Note to the reader: Though everyone is welcome to read this page, it was written specifically for believers in Jesus Christ. Because of this, it presumes that you have experienced the fulfillment and joy that comes from knowing God, knowing Him as a person rather than merely as a concept.
If you are missing this personal knowledge of God, this page won't do much for you. Instead, I highly recommend that you read this page. (If you would prefer a language other than English, go here.)
When I was a student at the University of Utah, I had an unusual experience. I saw people. I mean, I really saw them, not just their clothes or their figures. I saw their faces, and from what was written on their faces, I saw their hearts.
I could see the loneliness, the depression, the emptiness, the despair. These weren't just guesses; I was reading what was written on their faces.
Whether or not we can recognize it when we look at them, people are hurting. They feel empty. They are desperately searching for something to fill an inner void, although they don't know what will really satisfy them. Some try alcohol, others sex, still others drugs or music or hobbies or any of thousands of other distractions that our world offers, hoping to find something to fill the emptiness in their lives. Some even try "religion". Unfortunately, none of them really work, for God has made us to only find true fulfillment in Him.
When you see the homeless, the down-and-out, the ones who are rejected and ignored by society, the void in their hearts is very obvious, because they have nothing to hide it behind. The affluent conceal it better, but their emptiness is still just as real.
People are hungry for something, though often they don't know what they are seeking. But we know. People need Jesus Christ.
Then why is it so hard to tell them about Him?
Please understand my question. I am not asking why we struggle to be bold and proclaim the gospel, though that is a very real issue. My question is this: if people are hungry for Jesus, so hungry that their need is written all over their faces, why is it so difficult for them to respond to Him?
Several years ago, I worked with "Fred". The more I came to know him, the clearer his need for Jesus became. Fred was still troubled by his parent's death in a car accident when he was fifteen. He had a drinking problem. He suffered from severe anxiety attacks. He often was in conflict with his supervisors, sometimes explosively. Clearly, Fred needed Jesus. However, every attempt to point him toward Christ met with indifference. Perhaps you have had similar experiences.
Such situations make us ask: Why? Why do people who need Christ reject Him? Why do people who are so deeply wounded reject the One who can heal them?
Our usual answer is that we are not doing an adequate job of presenting the gospel, that we need some new method or technique. Sometimes, this is true. Those who have problems in this area can find a number of good tools to help them, from the Four Spiritual Laws to Evangelism Explosion. But the fundamental problem goes much deeper than the style or method of our evangelism.
Neither is the problem a lack of evidence for Christianity, or even a lack of evidence of which people are aware. Evangelism is not a debate about the facts of Christianity. In the book of Acts, the apostles repeatedly point out that their listeners are already familiar with the evidence for the Christian faith (Acts 2:22, 10:37,38, 22:5, and 26:26).
Paul states,
"That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Rom 1:19-21). The issue is not one of evidence. Rather, the problem is in people's response to the evidence.
I do not mean to imply that nobody ever has honest intellectual doubts about the Christian faith. When we encounter such doubts, we must deal honestly with them. However, questions about the evidence for Christianity, about its rational, factual basis, are not the main hindrance to evangelism. Quite often, they are merely smoke screens that people raise to hide the real issue: an unwillingness to commit their lives to God.
Houseflies run into a problem (literally) when they try to fly through a closed window. They peacefully fly toward their destination until SMACK they run into an invisible barrier. So they try again and SMACK the same thing happens. Then they change their technique, trying over and over in different spots, but BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP the invisible barrier thwarts each attempt - no matter how good their method or technique.
We experience the same thing in evangelism. We run into three invisible barriers.
The first invisible barrier to evangelism is found in Romans 1:18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness . . . ." Men suppress the truth. The problem is not in the facts, nor in our message, nor even in our presentation. The problem is that people don't want to hear the truth.
This is very strange, since people are incredibly hungry for what only God can provide. It's like a drowning man deliberately choosing not to believe in life preservers! Why do people suppress the truth about God, when only He can satisfy the hunger in the depth of their souls?
