There are, as I see it, four schools of thought of how Christians are to share their faith:
#1 - To show people the Law of God, proving to them that they are sinners and that they are going to hell unless they repent and give their life over fully to Christ. I’ll call this for the purpose of this column the “Street Preachin’ Method”.
#2 - Tell people that God has a wonderful plan and purpose for their life; just come to Him to receive it. Your sin will be washed away and you’ll be able to live life to its fullest. I’ll call this one the “Mega-Church Wannabe Method”.
#3 - Live your Christianity out in such a way that others will see it and ask, “where did you get that and how do I get some”. I’ll call this method the “Smile and Wave at Everybody Method”
And
#4 - Tell people that to receive eternal life with God in Heaven, they must admit that they are a sinner deserving eternity in hell, turn from their sin and turn to Jesus making Him the Lord of their life. Do this, as I have, and though in this life you will still experience pain and you will still struggle with sin, God will grant you forgiveness and will be with you, comforting you and showing you a life that you didn’t know was possible filled with the type of love that produces joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control. I’ll call this the “Biblical Method”.
A couple days ago I was browsing blogs when I came across a post from a famous Christian author/teacher whose public image would fit into the Street Preachin’ Method. He was commenting on a recent shooting that took place at a Colorado mega-church. The shooter evidently grew up in a Christian home, attended at some point that mega-church and is purported to have in the past made a profession of faith in Christ. Though I would agree with the assumption that this man was a “false convert” I would have to disagree with his reasoning as to why he became a false convert. In speaking of the killer this author/teacher wrote: “Here was another disillusioned and bitter ‘backslider” (a false convert), who no doubt gave his heart to Jesus because of a promise of a wonderful new life in Christ, and when the promises didn’t deliver the goods, he was angry enough to kill.” Then a couple sentences further he wrote: “The world may speak well of smiley preachers who refuse to open up the Law so that sinners can see their terrible danger, but they are in truth betrayers of the ultimate trust.” Though I agree that the Law is our tutor to bring us to Christ, I also believe that as Jesus did with the woman at the well it is perfectly proper to tell someone that “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.” So who’s right? Was this man who committed this despicable act a false convert because he didn’t have enough Law preached to him (as the Street Preachers would suggest) or was it because he didn’t fully understand what type of life God was offering him (as the Mega-Church Wannabe’s would argue?) Or possibly a third option; maybe he never met anyone who showed him what a “real” Christian should look like and live like (Smile and Wave at Everybody Method).
Years ago I was a flight instructor. There is a common mistake for most students as they are learning to fly a straight line from point A to point B. Let’s say that point B (the destination) is due north of point A (the starting point), there are no turns on this flight and the goal is to fly at a constant heading and altitude. As the instructor I would tell the student after take-off to climb to 5000 feet on a north heading, maintaining that altitude and heading until we reach point B (or at least a point where we need to start descending to point B…you know what I mean). That altitude and heading is our centerline. During the flight, especially with newer students, corrections have to be made as we drift off that centerline. In those corrections is where mistakes are routinely made. Our heading would drift to the east a little so the student would naturally turn to the west, but they would blow past the centerline and end up west of center; so they would turn east, blow past the centerline again and end up east of center, so once again they would turn west and inevitably cross the centerline again and end up west, so they would…we would continue zigzagging all the way to our destination. I saw it with most every student.
This is what is happening in Christianity today, we’re all trying to get to the same destination, but as one faction of Christianity drifts a little east off centerline another will come in and with good intention try and push us back to center, in the process knocking us off course to the west. The Mega-Church Wannabes get a little off course to the west so the Street Preachers stand up and yell at the top of their voice that a correction needs to be made to the east. They end up leading us off course to the east so the Mega-Church Wannabes hold a conference and encourage in soft fuzzy tones that we get back west. They then bring us back off center to the west causing the Street Preachers to get all miffed and develop a blog to push everything to the east again…The Mega-Church Wannabes see the blog and fight back with a New York Times best selling book, causing the Street Preachers to…… Watching from afar the Smile and Wave at Everybody’s see all the infighting between the Mega-Church Wannabes and the Street Preachers and they call their friends, invite them to their home for a barbeque, and tell them that we are getting off in our altitude and we need to climb a little to get back on altitude. Well the Street Preachers don’t like that so they try and correct to the east while reducing the throttle, causing the Mega-Church Wannabes to push the rudder pedal so hard that we veer hard west…eventually we look up and see that we’re in a death spiral with little chance of recovery.
In Romans 12:6-8 there is a list of 7 Spiritual gifts. Every Christian has a God given gift; for some God has given just one gift and to others more than one gift. Those gifts are: Prophesy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership and mercy. You may not know your gift, but if you are a Christian you have one. Most Street Preachers have the gift of prophesy, which is the forth telling of truth. They have the gift of telling people the truth about their eternal state, and generally prophets are blunt and not very much appreciated. Most Mega-Church Wannabes have the gift of exhortation, which is the ability to encourage people and help them to find truth. They are generally optimists, always looking for the good in people and are usually somewhat soft spoken and popular. Most Smile and Wave at Everybody’s have the gift of ministry, which is the illustrating of truth. They serve people in practical ways, always looking to lend a helping hand and though they are in most cases stepped on and overused, they don’t care. Each of these factions within Christianity are integral parts of Christianity and none of them can work properly without the other.
One way I use to help people begin to figure out what God given gift they have been given is to ask them a question. “If you were put in charge of all of the decision making at the church you attend, where you could do anything you wanted to do and change anything you wanted to change, what would be your first priority?” Someone with the gift of prophesy would probably want to teach the Law more clearly. Someone with the gift of ministry would want to go out into the community and serve more. Someone with the gift of exhortation would want to disciple more men and women, encouraging them to become all that God wants them to be. Working in unity they can accomplish great things, working at odds…well, all you’ll see is bickering, backbiting and division. The problem with today’s church culture is that everyone wants to be in charge, everyone wants their agenda to be the primary agenda of the church, and nobody wants to humble themselves and seek the Biblical, balanced, centerline method, working together to keep each other centered on Christ. Because of this inability to humble ourselves, what has happened is that as we have separated into factions excluding the other factions from teaming up with our faction because the other faction is wrong and I’m right! Because of this separation, when a group begins to get off course (like when the Street Preachers start telling the Mega-Church Wannabes that they shouldn’t tell people that God’s plan for them is wonderful and the Mega-Church Wannabes telling the Street Preachers that they should be more accepting of sin) there isn’t a trusted person within each group to help steer the group back to the straight and narrow path that leads to God.
That lost kid who felt it necessary to shoot up a church didn’t get to that point because he didn’t have enough Law. He didn’t get to that point because he didn’t have enough love. And he didn’t get to that point because he didn’t have anyone to look up to. He probably got to that point because the guy who had the gift of prophesy was fighting with the guy who had the gift of exhortation. And the guy who had the gift of exhortation was fighting with the guy who had the gift of ministry. And the guy with the gift of ministry was fighting with the guy with the gift of prophesy…etc. etc. etc. Maybe the kid fell though the cracks left by all the prideful, arrogant pseudo-leaders who were too busy fighting for their right to be right that they forgot that we are one body, designed to work together to lead people to Christ.
Romans 12:3-8
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
1 Corinthians 12:12-25
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment