How Do You Not Get This?

You can ask anybody who really hung out with me when I had my (completely awesome) apartment back in Searcy... Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii was a thing. I would say that it's entirely probable that there were stretches in that year where the boys and I watched Pompeii at least once a week. And it wasn't just so much that we were all so eager to experience it again (even though there were definitely never complaints from any of us), it was just that every time we turned around and realized that another of our friends had never had Live at Pompeii happen to them yet... Well... We just had to fix that mess, immediately!

Apparently Live at Pompeii struck my friend Lane's resonant tone. He just DUG IT. Got big into the Pink Floyd. Actually had Pompeii on his iPod when he went to Europe over the summer and got to listen to the whole thing in the same ancient Roman amphitheatre where the show was recorded, in Pompeii. I envy him on so many levels for that.

I have been known to say that I would break up with a girl for the Beatles, and this is an entirely accurate statement. It's not so much that the Beatles have to be her favorite band or anything - they're not my favorite band. It's just that there are some ground rules for what constitutes "good music" as far as I'm concerned, and if a girl can't at least get on board with Revolver or Abbey Road, then we just ain't gonna have a whole lot of common ground to work with as far as music goes, and - call me a jerk if you must - I'm just passionate enough about tunes that I can't have a woman that doesn't get "She Said She Said" and really expect her to get me. It is just a thing that is.

Back in August I gave my friend Rebecca a copy of Revolver, which was her first exposure to the Fab Four... She is now a bigger Beatles fan than I am.

The other night my buddy Will and I met up for a few oat sodas and barley pops. Right about the time we were letting "Albatross" by the original Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac do all of its good stuff to our ears, I looked over at him and said, "Man... I just don't get how Rory Gallagher doesn't completely blow your mind. I know you like Peter Green, I know you like Jimmy Page, I know you like Eric Clapton... How does Rory not grab you?"

He looked at me for a second with a puzzled expression and said that he honestly couldn't recall ever having been exposed to Rory Gallagher. Now... that just ain't so. I know I'd played Rory for him - I've played Rory for everybody who'll let me. When I first heard Rory Gallagher about two years ago, I completely lost my mind. But when I first played Rory for Will, he just wasn't impressed. It didn't grab him, and I could not possibly wrap my mind around that.

But he said that he was willing to listen to it again. So once we hit the road, I fired up Rory Gallagher on the ol' iPod and cranked it up good and loud.

This time, Will got it.

After we'd parted ways, I got a text message from him which read, "I apologize for ever claiming that this is anything but epic."

He got Rory Gallagher.

All I did was turn it on for him.

Rebecca got the Beatles.

All I did was turn it on for her.

Lane got Pink Floyd.

All I did was turn it on for him.

Now why in the world can I not do the same thing for my God and Savior?

I fully realize that there's a bit of difference between introducing someone to a band or an album and introducing someone to Christianity. It takes an hour to watch Live at Pompeii, thirty-five minutes to listen to Revolver, and somewhere in the neighborhood of ten seconds for Rory Gallagher to completely wreck your mind.

But how long does it take to show someone the picture of Christ in my life? At what point in my friendships do I say, "Hey, wait, you're telling me you're not a Christian? Dude! You have no idea what you're missing! We gotta fix that RIGHT NOW!"

I can't help but think back to what I talked about last week with the guy driving by and verbally assaulting me and the guys with the Gospel... I really don't think that approach works, and I would be surprised to learn if it has ever actually worked on anybody.

Even Jack Chick tracts at least make an attempt to convince audiences of their sin and its consequences, and Jack Chick tracts are unbelievably horrid.

I've had evangelism sitting on the back burner of my mind for a while now, and with all the other stuff that's been thrown in over the past few weeks, it's finally all boiling over.

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me.

"Now My heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your Name!"

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to Him.

Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not Mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

- John 12:20-32

There is a school of thought among smaller, more conservative churches - especially within the church of Christ (not like I know much about how other churches operate anyway) - that basically goes like this... A member from congregation "A" will state that if congregation B has more than X members (where X equals congregation "A" plus 15), then obviously congregation "B" is diluting the truth of the Gospel. There's no way the Gospel can possibly be presented in its full form and actually attract hordes of people. After all...

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

- Matthew 7:13-14

So - obviously - if there's "many" people at a church, then they're on the broad road to the wide gate of destruction, and the sign of a good church is that "few" people are there, since it's the narrow road and small gate.

I really hope you've never personally encountered this, but I assure you, it's real. And the saddest thing about it is that there's this underlying mentality that focuses not on the amount of people we could be bringing into the church and introducing to God and His awesome love, but instead, on keeping all the other people out, never opening up arms and hearts and homes and kitchens and minds and conversations to show people "Hey! This is what it looks like! This is what Jesus was talking about! This is how this is supposed to work!"

And the thing is... I really think that once everybody starts showing that...

Oh, man...

Then we'd just be irresistible.

Jesus said it - "...when I am lifted up from the earth [I] will draw all men to Myself."

So... Are we gonna take Jesus at His word here or what?

In the current socio-politically correct pluralistic world climate where there are no absolutes when it comes to philosophy, morality, or theology, it's kind of an unpopular position to say this, but yes, I do believe Christianity is better than every other religion on the planet.

