Hard Headed but Soft Hearted

Posted on July 22, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

In Matthew 10:16, Jesus enjoins his disciples to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. John describes Jesus as being “full of grace and truth” in John 1:14. Both of these verse show that we are to be precise and determined in our thinking but open and gracious in our behavior toward others. To simplify this, we are to be hard headed but soft hearted.

Yet, I see in Christendom the complete reverse at times. “Scholars” equivocate on the truth of Scripture and ill treat those who stand for that truth.

We need to stand firm on Scripture while taking care that we are not offensive or provocative in our presentation of truth. We are to be firm on what Scripture says and flexible where Scripture provides freedom. Jesus should be our example in this.

I see in Jesus one who never equivocated on the truth, yet the sinners, drug dealers, prostitutes, homeless, terrorists and extortionists followed and adored him. Jesus was attractive to a sin-sick world. The church needs to take a look in the mirror and ask why we are not attractive to that same world. We are supposed to be representatives of Jesus, yet somehow we tarnish his image as we bear it.

Perhaps the starting point is for the church to do a better job of understanding the Gospel and releasing the good news from the behavioral modification that too often passes as evangelism. We are not called to change people, that is God’s job. We are called to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus and the gospel are fully capable of affecting the desired change.

Let’s be hard headed as to what the gospel really is. It really is good news that a dying world longs to hear. But let’s be soft hearted toward those who desperately need the gospel. They need us to be resolute and loving. If we are that lost world might start finding Jesus again.

What do you think?

Gutenberg, Google and the Church

Posted on June 8, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

The Retweet

http://twitter.com/#!/coryhasabeard/status/78146081514459136

The Question

http://twitter.com/#!/uSlackr/status/78215933755273217

The Response

I’m not sure what Cory had in mind when he tweeted, but here is what his tweet made me think of.

There are those in Christendom who have an aversion or a distrust of anything new. Part of this I understand. It is easy to settle into a pattern of church life and anything that upsets that pattern can be viewed as an annoyance. There is a sense in which new things should be evaluated and not automatically accepted. Some level of distrust is healthy.

But the aversion to new things can become pathological. In many congregations a change in the order of service will prompt a flurry of notes to the pastor indicating that the old order was better.

The distrust of new things leads to some curious practices. One of my favorite church curiosities is the practice of segregating worshipers into traditional and contemporary by having separate services for each group. I know that it is OK to have preferences and traditional is not better or worse than contemporary. How does this segregation enhance overall body life? How does splitting into two groups bring unity?

My point is that change is not inherently good nor bad; change must be evaluated as to its benefit in moving the church toward her goal of making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). It does not benefit the church to hold to old paths just because they are old and familiar.

Gutenberg could not have imagined the speed with which information can be disseminated in 2011. The internet and social media are tools which can be used to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. These new tools of communication should be used by the Church to proclaim the message. So the point I take from the tweet is that the Church should be investing in developing a web presence.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the church had sought to work on good television programming in the 60’s and 70’s instead of decrying the “one eyed monster” or the “boob tube.” We are starting to see some well produced and well acted movies with a Christian message, what would have happened if we had started doing this 50 years ago?

The internet and social media are not going away barring major damage to our infrastructure. We, the church, need work within these systems to provide opportunity for people to hear the voice of Jesus calling them to come home.

Going Out as Wolf Food – Baaaaaaaa!

Posted on June 6, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

Sent Out As Wolf Food

In Matthew 10:16, Jesus commissioned his disciples by sending them out as sheep among wolves. Those of us who have grown up in the church have heard this many times, so the phrase may not impact us the way it would have impacted the disciples when they first heard it.

I have had little exposure to sheep, but my few encounters have given me the idea that sheep are not particularly aggressive. I also am under the impression that they are not very capable in the self defense department. The disciples would have understood this better than an American suburbanite; they would have understood that Jesus was informing them that they were being sent out as wolf food.

This is a curious motivational strategy, one not often used today. We prefer to send people out with thoughts of victory and success rather than thoughts of defeat and perhaps death. Can you envision this as the next great church growth program? “Come and learn to be wolf food!”

Defenseless But Not Undefended

Was Jesus sending them out to certain defeat? 2,000 years of Church history prove otherwise. The same disciples that Jesus first sent out began the spiritual revolution that turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

If defeat was not what he had in mind, what then is Jesus saying? I think that Jesus is letting his disciples (of all times and all places) know that we are to go out with the understanding that we are defenseless on our own. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that our battle is not a normal human battle. It is a spiritual one, one that we cannot fight with normal human wisdom and power. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has promised to be with us the whole way. We are not left unprotected. I need only to follow the Shepherd, Jesus will take charge of the results.

Another aspect of being sheep among wolves is that we are to be gentle. Sheep will not deal harshly with wolves. Jesus also tells his disciples to be as innocent as doves, another not-so-fearsome animal. Along this line, Peter tells is in 1 Peter 3:15 that we are to give an answer to those who question us, but do it with gentleness and respect.

Implications For Today

The point I take from this is that Jesus sent the disciples out with the knowledge that the they were not responsible for the success of the venture. Sheep cannot intimidate wolves into changing their behavior. Sheep by themselves will have no impact on the wolves. In the same way, we are not called to harangue, argue or bribe anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven. We are to give testimony to the truth of the Gospel with both our speech and our actions.

Can we, as the church, learn to be OK with being sheep and let the wolves be wolves? Can we give up the apparent need to label everything and everyone with whom we don’t agree? Can we not feel pressured to mount a crusade against every company that implements policies which we find offensive? Can we learn to display God’s love for those who are not yet in relationship with him?

I know that even if we lived out Jesus’ teaching perfectly, there would still be people offended by us. But then, the offense would be the gospel itself, not the way we demonstrate it by our words and actions.

Can we make a run at living in such a way as to invite people into relationship with Jesus? What do you think?

Ed Stetzer, Jeremy Myers, Terry Jones and the Apostle Paul

Posted on April 4, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

On Saturday, I saw this Tweet from Ed Stetzer:

I agree with Ed and apparently so do others since this was retweeted 100 times to date.

I also appreciated Jeremy Myers’ response in his blog.

This morning I read in Acts 17 where Paul proclaimed the Living God at the Areopagus in Athens. Perhaps Terry Jones has never had to preach through this particular section of Scripture. Had he studied it, I wonder if he would have thought that burning the Koran was a good idea.

In this passage, Luke records that Paul entered into the discussion group, acknowledged that the men were religious and went on to politely highlight the differences in belief between their polytheism and his faith in Jesus.

The same Apostle who preached in the Areopagus tells us to “speak the truth in love” in Ephesians 4:15. We are to tell people what they need to know about the living God but as the example of Paul in Acts 17 shows us, it should be done with wisdom and love. It should never be done in a way that intentionally gives offense.

Most people don’t react well to being told that they are evil or stupid. Most people do not react well when objects that they value are desecrated. It is just the way we are wired.

I like the proverb, “it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Instead of telling people they are wrong, perhaps its better to gently and respectfully tell them what the Bible says.

If there must be an offense, let it be the offense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let it not be the offense of the messenger mangling the message.