“Jesus Loves You” Is Not the Gospel (Observations in A Diner)
I wasn't deliberately trying to eavesdrop, but they were within earshot, so I couldn't help it. "The funniest thing just happened," giggled the girl as she sat back down across from her lunch date.
I was at a diner waiting for a friend who was running late for our coffee meeting. The couple was seated in the booth next to mine.
"Some random lady jumped up from her table and held open the door to the restroom for me," the girl continued. "Then she gave me this big smile and said, 'Jesus loves you!'"
Now I was eavesdropping!
The girl's lunch date raised his eyebrows: "Well, there's a lot of religious nuts out there."
"Yeah, but it was so sweet! No one's said that to me in years. I told her thank you."
I couldn't wait to see where this was going. Poorly mannered, though it may have been, I decided to listen in on the remainder of the conversation.
I picked up that the pair worked together. The guy said he was "very spiritual" and showed the girl a cross around his neck. He had a talent for peppering his sentences with cuss words and seemed to think God's last name was "damn."
The girl? She bragged about her dad being a psychic and channeling messages from the dead. She said she sometimes wondered if she might be a werewolf because she'd always had trouble sleeping at night and felt "strangely alive" when the moon was full.
(I promise I'm not making this up.)
It was one of the crudest, most spiritually confused conversations I'd heard in a long time.
It perfectly revealed the condition of the unredeemed heart and testified to what life is like without objective truth: a smorgasbord of beliefs where you can pick and choose, mix and match whatever appeals the most to your taste buds.
If it bothered me, an unholy sinner, to hear people talk that way, I can only imagine how the Lord must have felt about it. You can be sure that He, too, was listening in on the conversation.
After the two got up and left, I sat there for a while thinking about the Gospel message and how Jesus would share the Good News.
Our Lord was always intentional, never arbitrary. He asked profound questions to get those He spoke with to reflect on the state of their heart.
The woman at the well, for example, in John chapter 4. She wanted to small talk about physical water, but Jesus skillfully transitioned to the subject of spiritual water and eternal life. With great compassion, He helped her come to terms with her issues, the things that were keeping her from forming a healthy, lasting union with a man.
The woman needed "living water," namely a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. But she couldn't recognize this need unless she first faced her brokenness and sin.
The apostles, likewise, always showed a person the error of his or her way before bringing up God's grace and forgiveness. Nowhere in the Bible do you find them proclaiming, "Jesus loves you," to unrepentant sinners.
Here's why: only when you know you're seriously ill will you appreciate the miracle cure that can heal you. Only in this context—the context of your likely impending demise—does the cure have any value. Apart from your recognizing that there's something wrong with your body, taking medicine makes zero sense. "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Unbelievers don't see their need for salvation because they don't think there's anything wrong with their souls. To some, it's even offensive that we would suggest so!
It's no wonder Paul spends almost two chapters in the Book of Romans discussing the severity of sin before he gets into the saving work of Jesus.
He uses the law to break the prideful heart, then soothes the humbled heart with grace.
Today, two thousand years after Paul wrote Romans, the statistic still holds true that ten out of ten people die. We all know this—we know we'll someday breathe our last—but we would rather not think about it.
One of humanity's biggest delusions, and one of Satan's most convincing lies, is that we have time to settle accounts before we go to meet our Maker.
It's not that we aren't going to repent at all. We just don't want to do it "yet." Because we don't want to stop sleeping with our boyfriend, or give up chasing worldly success, or surrender our selfishness, unforgiveness, anger, or whatever our idol of choice happens to be… "Not yet."
We'll get right with the Lord later, we say. We've got time.
The problem is that death usually arrives unannounced. And when the moment strikes that we're ushered into eternity, we're officially out of chances to repent (Hebrews 9:27).
This is why sinners don't need to be told, "Jesus loves you," as much as they need to be urged to cry out to Him for forgiveness while they still can.
(Once a person's will has been broken and they're weeping tears of godly regret, then, by all means, let's tell them about God's love because now they're ready to receive it!)
Also, only those whose souls have been redeemed are able to recognize how mind-blowing the concept of God's love for sinners truly is.
Non-Christians tend not to see God's love for them as undeserved. To them, "Jesus loves you" isn't meaningful the way it is to you and me as believers. Of course, Jesus loves them! They already "know" this! Our culture tells them this every day: God loves and accepts everyone. Even if you channel demonic spirits or call those who follow Jesus "religious nuts". And that while wearing a cross—the sacred symbol of the love of your Creator—around your neck, the God whose name you use as a cuss word.
You are lovable. All is well, friend.
No—all is not well!
So, you and I need to shake people up a bit. We need to give them the bad news first about sin and judgment if they are to have any appreciation for the good news about grace, forgiveness, and eternal life.
Do I believe there are exceptions? Certainly. There are people who already feel so unworthy that they need to hear about God's love right off the bat.
But let's be careful. Walking up to a stranger and declaring, "Jesus loves you," could do them more harm than good.
It may, in fact, reinforce the sinner's prideful delusion that he or she is "good with God." This has massive implications when you consider that spiritual brokenness must precede the canceling of our sin debt!
Remember how the girl at the diner referred to her encounter with the Christian lady who said Jesus loved her? "Sweet". She experienced no conviction. And how could she? She hadn't received a diagnosis!
The Christian lady wanted to perform a random act of kindness and give Jesus the kudos. I get it.
A+ for great intentions.
But the girl had a heart problem and needed life-saving medicine, not a piece of candy that tasted yummy in the mouth!
God can obviously save sinners however He wants to do it. His rescuing of souls is independent of human techniques and oratory skills.
I, for one, am thankful for this. Many are the times when I've said the wrong thing or shrunk back from talking about the Lord altogether. It's reassuring to know, then, that God saves people not only through my efforts but despite my efforts.
But should I still give it my best effort?
Every single time! That's my responsibility whenever I share the Word (2 Timothy 2:15).
Finally, I think it's important to recognize that we often avoid the "bad news" and skip ahead to the "good news” because it’s unpopular to talk about hell and judgment. We don't want people to look at us weird.
However, God calls His children bold (2 Timothy 1:7).
Speak the truth in love, says Ephesians 4:15.
In the context of evangelism, "the truth" is that God cares for His creatures AND that we've all broken His law and stand condemned before Him, apart from His Son.
Personal sin is a critical part of the truth Christians are commanded to preach. And the verse above from Ephesians reminds us that when we preach it, we must do so "in love", namely, with warmth, respect, patience, humility, and compassion.
May God help us not to water down the Gospel message.
Also, may He help us take comfort in His sovereign plan to save souls. The labor is His, the credit is His, and all our witnessing efforts—whether we do well or not so well—are but means to His glorious end.
L.B.
Got any thoughts, questions, tips, or insights on this topic? Please share in the comments below!
If you got value from this post, feel free to use the social media share buttons to share it with others!
