Sing An Old Evangelistic Song?
“Sing an old song?” I cannot find that verse in the Scriptures; yet, that is what the Church has done for centuries. I am not speaking of our styles of worship, but our methods of evangelism.
Our calling is to “… become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor 9:22). I believe that “all possible means” refers to the same creativity that God employed in our amazing creation. God created monochromatic zebras and vibrantly exquisite Quetzal birds. He did not break the mold, He simply had no mold. When Jesus healed the blind, He used a variety of methods. One time He spat into a man’s eyes, another time He created a mud compound to rub in the guy’s eyes, and several times He simply spoke the word to heal the blind. Jesus was divinely creative.
We are created in the image of God. Part of the image of God is not only choice, but creativity. Just as God gave Adam dominion over the birds, the cattle, and all of creation, so Paul charged his protégé Timothy to “preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim 4:2). God did not prescribe the method of dominion, nor did Paul prescribe a system or method of evangelism. In Acts, we see that Paul used whatever touch point he had available to connect with his audience. On Mars Hill, it was popular Athenian poetry and an altar to an unknown god. When presenting the Gospel to the Jews in Jerusalem, he took a much more different approach.
Since we serve a creative God, we must remember that creation requires change. Unfortunately, the history of the Christian Church is one of creating immutable monuments to the men and movements that dramatically changed the direction of the church. We then systematize and venerate the methods used by these movers and no longer look for the movement of the Spirit to bring creative methods to reach a new generation. We become old wine in old wineskins, irrelevant and unable to adapt and adjust to a changing culture. Those chosen few saints whose eyes are open to see the movement of God in their life, see that God moves in a new direction in a new way, a new wineskin. Meanwhile, the church is content to “sing an old song,” doing things like we have always done. Change implies an unknown, a sense of being uncomfortable. We like the familiar. We tend to share the Gospel the same way that we came to faith, thinking that it is the “right” way to evangelize. God never restricts Himself to formulas, traditions or human laws. He will communicate His message through a donkey or a daffodil (Num 22:30; Rom 1:20).
I also believe part of the reason we “sing an old song” is that we remember how God moved in the past. We are encouraged to remember the Lord and what he has done and celebrate it, but we must be careful to worship only our Maker and not His methods or His means. In the wilderness, God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent so that anyone who would look to the serpent could be healed from the plague. Centuries later that bronze serpent was being worshiped as a relic and had to be destroyed by Hezekiah.
When Moody Bible Institute began broadcasting on radio in 1926, over 80 years ago, many Christians said, “You can’t use the devil’s tools to share the Gospel.” A full-time Christian radio station had never been attempted. The visionary founders moved forward undaunted, and decades later millions had been reached with the Gospel broadcast around the world. Many Christians opposed presenting the Gospel on TV in the early years, but no one can deny that countless souls have trusted in Christ for salvation from a televised Gospel presentation.
In today’s media driven culture, the Gospel is being presented through drama, dance, video, mime, debate, music, radio, TV, podcast, blog, SecondLife, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and a whole host of other mediums. Each of these media platforms can be transformed into pulpits to share the truth. Some pastors today are turning to movie clips for sermon illustrations. A brief sixty to ninety seconds scene from a movie may provide a powerful word picture that emblazons the message or point upon the heart of the listener. Once again, the critics claim that such multi-media illustrations are an endorsement of Hollywood or carnality. But this is no different than verbally telling a story or other sermon illustration or even the actions of Paul on Mars Hill. It is simply using the tools of the world to connect lost people to the truth of the Scriptures.
Creative illustrations help the listener realize the Word of God is “living and active,” applicable to life today. There are times where the message and illustrations simply flow. When I was a youth pastor, I observed unchurched kids in the neighborhood having a shaving cream fight. The Lord prompted me to invite the kids to our youth group the following week for a “massive shaving cream fight.” Out of curiosity, many of the kids came. I incorporated a few other messy games and called it “Slopfest.” We had pudding slip and slides, Jello wars, shaving cream fights, and the messiest stuff imaginable. At the conclusion of the chaos, I pointed out our disgusting stickiness and filthiness. I compared it to our personal moral failures and how we were dirty in God’s sight and needed to be cleansed. We brought out the hose and cleaned everyone off, pointing to the Gospel and how Jesus can cleanse us from our sins. A simple illustration that connected with the hearts of the hearers.
Numerous times I have had people talk about an illustration I used years ago and how they still remember the message; yet, they may scarcely remember what I taught on last week, because the illustrations used last week did not provide the “Aha!” moment. Is this because the earlier illustration was divinely inspired or divinely connected? There are times where the preparation of the message is a wrestling match, a constant struggle for position and points, exhortation from exhaustion. God can divinely inspire and move in the flow or in the struggle. We are simply called to be obedient, following the example of our Lord, who poured himself out as a drink offering. We may not connect with everyone all of the time, but as we yield ourselves to Him, He can accomplish much.
Our commission as ministers of the Gospel is to share the Good News “by all possible means.” We are called to a high standard of creativity. The message doesn’t change; the methods do. We can creatively share the Gospel, but we cannot touch what is the Gospel. Paul rebuked the Galatians for “turning to a different gospel” (Gal 1:6). Some people today, in an effort to be creative, are preaching a different Gospel, one that they have created. Their creation is a cheap imitation of what the Lord handed down, and it has departed from the essentials of the faith. We must be careful that in our creativity, we do not play with the essentials. That creativity was seen in the early church and warned against by Jude, “… urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). The substance of our faith was handed down “once for all,” not to be recreated, upgraded or improved. The methods and means are up to us, using the creative ability God has given us. “… I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor 9:22). Are there “means” you need to explore?
