Incite or Persuade

 

“Persuasion is often more effectual than force.”  Aesop

 
In one of Aesop’s Fables, the North Wind and the Sun had a quarrel about which of them was stronger. While they were disputing with a lot of heat and bluster, a traveler passed along the road wrapped in a cloak. "Let us agree," said the Sun, "that he is the stronger who can strip that traveler of his cloak." "Very well," growled the North Wind, and at once he sent a cold, howling blast against the traveler. With the first gust of wind the ends of the cloak whipped about the man’s body, and he immediately wrapped his cloak tighter. The harder the Wind blew, the tighter he held it. The North Wind tore angrily at the cloak, but all his efforts were in vain.
  But then the Sun began to shine. At first his beams were gentle. In the pleasant warmth after the bitter cold of the North Wind, the traveler unfastened his cloak and let it hang loosely from his shoulders. The Sun's rays grew warmer and warmer. The man took off his hat and mopped his brow. At last, he became so warm that he took off his cloak and to escape the blazing sunshine, sat down in the shade of a tree by the roadside.
  In our uncivil world too many, even too many Christians, are like the North Wind. Instead of seeking to persuade someone who disagrees with us to consider our viewpoint and change their mind, in our social media posts or verbal discussions, we only seeking to incite and further rile up those who already agree with us. That’s both foolish and unbiblical.
  It’s important as Christ-followers that we learn to interact and dialogue with those who disagree with us in a way that shows respect, yet also remain faithful to biblical truth. Ours is a society where others have deep and irreconcilable differences over the things that deeply matter. Some of these differences have always existed; others have materialized or become more apparent in recent decades.
  Pluralism is a descriptive reality, not a moral, of whether these differences are good or bad. Some differences, like your favorite ice cream flavor, are good and make life more interesting. Other differences highlight mutually exclusive truth claims. They’re often emotional yet need engagement, even with those who disagree with us.
  How are we to engage those who disagree with us and seek to persuade them of God’s truth?
 We live like Jesus. Embodying humility, patience, and tolerance are essential to our gospel witness. They’re some of the ways that we live out the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. Our confident faith in God lets us live with humility. We acknowledge that we walk by faith and not by sight. We can acknowledge the limits of human reasoning in that we can’t always prove why we’re right and others are wrong.
  Living like Jesus means to be patient. As Christians, our hope lies in Christ and His coming kingdom, not in our immediate political moment. It’s why we can graciously listen to friends or neighbors, sympathetically looking for common ground. We’re not threatened by our differences.
  Add to that, we can tolerate each other. That simply means enduring the beliefs and practices we don’t share because of our gospel love. It doesn’t mean we accept beliefs or practices that we don’t share. Tolerance means distinguishing people from their ideas, and graciously seeking relationships with all because they’re made Imago Dei, in God’s image. Our love of God overflows into love of neighbor. It calls us to graciousness and tolerance.
  We look for common ground even when we disagree on the common good. Common ground includes the beliefs and experiences that unite us even in the midst of core disagreements. Finding patches of common ground can be difficult and uncomfortable, but it’s so worthwhile for the sake of our gospel calling to live with patience and love.
  The common good represents what’s best for a given society—its people, its laws, and its communities. It depends on ends or purposes that can be specifically named. Christians can and should name the common good for this world under the reign of Jesus. Scripture tells us the purpose of creation, but naming the common good politically is much harder. The fact of pluralism makes it unlikely that we can specify an outcome on which all members of society agree we should be directed. Yet, even when our beliefs are polar opposites on what is the common good, we must always live and speak graciously.
  A wonderful example of that is how Jesus interacted with an immoral Samaritan woman in John 4. The word “Christian” means “little Christ.” Even those who diametrically disagree with us on the common good must continually see Jesus Christ in us.
  Frequent references to conflict in the Bible lead us to conclude that God understands conflict is part of the human condition. Conflict is also a pathway to loving each other more fully. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). That means being a Christ-follower is recognizing that we’ll disagree, and that our work is to overcome that disagreement graciously as much as possible without sacrificing God’s truth.
  Anyone reading the Gospels sees that during His life, Jesus spoke kindly with others regardless of physical ailment, ethnicity, sex, or socio-economic status. There are no examples of Jesus being condescending or just trying to win an argument. He sat alongside people, even when He shared very difficult truths with them. Jesus—God in human flesh—told stories and asked questions. Like Him, we’re to engage those who disagree with us with kindness and respect. Jesus frequently asked questions rather than pontificating with answers. We must do the same.
  The bottom line is that we’re to love each other even when others may be disagreeable and unlovable. The Bible doesn’t describe love as an emotion. It describes it as a verb. We aren’t given the luxury of loving only the agreeable, lovable, or our “team” or “political group.” Instead, we’re told to love each other…no matter what…as we’re loved by Christ.
  Being loving isn’t “agreeing to disagree.” None of us have had spiritual experiences where God agrees to disagree with us. Loving is also not having an intense argument and giving up. To be loving is a long-term exercise in patience, listening, suggesting, questioning, looking for opportunities to uplift and affirm, guiding when it’s appropriate, meeting needs, and showing up for the other person, even those we disagree with.
  Our mission is not to win the applause of those who agree with us and it’s wrong to seek to incite anger of “our team.” Instead, we must live for an “audience of One.” We must be loving like Jesus and seek to win by love.

