Speaking of Jesus {book recommendation}

I just finished a book that I have to share with you. This book isn’t a book I received free to review on my blog. This book came recommended to me by a family in our small group. One of the daughters of this family is living/serving in the middle east right now, this book was her recommendation. I bought the book myself, and now am eager to share it with someone!! So, that gets to be you, dear readers. 🙂

I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book, the subtitle to the book is: The Art of Not-Evangelism. Huh?

But, as I read I found myself highlighting more and more of each chapter. I loved what the author, Carl Medearis, had to say about how we share Jesus with others. I hope you will enjoy these thoughts & quotes I share here with you. If you end up reading this book yourself, please come back and let’s chat about it in the comment section!

So often, among brothers and sisters in Christ, we say that Jesus is “the answer to everything,” every problem, every heartache, every issue in today’s world. Jesus is the answer. I agree with this statement, but what does that look like in our lives? And do we actually live like we believe that? If so, why don’t others see this in us as Christians?

“Too often I try to win allies to my point of view rather than pointing to Jesus.” Carl Medearis, p. 25.

Ouch. I don’t know about you, but I can vividly remember conversations I’ve had in the past where I was SO concerned that I was getting my opinion across that I really wasn’t even thinking about Jesus or how He loves this person I was trying to convince of my being right. I hate admitting that, but it’s true. I have  had many a conversation in my past where I was so focused on sharing what I thought to be right that I neglected to even bring Jesus into the conversation. “I proved it was more important to me to win an argument than to be like Jesus – compassionate and loving.” Carl Medearis, p. 25.

“People need Jesus, not a massive array of doctrine, polemics, and theology lessons. People need a relationship. People need to belong before they can believe.” Carl Medearis, p. 26.

The author shares a lot of conversations and personal experiences from his own life where he blew this as much as I have. I love that he shares these stories and the responses he got because it really began weighing on me the more I read…what have I been giving people? Jesus? Or myself and my own opinions??

“We can only do one of two things: Give them Jesus or give them wasted sewage. We can either point the way to the Way or confuse them with a load of things that will never feed their need for God. There is a place for doctrines and dogma and science and history and apologetics, but these things are not Jesus – they are humanly manufactured attempts to make people think that having the right idea is the same thing as loving and following Jesus.” Carl Medearis, p. 26.

Living in the Bible belt for much of my life, I can see this very much. So many conversations on theology, what is right, what is wrong. Most of the time, those conversations did not bring me closer to Jesus at all. Most of the time these conversations were among believers more as a debate than a conversation. I’m not saying there is never a need for this or even that it is wrong, but in the context of this book and specifically evangelism, I think we should check our motives. Especially if we are talking to someone who does not know Jesus.

“Because we’re ‘Christians,’ we unfortunately feel we have to own up to Christendom. We believe we are responsible for the entire history of Christian faith and that it’s our job to explain everything.” Carl Medearis, p. 39.

Along with WHAT we are sharing about our faith, the other major thing I took from this book was HOW we say it. What words we use, the phrases, things that we commonly say {especially in the Bible belt} that are not even in the Bible. Most of these things, unfortunately, do nothing to show people who Jesus is, nor do they really even make sense.

The author of this book has spent much time in various places around the world, and especially the Middle East. The back of this book states that “Carl Medearis is an expert in the field of Arab-American and Muslim-Christian relations and the author of the acclaimed book Muslims, Christians, and Jesus. Having lived in Lebanon for twelve years, today Carl works with international leaders to promote cultural, political, and religious dialogue in the Middle East.” 

I feel like the author’s personal experience is important to know, because he shares what a lot of people around the world feel and understand about Christians. This portion of the book was VERY eye opening to me.  Having been, myself, to other countries including one country in southeast Asia, I know that others have very different opinions of America and what Christianity is because of their very different cultures.

“The gospel is not a debate or a list of things to believe. The gospel is a person. Jesus Christ is the gospel. He is the truth. He is the point. He embodies all of the salvation/redemption/forgiveness/freedom stuff Himself, and because He is a personality, He does not require doctrinal mastery to connect with an individual.” E. Stanley Jones from Speaking of Jesus, p. 56.

