Come, see for yourself

If we are followers of Christ, there should be several things that matter to us in a big way. One of these things is the conviction that more people need to know and experience Jesus, and we, as ambassadors of Christ are the ones that God uses to speak to the ones that do not know Him (2nd Corinthians 5:20). Jesus, after being resurrected, with the eleven gathered around, told them to “go and make disciples of all the nations…”. One thing I believe that a significant populous of Christians don’t grasp is that we are all missionaries. Jesus spoke those words to us. Not just to a select few who are the only ones capable of making disciples. We are all called. So when we get to the point where we only have contact with Christians, where the only friends we have are ones that know Christ, or where we completely forget our God-given purpose to actively pursue those who don’t know Him and make disciples, we are in a very dangerous place.

Because of the instruction to “Go”, many of us constantly wrestle with how we are supposed to make disciples. Do we preach fire and brimstone to the man in the cubicle next to us? Do we have conversations with the spiritually intrigued over a cup of coffee at Starbucks? Do we stand in front of a Movie Theater and ask people to come to our church? Do we go door to door in our neighborhood to evangelize? I don’t have a ten step program on how to “save” those who don’t yet know Christ, nor do I believe that anyone can conjure up the perfect way to make disciples. I do, however, believe that there is a direction in which we should move more towards. I began reading John last week, and the following passage hit me like a ton of bricks:

“The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, ‘Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.’ The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, ‘What are you after?’ They said, ‘rabbi’ (which means ‘teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’ He replied, ‘Come along and see for yourself.’ They came, saw here he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day… - John 1:35-39 -

The two disciples of John had probably never seen Jesus before, let alone know him intimately, but they had definitely heard of him. Once John announced who was passing by to his two disciples, they started following him, and Jesus, who saw this asked them what they wanted. They asked Jesus where he was staying. Instead of Jesus answering with a typical “Oh, I am staying at Ol’ Joes place,” he answered “Come along and see for yourself.” I believe that so much of what Jesus is calling us to do is in that one sentence: “Come along and see for yourself.” He doesn’t give them the easy answer, nor does He give them directions on how to get there. He simply invites them into His space, letting them be a part of His life. So, should we walk down State Street with bible in hand and begin to preach? I believe that Christ has modeled something much different to us in which He so much desires for us to follow. He didn’t give them all the easy answers that we have been so accustomed to spouting off. He didn’t even describe to them where He was staying. He took them, and invited them to be a part and to experience His life first-hand.

What if we began to do the same? What if instead of harping on people to get them to come to our church, we spent the same energy inviting them into our space as we walk out our lives? People want to see and experience, not be told what to believe. When we invite people into our personal space, they will truly see who we are. If God is real and alive in our lives, it wont be like the stories that they have heard time and time again that never were true for them, but it will be them seeing and experiencing the power of God tangibly through us. We cannot fool those we are authentically sharing life with. Thus, if our lives are authentic, our friends, family and those we continue to pray meet the heart of Christ, will truly see and experience Christ for themselves.