Going for the Jugular

“Going for the Jugular”


I just left the hospital where I was ministering to the wife of one of our deacons while she was having knee surgery. While she was having the surgery, the deacon and I sat in the waiting room visiting when another man came and sat at the table next to ours. Before long, he has bulldozed his way into our conversation and not long after that, he began to dominate the discussion. He talked non-stop barely taking time to breathe in between his bountiful bantering about nothing. He changed topics like the wind changes direction.
During the one sided conversation, Mr. “Motor Mouth” as I shall refer to him in the rest of this message learned that I was a pastor. His casual comment to me was, “I’m not a church going man.” As soon has he said that, he was off to something mumbling about something else without giving me a chance to respond.
During his talk, I was reminded of the scripture I had read earlier that morning in Luke 8:1-2. The thought that really grabbed my spirit was how aggressive Jesus was in ministry. He was on the offensive, going from city to city, preaching, teaching, healing, forgiving. The longer I meditated on that thought, the steeper contrast I saw in my life and the lives of most Christians who are not aggressive or on the offensive in expanding the kingdom of God. Jesus told the church to “go” in [Matt 28:19-20] when the message from the church today is “come”. During my meditation and prayers I determined that I wanted to be more aggressive in the spread of the gospel and in ministry.
So while sitting in this waiting room, I found myself praying for an opportunity to witness to Mr. “Motor Mouth”. He kept vomiting an endless litany of his opinions and musings and I kept praying for an open door under my breath. I felt like a lion stalking a prey. I began thinking about going for the spiritual jugular of this man and even found myself looking at his neck and preparing to pounce. I asked the Lord for just a second of an open door and the Lord faithfully opened one.
The deacon was called to the front desk to get an update about his wife. Mr. “Motor Mouth” was just finishing a story about the first funeral he had even attended as a boy and he remembered walking through the cemetery and the seeing the freshly dug grave of an infant who had the same birth day he did. Pause for breath and I POUNCED!
Before he could utter another word I asked him how old he was. He responded he was 63. I then went for the spiritual jugular by asking him where he would spend eternity. I had him back pedaling and sunk my spiritual fangs in deeper presenting the gospel. He told me he was saved and had taken care of that and would die happy and was sure he would be heaven. (This was very surprising considering the fact that he admitted he was a racists and was proud of it along with mixed profanity in his dialogues repeatedly.)
Instead of letting him off the hook, I clamped my lion like jaws for a stronger grip in with one last phrase. I told that man that I would have never known he was a Christian by the way he had talked to me. I reiterated that I would never had known he knew Jesus. As I was finishing that statement the deacon returned and just like that, my opportunity to share Christ was gone. Before I knew it, we were all scattered in different directions. Mr. Motor Mouth to see his wife back in recovery from surgery, and the deacon to his wife and me to the other side of Ft. Worth for another hospital visit after a quick lunch.
So I find myself writing these thoughts over a burrito lunch after leaving the hospital. I am pumped on the inside knowing that on this day I was aggressive and on the offensive in spreading the gospel of Jesus but deeply saddened that the man I talked to either is saved and far far from God or living with a false sense of spiritual security. Still I had obeyed Christ and was aggressive in my witness. I was aggressive like Jesus. Read the words of Jesus and see if you do not discover the same truth I came away earlier this morning. “And he said, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” [Mark 16:15] “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” [Acts 1:8] “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 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.” [Rom 1:14-16] “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!” [Is 6:8]
Over and over again all throughout scripture God is continually urging us to advance and offensively attack the kingdom of darkness. What does the church do in response. We sit back in comfort and hope that perhaps some spiritual needy soul will stumble into one of our pews and hear (all to often powerless) preaching and respond to the love of God.
God mandates for us to be on the attack. There are spiritual needy souls all around us at school, work, in business, on the kids ball teams, and even in hospital waiting rooms. Oh that we would forever be transformed into the likeness of Christ ever seeking to advance the kingdom of God in every city, village, and with as many people as the Lord gives us opportunity. The opportunities are there but in our spiritual apathy, we rarely see them and even more rarely go for the spiritual jugular in people.
Recently I was sitting in a room with a couple dozen teenagers teaching God’s word. I asked them to characterize most Christians they knew at their schools. Here are the top three characteristics they came up with. 1. Christians are in the minority. 2. Christians are silent. 3. Christians are intimidated and afraid. Do those same characteristics not define many of us who attend church services week after week as we sit in our minority huddles, silent and scared of the pagan world outside our stained glass windows?
Jesus was a minority and yet he started a spiritual revolution that continues to this day involving millions. He was not silent nor intimidated. Neither was Peter in Acts, James, or Paul. Neither are thousands of missionaries serving on the front lines today like marines warring for the lost souls of “closed” nations. Neither are countless pastors who stand in the pulpit to proclaim Christ as well as speaking truth to individuals up and down the main streets of our societies. There are multitudes of students who daily go for the jugulars of their classmates and teammates. The gospel is being advanced but the question is are YOU being a part of this aggressive movement. Are you stalking your lost prey in prayerful hopes of sinking the gospel into their jugulars and ultimately their hearts. This is a work of grace only done by a powerful God, and yet He allows us to play a role.
What about you? Are you continually side stepping divine appointments in passive attempts not to offend anyone. Being vocal about Christ does not mean you preach down to people and being aggressive does not mean doing so with condemnation. Love of Christ and dread of hell means we are mandated to go for the jugulars of family and friends far from God out of a sense of compassion. Jesus was aggressive but He was also filled with compassion for people.
Time is short. We must refuse to live in silence or to be intimidated into retreat any longer. The gospel must be advanced one heart at a time and one life at a time. This timeless revolutionary message must be advanced tenaciously, aggressively, and passionately. Our enemy never ceases tempting, deceiving, stealing, destroying, and killing as many souls as he can. Therefore, we must never cease going for the spiritual jugulars of as many as we can. Go ahead! As you put this message down and go about your daily affairs, look at the necks of people and be reminded of every divine appointment the Lord brings your way. Let God work through you and then give Him the glory for what happens next.