While I haven’t placed these in a definite order, I have purposefully talked about our active testimony before the verbal. I am a firm believer in the statement, “Preach the gospel. When you must, use words.”
As much as I love words, our deeds express more fully who we are and what we believe in.
However, we cannot ignore our calling to preach the truth. It is an important component of our testimony. Jesus did many things; He also said many things. In fact, it was not really His deeds as much as His words that got Him in trouble. It was His preaching that roused the ire of those with the power to kill His body.
There were two main messages that summed up the focus of the early Church. The first message hinged directly upon Christ, on Jesus alone. As a good friend reminded me this weekend, Paul said, “I endeavor to know nothing other than Christ and Him crucified.” The second message that dominated the early Church was repentance from sin. As I’ve said many times before, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Peter, James and the Apostle John all made it clear that to turn to God was a break from sin. There was to be no mixture or excuse for it.
But these two messages (they are really linked as one, but for argument’s sake, I’m kinda delineating between them) are rarely the focus of modern Christianity. Secondary doctrines, political affiliations, and apologetic defenses cry for our attention. All that comes of this is division and posturing, despite our good intentions. Speaking only of Christ doesn’t require a great deal of education. It requires a level of purity that threatens those in ivory towers.
Speaking only of Christ also threatens our seat at big tables. When we talk about God if a vague sense, everyone from Muslims to Jews to Hindus and Buddhists can nod their head because of some monotheistic view within their belief system. But to mention and focus on Jesus specifically is exclusive, especially so if you speak in the context that He is the only way. Larry King is kinda offended by that. But this is precisely what the martyrs have died for — shame on us when we don’t mention Christ as the only way because we may seem too extreme, exclusive or just plain uncool.
And, to be honest, shouldn’t we have such an experience with Christ that He comes up in routine conversations? When I speak with other people, I find myself mentioning my wife and son because I love them and much of my life centers around those important relationships. We have so compartmentalized our spirituality that regular mention of Jesus as an actual person and major influence in our lives has become rather odd and weird. With true followers of Christ, it should not be so.
Preaching repentance is even more problematic because we have to talk about sin. There are several layers to this problem. Number one, we don’t want to sound judgmental or have a holier than thou attitude. Many of us have seen the pain caused by others who have judged too quickly and too harshly. Maybe we have been the receiver of such judgment. Perhaps we’ve been guilty of it ourselves. But Peter says, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” In other words, we shall all stand before God one day and give an account for every deed. If we truly love others, we wish that day to be as glorious as it can possibly be, not one full of tragedy and remorse. Another’s misdirected zeal or our own past mistakes should not cause us to shy away from this love.
But then this leads us to the second major problem. What is sin? Many make mountains out of molehills and others act blind to the actual mountains. There are so many different perversions of sin, both to the strict and the liberal, that most Christians don’t even want to bring up the topic, either with other Christians or those within the world. It seems to cause too much tension and contention.
While this is not the place to go into great detail, there are two sources where we find our definition of sin: the scripture and the witness of the Holy Spirit. Both are needed in balance because without this moderation, we easily slip into legalism or debauchery.
The third problem goes back to an earlier topic. If we speak of sin and the judgment therein, people will begin to examine OUR lives and watch us even more closely based on the standard we espouse. We’re uncomfortable being the city on a hill and the salt of the world.
Some quickly point to the scripture where Jesus warns us about judging a brother who has a speck in his eye while we have a 2×4 in our own. But remember, the reason we remove the 2×4 in our own is to properly address the speck in another. The speck still needs to be dealt with, just in an attitude of purity, love, and proper perspective.
Christ alone and the message of repentance. Very simple, but no coward attempts this simplicity. Only childlike bravery can lift our eyes to this place.
Peace.