throw this phrase out to the hungry man we buy a meal for. We sling this phrase at children when passing out food for growling tummies. Yes, it's true- Jesus loves me, you, ya mama-n-them. But what does it mean??
If I walked up to you with a pill and said take this and you will be healed. Your first response would be, am I sick? To which I would respond, yes! I would then proceed to tell you that you have a terminal disease and without that pill you won't make it. You might or might not choose to take the pill.
Evangelism is much like this scenario. We will walk up to someone and do a good deed in Jesus name, and walk off saying Jesus loves you, as though that deserves a mic drop.
Profound as it may be, you need to deliver the good news and the bad news. I got to help an elderly man this past weekend. He cut his hand open on a cart at a big box store. He was bleeding badly. Long story short we got some bandages and cleaned him up. He tried to pay me for the bandages but I told Him no, Jesus already paid for it. He looked at me very confused. This was not a man who understood this phrase. Immediately the Holy Spirit told me this man was not a believer. Not an atheist, but someone who had never heard the Good News. A family came over to load the man's groceries. Before I walked away I asked the man if He knew that Jesus loved him.
The man said who is Jesus and why does He love me. At that moment all words left me. I was in front of an older American gentleman who didn't know who Jesus is...
I have shared the Gospel with lots of people, but in my cliche, westernized Christianity I forgot for one moment that not everyone has heard the message of the Gospel. God sent that family who came and helped load groceries. The man with the family was a "closer"of. sorts He proceeded to explain who Jesus was and why He loves him. It was beautiful. We have to share the good news and the bad news. I prefer the bad news first. Bad news- we are all sin sick and it is sure to kill us. Good news- we can have life everlasting if we put our faith in Christ.
Next time you engage in ministry, take the time to explain who this Jesus is and exactly why He loves us. We can't simply offer the cure without revealing the sickness. It's not enough to say a phrase. Invest in it, believe in it's ability to change some one's life, and please- take the time to share why the love of Jesus is all we will ever need.
http://radical.net/sermon/behold-his-love/
