Engage them with the Bucket List

Psalms 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God , my God.

1 John 1:4 And we are writing these things (the Gospel of Christ) so that our joy may be complete (as we pass Christ to you).

If you care to look for it, there are props for Christ in every situation. Take movies for example. One of my favorites over the past decade was The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman (as Carter Chambers) and Jack Nicholson ( as Edward Cole). The movie is about two older men who are checking off their bucket list of the things they really want to do before they die. Freeman's role as Carter, is one of common mechanic, who is overly wise and has a family. Nicholson's character, Edward Cole, is an eclectic, rich, grumpy sort whose flush with cash but quite empty on joy, friends, family and peace. One of the things on their bucket list is to see the Egyptian pyramids. While standing on top of the pyramids Carter in a subtle way reels off his trivial knowledge about Egyptian culture as he questions Edward. "The Ancient Egyptians believed that when you crossed over from this life you were asked two questions: 1) Did you find joy in this life? 2) Did your life bring joy to others?" He poses these questions to Edward and forces him to answer them. Edward awkwardly rambles through the misery of his financially prosperous, yet empty life and kind of skirts the true questions. He ends with the emphatic statement that kind of goes like this: "I am not sure about getting and giving joy, but I would do it all over again and if that keeps me out of Egyptian heaven then so be it". With a smug smile he ends the dialogue.

Now as a Christian, we have three choices in what to do with this:
1) Never watch any movie made in Hollywood and try to enforce that policy on others
2) Watch movies with care and any time we here a heresy like "Egyptian Heaven", tell everyone how idiotic that is
3) Identify the strands of the Gospel that are available in the Movie, and use that as a Evangelical lever

I want to be careful, as I am not recommending watching smut. What I am saying is that lost people are lost in a cultural world that is filled with Gospel levers, and if we want to help them we must use the tools that God has made available.

So when someone brings up The bucket list, instead of condemning their spend of $8 on a worthless movie and applying guilt that they could have given that money to a starving kid. Why not expect lost people to act lost, and introduce them to Christ? The threads of the Gospel are abundant here in this scene. So instead of bashing their viewing habits, why not say : "The Ancient Egyptians were on to something. They were just looking in the wrong place. As a Christian I believe that you will enter Heaven if you have found Joy in Christ and have reproduced that joy in Christ in the World." That approach will allow for a dialogue that you can pull in the Word of God and your testimony. Clearly the verses above shout "Christ as Joy to be enjoyed and shared". The bible is filled with this imagery as Christ as a treasure to draw from. If the dialogue continued, and you were prepared to show off your treasure (Christ), you could begin to tell them about the blessed Trinity and the fruits of the Spirit, where the joy of Christ bubbles over and produces joyous fruit". In short you can use the story in the movie as a platform to share the true Gospel of Christ. These opportunities are all over the landscape of our lives. Seeing them requires a Kingdom vision and focus.

Jesus engaged people where they were. If we are going to evangelize the lost, we must recognize that we are in this world, but not of it, and use the secular props available to show them our Treasure as we exalt Christ! We are truly preaching between two worlds. We should not expect the lost to esteem the integrity of the Holy scriptures higher than worldly wisdom any more than my dog appreciates a Filet Mignon more than week old bologna. It is only as God ordains the seeds of the Gospel to take root in a soul, that they will be guided by scripture. We are called to plant those seeds, and God has rigged this world with seeds to be planted. People are born with a hole in their soul that is longing for God. They just need to see the reality of their situation and the Offer of Love that Christ extends them to fulfill them and their desires.

The beauty of it all is that God has ordained what our cultural reality is. He has woven the threads of Himself all throughout everything we are able to see, touch, feel, smell or hear. He has this whole thing rigged for His Glory!

Can you sense it? Can you leverage it?