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Have you ever had a spiritual conversation with someone who thinks they are a Christian and thought, &ldquo;They just need to know the grace Jesus has shown them&rdquo;? We become weary after sharing the gospel with people, seeing them be amazed at the beauty and simplicity of salvation by grace through faith alone, only to be dumbfounded by their replies when given the opportunity to follow Jesus. They say, &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ve accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was 10, and I&rsquo;ve been baptized.&rdquo; What do you do then? You can&rsquo;t say, &ldquo;You ain't no Christian! I just heard your moralistic therapeutic deism description of your faith!&rdquo; Or maybe you can, in a nicer way.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve shared the gospel with over 1,000 people, mostly here in the United States. The majority would say they are Christian. Why is it that during the course of our conversation, 90-95% (yes, we quantified it) proved to be putting their faith in their good works rather than Jesus alone? Their moralism was pulling their faith. After many frustrations like the scenario above, we came up with a tool that forces the listener to choose a salvation based on works or a salvation based on faith. It&rsquo;s called &ldquo;The Train&rdquo; because it shows what engine is pulling their faith: their good works or the work of Christ. If you learn better visually, <a href="https://youtu.be/W0k6FMmS1KI">here is a video that explains this illustration clearly</a>.
First, you should listen to the person&rsquo;s story as you&rsquo;re talking with them. I like to paint a scenario: &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s pretend you died. God asks you &lsquo;Why should I let you into Heaven?&rsquo; What would you say?&rdquo; Make mental notes of what the person says next. In my experience, most people will say something like, &ldquo;I tried to be a good person,&rdquo; &ldquo;I went to church,&rdquo; or &ldquo;I went to some Bible studies.&rdquo; Their list of good deeds may go on a while. It&rsquo;s harder to prove to ourselves we&rsquo;re good enough than it is to prove to God!&nbsp;
Next, begin to draw on a napkin or paper the very things they just listed in your own stick figure artwork with a plus sign (+) between each. I always begin by drawing a large cross representing Jesus because they do believe in Jesus&rsquo; existence. Then I draw a church building followed by a Bible. My favorite is drawing a stick figure standing in a tub of water representing a baptism. A smiley face representing &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a good person&rdquo; is perfect. All of these things, in the mind of a moralist, add up to equal eternal life. Your equation should roughly look like this:&nbsp;
Jesus + X + X + X + X = Eternal Life

At this point, I&rsquo;m explicitly clear that this is a man-made religion and does not lead to eternal life.
Next, I say, &ldquo;This is what God has shown to us in the Bible leads to eternal life.&rdquo; Now, your goal is to draw the exact same figures but rearrange the equation right underneath your first drawings. It should look like this:&nbsp;
Jesus = Eternal Life + X + X + X + X

I tell my friend that we need to have 100% faith in Jesus alone. When we have 100% faith, we have 100% eternal life. I don&rsquo;t have to do good things to go to heaven one day, it&rsquo;s already been promised to me so I can&rsquo;t help but do good things. These good works are not giving me salvation from my sins, they&rsquo;re a product of my salvation. Jesus is the cause. Good works are the effect.
Finally, I draw an &ldquo;A&rdquo; next to the top equation and a &ldquo;B&rdquo; next to the bottom one.&nbsp;
Jesus + X + X + X + X = Eternal Life. &nbsp; A
Jesus = Eternal Life + X + X + X + X&nbsp; &nbsp; B
Ask, &ldquo;Which one of these best represents your life up to this point? Be honest with yourself.&rdquo; Remember, you&rsquo;ve already told them that &ldquo;A&rdquo; is the wrong answer and a man-made religion. In my experience, 90-95% of the people who call themselves Christians will say Train A. I&rsquo;m explicit at this point by telling them, &ldquo;The Bible says you do not have eternal life because your faith is actually in yourself and not wholly in Jesus. What would it take for you to move from &lsquo;A&rsquo; to &lsquo;B&rsquo;?&rdquo; This is your chance to listen again to see if they&rsquo;re understanding what faith means. The beauty of this tool is you can make it personal to each person you&rsquo;re sharing with. I always struggled in math class, but this is one equation we can&rsquo;t get wrong.&nbsp;
<a href="https://youtu.be/W0k6FMmS1KI">Here is a white board video</a> I created to help our students remember how to share the Train. Hopefully it&rsquo;s helpful for you too.

