Want the Bad News First?

8.  Jesus and Paul do not necessarily speak of sin at the outset, and they may in fact "dangle the benefits of salvation" first.  The Samaritan woman in John 4 first heard an invitation to receive living water so that she would never thirst again.  It was only toward the end of the conversation that her sin was discussed, which was actually an incidental point that almost went unmentioned!  In the prior chapter, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to be born again -- and doesn't even mention that Nicodemus is a sinner.  Think of Zacchaeus (Luke 19): he already knows his need.  Jesus simply extends friendship toward him, and this display of grace prompts Zacchaeus to take initiative in making restitution.

The same goes for Paul in Athens (Acts 17).  Though angered at its idols, he calmly builds bridges with the Athenians, quoting Stoic thinkers.  Mention of repentance came only much later in the discussion. (According to some estimates, this talk is a summary of a longer discourse -- perhaps up to two hours. No doubt, Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman was similarly extended.)  In Philippi, the jailer asks how he could get out of the mess he was in (how to be "saved" in a non-theological sense). Paul turns this into a spiritual matter and tells him to trust in Christ to find salvation (Acts 16:31).

Again, Jesus own missional message in Luke 4:18 (citing Isaiah 61:1) affirms the benefits of salvation: Jesus comes to preach good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, release for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord's favor.  Notice that Jesus even leaves off "the day of vengeance" from the original Isaiah quotation!  In Matthew 11:28-30, he tells the weary that they can find rest with him.  Those who come already know their need; Jesus addresses their felt need and the positive benefit of turning to him.

Focusing on the bad-news-first message without variation has left many non-Christians in our culture with the impression that there isn't much good news or power or life in our message.  Darrell Bock of Dallas Seminary makes the point well: "Paul is jazzed about the gospel not because it's a transaction.... When we offer the gospel as a transaction, as the check of a box, people check the box and say, ‘I've done the important thing,' and they risk walking away."  Bock observes that the gospel message as it is typically proclaimed is truncated and far from holistic ("If you were to die tonight" -- a great way to start a conversation! -- "why should God let you into his heaven?").  Christ came to usher in a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and to bring abundant life (John 10:10) and to empower us to truly live in this world of sin, oppression, shame, bondage, and death (Romans 1:16).

9.  Jesus often speaks to a person's felt needs without mention of repentance, yet this typically assumes a person's awareness of his spiritual neediness. As we've just seen, Jesus calls the hungry to eat (John 6:35ff.), the thirsty to drink (John 7:39), the weary to rest (Matthew 11:28-30).  What he proclaims is not their hunger, thirst, and weariness, but his eagerness to help.  So it should not surprise us that most people come to Christ because they are experiencing a personal crisis of some sort.  Think of all those who came to him for healing or to have their demons exorcised -- a point that also applies to the apostles' ministry in Acts.

This can apply to evil and suffering in our world that awakens us to our own vulnerability, pain, and need for God.  No wonder C.S. Lewis said that, "pain is God's megaphone to rouse a dulled world."  Experiencing evil is often a wake-up call to our own insufficiency.  Jesus himself reminds his hearers in Luke 13:1-5 that both moral and natural evils can be potential wake-up calls to repentance.

Perhaps we should be quicker to listen and slower to speak to people so that we can discern their felt needs and respect the gradual process that often comes with evangelizing adults.

10.  In what ways can we build bridges with our postmodern peers?  Try "idolatry"! While conviction of sin is important, we must be careful not simply to "scold" the postmodern or the "apatheist" (who doesn't care whether God exists or not) for, say, inferior moral standards or mushy views of truth.  Yes, premarital sex or sexual lust is wrong, but usually we will not connect with our audience if we focus on "doing bad things."  Rather, a more effective and very biblical emphasis comes by exposing the human tendency to make good things into ultimate things.  Using the specific term "sinner" may not readily resonate with the postmodern, but the scriptural theme of "idolatry" often does.  Idolatry is, as Tim Keller puts it, "building your identity on anything other than God."  So rather than coming across as scolding non-Christians, we should take this advice: