“What is so special about Jesus that I should worship Him?” This is the question often asked by those who do not believe in the existence of God. How Christians answer it is extremely important. Merely quoting various creedal statements will not impress those who do not believe. We must share what we personally know about Jesus Christ as the result of having a personal relationship with Him.
Daniel Poling, one of America’s great preachers in the mid-twentieth century went home from church one Sunday night and his twelve-year-old son came up to him and said, “Daddy, I want to make an appointment with you. I’ve got something I want to talk to you about.” His dad responded by saying, “I’ll be glad to talk to you any time. How about talking now?”
The son replied, “No, I want to make an appointment in your office like everybody else does.” So, Poling set the appointment for the following afternoon at three o’clock. The following afternoon when his son arrived in his office at the church, he said, “Daddy, when you preach on Sundays you are always telling the people what different theologians say about God, and what various other people whom you know say about God, but daddy, I want to know what you know about God.” It was a great question!
Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, referred to Christians as “those who have turned the world upside down.” It was said of Christians that “they out-thought, out-lived, and out-died all others in their day.” They made that kind of impact upon the first century world because they had a dynamic personal relationship with God. If this had not been true, Christianity would have been only a blip on one page of history.
If you think of yourself as a Christian, what do you personally know about God? Do you have fellowship with Him every day wherever you are? It is not enough to say, “Well, I’m a church member” . . . “I have been baptized” . . . “I read my Bible and pray daily” . . . “I tithe my income” . . . “I attend Sunday School.” These things are commendable, but what do you genuinely and personally know about God?
The Screen Actors Guild in Hollywood several years ago scheduled an acting contest. The contestants were asked to quote the Twenty-Third Psalm. An older, mature, and experienced actor quoted it with all the proper inflections. He was dramatic in all the right places. When he had finished, everyone broke out with applause. A young actor, who was a committed Christian, then stood to quote the psalm. When he finished, there was such a spirit of reverence in the room that no one spoke a word. The experienced actor had quoted the Twenty-Third Psalm from his head, but the younger actor quoted it from his heart. The older actor knew the Shepherd Psalm, but the young actor knew the Shepherd.
The best argument a Christian can use in winning another person to Christ is the argument of personal experience. Several years ago one of our deacons asked me to go with him to witness to his alcoholic neighbor who was not a Christian. The man said to the deacon, “You dare talk to me about changing my life and becoming a Christian – as much liquor as you and I have drunk together?” The deacon replied, “What you say is true, but a change has taken place in my life. I’ve come to tell you how that change happened.”
Millions of people in our world do not yet know the truth found in the four New Testament gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In order that they might know and be transformed by the truth they contain, God has chosen to use a fifth gospel: the gospel according to you. So, what is the gospel according to you?
The Paper Pulpit 
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