Tuesday, February 27, 2007
This Is An Issue?
Over at the A-Team blog, Roger has done a three-part series - One - Two - Three on the necessity for and use of scipture in evangelism. I must admit to being a bit dumbfounded when I first encountered the posts because they struck me as an awful lot of (good!) scholarship to state the incredibly obvious.
But then as I read through it I was simply saddened at its necessity. There are really two problems addressed. The fist is the lack of use of scipture in evangelism and the other is the misuse of scripture in evangelism.
The lack of use problem, is reasonably typical - it's the too attentive to culture, don't want to offend with truth crowd, that has built so much of the most public face of what passes for the church these days. I talk about it so much, I'll leave that be.
But the misuse of scripture, while not so prevalent, is almost even worse. But what is important to remember is that scripture is never wrong, only we are. We misuse scripture because of the undeveloped portion of our own selves. We misuse scripture because we have failed to understand it ourselves.
There is an inherent trap in Evangelicalism - it's outward focus often stands in the way of the inward work. Yes, God does the work of evangelism, we are but the tools, but if you have ever tried to shape wood with a dull chisel then you'll know the quality of your tools is vitally important to a job well done.
Part of making ourselves God's tools in the execution of His Great Commission is to work with Him to make ourselves the best possible tools. While we are spreading the Holy Spirit, we should be hearing His whisper in our ears many times louder than we shout it to the world. And yet often, I think we try to just yell louder to drown out His voice as concerns ourselves.
You want to be an evangelist? - start by listening.
Related Tags: evangelism, scripture, Holy Spirit, work, tool
But then as I read through it I was simply saddened at its necessity. There are really two problems addressed. The fist is the lack of use of scipture in evangelism and the other is the misuse of scripture in evangelism.
The lack of use problem, is reasonably typical - it's the too attentive to culture, don't want to offend with truth crowd, that has built so much of the most public face of what passes for the church these days. I talk about it so much, I'll leave that be.
But the misuse of scripture, while not so prevalent, is almost even worse. But what is important to remember is that scripture is never wrong, only we are. We misuse scripture because of the undeveloped portion of our own selves. We misuse scripture because we have failed to understand it ourselves.
There is an inherent trap in Evangelicalism - it's outward focus often stands in the way of the inward work. Yes, God does the work of evangelism, we are but the tools, but if you have ever tried to shape wood with a dull chisel then you'll know the quality of your tools is vitally important to a job well done.
Part of making ourselves God's tools in the execution of His Great Commission is to work with Him to make ourselves the best possible tools. While we are spreading the Holy Spirit, we should be hearing His whisper in our ears many times louder than we shout it to the world. And yet often, I think we try to just yell louder to drown out His voice as concerns ourselves.
You want to be an evangelist? - start by listening.
Related Tags: evangelism, scripture, Holy Spirit, work, tool
