No experience is allowed us without reason. God always has something to teach us. And thus it was, as described in “Surprising Things I Learned in China, Part 2“, I learned that a major part of effective witnessing lies in the simple words, “Come and see!”
This third surprise also happens to be related to food.
I already knew that Chinese desserts were not overly sweet. Besides experiencing this in various Asian restaurants, every Chinese person I had ever known complained about how sweet desserts were in North America. Being someone who tries to avoid a lot of sugar, this didn’t bother me. Where I staunchly avoid all North American desserts, I didn’t feel bad indulging in their Chinese counterparts! What was surprising to me was that things don’t have to be doused in sugar to make them good! Another surprising thing about Chinese desserts is that they aren’t routinely taken after a meal. They are often served well after the meal is finished, and often consists of a platter of fruit!
Again, I love fruit, so although I was surprised, I LOVED this particular cultural difference!
This doesn’t mean, however, that Chinese people don’t consume anything that is laced with sugar. On the contrary, my biggest surprise came the first time I bought a drink in China. The drinks were all — my definition, not theirs — sickeningly sweet! Even the bottles that were labeled “no added sugar” were over-sweetened with artificial sweeteners. Suddenly I understood how the Chinese people in North America feel when they bite into American desserts…
How is it that a culture that doesn’t use a lot of sugar in their desserts puts so much sugar in their drinks?
Yet I suppose it could also be asked, how does a culture who doesn’t use a lot of sweetener in their drinks put so much in their desserts!
It certainly goes both ways…
What does any of this have to do with witnessing?
We add sugar to things in order to attract people to eat them. Yet, when that excessive amount of sugar is removed, you are still left something that tastes good. And without overcharging the taste buds for sweet things, the other flavours are allowed to come out.
Don’t we spent a lot of time sugar-coating Christianity? Picking and choosing what parts of the gospel message should be emphasized? Don’t we love to go on and on about how God gives us peace? How He forgives us of our sins and allows us into Heaven and life eternal? How God answers our prayers? Meanwhile, we don’t talk so much about the hard times that Christians will go through. We rarely mention the end of times. No, there isn’t any sugar on that, is there?
What I learned in China is that you don’t need sugar to make a good dessert. In the same way, the gospel message doesn’t need to be sugar-coated. Yes, God does give us peace. But that doesn’t mean a trouble free life. God does answer our prayers. But He doesn’t always answer them the way we expect, and sometimes—from our perspective—His answers come more than a little… late. God does forgive our sin; yet He asks us to work towards sinning less.
No, these things are often not talked much about in “seeker sermons”… Yet does our “sugar coating” mask the beauty of the true gospel? I mean, the peace we experience in the midst of trials is so much sweeter than any other kind. And knowing that God answers our prayers according to His perfect will and timing… well that really helps us when we don’t see those expected answers coming when we think they should. Besides, it shows God perfect love, which is oh, so much sweeter than the Santa-type giving that we often present to those we witness to. And having our sins forgiven is nice, yes; but doesn’t true happiness come from living a life modeled after Jesus?
Okay, well what about the fact that while desserts aren’t over-sweetened, drinks are?
This represents what happens when we sugar-coat the gospel! We create a population of Christians who feel they are entitled to God’s blessings. They expect the God they want, and when He doesn’t appear, they reject the God who is, stating things like, “How can He be a God of love and let me lose my job?” Or “If He really loved me, He wouldn’t have allowed my spouse to die.”
Another example of the dangers of sugar-coating the gospel is that we create a dependency upon people instead of upon God. Unfortunately people aren’t perfect, and at the first signs of our imperfection, those who have bought in to the sugar-coated gospel turn away.
No matter which way you turn it, we need to present people with the gospel. The full gospel. When we only present the sweet parts of the gospel, it is like we are ashamed of the rest. Yet only in the full gospel is there the power of God for salvation. As Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16 NASB)
Much better to follow the Apostle Peter’s advice: …but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:15 NASB).
God calls us to present the gospel message. Not a sugar-coated westernly-sweet version, but the full gospel, the gospel that saves, holding nothing back, but in all gentleness and respect!
Please join us next Saturday to see how a last major surprise will help us with our witness!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
(To access the entire “Surprising Things I Learned in China” mini-series, please click here!)