Via Students

How to Share the Gospel with Those Placing Faith in Good Works

&ldquo;Never stop praying.&rdquo; - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT

Prayer is a conversation with God. We talk to God, God talks to us. We listen to God, God listens to us. It&rsquo;s a two-way street. Yet, sometimes it feels like a one-way street. Sometimes, we do all the talking and no listening. Sometimes, it feels like God isn&rsquo;t listening. Sometimes, it feels like a dead end street and we just can&rsquo;t even bring ourselves to talk or listen. When we experience prayer as a one-way or a dead end street, it should be a&nbsp;huge wake up call&mdash;like a warning light on the dashboard of the car. You know, the one that has been on for months. The one you&rsquo;ve told yourself you will get checked soon.
Truth is, we all go through times and seasons of difficulty in prayer. For a variety of reasons and circumstances prayer can feel frustratingly fruitless. Even so, feelings and perceptions are not always reliable indications of our reality. Sometimes, God chooses not to answer our prayers because He has a better plan (check out <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+55%3A8-11&amp;version=NLT">Isaiah 55:8-11</a>). Sometimes, God chooses not to answer because there is something in our life that needs dealing with first (see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+66%3A16-20&amp;version=NLT">Psalm 66:16-20</a>). Sometimes, there is relational conflict that can hinder our prayers (check <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+3:7">1 Peter 3:7</a>). Sometimes, there is a lesson or blessing within the circumstances and concerns that are consuming our attention and prayers (read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+12:7-9">2 Corinthians 12:7-9</a>). All of these scenarios can stretch us, grow us, and center us on Jesus if we allow them to.
Unfortunately, for many who catch an on-ramp to the highway of difficult prayer, it results in a quick off-ramp to the nearest parking lot of prayerlessness. They just get out of the prayer journey all together and say, &ldquo;been there, done that&hellip;didn&rsquo;t work&hellip;next please.&rdquo; Nothing could be more detrimental to your faith or more pleasing to the enemy.&nbsp; If you parked your prayer life, go pick it back up. There&rsquo;s a good chance your perception was the problem not your prayers.
What we perceive as ineffective and a waste of time is often what God sees as powerful and essential. So much happens in and through prayer. We humble ourselves and draw near to God. We acknowledge God as King and sustainer of all of life. We recognize the limits of our own strength and the limitlessness of God&rsquo;s strength. We recognize our finite minds and his infinite wisdom and knowledge. We confront our unloving selfishness as we are embraced by God&rsquo;s selfless love. In short, prayer transcends our experience and transforms our existence.&nbsp;&nbsp;
When we find prayer challenging, fruitless, or feel like God is silent, heed the words of Paul, &ldquo;Never stop praying.&rdquo; Why? Because prayer draws us into transformation and growth. Perhaps God wants us to trust him more and not answer the way we think is best. Perhaps God wants us to see where something in our life needs an adjustment. Perhaps God wants us to seek reconciliation or forgiveness within a relationship. Perhaps God&rsquo;s allowing the circumstances or experience to protect us and bless us from something worse. Perhaps, God&rsquo;s simply inviting us to persevere in pursuing him because he knows the process is transformative.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Prayer can be frustrating AND still transformative&mdash;just like working out regularly. Results are incremental at times, significant at times, but the overall experience is that we are getting in better shape, breathing easier, getting stronger, etc. Prayer, too, transforms our minds and hearts, incrementally at times and significantly at times. Overall, as we continue to pray, we grow in trust and intimacy with God, in our ability to release our fears and worries to Him, in hearing His voice and promptings in our life, and in our willingness to follow and obey. It&rsquo;s no wonder Paul admonished us, &ldquo;Never Stop praying.&rdquo; God is listening, he knows you, and he knows what&rsquo;s best. Let those three truths expand your perception, unpark your prayer life, and rekindle your conversations with God.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Unpark Your Prayer Life

This is part 2. If you haven&rsquo;t yet, <a href="https://www.vianations.org/students/articles/understanding-the-challenge-of-expressive-individualism-part-1">read part 1 here</a>.
Collegiate leaders are like missionaries to the college campus, and one significant characteristic of college student culture is <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/expressive-individualism-what-is-it/">expressive individualism</a>. In this two-part series, we&rsquo;re examining what it is, the challenges it presents, the opportunities, and how we should respond as college ministry leaders. In <a href="https://www.vianations.org/students/articles/understanding-the-challenge-of-expressive-individualism-part-1">part 1</a> we unpacked how expressive individualism forms identity by calling you to look inward, to follow your heart and be true to yourself. This presents significant challenges in ministry as it shapes students by a counterfeit gospel focused on self instead of God. Now let&rsquo;s turn to consider the gospel opportunities, and finally our ministry response.&nbsp;

