Damascus Road Church

I guess I always thought this would be an easy question to answer.  Theologically, I can explain our guilt before God, our depravity as a result of the fall, and our justification through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ as my penal substitute. But, that doesn't really answer the question. 

How do you reveal someone's need for Jesus?  Perhaps this is just another way to say, "convince" without saying it.  Convincing someone of their need for Jesus isn't my responsibility, and its not biblical.  Even though the Bible clearly teaches it is God who draws men, God who chooses, God who regenerates, God who reveals...I still feel a heavy responsibility.  I feel like I should be able to say something beyond "come to church" and then cross my fingers that God will grab them.  It's it that random? 

For lack of a better term, it seems like it might be easier to convince people of their need for Jesus if their suffering.  But what if their not suffering?  What if their life seems perfect? What if they cannot see the need...again, I'm beginning to tread on God's turf now.  Nevertheless, if I was going to provide a persuasive argument as to the advantages of knowing Jesus (assuming these advantages would demonstrate need), what would I say:

1. Meaning & Understanding:  In Jesus, or more specifically, the gospel, I gain understanding of the world around us.  It is messed up.  Any other explanation apart from a fallen creation simply is not satisfying.  The fallenness of creation only reminds us of our own depravity, or at least it should.  We should struggle with the concept that, "things are not as they should be."  In the gospel, we learn an answer to the question because it identifies the problem-SIN.  By naming sin, and identifying the solution in Jesus, we avoid wasting time searching for "answers" to our feelings of inadequacy, guilt (fill in self-help title here) that everyone is seeking.  Searches for answers apart from SIN and FORGIVENESS are ultimately explorations to find ways to "feel good about the bad we've done, or the bad done to others or you" (Driscoll, RR).
   
   
2. Unconditional Acceptance:  The Bible teaches me that I am valuable.  In God's eyes I am a treasure imbued with the imago dei, the image of God.  I am, in a sense, beautiful.  Although not very manly to think of it that way, there is something powerful when your Father tells you that he loves you, and he is proud of you.  It makes you feel special.  In the simplest of terms, God loves me for who I am.  The trick is that he doesn't see me where I am, but he sees me for what I should be.  He knows what I am capable of.  He knows all there is to know about me.  He sees through all the masks I where, the sin I get muddied with, to that core of who I am and who he created.  He is the restored me, the person that God intends me to be.  Regardless of what I have done, how many times I have told him I hate him, or how far I try to run from him, he is just waiting for me to return so that he can fix me, and restore me to the beauty I've forgotten.
   

3. Purpose:  Now that we know who we are in Jesus, we now have a purpose in life. Before we were confused as to who we are and searched for meaning in everything but the Lord.  Now we find that our purpose in this life is to bring glory to God.  Therefore, all of life becomes an opportunity to worship God whether it be suffering, eating, drinking, lovemaking, etc.  We are invited to join God's mission as he redeems culture through the freeing of individuals being freed from the bondage they themselves live in.   We live for something bigger than ourselves.  We gain an eternal perspective to understand our lives and finally accept our identity as travelers in a foreign land.  Ultimately, we are on a journey and our destination is home with our Lord.  To the natural man, this seems like foolishness.  To the spiritual man, nothing can satisfy every desire we could possibly have like the perfection of our creator.   
   
   
4. Forgiven and Transformed:  In Jesus we find a new life.  We no longer thirst.  We no longer hunger.  We have found a satisfaction that, at times, we cannot even explain.  We once again, and forever, enter into fellowship with our Lord.  Just as it was in the garden of Eden, we are adopted into a new family whose Father pours out blessings upon us.  While this does not mean we won't suffer, it does give us a promise that all suffering will ultimately serve good and in the midst of our suffering we will find peace even if we don't understand it.  Consider the alternative. 
   

5. Freed:  We have been freed from the bondage of Sin.  Having been saved by grace, we do not need to work for God's love.  He loves us unconditionally.  Therefore, with the fear removed, we obey.  God does not make moralistic rules to prove ones righteousness, men do.  The only proof I have for my righteousness it the work of Jesus Christ.  Because of this free gift, we strive to obey follow God's Word, not out of obligation or fear (which is religion), but out of joy, love, and emulation. 
   

6. A perfect example:  It's much easier to say "stop doing that" than it is to say, "do that." I remember being told to follow Jesus example but I also remember never actually being able to.  In fact, most of the time I just got bitter because I couldn't be like Jesus.  How quickly we forget that he was, well, in a word, perfect.  Jesus gives us an example, not to live, but to have.  In reformation circles this is called the great exchange whereby as we are justified by God where we are declared opposite of guilty.  The opposite of guilty is not innocent, rather, it is righteous, a life with merit.  Jesus gives this life to us and now lives in us so that we can live more like him (Galatians 2.20)
   

7. A Helper & Friend:  Jesus is my friend always felt so girly.  "Buddy" Jesus didn't ever sit well with me.  But I do understand what it means to be alone.  I do understand what it's like to feel like you don't have any friends.  I do know what it feels like when you have no one to call to laugh with or anyone to cry with if they even could.  The fact that our savior is God means that Jesus is not some teacher who we listen to.  He is not just to be followed but obeyed, respected, and worshipped.  BUT, the fact that our savior is not only God but in fact man, we find a God who is personal.  God is not the judge who sits outside of our world and says be perfect, even though we can't.  He says be perfect then has the gumption to take his own medicine. He suffers along with and instead of us that we might be able to be.  Knowing that the blood of the cross is God's blood, suddenly we face suffering in an entirely different way.  We have someone who actually did experience what in some way what we do, but remember, he was infinite we were finite--he suffered infinitely more.
   

8. A Lord & King who conquers:  Let's be honest, life is hard.  We have a God who fights for and with us. Jesus conquered evil and death that we might be released from slavery.  If God is for us, it's difficult to impossible to imagine anything that can actually matter being against us.  Everyone wants someone to fight for them.  There are a lot of people who'll say, "I'll be there", then either don't show up, or are so powerless that it really doesn't do much but provide emotional support.  Our King reigns whether people admit it or not.  Our King fights for us and proved how much power he had.  Our King loves and sacrifices for us.  Our King protects us.  Our King is preparing a room to sleep and a great feast for us.  Who is fighting for you?
   
   
9. Confessional: Being God, Jesus knows everything.  Being perfect gracious, anyone who comes to him he never casts out.  He will be honest, He will call out sin, but he will not shame you.  Of course, your sin may cause you to feel shame and guilt, but that's a consequence of sin, not of Jesus.  In Jesus, we have a glorious confessional.  He already knows what we've done, and he'll never turn and say, "Wow, I can't believe that." or "Man, didn't see that one coming."  While we were sinners Christ died for us.  He saw our dirt, our brokeness, even our rebelliousness, and he still went to the cross.  We didn't deserve it or earn it, but he still gave it. That's grace.  Yes, we are forgiven and positionally children of God if you believe in his name.  But we still need confession.  Like any relationship that experiences sin, restoration needs to occur.  Positionally, nothing changes.  Relationally, everything does.  Jesus says confess your sins, and I will cleanse you, again, and again, and again, and again...
   
   
10. A Judge:  When all is said and done and this place (earth) goes up in flames, Jesus will judge everyone.  Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess...one way or another.