As part of the Serve & Share Summer initiative, this past Saturday a handful of PBF members hung out at the local AMC theatre and tried to engage people in talking about the gospel. We encouraged them to take a “Good Person Test” in exchange for a $5 gift card. Through this test, we use some of the law to show them that no one is good (including us!) and that the only person who was—Jesus Christ—lived for us, died for us, and was raised for us that we might be reconciled to God.
So, what was it like to do this for a couple of hours with random people in a place not exactly known for holiness or spirituality? Here are a few reflections.
1. People Are Willing to Talk
Several people were running late for their movie (at least, that’s what they said) and we’re not willing to stop and talk with us. A smaller number of people simply said “No, thank you,” and moved on. But a surprising number of people were willing to stop and. And more than listen, they were willing to talk.
People were very open and honest about their sin and moral feelings. Though some started by saying that they believe they were a good person, most were quick to admit when they failed on the specifics like honoring their parents when they were kids, telling lies, stealing things, and more. A few times, it was a little more difficult to get people to open up. But for the most part, those we talk to were surprisingly vulnerable.
As one wanting to share the gospel with them, it engendered an immediate connection. I appreciated that vulnerability and I wanted to share with him all the more the wonderful news of forgiveness of sin in Christ!
2. Sin Still Hurts
Sometimes are theology, hits us in unexpected ways. We’re talking with men, I often bring up the command not to commit adultery, but then explain how Jesus went deeper to the heart and said that we should not even lust after a woman. When using this example, a couple of younger men didn’t even know what the word lust meant. I had to explain to them that it meant having sexual thoughts, desires, or fantasies about another person. Once explained, they admitted that they had engaged in that. I was shocked that our world seems so pervasively soaked in sexual sin that even a word like lust wasn’t in the vocabulary anymore.
On the other hand, it was a different kind of pain exhibited by one man that I talk to. When I asked about adultery and started to move to Jesus by saying “most of us haven’t actually committed adultery,” he interrupted and said “I haven’t, but my wife did.” After 22 years of marriage, they were divorced. I told him that I was so sorry that happened and that, because my wife and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage thus year, I could only imagine how hurtful it would be if she cheated on me. If we were following a tight script, it might be easy to bounce over something like that. But biblically we know that God was not happy with his wife’s actions. It’s OK to stop and feel the pain of that sin with the person. It helps us be thankful in the God who brings healing to our damaged suffering hearts.
3. We’re All Legalists at Heart
It was interesting that some people let me get all the way through a gospel presentation and then would say something like “Oh yeah, I believe that.” Yet on the front end, when I asked about being a good person, only one or two of the people that we talk to upfront said they were not good people or were trusting in Christ to make them right with God.
All of the people that at the end of the conversation seem to be on board with the God of the Bible, defended their own righteousness at the start of the conversation. When I asked why they thought they were a good person, they talked about how they treated other people, how they gave the charity, how they prayed for others, etc. In other words, it was all about them!
It drove home the reality that people can be very close to knowledge of God and yet still miss the gospel and true faith. As much as our default mode is looking to ourselves to be justified, we have to be very clear that while those good works are to be applauded, they are simply not enough to bring forgiveness in life with God.
4. Gospel Conversations Are Easier than You Think
Every day we seem to find more and more evidence of a culture that is at best disinterested in Christianity and at worst contemptuous of it. Of course, some of this is because there are those who claim the name of Christ, but fail to live according to his commands. But even the best of us feels the sting of a culture that seems especially hostile towards us in our Savior.
Nevertheless, none of this was brought up in any of the conversations we had at the theater. No one ever push back on whether or not the Bible was true, Christ was really God’s Son, or any scandals that the media love to point out. Instead, we had free flowing conversations about the one hope of humanity.
We could be very frightful of sharing the gospel, but I want to encourage you that people are out there ready to listen. I would even go so far as to say they’re hungry for some good news.
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