Gospel Opportunities

<a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/expressive-individualism-what-is-it/">Expressive individualism</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/48srci0Cofi82WWMR5PVyP?nd=1&amp;nd=1">the secular salvation schema</a> promise freedom and a satisfying life. But it fails to deliver. This presents a unique opportunity for the gospel to sound like the good news that it already is! One key way to frame the gospel is in the language of identity.&nbsp;
The modern identity of expressive individualism is fragile and exhausting, but an identity based on the gospel is resilient and restful.&nbsp;
At first, expressive individualism sounds like exhilarating freedom: go chase your dreams! The only thing holding you back is you! But anyone chasing this will quickly become disillusioned. What happens if you fail? Whose fault is that? Can anyone truly help you when all the responsibility is on you? This generates a massive amount of guilt, from which there is no atonement except doubling down on the same self-dependent work that generated the guilt. Since identity based on your internal feelings is so fragile, you need constant affirmation from others. So you need to constantly signal it yourself, and need others to not just see it but then celebrate it (hence the value of social media as a medium of display). Anything less than celebration radically threatens not just your feelings but your very identity. And anything less than constant signaling and expression threatens the dissolution of self.&nbsp;
But this constant signaling is exhausting. It leads to a persistent background anxiety about your worth and value. You are burdened by the never-ending pursuit of being true to yourself and figuring out your own desires so that you can live them out. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehw87PqTwKw">Timothy Keller concludes that modern identity is incoherent, unstable, illusory, crushing, and excluding.&nbsp;</a>
In contrast, gospel identity is resilient and restful. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19TmC2e2Owg">Trevin Wax says</a> this gospel identity is found not by looking in, but first by looking up, to receive God&rsquo;s gracious gift of identity in Christ. For college ministry, the fragility and exhaustion of expressive individualism presents a beautiful opportunity for the gospel! We can declare, with gladness, your worth and identity and meaning are not based on your work and achievement, but based on grace in Christ. You are offered a gifted righteousness, a standing before God not based on your performance, but based on the life, death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, who guaranteed with His own blood your forgiveness and acceptance. Wow!&nbsp;
This rock-solid gospel identity includes the ultimate affirmation from God himself. This gives you stability, poise, and resilience as you rest in your identity in Christ, in contrast to the fragile identity based on your feelings and self-declaration. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites you to come to him for your identity, to cease the heavy labor of identity self-creation. Instead you take on His yoke, which is so much easier! You'll finally be free of the need for others&rsquo; approval and accolades. Who else can compete with God? He delivers the final word, you are &ldquo;approved in Christ&rdquo; (Romans 16:10, ESV).&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s the gloriously good message of the gospel to students today: you don&rsquo;t need to achieve a performed identity when you have received a purchased identity! As Tim Casteel says, the gospel means <a href="https://www.timcasteel.com/2021/02/turning-drowning-students-into-christ-centered-laborers/?fbclid=IwAR2wX0YjX-VWhA7aCgGNQZ12wjHo9wMxdyMDvGVFRbCvVq0L2JAJYnvy4Hc">&ldquo;we have value that is given, not earned.&rdquo;</a> That&rsquo;s our firm foundation of grace. And it means we can get off the performance treadmill. This is good news for <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/college-student-belong-god/">burned out college students!</a>&nbsp;

How Should We Respond?

