Helping Them Understand

I was thinking this morning about how much “Christian-ese” is tossed around.
Words and concepts that the average person just does not understand.
Lofty thoughts that can actually hinder instead of build up.

We need to do better when we proclaim Truth.

Jesus is a Master Truth teller.
He is Truth personified.
He told stories using everyday situations that explained Truth.

Those stories, parables, drew the listener in.
Suddenly they were the older brother, or the woman who lost the coin, or the lost sheep.
Without realizing it, Truth was taking root in their hearts as God determined.

How do we expound Truth to a culture that doesn’t believe it exists?

We must use our mind, as Jesus did, and find creative, hands-on ways to present it.
We must start right where the person is and begin to explain.
We must view evangelizing as building a block tower on the foundation of Jesus.

I happened to be reading the account of the Passover in Exodus.
I was reading about a nation that had been enslaved 430 years in a foreign country.
I was reading about a God who heard the cries of His people and had compassion on them.

I read the specific instructions Moses gave to the Israelites.

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast…Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. (Exodus 12: 3,5-8,10,11)

We talk about being saved by the Blood of Christ.
What does that mean?
Tossing around doctrinal terms to answer someone’s questions is not the way to begin.
Giving them word pictures, just like Jesus did, is the better way.

God used Moses as His spokesperson to persuade Pharaoh to let His people go.
He was to release them from the bondage of slavery; but Pharaoh’s heart was hard.
Pharaoh was obstinate and unyielding.

God sent a series of plagues so that Pharaoh would release the Israelites from slavery.
Any of the ten plagues should have convinced Pharaoh that he was dealing with God.
Pharaoh’s heart remained hard and unmoving.

On that same night, I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt…Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.(Exodus 12:12,13,22,23)

The final plague on the Egyptians was the death of the firstborn.
Pharaoh realized that he was dealing with God and not just forces of nature.
Pharaoh relented and let God’s people go.
Pharaoh had second thoughts when he realized he lost his main supply of cheap labor.

The blood on the doorposts saved God’s people.
The blood that was applied in faith, saved them from death.

We speak of being covered with Jesus’ blood and the non-Christian does not understand.
We speak of being freed from eternal death because the blood of Jesus is applied to us.
The unbeliever is perplexed.

We use terms like salvation, imputation, and justification expecting people to understand.
Does the person even know what they are being saved from?
Does the person even know why Jesus’ blood saves?

God knew that His people needed a Way to understand.
God gave us His Word with Living examples of salvation.
God gave us His Son, Jesus who is the Living Way.

We, like the Israelites, are slaves to sin.
We, like the Israelites, need a blood covering so that death will pass over us.
We, like the Israelites, need a Lamb, without sin, to be slain in our place.
We, like the Israelites, need to apply the perfect Blood of the Lamb to our lives.

The Isralites awoke the next morning and there was loud wailing in Egypt.
There was not one house without someone dead.

God’s people were spared.
God’s people were saved from death because of the blood.
God’s people are STILL saved from eternal death because of the Blood.

We praise you, Lord Jesus, our precious Lamb that was slain in our place.