March 02, 2010
Sampler
Often evangelistic efforts focus on telling unbelievers what Jesus can do for them…forgive sins, salvation, caring burdens. When you think about it, it’s somewhat presumptuous of us to try and quantify the things the Lord will do for others. When Jesus healed the possessed man from the demons known as Legion, the Lord sent him on his way with the instructions, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” (Luke 8:39 ESV) I think it’s interesting that in this instance the preferred means of evangelism was not to serve up a sampler plate of what the Lord can do for others, but to simply give a personal testimony.
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Gail;
-----It is rather difficult to tell how much God has done for you without also telling what God has done. In telling what God has done for you, we are back to the sampler plate, but with an entirely different attitude. The salesmanship and presumptiveness of peddling what God can do for your hearers impersonalises the whole message. No attention is given to the possibility your hearer may not be interested in buying from your God’s company. If he is a customer of someone else‘s, your offer will simply make him feel like a target, and his suspicions of how much you will profit from him will rise. Showing the same sampler plate by addressing the things God has done in your own life presents a reality to your hearer. There is no feeling generated of being a target, because the focus is not cast upon the presumption of your listener’s needs nor of God alone being able to meet them. The focus is upon how joyful you are because something has been done for you by someone truly amazing. Your ability to then walk away from the interaction without having a sale to close leaves your listener with an open memory to pique him later at some opportune moment. It is like an offer that doesn’t go away, because it is an enticement that turns into an offer as it is given more reflection. For you know how much the troubles of this world cause us to dig back through our memories of others having it better.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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