What difference does this make in our ministry to students? Let&rsquo;s look at the three fundamental areas of <a href="https://campusministry.org/about-us">EDM</a>: evangelism, discipleship, and mission mobilization.&nbsp;
We desire to be culturally relevant in our evangelism, and this means speaking to the issues of identity that our students are struggling with; we want to frame the gospel in their language.&nbsp; Show them the better offer Jesus gives! Invite them to stop trusting in their own self-creation project, and to instead rest in the work of Christ to save them and make them a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).&nbsp;
As we disciple students to become fully devoted followers of Jesus, we must first grow in our own awareness of this concept of expressive individualism, and then help students to become aware too. We must assist them in recognizing the cultural narratives and claims they are hearing from social media, movies, and advertisements. Timothy Keller says we must <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3SOlYnQh_k">deconstruct our culture&rsquo;s catechism</a>, and do the deeper work of counter-catechesis. This echoes the exhortation in Romans 12:2 (ESV), &ldquo;Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,&rdquo; which depends on the shaping power of God&rsquo;s word, dependent prayer as we ask God to do this formational work, and the essential help of an incarnate local Christian community.&nbsp;
The call to discipleship will seem radical and alien in this culture of expressive individualism. We must not soften the edges of Jesus&rsquo; words in Luke 9:23-24 (ESV), &ldquo;If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.&rdquo; Obedience to Jesus will feel like death, and some students may not be willing to pay the cost. One paradigm-shifting truth is the concept of ownership: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-Your-Own/dp/0830847820">Do you belong to yourself?</a> 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV) fiercely claims, &ldquo;You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.&rdquo; College students who recognize the authority of God will be radically obedient disciples.&nbsp;
If evangelism is offensive, and discipleship is alien, then mission mobilization to the unreached is just crazy pants. Who gives us the right to cultural imperialism, demanding that the whole world repent of false religion and follow Jesus as their only God and Savior!? Well, Jesus gives us the right, actually. He claims that &ldquo;all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me&rdquo; (Matthew 28:19 ESV). Then He commands us to make disciples of all nations. This is our permit for world missions! In the context of expressive individualism, maybe you might choose to invite God into your story. But as God presents His heart for all nations, and His command to preach the gospel to all creation, it means God has declined your invitation into your story, and instead he invites you into joining his global story for his glory among all nations. Claude Hickman says the life advice you&rsquo;ve been given is incorrect, in his short book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-Backward-Claude-Hickman/dp/0692944729">It&rsquo;s All Backward</a>. Instead of looking within to find your purpose, you should look at God&rsquo;s declared purpose, and align your life with his! As radical as this call to global missions is, for those who heed the call, it will be a mighty witness to a watching world of the superior value of Jesus.&nbsp;

Each people group presents unique challenges and opportunities for the church to make disciples. It&rsquo;s easy to turn to complaining, or wish we had been born during the Reformation, or fantasize about some other &ldquo;easier&rdquo; ministry context, or maybe to throw up our hands in resignation as we see the difficult challenges ahead of us. But God has graciously called us to reach today&rsquo;s college students. What a privilege! <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/this-is-our-time/">Trevin Wax exhorts us</a>, &ldquo;This is the world that God has called us to serve. And this is our moment of service and calling. Enough with the murmuring and on with the mission! This is our time.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Expressive individualism is a big topic, I&rsquo;m drawing on many resources for this article, and there&rsquo;s certainly more that should be said. If you are interested in further learning, here are some videos, articles, podcasts, teaching, and books I would recommend (sorted by shortest to longest):&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19TmC2e2Owg">Three Ways of Looking at Life</a> by Trevin Wax (3 min. video)&nbsp;
<a href="https://youtu.be/QK5S2proWCs">The Modern Self is Crushing</a> by Timothy Keller (3 min. video)
<a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/expressive-individualism-what-is-it/">Expressive Individualism: What Is It?</a> by Trevin Wax (first article in a <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/expressive-individualism-series/">9-part series</a>)
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/48srci0Cofi82WWMR5PVyP?nd=1&amp;nd=1">The Secular Salvation Schema</a> by This Cultural Moment (24 min. podcast)&nbsp;
<a href="https://youtu.be/Ehw87PqTwKw">Our Identity: The Christian Alternative to Late Modernity's Story</a> by Timothy Keller (36 min. video)
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/674lhYxAsrqlhWchNY86vS">Who Are You? Finding Your True Self</a> by Andy Cimbala (48 min. breakout teaching at the DiscipleMakers Fall 2021 Conference, and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nM2kiygHtYgTtI-F-SWnb1OzdVIACTkQOcMv2g81wkw/edit">recommended resources doc</a>)&nbsp;
<a href="https://redeemercitytocity.com/reachthewest">How to Reach the West Again: Six Essential Elements of a Missionary Encounter</a> by Timothy Keller (60-page free ebook, also podcast and video clips)&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disruptive-Witness-Speaking-Truth-Distracted/dp/083084483X">Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age</a> by Alan Noble (192 pages)&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rethink-Your-Self-Looking-Before/dp/1535995637">Rethink Your Self: The Power of Looking Up Before Looking In</a> by Trevin Wax (224 pages)
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-Your-Own/dp/0830847820">You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World</a> by Alan Noble (232 pages)&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Telling-Better-Story-About-Skeptical-ebook/dp/B081MSSRJG">Telling a Better Story: How to Talk About God in a Skeptical Age</a> by Josh Chatraw (240 pages)&nbsp;