There are a number of evangelism training courses that teach people how to share their faith. Often, they train you to begin by asking a person where they think they will spend eternity. Based on how a person responds, the evangelism training then goes on to share the basics of how to guide the discussion to how one can be forgiven through the work of Jesus on the cross.
The question of eternity isn’t unique to our time. Our parable this week begins with someone asking that same kind of question of Jesus. A religious expert comes to Jesus and asks him “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Take a few minutes to read about Jesus’ interaction with this man from Luke 10:25-37.
Jesus’ response isn’t what you might expect (or maybe you might if you’ve been paying attention these last few weeks!) He doesn’t go on to give a few steps to acquire one’s personal forgiveness and certain entrance to pearly gates. Instead, he shares a parable which doesn’t seem to have whole lot to do with how modern Christianity might typically expain how someone can be saved. Let’s dialogue together on what exactly he was trying to do…
- What do you think Jesus was trying to teach this religious expert about eternal life?
- Why do you think his answer was so different from how Christians today might answer that same question?
September 12th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
When someone inquires about eternal life…Christ responds with a concern for the present…things that need to be done in the present life…a concern for the poor (crossreference with the Rich Young Ruler)…a concern with how we are to do life NOW…for me evangelism isn’t so much about eternal life, but rather living the life that God called me to live…I have to remember that eternal not only means the future, but also the past and present…this life of present action isn’t new…it is the original plan…to care for ALL of creation…Christ answer is hard to hear because it cost…waiting around to be sucked into the void is cheap…trying to join a Kingdom that is forcefully advancing (Matt. 11.12) is hard work and requires sacrifice…I’m lazy so waiting around sounds good to me, but it’s not what God created me for…peace, 805 OUT.
September 12th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
I don’t think eternal life is “earned” by just being a good neighbor. I am sure some of the most remarkable people in the world love their “neighbors”, but their empty heart for God will leave them behind. Loving your neighbor or as I prefer to define it as anyone you encounter (these are my neighbors), it a component that is needed for eternal life. My “neighbors” are changed by my actions, but they are probably changed more by my inactions. Simply being a good neighbor will not cut it. I must be not only a good neighbor, but a proactive neighbor that can impact people for their betterment. Modern day Christianity in my opinion has the view that being a status quo good neighbor does cut it. I think Jesus would be very disappointed with this view or approach.
September 12th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
I have been very challenged by questions lately, questions that I don’t have answers for but ones that I can’t just shrug off and let go. A friend has a blog where he brings up social justice issues and our need to love others, including our enemies. I have been brought to my knees as I realize my biases, lack of love, and hard heartedness. What does it look like to really love people? To love them how they need it and not how I want to give it. How would it change tomorrow if I lived even for one day with ALL my heart, soul, mind, and strength focused on being a neighbor to others in the way Christ showed and taught us? The reality is I don’t even know the names of my neighbors nor the names of everyone I see at church. I have so far to go!
September 12th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Someone once pointed out to me that Eternal Life begins today, which I think Jeff was pointing out as well. When I think of when I was “saved”… well at different stages of my life, I have answered this question differently each time. However, looking at it now, I believe I was saved before the foundations of time. God had it in His plan that I would know Him and Love him and my life has been one of discovering that salvation. I don’t think I was “saved” at a certain moment in my life. Now that can open a whole other can of worms about predestination, baptism, sinner’s prayer, etc. etc. etc. But I fully think that many of those worms are just our way of putting some kind of tangible definition or rule to something we can’t humanly understand anyway. I will leave that there…
The part about modern day evangelism is one that has also changed in me over time. I have fully been in the place where I was “walking someone through the steps to salvation”. And to be honest with you, I felt like I was selling them something. I felt just like I do when I have a product and the goal is to have the other person purchase it. We all deal with that scenario in life because of jobs… but I hate that feeling, especially if it comes to selling Jesus to people. I feel cheap, like I missed the person… just to get to the point.
I think Jesus pointed out Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind because that is where we learn what love is and who Love is. As we are steeped in that process, Love becomes more a part of us and we begin to exude what we are becoming… and people are surprisingly more drawn to us… Not because of US… but because Jesus is becoming in us… and Jesus is attractive. That’s where loving our neighbor comes in. As we are steeped in Love, we are more apt to love our neighbor. If we love our neighbor in a world where that doesn’t happen very often… people want to know why and if we are about telling the truth… that will eventually get us to sharing the source of our love. And by that time, we are not selling anything… we are giving it away because the seeker wants it.
Dean said this once… “I never debated anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven.” I think this is so true. We have all been in the place where we have tried, or we thought that was the way to get them there… but time and again I see people jumping into the Kingdom not because of a lost debate, but because of a love desired.
