Yay, I talked to lost people today!

And it’s funny how that just rhymed But it felt good to say that… unnervingly good, like I actually made a difference in the world today. Let me tell you the story, if you would bear with me…

During the dinner hour earlier tonight, I got to meet up again with a seminarian friend, blogger extraordinaire Tony Kummer, one of the the founders of Said At Southern. Brother Tony had the audacity to take me off campus for dinner and to fill my quota of evangelizing to lost people for my Personal Spiritual Disciplines class. Since I live on the Southern Seminary campus and do not have a car, it is very, very rare that I would have any opportunities to talk to lost people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So tonight, I reluctantly agreed with Tony to get out of the Geneva that is Southern Seminary and into the rest of “the world”!

We arrived at this little burrito restaurant that was quite deserted for dinner. Seeking out lost people is quite difficult in a place that does not have people there! Trying to talk to the cashier at the restaurant was also difficult since he only spoke Spanish. And so, after dinner we walked down the street to the bus stop in search of somebody to share the Gospel with. By God’s blessing, we talked to two interesting people — both named Mike.

For their privacy’s sake, I won’t divulge too much information about them. But both were lost, to varying degrees. The first Mike was a young black high school kid who waiting for the bus and carrying around drum sticks, and that was the starting point for our conversations. I learned that he goes to a Pentecostal church where they often speak in tongues, he believes that people have a choice to worship God or not, and interesting enough, is learning about Martin Luther and the Reformation against the selling of indulgences. The highlight of the conversation was when he whistled at some white girls who were walking down the parking — he would look at them, whistle a couple times and then look away from them — which he declared was his mating call.

Is he truly saved or not? I cannot judge. But it seems that even during our conversation about Jesus, he seemed to me like he was enamored by his raging hormones and was living a two-faced life. On one face, he would live his outside-of-the-church life and do whatever he wants, behave in whichever way he seems fit, so as to fulfill his natural needs. Albeit, this may be completely inaccurate — who am I to say how He should live his life? I only pray that Christ would be Lord in his life, so that he would not be conformed to the world but be changed daily to be more Christ-like. For God Himself knows that I also am a hypocrite much of the time — I only keep it nicely hidden from the public eye. I need the washing of the water of the Word as much as Mike does.

While I was talking to Mike #1, Mike #2 was sitting on the bench in the bus shelter and asked Tony for some money. Tony initially said no, but when I went over to talk to Mike #2, Tony then confessed that he lied and offered to buy Mike #2 a burger at the Burger King. We found that this Mike is a 53 year old schizophrenic who is living on the street, waiting for October 1st to come around so that his welfare check of $560.76 would arrive at a local shelter under his name. It would pay for his living and eating expenses and still have $50 cash for him to spend as he wished.

Mike said he went to church all his life until he was 16 years old and knew a good amount of the Bible, and says that he trusts Jesus 90% of the time, praying once a week for 30 seconds. He is 3 weeks clean from crack cocaine, and I pray that this depraved addiction would not reign over him. Tony and I shared the Gospel with Mike, how Jesus Christ died for our sins in our place, taking upon the wrath and punishment that we deserved, giving us forgiveness of sin and Christ’s own righteousness as long as we trusted and put our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. I know it’s really hard for Mike to trust in God who would still let him suffer out on the streets like this. I cannot say that I truly understand and can relate to what he’s going through, because I cannot and have not experienced life on the streets, but I have talked to enough homeless people back home in Toronto to know that there is a more immediate need than the life that is to come.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:37-40

I confess, that it is difficult to convince somebody that they have a need for salvation, to be reconciled with God and to put their faith in Christ — when all that is on their mind is getting by, having food to eat tomorrow. It is difficult to share a Gospel with them that does not solve their immediate needs of food and shelter. It is also difficult to accept that this brother has been to a local church and has felt unwelcomed and unhelped.

However, who are we to try to convince anybody to believe in Christ Jesus?! We just share the good news as simply and clearly as we possibly can, and sleep like the Calvinists that we are — trusting that God is watching over every person He has created and will ultimately cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. And I would emphasize this point–those who love Him, that is, those who are called according to His purposes. I don’t know if God has chosen them to be adopted as sons to be children of God, but I pray that both Mike and Mike would be saved. I beg and plead that God would have mercy and give grace by His Spirit through His Word to save these two men.

Reflecting on this evangelistic experience, I was reminded of what God said through Paul in Romans 1:16-17:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

How often I feel ashamed about the Gospel! The entire time we were “evangelizing” I was thinking in my head, “Do we really have to do this?” And part of my heart said, “Yes, you do Alex. There are actually people in Louisville who do not go to Southern — who do not know Jesus. And you need to tell them about Him!” And yet, another part of my heart rebutted in saying, “But God can use somebody else to save lost people… like Tony!”

But no — God wanted to use me, and he also wanted to use Tony. To tell a couple strangers named Mike, about a person named Jesus who lived a couple thousand years ago: God’s one and only Son, whom God gave freely to us as a gift, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life. And hopefully in the future, this tale of two Mikes would be a testimony about the power of God that saved them from an eternity without Jesus — and not just a story about a guy who was successful in fulfilling his evangelism quota for seminary.