The Gospel of Experience
Apr 9th, 2007 by Nathan White
UPDATE 4/10: Please read comment #8 for further clarification on this post.
I enjoy golf, and being just a few hours from Augusta, I love watching the Masters Tournament each April. It truly is ‘a tradition unlike any other’. This year, much to my enjoyment, there was a pretty unexpected winner in a down-to-earth guy named Zack Johnson. He beat out Tiger Woods by two strokes to take the coveted Green Jacket. After his win, I enjoyed seeing Zack run off the course and hug his wife and little baby boy; it was a great moment.
However, it was his comments after the win, about God, that caught my attention. This article on thegolfchannel.com covers the Christian aspect of the story.
Overall, I have no reason to doubt that Zack Johnson is in fact a true believer, that he is a humble guy, and that his intentions in making his comments were sincere. In fact, at one point, I was enthralled when he said:
“Regardless of what happened today, my responsibility was to glorify God. And hopefully He thinks that I did.”
However, I was somewhat troubled by a few things he said, particularly this statement:
“Being Easter, my faith is very important to me…Jesus was with me every step of the way.”
I had to ask myself, what kind of message is this sending to the millions of unbelievers watching on TV? Maybe that:
- Jesus was with Zack because it was Easter, as if this day is any more important than the other 364 days of the year?
- Playing a game (as a job) on the Lord’s Day, particularly the Lord’s Day where we specifically celebrate the Resurrection, is perfectly OK in the eyes of God?
- His faith in Jesus is what helped him win under the massive pressure.
Here’s the thing, I am not specifically criticizing Johnson. I simply want to point out that, without questioning his motives, and understanding that he was speaking a little off the cuff, this comment seem to me as being a bit ‘me-centered’ and frankly, a little arrogant.
If a Muslim had won the tournament during holy week, and had given credit to Allah for ‘being with him’, what would our reaction be?
If a Mormon had won and gave credit to God for helping him get through the massive pressure, would the unbelieving world know the difference?
Simply put, our experiences, whatever they may be, do nothing to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they do everything to communicate the gospel of ‘me’ and of self-help Christianity. Anyone can point to a tough experience in their life and say that Allah got them through it, or that Buddha gave them the strength to pull through. Claiming that Jesus was with you, or helped you, is simply another way to pull out that soapbox and proclaim: “I am special because look at MY experience.”
Friends, our faith is rooted in what Christ did do, what was accomplished, and what is a historical fact: Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Let us put off this ‘here is what Jesus does for me‘ and put on ‘this is what Jesus did, what He said, and what He demands from the world.’
Simply put, our experiences, whatever they may be, do nothing to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they do everything to communicate the gospel of ‘me’ and of self-help Christianity. Anyone can point to a tough experience in their life and say that Allah got them through it, or that Buddha gave them the strength to pull through. Claiming that Jesus was with you, or helped you, is simply another way to pull out that soapbox and proclaim: “I am special because look at MY experience.”
So by pointing to Christ one is really pointing to themselves? And it’s no different than pointing to Buddha or Allah? I know you don’t mean this, but isn’t that what your saying? This certainly doesn’t read like giving someone the benefit of the doubt.
Aren’t we to praise God for all that happens to us both good and bad? We most likely won’t get to see much more of Zack Johnson’s faith and how it lives out so we probably won’t know about his trials.
Have you read what John Piper said about bringing his wife flowers on their anniversary? He talks about being me-centered, etc. It’s a great analogy.
I really can’t grasp what you are criticizing here. On the one hand we are not to look to ourselves for our successes in life, but on the other if we thank Jesus we are holding ourselves up? What’s a brother to do?
Mark
JM,
My point was not to specifically criticize Johnson. I mentioned that his statements came off the cuff, that I was glad to hear other things he said, etc.
I only wanted to point out how an unbeliever would hear his words. Frankly, if I was an unbeliever and I heard that ‘Jesus helped me every step of the way’, that would just give me more reason to hate Christians. Even still, if Johnson is a Mormon, a Catholic, or a JW, we would never know from his comments.
Our faith isn’t rooted in our experiences. As Paul said, if Christ did not raise, all our hope is in vain. Thus, our faith is rooted in the resurrection and what DID happened, not what IS happening in us. I only wanted to point that out.
SDG
Nathan,
I’ve gotta say I’m having some trouble with this one. I’m sympathetic with JohnMark’s comment.
Surely it can’t be that we ought not give public thanks to God if we lack the time to go through a complete presentation of the gospel, or to explain “which Jesus” we’re talking about?
And, truly, at the end of the day, the unregenerate who hear even the most detailed and cogent presentation are going to hate Christians anyway. Right?
Nathan,
Snazzy new blog!
I am confused by your recent post and am hoping you can elaborate for me. Can you give an example of a better response he could have given?
In recent months with my father’s illness and death, a number of my co-workers have asked me how I manage to come to work, do my job and even have joy in the midst of all everything. I could respond by saying, “Christ lived a sinless life, died, was buried and rose again,” and everyone would look at me like I had ten heads and walk away. The gist of my answer is God is with me and sustains me; and, everyone looks at me like I have ten heads and they walk away but, many of them have come back and they keep coming back and they ask questions.
I don’t understand how saying that God sustains me points people to me. What is the practical application to what you are saying? What does that look like in day-to-day life?
Blessings,
Kim
Nate,
I saw this guy on Regis and Kelly this morning and he seemed nice enough. He did say that he had “peace” about his game that day…not that he would win but just a peace. (whatever that means)
He also said…and I thought this neat…that he had many scriptures he had memorized and they helped him that day when he was feeling stressed. So it seems as though he was pointing glory towards the Lord and not to something he himself did.
During difficult times in my own life it brings me tremendous comfort to memorize and say scriptures…and it sounds like he did just that. How many church going people actually take time to memorize scripture? Perhaps he is the real deal.
Tiff
As I read this post I was floored as read Zack Johnson’s outlook on life. “Regardless of what happened today, my responsibility was to glorify God. And hopefully He thinks that I did.” Wow what a great perspective for me to live by at my job.
I am the first to get frustrated when people say God helped them win the game, or pray before that God would help them win. I still have friends who think the Georgia Bulldogs will continue to see success because their coach is a believer. However in this case I don’t hear that at all. He didn’t say “Jesus helped me get the win,” or even that “Jesus helped him every step of the way”, he simply said Jesus was with me. Here is what I heard when I heard his comment, I admit this may not be his actual intention: “Since it is Easter and my faith is really important to me, and I’m not in a church service worshiping, I want you to know that Jesus is still with me.” I heard him making a statement to let people know that Jesus does not simply reside or belong in big church buildings.
Unfortunately, no matter what Christians say, unbelievers will hear their own version of the truth, until the Lord sees fit to grant them understanding. Sadly, many Christians do the same thing. Our sinful selves love to have our ears tickled at the expense of sound doctrine.
With that in mind, I agree with your point that unbelievers most likely heard the wrong message, but perhaps there was one who heard what he actually did say.
Thank you guys for your comments. Looking back at my post, I realize that I wasn’t as clear as I needed to be, and I could’ve written it much better. I really didn’t mean to criticize Johnson, but only to use some of his comments as an example to make my point that we need to be careful of experience-driven testimonies. Looks like I just made a mess of things instead!
Let me try to clarify by replying to each one of your comments:
Gordan:
I applaud Johnson for giving credit to the Lord –especially his comment about glorifying God. But, without judging his motives, I was kind of bothered by the ‘Jesus was with me all the way’, as I can assure you many took that comment to be a selfish pronouncement of Jesus being on his side –though I’m sure Johnson did not mean it in such a way.
Kim:
No, I’m not implying that you reply with the ‘facts’ of the gospel. But, I do not see much of a correlation between Johnson’s situation and your own. Consider that you are going through a very serious circumstance where God’s grace has produced peace and joy (spiritual fruit), while Johnson has just won a sporting event under a lot of ‘pressure’ that is culturally fabricated and that has absolutely nothing to do with eternity. Millions of people getting the impression that you are saying that ‘God is on your side’ in a sporting event, and real friends and colleagues hearing about God’s grace as they see real evidence of it in your life are two completely different things.
