Evangelism
Lifestyle
By
Stephen Terry
Commentary
for the Sabbath School Lesson for April 28, 2012
“How
good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1,
NIV
Perhaps, like me, you can remember a simpler time when
neighbors would visit with each other over the fence. Mothers would discuss the
latest neighborhood news, and children would listen to the conversation and
pick up valuable lessons about life and how to make one’s way in the world.
Life was out in the open, and everyone, even the children, knew who was
trustworthy and kind. They also knew who was not. It was very difficult to live
one type of life in public and a different one in private.
Times have changed. Now, when new homes are built in
many places, one of the first enhancements is a six foot or higher “good
neighbor” fence. This “good neighbor” name is based on the aphorism that “Good
fences make good neighbors.” They certainly insure a certain amount of privacy
from “nosey” neighbors, but is that always a good thing? With openness comes a
certain degree of accountability. What is hidden from view cannot be
scrutinized for appropriateness. When that inappropriate behavior crosses the boundaries
of morality as it has in news reports we all have seen where children have been
kidnapped and imprisoned, sometimes for years by deviant individuals, then we
are all less secure even though we have our privacy. In the absence of
openness, we simply don’t know about the people who live behind those privacy
fences.
For the Christian this movement from openness to privacy
can be a profound problem. A Christian is a changed person, changed by the
influence of the Holy Spirit on his or her life. That change is a testimony to
their relationship with God. If we, as Christians, sequester ourselves from
public view, then we blunt that witness. We freely proclaim about Jesus that He
is “the way and the truth and the life…” John 14:6, NIV We are living examples
of what that means. One characteristic of truth is that it is consistent. There
is no disconnect between what is said and what is done. Others will see a
consistency in our lives that speaks of our relationship with Jesus. But with
every barrier we place between ourselves and others to preserve our privacy and
separate us from those around us, we make it ever more difficult for others to
discover that consistency that witnesses to the truth.
We create these lifestyle witnessing barriers in many
ways. We worship in churches away from our neighbors. We may create separation
by placing doctrine above community. In past generations, small communities
often had their community churches which would be the rudder steering the moral
direction of the entire community. However, as denominations have proliferated,
moral segmentation of communities has as well. As we willingly divide ourselves
up into these discreet companies over theological esoterica, we isolate our
overall community witness, and we, ourselves, become concerned only over our
accountability to the fractionalized group we belong to. We overlook somehow that the judgments we make
against the doctrinal purity of other fellowships also establishes behavioral precedent
so that when the iconoclasts want to assault the doctrinal bulwarks of our
denominational edifice, we have no moral high ground to establish a defense. In
short, we are impaled by the hypocrisy of our position when we justify our
sequestration based on impurity around us, and then impurity is found to exist
within as well.
With openness, we can at least honestly state that our
failure arising from our humanity has not been a secret, but rather an open
book and a witness to our need for accountability and ultimately, salvation. On
the other hand, when with a fortress mentality, we avoid openness and
engagement with those that exist beyond our doctrinal community, we introduce a
sinister taint to our witness that speaks of hidden agendas and secretive
meetings. A common sign of this separateness is when we reach the point that we
must convince people to join our fellowship as opposed to simply inviting them.
Picture, if you will, the difference between a neighbor simply inviting a
neighbor over for a backyard barbecue as opposed to the same neighbor spending
an hour or two arguing with their neighbor about all the reasons why they must
attend the barbecue, with the added threat that if they do not succumb, the
friendship will end badly. While this may only be allegory, it speaks to a
degree to the way some denominations pursue evangelism. They ignore the simple
fact that if I like my neighbor, I will accept his invitation. If I do not like
him, I will probably stay home.
In the same way, Christians who are open, likeable, kind
and consistent in these behaviors, will probably have no need to argue someone
into fellowshipping with them. The fact that some continue to argue the point
is demonstrative that they must do so in a misguided attempt to overcome the
lack in these other areas. What they fail to understand is when they argue
someone into their fellowship, they will find that as soon as the new convert
meets someone who demonstrates more consistency and openness, that convert is
gone. The lack of consistency will doom the relationship from the start. No
matter what rules may be imposed to order the flock, there cannot be unity
where there is no consistency and there can be no consistency where truth suffers.
Claiming that one has the truth does not make it so. It is little more than a
sports team chanting “We’re number one!” If they are in last place in the
league, their performance is not consistent with their chant. Few will take
them seriously.
Jesus said “By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35, NIV Did He mean that if we go around
hugging each other that this will prove we are Christians? No. He was simply
stating that our lives are the only proof that people will look for when they
want to know if what we believe is true. The only way they can make that
determination is if they can see those lives lived out. In order for that to
happen we must acknowledge that the people “out there” are no different than
the people “in here.” We must come out from behind the “good neighbor” fences
we have constructed with our doctrines and admit that those fences have not
been particularly effective in keeping bad things out and good things in
anyway.
We must come to terms with our humanity and accept that
even though we have tried to purify ourselves with sequestration,
administrative decrees, and hair shirts of self-denial, we remain people who
sometimes don’t get along, who get angry, who do hurtful things, who make bad
judgment calls, who are much more like those people “out there” than we are
comfortable admitting. Once we can approach that understanding without fear, we
will find that openness about our humanity and imperfections can become a
normal part of relating to others both within and without our fellowship. We
won’t feel threatened by the taint of “otherness.” We will instead recognize
that there is no “otherness.” We are all sheep with the same need for a
Shepherd. We are not separate flocks, each going our own way.
Why then have so many Christians been divided up into so
many denominations? In each case, it begins with one man or woman standing up
and saying, “Everyone else is wrong. I have the purest understanding. All must
follow me, and reject any other understanding.” If this were not so, why would
there be any need to follow this person into a new denomination? Therefore,
they must convince others that this is so. But as I have already stated, that
arguing is evidence against and not for their ability to be a source of
unifying consistency. In fact, their establishment of a new denomination
demonstrates unequivocally that they see themselves as the only Christians
having the “truth,” and by definition, therefore, the only Christians. Else,
what would be the point of the new denomination? They then evangelize by their
example for division and not unity. Even though they may practice self-denial
to prove their sincerity, they will find that the foundation of such denial
cannot please God. The prophet Isaiah wrote in condemnation of such, “Behold,
ye fast for strife and debate…” Isaiah 58:4, KJV
The Christian will be an open, consistent, unifying
agent both in the body of Christ and in the secular world. He will see that
just as the peculiarity and isolation of the Jews of old hindered and damaged
the portrayal of God’s character, so those same issues will prevent us from
finding the key to evangelism and witnessing today. We cannot present a
consistent witness if we maintain that a doctrinal position exclusive to our
denomination is essential for salvation and at the same time say that God will
save those in other denominations that do not hold that position. The truth is
always consistent, and this would not be consistent.
This Commentary is a Service of Still
Waters Ministry
If you wish to receive these weekly commentaries direct to your e-mail inbox for free, simply send an e-mail to:
commentaries-subscribe@visitstillwaters.com
If you
want a paperback copy of the current Sabbath School Bible
Study Quarterly, you may purchase one by clicking here and typing the word
"quarterly" into the search box.