Don’t Start Backwards
Posted by Tim on April 23, 2008
Lately I have begun to really struggle with the way I have always been trained to share my faith. I was always taught the Romans road. Everyone is a sinner that needs salvation; sin causes a break in our relationship to YOU; YOU died to make a way for restoration; we must repent… I have always heard that we have to convince people they are sinners so they know they need to be saved. This all comes form the book of Romans where Paul lays these ideas out in this order.
The problem is that the book of Romans was not written as a tract. It was not written for unbelievers. It as a letter to a church. Paul is setting out systematic theology so that those who already believe could understand their faith better. When I look at Paul’s sermons I don’t see him walking into the marketplace and telling people they are sinners. I see him walking in and explaining the good news that YOU came and died and were raised. He always concludes with a warning about what happens if we reject YOU but that is not the lead. He does not start with the threat of hell. When YOU talked about hell, it was always in warnings to the religious people, not to those who were not yet followers.
Could it be that we have the good news backwards? Should we be starting with the good news, the message of YOUR love and ending with a warning of what happens if we reject YOU rather than start with a threat and hope they grasp the life preserver? I believe we should. Starting out with the threat of hell only leads to lifeless religion. Understanding YOUR love leads to real life and freedom. Fear of hell only lasts for a little while. YOUR Love is eternal. If I try to follow YOU to escape hell, I may never understand YOUR love, YOUR purpose, YOUR plan, or how to have a relationship with YOU. If I begin following YOU because I understand that YOU love me more than YOUR own life and that YOU desperately desire a relationship with me, then my heart leaps to follow YOU and to trust YOU. After all, actions flow out of what is in my heart. Action does not produce love but love produces action.
