“The kingdom of God is a powerful force for change, but it not an object to sell. When it is let loose in our lives it has a way of infecting everyone it comes in contact with.”

Floyd McClung

I came across this comment while reading a blog yesterday and it really struck a chord in my heart.

Why is it that Christians feel they have something to sell?

I understand our desire for others to know about Jesus.  I understand our desire for others to have a relationship with their creator.  But I don’t understand why some take the used car salesman approach to sell Jesus?

I’ve seen this time and time again, and it really frustrates me.  These people are more concerned with making the sale, closing the deal, selling the fire insurance... than they are with building a friendship.

I don’t believe the salesman approach works that well.

As a youth worker over the last 8 years, I’ve seen teens manipulated into making “decisions” to buy this Jesus.  The teens come forward at these big events, and they raise their hands, they cry out to Jesus, they seriously are interested in the “product” they are being told about.

But following the sales pitch, these new consumers go home to their lives and they usually decide in a very short amount of time that the product they were sold, does not work as advertised.  They come across trouble in their lives, and this Jesus they heard about, doesn’t make their lives any better.  They pray to Jesus, and they don’t always hear from Him.  They wake up day after day, and they don’t have the warm fuzzies they had at that event when they made this new purchase... and they decide Jesus isn’t real because they aren't any happier.

I’ve read studies that say that less than 10 out of 100 will usually continue following Jesus after one of these event type “transactions”.

And there are many other ways people try to sell the world Jesus.

Just look at most Churches in America.  They have slick marketing and advertising teams making brochures, billboards, websites, and tv/radio adds that all try to lure people into their buildings. 

Inside the buildings we have fancy multimedia presentations, music only sung by pretty/amazingly talented people, bookstores, and mini starbucks selling coffee to wake people up to hear a polished message by a professional speaker we call the pastor.

It all seems like we are trying to sell something, doesn’t it?

I know people who use high pressure tactics to “convince” others that Jesus is what they need.  They think that they can debate others into believing.  They seem to think that following Jesus is just head knowledge.  You understand a few concepts, you pray some prayer and boom.

Are we going about this all wrong?

If Jesus is who He says He is, do we have to lure people into a building or an event to “sell” Him?

It seems to me that in the Bible people were naturally drawn to Jesus because of who He was, and what He did in their lives.  Why aren't people being drawn to this Jesus?

Could it be that we have an entire generation of Christians that don’t have lives that reflect Jesus, and are no longer attractive to the world?  So... they are using other things to attract people to our sales pitches?

In that blog I was reading Floyd says...

“When it is let loose in our lives it has a way of infecting everyone it comes in contact with.”

Why isn’t this happening? 

Why isn’t the church infecting anyone? 

Could the Jesus they have bought, be a counterfeit?  Could that be why people aren't attracted to Jesus any more?

I think if followers of Jesus really want to impact the world, they need to quit putting on big events, doing fancy weekly shows called “sunday services”, going door to door as salesman... and get back to loving people in their everyday lives.

And when I say this, I’m talking to myself as much as I’m talking to anyone else.

Floyd is right!  When Jesus is real and alive in our lives, it is contagious no matter where we go.

What if LIFE was the program.  What if LIFE is the event. What if LIFE is the building.  What if LIFE is the best context to spread the good news that Jesus is the way.

It seems to me... this is what Jesus and his followers did in the New Testament.

The great writer CS Lewis said it best...

“The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christ's.  If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.  God became Man for no other purpose.”

Let’s get back to showing the world Jesus through our lives... and lets get away from selling the world something else.

PS:  If you are reading this, and do not happen to believe in Jesus, I personally want to apologize for how the church has tried to sell Jesus to you.  I hope you would forgive those that may have ruined your view of Jesus. And I would encourage you to read the New Testament for yourself and see who Jesus really is.