My four-year-old daughter has a very hard time admitting that she has done something wrong. She always has an excuse, has a mitigating circumstance, or changes the subject. For that matter, when I am in the wrong, I almost always say, "I'm sorry, but...", and then I give a reason why what I did was reasonable or understandable.
Nobody likes to be in the wrong. People like even less to be in the wrong in the eyes of somebody important. When unbelievers are told that they stand guilty before Almighty God, it is therefore not surprising that they fight against that reality, even though acknowledging their guilt and need is the only way to the healed relationship with God that their heart craves.
People also don't want to hear the truth about God because they love their own self-will, even though it leaves them empty inside. They would rather be in control of their own lives than deal with what the holiness of God requires of them.
The second reason why people don't respond to the gospel is that Satan blinds them. Paul states,
"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor 4:3-4). Satan blinds men so they will not see the Light of the world, understand the gospel, and be saved.
The third barrier to evangelism is really quite shocking. God told Isaiah, "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed" (Is 6:10). Paul said, "And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they may believe what is false" (2 Thess 2:11). Paul was referring to the time of the Antichrist, but the principle is much more universal. God Himself sometimes sends people a delusion! Why would He do that? Doesn't God "desire all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim 2:4)?
In the immediately surrounding verses, Paul makes it clear that God does this "because they did not receive the love of the truth" (2 Thess 2:10), and "in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (2:12). God only sends a delusion once someone has already chosen against the truth. Unfortunately, this category may include many of those whom we are trying to evangelize. They have deliberately rejected the truth, so God has sent them a delusion. (This does not mean that God will immediately send them a delusion if they don't embrace the gospel the first time they hear it.)
Therefore, when we attempt to present the gospel to someone, we face some very large obstacles. They themselves suppress the truth, Satan blinds them, and God Almighty may be sending them a delusion. No wonder people find it hard to respond!
By this point, it should be clear that we are completely inadequate for the task of evangelism. In particular, our words are simply powerless to persuade people to repent and turn to God. We can never say things clearly enough, or present our message well enough, to break through the barriers which oppose our efforts.
But we often seem to forget this and attempt, with our favorite rational arguments and analogies, to convince people that God really does exist, that our listeners are sinners in need of God's forgiveness, that forgiveness is only available in Jesus Christ, and that they must choose Jesus for themselves. The usual result is that people become convinced only in the abstract, if at all. They may grant, philosophically, that God exists, but they don't see His relevance to their lives. They may academically admit their sin, but they don't see the awfulness of it in the eyes of the Almighty Judge. They may be convinced in theory that only Jesus can save them, but they see no need to personally entrust Him with their souls. Why? Because there has been no conviction! The whole conversation was just an academic exercise, with no relevance to the person's life.
If our words do not convict people, if they can't break through the obstacles that prevent people from coming to Jesus Christ for salvation, then what can?
When the fly runs into the window, it needs something more than better technique. It needs help. It needs a human with a hammer to break the window. When we run into the invisible barriers to evangelism, we, too, need help. We need the power of God.
God reveals God. Unless God chooses to reveal Himself to someone, our words cannot reveal Him. Unless He chooses to draw a person to Himself, our words have no power to do so.
"No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:44).
"...Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes...no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him'" (Luke 10:21,22).
This does not mean that we can simply remain silent, since God often uses our words to reveal Himself. Paul said,
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (I Cor 1:21-25).
God, in His strength, was well-pleased through the message to save people; the words, by themselves, cannot save anyone.
"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God" (I Corinthians 2:1-5).
Notice that Paul is avoiding eloquence so that the power of God may be seen! It is God's power that convicts and converts. Without it, our words, however eloquent, are only words.
This is not a call to inaction, but rather to a different kind of action. God, though absolutely sovereign and free to carry out His own will, nevertheless often chooses to act in response to the prayers of His people. Since evangelism requires God's power, our first task is therefore to pray, rather than to speak.