Love God with all our heart, soul and mind… and love our neighbor as ourself…
That’s simply what He said. We too often try to complicate things with our need for a definition; instead of just letting it be what it is.
September 13th, 2006 at 9:08 am
I’ll keep this short and sweet. As I mentioned last night at home group, it saddens me to see that many of us are still so much like the one who questioned Jesus. Over 2000 years, and we are still trying to find the magical formula to get us into Heaven, or gain eternal life. I just don’t think there is a checklist, and I also don’t think that eternal life is earned. I think it is a given to those are are willing to love God wholly, and through that will come to realize that our “neighbors” are also made in the image of God, which in turn would make it so much easier to love them…..or at least it should. (and all the stuff that was said above….I swear you guys are able to write what I am thinking so much better than me)
September 13th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
That’s right friends it’s can of worms time…just some fun eternal life thoughts…what did a first century Jewish person think of when you said “eternal life?”…could Belinda Carlisle have been right when she sang, “oooh baby, do you know what that’s worth…oooh heaven is a place on earth…they say in heaven love comes first…we’ll make heaven a place on earth…oooh heaven is a place on earth?”…I love the 80’s!!!…if you aren’t a voluntary member of the Kingdom of God, do you even care to be in a place, whether you call it heaven or whatever, that exist under the rule of love?…no answers here just questions that came to mind as I read y’all’s thoughts…peace…805 OUT!
September 17th, 2006 at 12:55 am
Ah, love, it makes the world go round. The sad part about love is, we, as carnal mankind have very little concept of the love Jesus displayed. We love a hot dog, the sun in our face, a good movie, a great cup of espresso; we even use the same word to describe how we feel about our human companions. I love my wife, I love my mother, and I love my dog. Well, by now you may get the point. We have but one word to express LOVE of, and or for something. Does this dilute its meaning or intention?
In the Bible there are a number of words describing LOVE. I believe, Peter was not asked the same question 3 times but 3 different levels of the meaning of love. Peter, do you love fresh air, Peter do you love your mother, Peter do you Love ME? Me who is about to hang on a cross for you, and you who will deny Me 3 times.
Required to follow Jesus Christ, and His idea of Love, begins with a self-love; hear this right, not a selfish love, but a recognition that Christ paid our price on that cross for us yet a sinner. Should be unlovable yet so loved—given an only begotten Son!
Understanding that the will of God is to be fulfilled through Jesus, one might ask what is the will of God? Scripture states “that none shall perish but all come to eternal life.” Thus, if Jesus died for me, I am a viable part of His idea into eternity. And if I am so loved by Him I indeed need to love those who He also loves. The great thing here is we need no power of our own to achieve this feat as first we are instructed to love God with all our might, all our strength and being, then second, not unlike the first, to love our fellow man. This is because when the first is accomplished the second comes naturally. God does the loving through one to the other. Scripture tells of Jesus motivated by the Love of His Father and in turn returning that Love with obedience. This genuine Love relationship to God allowed Jesus to love the unlovable and become its Hope. God’s Love is a powerful motive to love back as it is the power and strength which truly overrides things like—envy, strife, hatred, bitterness, dislike, and all else used as reason for not loving a neighbor.
Fault is found easy in people who harbor the same faults themselves. I call this is an Adam and Eve syndrome. No Lord, you put her in the garden. No Lord, you allowed the serpent to be in the garden. Man’s first instruction was to look after and tend to. Where could the fault be found? If God’s Love was Adam’s and Eve’s motive, well, you know, it would be a different world. A world originally intended for those created in Love and in His own image, by His own hands, brought to life by His own breath.
Scripture states love is the bond of perfection, but God’s love not ours. Also stated in Scripture, charity (another word for love, but a love in action), covers a multitude of sins. It is love for one another than reveals who truly is of God. And you know what the Bible says about those who have no love. . .
I ask in prayer daily to remove self in my understanding of God’s Love, and that our Lord guides me into situations where I may learn His true meaning of His Idea of Love. And you know what, He answers my prayers.
I am glad to be a part of the Pathways community learning together, because if we make it (as Paul said, to the end) we will be together for a long long time. Learning of God’s love everyday of our eternal life.
September 26th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
I truly praise God that He is not fair. For if He were, that would raise some very serious concerns for me. Bottom line, I would have to face an eternity in hell. For what kind of “fairness” trades a blameless life for my sin? That doesn’t sound too fair to me. We can’t only look at one side of the quarter and ask God to only be fair in the “good” things, but not the “bad”. At some point we must flip the quarter over and address the other side. God owes us nothing in fairness…He has already given it all.