I don't just believe it's better for me... I believe it's better than any other option out there.

And - through that - I also believe that if we were to actually show the world what Christ's message really meant, if we can get over ourselves and really love each other and love our neighbor and love God and feed the hungry and clothe the naked and care for the sick and visit the lonely and the prisoners and look after the widows and the orphans and keep ourselves from being polluted by the world...

I really think that when that happens... The whole world will get it.

I think that too often our approach to evangelism is simply to talk to people - or even shout at them - about Jesus instead of just showing them who He is by showing them who He's made us.

I can talk to you about how awesome Live at Pompeii is for longer than it takes to actually sit down and watch the thing. I can show you, literally, entire books worth of material talking about how incredible Revolver is and the impact it has had on music. I can tell you stories about the reactions I've gotten from every person I've sat down and shared Rory Gallagher with.

Or I could just sit down with you and watch Live at Pompeii. I could just play Revolver for you. I could just let you actually hear Rory Gallagher.

See, the thing is... I'm not gonna be able to represent any of those three better than they already represent themselves. It doesn't matter how much I tell you how awesome it is until you actually experience how awesome it is on your own.

So what I am attempting to do when it comes to giving you the blessing of awesome music is to just shut up, push play, and let the music do everything for me. There is nothing I can do to make what comes out of the speakers any better than it already is.

And that's how I think it's gotta be with Christ. I can't make Christ any better. I can't show you anything about Jesus that He didn't already put out as complete perfection. I can tell you about Jesus all I want, but it really doesn't matter until I show it.

Turn to Me and be saved,

all you ends of the earth;

for I am God, and there is no other.

By Myself I have sworn,

My mouth has uttered in all integrity

a word that will not be revoked:

Before Me every knee will bow;

by Me every tongue will swear.

They will say of Me, 'In the LORD alone

are righteousness and strength.' "

All who have raged against Him

will come to Him and be put to shame.

- Isaiah 45:22-24

It seems to me that there is an inevitability to the recognition of God by everyone in the history of ever. I will just go ahead and say right now that I don't understand a whole lot of the Revelation to John, but it really doesn't leave a lot of room - in my understanding - for atheism or anything else other than the absolute recognition of God and His Son.

So here's the way I see it....

Everybody's eventually going to recognize that God is real anyway. That's just gonna happen. I hold the belief that once someone experiences God, sees God, knows God... well, that's it. It's not like you've got any options after that. You can listen to Revolver and still like Abbey Road more. I don't personally understand it, but hey, it's not like I can say I don't completely love Abbey Road a whole lot anyway. But once you know God... I don't see how someone walks away from that! It's GOD! He IS Absolute Truth! He is Absolute everything! Everything that is is because He is! There aren't options! His business cards read "I AM" for a reason!

And so, we chosen, down here on the ground, are meant to serve as guideposts - no, as lights! Lamps on the tables, cities on the hills... We're meant to shine a light that shows everyone the Truth. We're meant to shine our light - which comes from God - straight back to God to show the entire world how He meant for this to all work out, how He had this planned from the beginning.

There are some folks who aren't gonna get it.

There are some folks - close friends of mine - who weren't impressed by Live at Pompeii. I still love them, but... Man... I just don't get it.

There are folks - not as many of them on the "close friend" side here - who don't dig the Beatles, whether it's Revolver or Abbey Road or anything else. I just don't get it.

There are folks out there who don't dig Rory Gallagher. I don't know that I've actually met any of them, but I'm kinda forced to assume that to be true because there are way too many people on the planet who've never heard OF Rory Gallagher, much less ever actually heard his music. I still just don't get it.

There are some folks out there who - for one reason or another - don't get God. They don't get what this is about. I think that, in most cases, the only reason people don't understand it is because they haven't actually seen it.

Yeah, they may know Christians... But they haven't known Christ's universal love.

Yeah, they may have been told the Gospel... But they haven't been shown the effect the Gospel has on someone's life.

And what's worse is that there are folks out there who - for one reason or another - almost got it, but then lost it, or walked away, or gave up, or moved on... And I still think that the only reason that ever happens is because they still haven't actually seen it.

Yeah, their parents may have taken them to church when they were kids... But I don't think they ever really experienced a connection with the Father that changed their life.

Yeah, they may have studied the Bible, may have read it all the way through, may know every word it says... But I don't think they've ever actually heard God speak to them in a way that redefined who they are.

God still works wonders in this world today without our help. He does not need us for anything. He can accomplish everything on His own just fine.

But since we're already here...

What if we started showing people what God is really all about? What if we really lived out the life Jesus prescribed for us, the way He meant it to be, not filtered through some political label or national identity or social status?

What if we completely died to ourselves and took on the very identity of Christ in this earth and spread a message of love and peace and holiness and patience and understanding and kindness and gentleness and joy and self-control and faithfulness and mercy and truth and everything else that God calls us to be?

What if I did that?

Would the people around me get it? Would it finally hit them? Would they finally see it? Would they finally go, "Oh, man! Aaron! You weren't kidding! This is awesome!" and let God change their lives the way He's changing mine?

I guess there's only one way to find out.