In fact, if you are talking to people about God more than you are talking to God about people, you should re-examine your assumptions about evangelism. J. Sidlow Baxter said, "Men may spurn our appeal, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers."[1]
Much of our evangelism is ineffective because we are trying to do the work of God, but using human strength. The result is, predictably, that nothing happens. Human strength and wisdom are utterly useless in a spiritual battle like evangelism. God's power is what counts.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association considers prayer the cornerstone of their ministry. According to Catherine Wood, their executive Assistant to the Director of North American Ministries, Billy Graham will not hold a crusade anywhere unless people are praying for it. They try to build a movement of prayer one to two years in advance of each crusade. In fact, they don't want a large donor to financially underwrite a crusade. They consider that a disaster rather than a blessing, since when people give, they also pray. A large number of small donations, then, leads to a larger number of people praying.
Part of prayer is listening to God. As we pray, asking for God's power to move in people's lives, we must also listen for His words and His plan. When we do so, He can guide us as to whom we should talk to, when, what to say, what approach to take, and so on. While God can use us even when we are disobedient, He much more readily uses us when we are following His plan, in His power. If our words are truly His words, they will achieve His purpose, and their impact will be greater for being precisely the words that God knew our listener needed to hear. If our approach is God's, it will be more effective for going directly though whichever door is most open in the person's life. If our timing is God's, everything else will have more impact, since we will speak to the person when they are most receptive.
Prayer is the key to effective evangelism. In prayer we find God's power, and no one will come to Christ unless God acts in His power. However, this does not mean that we should just ignore everything else. There are other things that are also important for effective evangelism.
We must maintain a deep love for God. If we don't love God, we really don't have anything to tell anyone else. If we do love Him, we have something that our listeners cannot argue away or deny. New Christians are such effective witnesses not because they know exactly what to say, but because of their overflowing love for their Savior.
If our hearts are full of love for our glorious Lord, our words will not be merely dusty theology. Rather, they will be a joyous invitation to come to the One we adore. It's hard to brush off that kind of invitation with intellectual counter-arguments.
We also must truly love people. A consistent, believable love makes people more willing to listen to us. In effect, it earns us the right to be heard. (We should love people not merely to help us evangelize them; we should love people because they are made in the image of God. As part of that love, we should desire to see them reconciled to Him.)
Our lives must also be a witness. Our lives should accurately reflect God's character; they should publicly display the fruit of His Spirit; and they should attractively demonstrate that a lifestyle of following God can be wonderfully full of joy. Our lives should be a real eye-opener for those who are struggling with the emptiness and pain of their lives.
Finally, we still must tell people the message of the gospel. Even though our words alone will not make a person trust Christ, it is our speaking God's word that draws people to Him (see Rom 10:14,17). We must speak; we cannot expect people to understand the gospel by telepathy.
And when we speak, we must not present a watered-down gospel, containing merely God's love for us and Christ's death for us. We must also proclaim God's holiness and His just condemnation of all sin, and specifically the sin in the lives of our listeners. Only then will they see their need for God's mercy. Only then will God's grace and Christ's sacrificial death make any sense. (The converse is also true - we must not present sin and guilt without also presenting God's grace and forgiveness.)
If people don't understand their real problem - their moral guilt before God, and their total powerlessness to do anything to remedy it - they will not see how desperately they need to find forgiveness in Christ. They may not even see that forgiveness is what they really need. They may look for personal healing, joy, a better life - for the satisfaction of some felt need. In fact, these needs are truly met only in Christ, and they are a good reason for someone to start to seek Him. Rather than simply presenting Jesus as the answer to these felt needs, however, we need to use people's felt needs as an opening to expose their true need - to have their sins forgiven. If people are not confronted with the real issue, they may easily make a "decision" that is less than a real conversion.
Nevertheless, as we love God, as we love people, as we live as examples, and as we preach the message of the cross, let us remember our utter helplessness in the spiritual warfare we are fighting. Let us always remain dependent on the power of Almighty God to carry His message to a world of lost and dying people. Most of all, let us pray.
Let us pray.
[1] I have been unable to track down the exact reference for this quote. If you can, please send it to me.
Credit is due to Timothy Oliver for the origin of many of the ideas in this article.
Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 by Mike Stimpson. Permission is freely granted to make and distribute full copies of this article, provided that they are not for profit or commercial use.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright© 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.