This is freeing to me. I don’t have to know it all. I don’t have to understand it all. But I can still point others to Jesus!!

“To millions of people around the world, Jesus Christ is synonymous with Western society and America. The problem isn’t that these attachments are or aren’t good, the problem is that these attachments are not the gospel. Do we really want to try to redefine and reinterpret Jesus and then give Him to the world? Of course not. When we handcuff things to Jesus, we are convoluting the message. The power of Jesus’ life and death come from His existence as the exact representation of His Father. Do we really want to add to that?” Carl Medearis, p. 61.

So, here are some of the phrases and terms we use regularly that are just “Christianese” and not helpful in letting others see JESUS…

• the actual word Christian — such a loaded word these days!! In the Middle East this word can mean crusader or a militant who kills Muslims, in Africa it can mean “western imperialist”
• born again Christian – to many around the world this means “conservative right-wing Republican”
• church – in the Bible as “ekklesia” which is really more complex than just “church,” the church has become known as a structured institution with hierarchies instead of a growing, dynamic life giving organism
• evangelism – the Greek word “evangel” actually means GOOD NEWS, the phrase in the Bible that would better describe most of our hearts in this is “make disciples.” Evangelism is something we DO to other people.  Evangelism is an “ism” and encourages people to think of it as a philosophy or methodology and not a way to live. Evangelism tends to be program driven. All of these things can be misleading. What we really hope and pray for in making disciples is to make RELATIONSHIPS. That should be our focus!
• missionary – oftentimes missionaries are thought of as those who come in and try to change another person’s culture. Do we want to be known for that? Or do we want to be known for giving JESUS to people? Remember, he isn’t saying BEING a missionary is bad, he is just saying, let’s think about the TERMS and why they are used. Maybe we can just change some of our terminology to actually better the way we are showing Jesus to people.

In each of these instances, Carl shares stories and conversations he has had with folks around the world and their perceptions when they hear these words listed above. Very eye opening!!

Whew, I had no idea this post would get THIS long. I have one last convicting thing I appreciated from this book. I won’t say much because my intent is not to debate, but just to cause us to think and pray about our own motives in these things. One of the chapters in this book discusses those that believe and live differently from us. The author has interviews with hundreds of people in a very liberal part of this country. Most of them had very, very sad opinions on what they think of Christianity or how they have been treated by Christian. This part of the book broke my heart.

“Christians are known almost universally as the people who are against things.” Carl Medearis, p. 150.

Oh, friends, let this not be said of us. Most of the time, these people – that hear our protests and our angry words of debate – never, ever hear the real JESUS in any of that. Hear my heart, I’m not saying to go along with things that are wrong for the sake of witnessing. What I’m saying is, our response to the world we live in affects people more than we can ever imagine. The fact is, they just don’t see Jesus in our hate. “Christians are against things. They fight us and judge us and they hate us.” {Quote from one of the people that the author surveyed, p. 151.) Throwing bricks in windows will never bring people to Jesus. When asked about following Jesus, the response was much more positive. People are willing to follow Jesus but not Christianity. I think this should be very eye opening for us, as believers.

Finally, I want to just state that there are a few things in this book that did not fully sit right with me. I’m actually re-reading parts of the book and just praying for God to give me wisdom as I read. I’m not reading this book like it’s the gospel. The author would not even want us to do so. He would welcome these discussions and I think it is good for us to evaluate how we give Jesus to the world. I’m not taking this book and making it my Bible. I’m reading it with an open heart and open eyes and praying for God to use me to show Jesus to the world.

“What if the message of reconciliation that all of us can agree on is actually a person – not a text, theology, doctrine, church or religion? What is Christianity doesn’t own Jesus? What if Jesus is bigger than our religion? My prayer, encouragement and challenge for you today is to let Jesus go. Let Him out of the box you have Him in.” Carl Medearis, p. 176.