What are we reaching for?

I had to run some errands yesterday afternoon and, since it was Sunday, I figured there would be lots and lots of preaching on the AM dial. I hit the scan button and came across several guys preaching their messages with sound quality that sounded like it was recorded in a 4x4 foot box. That's exactly what I was looking for.

These guys weren't your mainstream, megachurch, podcasting preachers. They were from the hills and backwoods, preaching so hard that you could almost feel the spittle flying from their foaming mouths through the car speakers. I settled in on one guy who was sharing a series of interesting anecdotes about helping people in need. He mentioned the urgency with which people respond to emergencies, such as when there is a lost child or when 9-11 happened. His point was that there are lost people out there who desperately need Jesus and we need to urgently preach the gospel.

Then he began to talk about the earthquake in Haiti. He shared how badly he wished he could have gone down there and how it broke his heart that so many were living in makeshift tent cities. The need for clean water, food, and medical care there is simply overwhelming. Then he said something that made me scratch my head just a little. He suggested how wonderful it would be for thousands of Christians to flood into Haiti and go to those tent cities where the people were destitute and then...tell them that if they didn't have Jesus as their Lord and Savior they would die right now and go to hell. At that, the message ended and a voice came over the radio inviting us to the weekly "KJV only" Bible messages at this church.

Am I off base feeling a bit perplexed at this approach to loving people with an urgency? There is no doubt that the greatest need that exists in our world today is for men and women to come to Christ. Yet doesn't the very mission of Jesus compel us to be more than just "turn or burn" in our mentality? James addresses this quite thoroughly in James 2:14-17 when he writes that faith without works is dead. Are we really about the gospel when we tell a person who is hungry or destitute that we hope they find Jesus yet do nothing to first help their material needs?

I realize that a fine line may exist in this rationale. There are those who are more "liberal" in their theology who do a wonderful work with social programs but are lousy at sharing the gospel. Then there are those who are considered "conservative" in their theology who do a wonderful job at proclaiming the truth of the gospel yet do little else to help the least of these. When I heard this preacher make his remarks about the needs of the Haitian people, I couldn't help but think about the kind of people who eat at a restaurant and then leave one of those gospel tracts that looks like a folded $20 bill as a tip instead of real money.

Don't get me wrong. Man's greatest need is Jesus. But as ambassadors of the gospel message we are given the right to be purveyors of the truth. If we show so little interest in the real needs of people, then those whom are lost will show so little interest in our Jesus.