The challenge of sales

Christian salespeople must often be between a rock and a hard place. At least, in my observations and imagination, they have two choices when approaching a customer, particularly another Christian. The sales person must decide what to base his appeal on: the human and fleshy need for bigger, better, more or the spiritual reality of being a good steward and seeking the mind of God in making a good decision.

Obviously the second option will not appeal to someone who is not trusting the Lord. They don’t see the Lord as giver of all nor feel any obligation to seek and follow His will. Sadly, a non-believing person cannot call upon the Lord anyway, at least without the power of the Holy Spirit behind his request:

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

This quandary is easier for most others. A pastor’s task is to present the Gospel and describe how to live it out. Other believers can do the same, considering the hearers and their needs. But a salesperson is trying to make a living. If he appeals to the flesh, he sets foot in the camp of the enemy. It he tries to appeal to the spiritual side of things and the Spirit is not in that customer, he needs great skill to help his listener understand wise choices — at the same time risking the loss of a sale.

Tozer writes, “I think that one of the most hopeless tasks in the world is that of trying to create some love for Christ our Savior among those who refuse and deny that there is a need for a definite spiritual experience of Jesus Christ” in their lives.

I’ve noticed that many Christians do this in varying ways. We want people who do not know God to go to church where we gather to worship Him. Such people usually need to hear the Gospel and be saved before they even want to do that. As today’s verse says, no one can say that Jesus is Lord unless the Holy Spirit enables him through spiritual life and experience. As Tozer says, the enemies of God may love Him for what they imagine Him to be, but the real friends of God love Him for who and what He is.

I’m not a good sales person. I’m also a hard sell in that I need to discover all I want to know rather than have it pushed on me. I need to remember that others may feel the same and respect their desire to not be pushed by a sales pitch. At the same time, God expects me to share the Gospel. For that, I need grace!

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Lord, today my prayers include those Christians who are in sales. They need wisdom in their presentations and grace from You to avoid putting one foot in their faith and the other one in the ways of the world. However, all of Your people need grace to share the good news of the Gospel with everyone, trusting Your Spirit to grant them the ability to believe it.

What’s in it for me?

Someone made an appeal to us partly on the idea of “this is what is in it for you.” While the “product” has its merits, this sales tactic turns me off. As I said then, and feel strongly now, I have spent all my Christian life fighting that motivation. Looking for what I can get out of it, no matter how noble the project seems, makes it selfish.

Today’s verse is short and simple:

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

The Bible uses a Greek word for love with a definition far different from the modern uses of this word. When God says I’m to love others, that means doing what is the eternal best for them. This almost always involves total self-denial on my part. When I mix in “what’s in it for me” love becomes blurry.

This love is a priority for Christian fellowship and the credibility of our witness to the world. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).  Paul added, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

Christian love is a selfless love, often a challenge but not impossible because God gives me the Holy Spirit who enables a pure love. Peter put it this way, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22).

Most of the time, loving others with the same Holy Spirit in their lives is relatively easy, but God does not stop there. Jesus also said:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Every time I read that God reminds me that the love He wants demonstrated in my life is an impossibility because He uses the same Greek word for loving fellow believers as loving enemies. That tells me that I cannot do this myself. Just as I cannot love enemies, neither can I love anyone else without His input, His Spirit to produce this love in me. When He does that, then I’m not thinking about what I will get back.

The odd thing though is that this kind of love does gives back, not necessarily from the person loved, but from God. Rewards seem unlikely up front or going into a loving action, at least for me. I’ve more of a sense of losing, not gaining. It might be time, energy, or money, but love feels like a sacrifice too. Part of me resists and wants to protect myself and my resources and saying yes is difficult. However, once it is done, I am usually blessed in some way.

In contrast, human sales techniques promise specific results up front. They say if I give, then I will get . . . with the rewards spelled out. God doesn’t make such offers. He is my Lord and King. He commands obedience without any coercion about specific rewards that I will get out of it. He just asks that I be selfless and love others. He also tells me to trust Him; He will take care of my needs and wants.

This is faith. Giving up control of my wants in order to take care of someone else without any promise of what is in it for me requires trust. I must be certain that God knows what He is doing. I might not see any reward other than the satisfaction of obedience.

The bottom line is that rewards and results are up to God. More often than not, when I do what He says, He surprises me with unpredictable and unforeseen results, but I cannot obey Him with any assumptions other than He is God and knows what is best.

This is no plastic tablecloth

A salesman came to my door with a plastic tablecloth in a plastic bag. He held out the bag and told me he was giving it away, no strings attached. I looked at the ‘gift’ and told him that I was not interested. He said, “But it is free.”

I said that I didn’t need another plastic tablecloth, free or not. He was pushy. He even became angry. Not to be intimidated, I insisted that I didn’t need his free gift and closed the door.

I never did find out what he was actually selling. While I’m immediately turned off by those fake, “How are you” questions, I’m also immediately suspicious when a salesperson avoids saying why they are at my door. Is all that preamble supposed to make me curious? Or are they ashamed of their product?

Credentials are important too. Sometimes the salesman at the door wears a name badge like those issued by companies so workers can go through their security and gain entrance to their workplace. I’m never impressed with that either. It takes more than a verbal claim and a strong sales pitch to convince me. Besides being a “tough sell,” I know enough about computer graphics to realize that anyone can make a convincing badge.

In the spiritual realm, the ‘toughest sells’ are the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, His miracles, and the declaration that He rose from the dead. The Bible focuses most on the last event, the resurrection and often declares it.

The Greek word “declared” is the root of our English word for “horizon.” It means “to distinguish” just like the horizon is a clear demarcation line between the sky and the earth. I wrote yesterday how my subjective experience was a proof to me that Jesus is alive and is God in human flesh, yet that experience is not universal, nor will it convince anyone else, particularly after I am dead and gone. The real proof is in this declaration. At the very beginning of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he said God promised the good news . . .

“. . . concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:3-4)

Jesus was declared as God’s Son coming in human flesh, yet distinguished as more than mere human by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the fact that He rose from the dead. This was the testing point, and is the crux of Christianity. Paul would later write:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. (1 Corinthians 15:13-14)

This then makes the resurrection also a testing point for our faith. Certain cults who claim to follow and exalt Jesus Christ fail on this point. They refuse the idea that Jesus rose from the dead and say He was either changed to some other form, or never actually died, even that He deceived His disciples in some way.

So then the test for Jesus being God is the resurrection, but the test for people who claim to believe and follow Him is also the resurrection. Christians are convinced and acknowledge that He died and rose again.

This blog is called ‘Practical Faith’ because I’m that kind of person. If I don’t need a plastic tablecloth, it matters not that it is free. My mantra is that a bargain is a bargain only if I need it. But I need Jesus. I need One who gives forgiveness for my sin and removal of my guilt. I need One who can change and cleanse my bad habits and make me a new person. I need His assurance of grace and of my eternal destiny.

I’ve often said, “Don’t give me a sales pitch. I will investigate myself, and if I need it, I will buy it. No one has to sell it to me.” Jesus knows what I am like, so He didn’t give me a sales pitch nor did He send any of His people to pressure me. Instead, He had me reading the Bible and let me do whatever I wanted. One day I realized that ‘doing what I wanted’ was totally messing up my life. I also realized that I needed help. With that door open, He simply walked into my heart and became the most incredible — and practical — free gift anyone could every receive.