Reaching People Like Growing Grass

This week I decided it was time to stop having the worst yard in the neighborhood. The drought has only added to the damage. My yard has hit rock bottom, but I decided this week was the time to repent and to begin again with new life.

Interestingly, I have found that growing grass is very similar to helping people get to God with the Gospel and then helping them grow in Christ.

The first thing I had to do with my yard was remove the thatch. The thatch is the dead grass that sticks to the soil and makes it impossible for the seed to get to the soil. So I dethatched my yard and raked it clear.

In reaching people for Christ we have to get past the stuff that keeps them from being able to hear the Gospel. It may be a negative view of Christians or the church. It may be a misunderstanding of what it means to give up their life for the life God wants for them. Either way we must first be able to get past their wall of resistance. We do this by building a relationship with them over time and helping them see and experience the love of God through our life and our community of faith.

The second thing I had to do was aerate my yard. This gets oxygen to the soil. It also softens the soil so the seed can get down into the ground.

In reaching people for Christ the Spirit of God must enable the soul to receive God’s love and soften the heart so the Gospel can get in. Unless the Spirit of God is present in a person's life, they cannot receive the Gospel and be saved. This happens as we pray for God to save a person. Salvation is a work of God. We are only instruments in the process. It is God who saves by grace by giving faith that a person uses to be saved (Ephesians 2:8-10).

The third thing I did was overseed. I put down almost 100 lbs of grass seed on my yard. Some of it won’t germinate, but a lot will.

In reaching people for Christ we have to overseed. We have to share the Gospel with them in multiple ways. We must share what we know of Christ and His Word. We must share our testimony. We must share our worship experience on Sunday morning. We must share our friends and let them see a Gospel community. We must share Christian resources like music, books, and teaching through multiple mediums. We must present the Gospel in multiple ways and pray for God's Spirit to be at work so that one of those presentations will enable the Gospel to get down into their heart.

What I’m doing right now is keeping the lawn watered and letting the sun do its thing. In the next few weeks the seed that germinated will grow and become a part of the yard. I will then have to maintain it by fertilizing it, keeping the weeds and bad grass out, and keeping it watered.

In reaching people for Christ we must not only share the Gospel. We must help them grow. It's not enough to see a person converted. We are commanded to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Once a person has accepted Christ they need to be helped through the first step of Christian obedience. They will need to be baptized and join the church. Someone will have to explain this to them and walk them through the process. Then they need to be fed on the Word of God, given Christian community for encouragement and accountability, and enabled to grow on their own through training and continued prayer.

It is a beautiful thing to see a yard that was once dead become healthy and alive. It is an even more beautiful thing to see a life that was dead to God become healthy by being made alive to God by grace through faith in Christ according to the work of God's Spirit.