A post by Kevin Bussey, of Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee fame, made me ponder the balance between the message of Jesus and our moody motivations in sharing that message.
Kevin wrote about Angry Evangelists:
As I was reading yesterday I was struck by a truth: Our churches are filled with Jonahs! What I mean is we have a bunch of people who are sharing Jesus out of guilt, shame and obligation. Some could care less about the people themselves. [I think Kevin may be being generous here… “filled with Jonahs” … I’d be more inclined to say that those few in the church who are actually sharing Jesus do so out of guilt, shame and obligation.”]
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Jonah preached to the Ninevites but only because he was forced to by God. He really hoped God would zap them. Are we any different? Would we rejoice if Usama Bin Laden became a follower of Jesus?
I think we have way too many angry evangelists! I’m not talking about Revival Pastors, I’m talking about all believers who share their faith in anger and obligation. We sling names at one another: Calvinist, Arminian, charismatic, fundy, moderate, liberal, etc…. We want everyone to become like us instead of becoming like Christ!
A couple of the comments then replied by focusing on Philippians 1:15-18:
“Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.â€
“What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.â€
These verses always surprised me a little bit, but, my thinking has always been that it gives healthy support for the sovereignty of God. As I pondered them yesterday in the context of the post and comments, I saw how people might use these verses to justify contending for the faith in ways that fall short of God’s glory and lack love because “whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice….”
Was Paul rejoicing in sin? Is it good just to preach Jesus? How would that jive with Romans 6? “What shall we say then, shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein!” Moreover, how can one preach Jesus effectively in a way that doesn’t exhibit Jesus?
It strikes me that what is being gotten at here is rejoicing in God and who He is. It always has amazed me that the greatest preaching results ever recorded in the Bible involve a man like Jonah. And, many just focus on the results, both when studying Jonah and today when looking at churches and missionaries. I think the point of Jonah and Philippians 1 is, however, that in spite of the fact we humans don’t get it right most of the time, either in attitude or in conduct or both, God’s word always is right and it never goes out void. Thus, the reason we can rejoice even in poorly motivated preaching is because it displays the power and wonder and grace of God who still loves us and saves us even when we proclaim Him in a way that doesn’t reflect Him well. It also is never an excuse for humans to be human; instead, we should rest on this incredible power, wonder, and grace and then respond in kind, speaking the Truth in Love.