You make an excellent point in such a candid way
But, to elaborate even more, I think that a response testifying of God’s work in your life is wonderful to the ears of believers. Believers no doubt are edified by such things. However, the point that I tried to make in the post was that the unbelieving world undoubtedly looked at Johnson’s comments as an apologetic. They will see right through the comments and realize that every Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon, Jew, and Catholic gives credit to their deity when coming out of tough trials. The question we need to ask is: did Christ have to die to make what I just said true? And the answer to that, I believe in Johnson’s situation, is no.
In your situation, I would encourage you to continue to give a personal testimony when spiritual fruit is the subject. But, when giving a reason for your faith, for your belief in God, etc., the huge mistake would be to point to your experience instead of pointing to what Christ did. And it is here where I dropped the ball in my post: I viewed his TV appearance as an apologetic, as in the face of millions of unbelievers, him essentially giving ‘evidence’ so to speak for his faith. And in that situation, the worst thing we can do is point to experience. But…I failed to clarify that I was coming at it from that approach. Sorry
Tiff:
I agree with you; I have no reason to doubt that he isn’t the real deal (though playing on the Lord’s Day does trouble me a bit). I honestly didn’t meant to criticize him so much; I mainly just wanted to use him as an example.
Jay Z:
I didn’t take Johnson’s comments to mean what you took them as, but I could be wrong. I do believe he was sincere and I was delighted to hear that he communicated that God’s glory rises above everything else. Again (as I said to Kim), I viewed his responses as more of an apologetic, and I didn’t make things clear in my post that this is where I was coming from.
Brenda:
Very well put. Though Johnson may have been sincere, unbelievers probably took some of his comments the wrong way –though of course they will always pull out what they want. I just wanted to use Johnson as example to make a point about experience-driven testimonies, and I fear that I just made a mess of things instead.
SDG
The only issue I see here is this exaltation of Easter as though it is established by sola scriptura. He keeps referencing Easter and Christ and that somehow they are inseparatable. However, there is no mention is Scripture of such things. I know I am asking for it here, but in all honesty it is like believers pulling Ramadan out and using it to remember the 40 days of fasting of our Lord. It simply has no Scriptural basis.
Really folks you’re trying to make too much out of this.
I know Johnson. I’ve been tracking his progress on tour and I walked and talked with him at the Buick Open two years ago. He is just a simple, humble guy from Iowa. He’s not a theologian or scholar.
Having said that, I do think it was an important point that was brought up relative to athletes commenting on God or Jesus or Allah as a point of their success. When I hear these kind of comments from an athlete I think that they are simply using religion as an aegis to help show the public that they are good people. I think that is a thing that most of the viewing public doesn’t want to hear and I don’t think it has anything to do with the viewer being a believer or not.
In the same vein I wouldn’t want to hear somebody criticizing God because they felt he was responsible for their non-success.
Barry
Barry,
Thank you for the comment, as I was delighted to hear your assessment of Zack. Unfortunately, I came across way too harsh in my post, as I did not specifically intend to lob accusations at him, but only intended to use his comments to make a point.
Tim,
Now I’m going to disagree with you, brother
Who’s exalting Easter as if it is ordained by God? I see your point in Zack’s comment (thus my reference to ‘holy week’ and the Muslims), but I don’t seriously think that he meant that Easter was special in God’s eyes, but only in his eyes.
That being said, I too believe Easter is simply a day each year we set aside to specifically remember Christ’s resurrection. It is of course man-made, but not all man-made traditions are sinful. We’ve discussed this before, but you better stop celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, right?
Nathan,
No apology needed.
Zach is just a golfer who happens to believe in Christ and, like many of us, thinks that Easter is special. He would be the last person to suggest that there are underlying currents in what he spoke.
Barry
What?!! Easter not ordained by God!!!
You guys have obviously not been reading your plenary-inspired KJB 1611’s. It’s clear that the apostles celebrated Easter in Acts, you Alexandrian-cult heretics.
(Kidding, kidding)
I’ll go back to burying my nose in my ESV now.