Though I used to preach and teach it, I am not a big fan of the idea that “People’s greatest need is salvation.” Often, churches, pastors, and ministries which say this are just trying to justify their lack of involvement with loving and serving others. We seem to think that if we can fix their eternal problem, then no matter how bad life is, everything will be okay.

But I don’t think this is the true Gospel message.

Far too often, Christians put off until eternity what should be done today. We see people in pain, suffering, and oppression crying out for help, and our normal response is, “Believe in Jesus for eternal life. Then, when you die, everything will be okay. God will wipe away your tears, right the wrongs, and judge those who are hurting you. Won’t that be grand?”

And when they reject our gracious offer because we have nothing to offer them here and now for their suffering on earth, we consign them to eternal suffering in hell for their rejection of Jesus. When we refuse to help others with their physical needs because their greatest need is eternal life, the “Good News” message that many people hear is, “Your suffering in this life at the hands of wicked men will be followed by suffering in eternity at the hands of a loving God.”

Is it any wonder that people reject the “Good News” when there seems to be nothing good about it?

Meeting the needs of other people (whether the needs are physical or spiritual) comes with an inherent danger.

We can become so focused on the needs of people, that we neglect the people themselves. The needs become more important than the people. The need becomes a substitute for getting to know people who are dealing with those issues and needs. So sometimes, we need to forget the issues and forget the needs, and just focus on people. We need to stop categorizing and classifying people by their needs, and just love and serve them as people.

The Man with the Withered Hand

There is an account in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus encounters a man with a withered hand. Such a deformity would have kept this man from performing most kinds of work, and such a blemish may also have restricted his ability to bring sacrifices to God and participate with fellow Jews in the worship of God. This man was physically and spiritually outcast. Not only this, but the day on which Jesus met him was a Sabbath. So the situation is overflowing with numerous physical and spiritual needs, and complex theological issues.

But Jesus raised none of the issues, asked none of the theological questions, and focused on none of the needs. Jesus did not write a letter to the editor, make a plan to help others with similar problems, start a task force, raise support, begin a non-profit organization to raise awareness for people with withered hands, address the cultural, sociological, and theological errors which had created the problem, or any of the other things He could have done. Instead, Jesus just helped the man. Jesus knew the man needed help and so Jesus helped him.

Love People, Not Needs

When a person with a need or issue is in front of us, our focus should be on that person, and not on the need or issue which that person represents. There will be plenty of time later to raise awareness for the plight of others facing the same need. But the time for that is not when someone is standing right in front of us with that need. That is the time to toss all the plans, and fundraising, and support letters out the window, and just say, “Here, let me help.”

Among churches that focus on both the physical and spiritual elements of the gospel, there are still two subtle but serious mistakes that are often made. These two mistakes are only found in churches that are trying to meet both physical needs and spiritual needs, and in recent years, both of these types of churches are much more common than either of the extreme churches above.

We will look at one mistake today, and the second tomorrow.

Needs a Doorway to “True” Evangelism

The first mistake is when we think that meeting a physical need is just preliminary to meeting the spiritual need.

These churches believe that meeting the spiritual need is of primary importance, and meeting the spiritual need is simply a means to an end. Meeting physical needs is almost seen as a necessary evil. In this view, meeting physical needs are a waste of time and money unless they help the church accomplish its real goal of saving people’s souls. In this view, meeting people’s physical needs is not really part of the Gospel, but is simply a way to gain a hearing for the Gospel. For these churches, the Gospel is still just a message about how to receive eternal life, and the free meals, the clothes closet, and community service projects are just ways of gathering an audience and grabbing people’s ears.

Churches that function under this mindset usually require the people who show up to receive the free service—whether it is free clothes, food, or counseling—to sit through a gospel presentation as the “entrance fee.” You want a free meal? Fine. First listen to this sermon. You want marriage counseling? Great. But let’s first deal with your broken relationship with God. You want a free coat for the winter? We can give you one, but let me first go through this tract with you about how to get clothed with the righteousness of God. You want your car washed for free? We can do that. But while you wait, let me tell you how you can be washed from all your sin.

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When it comes to need-based evangelism, we have two extremes.

Meeting Physical Needs Only

On the one side, we have the people who focus only on meeting people’s physical needs. These are the social-gospel churches, which focus on need-based evangelism. They say things like, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” or “An empty stomach has no ears.” I would not argue with these proverbs, as they are true. But I would add a proverb of my own: “Don’t let busy hands tie your tongue.” Sometimes these churches get so busy loving and helping people that they never get around to telling others the truth about God, sin, Jesus Christ, and eternal life.

Meeting Spiritual Needs Only

The other church extreme criticizes such efforts as a waste of time and resources. What good is it, they ask, for people to go to hell with nice clothes and a full stomach? They argue that a person’s eternal destiny is more important than any earthly comfort. These churches say things like, “It’s our job to preach; it’s God’s job to save” and “People are destroyed from lack of knowledge, not from lack of food” (alluding from Hosea 4:6). There is truth in these sayings as well.

The Balance of the Gospel

But both sides, with their proverbs and passionate appeals, have missed the overarching message of the gospel, that it is good news for both the body and the spirit. For both temporal and eternal life. The gospel is not just about life here and now, nor is it about life in the hereafter. It is about both. The gospel is the full-orbed message about the claims of Jesus on both our present and eternal life. To focus on one life or the other is a serious mistake.