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Praying to be #2

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”

                                                                                                C.S. Lewis

  Do you ever pray difficult prayers? Most of us don’t. I know that I don’t pray them very often. I’m a bit cautious about praying for patience or humility. The answer to those prayers often include going through the “fire” to melt away dross in my life, but I don’t enjoy the heat. Yet I know that if I’m going to grow spiritually and have the fullness of life that my Heavenly Father desires for me to have, both must be part of my life.

  One of the most amazing statements that I believe was ever made in Scripture was by John the Baptist. It’s found in John 3:30, where speaking of Jesus, John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Now that’s a big prayer! It’s a bit like a sports team jumping up and down with two fingers screaming, “We’re #2! We’re #2! We’re #2!” Who wants to be #2? Can you imagine a coach, giving a pep talk at the beginning of the year, “Okay, this year…we’re going to be #2.”

  Yet, if we want God’s best, you and I must learn to sincerely pray: Lord, You increase in my life and let me decrease. It’s praying to be #2. It’s hard. It goes against our pride and selfish sin nature. It goes against everything we’re taught in our culture. Yet, though Jesus is our model, two virtues that aren’t valued even in the Church are selflessness and humility.

  If anyone easily could have fallen into the trap of pride, it would have been John the Baptist. Who else in human history (apart from Jesus) could claim to have been filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). No one else in all of human history had the important role of being the forerunner of the Messiah. John the Baptist enjoyed immediate popular success, as crowds from Jerusalem, Judea and the surrounding areas were going out to hear him in the wilderness to confess their sins and be baptized. Even the Lord Jesus testified of John that he was the greatest man in human history (Matt. 11:11). All these things could have fed the pride of this young prophet, just barely in his thirties. His announcement is astounding: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

  Recently, I found myself feeling irritated (sadly, that happens more than I want to admit). Yet, as the Spirit worked in my sinful heart, I recognized that it was a pride problem. I wasn’t being treated the way that I deserved to be treated. Pride, possibly more than any other sin, hurts our relationship with the Lord Jesus.

  Pride is the source of most of our unhappiness. If we’re honest with ourselves, which is hard because as Scripture warns us, our hearts are deceitful, (Jere. 17:9), pride is the source of much of our internal discomfort. What causes me to get irritated? I’m not being taken care of the way that I believe I should be. Impatience is the result of someone impeding my progress or getting in my way. Depression can be caused by pride as others don’t care or think about me as I think that they should.

  Pride is the source of most marital conflict. When was the last time that you had a fight with your spouse because you thought that they were being too kind or selfless toward us? No, we want our way. And if our spouse was really smart, they’d think, see the things and do things that we want. We get irritated because we’re not getting enough attention. Or our spouse is thoughtless because they’re not thinking of us.

  Pride is the source of most family conflict. Even in the most harmonious and loving family, jealousy lurks around the corner. Dad does more for you than me. Mom likes you better. Isn’t pride the cause of every fight to sit by the window? Unfortunately, childish jealousy doesn’t die in adulthood. Many siblings, even in their sunset years still squabble over the old battles from childhood. They never grew up and learned to set aside pride.

  Pride is the source of most church conflict. Naively, we often think of the early church as the ideal. It wasn’t. Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted to have been the pastor of the Corinthian church. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:11, “For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you.” It is very, very rare, as in almost never, for there to be a church conflict or problem over a doctrinal issue. Most are caused by a pride issue.

  Leslie Flynn penned a thought-provoking book, Great Church Fights. In it he chronicled the way people in churches would go after each other – all in the name of Jesus. He shares that one day a young father heard a commotion out in the backyard, looked outside and saw his daughter and several playmates in a heated quarrel. When he intervened, his daughter called back, “Dad, we’re just playing church!”

  Pride is arguably the most deadly and evil of all sins because it’s at the root of all other sins. Whenever I sin, I’m arrogantly asserting that I know better than God knows what’s best for me. As Christians, we must constantly battle pride and grow in humility. If you think you’ve attained any measure of humility, you need to be on guard against being proud of your humility!

  John the Baptist had the solution. The more that I think about Jesus and what pleases Him…how I can serve and honor Him, then the more of Christ’s peace that I will know.

  Please don’t misunderstand this. We’re not called to be Christian doormats. I’m not to think of myself less or little of myself. Rather, it’s being so absorbed and focused on the Lord Jesus, that I don’t think of myself at all.

  On one occasion, a group came to Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples and made this request: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:21). That’s always what those around us need to see. It comes from praying and surrendering, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Is Jesus increasing in your life?

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

The Greatest Sin of All

“Pride is a vice, which cleaves so fast unto the heart of men, that if we were to strip ourselves off all faults, one by one, we should undoubtedly find it the very last and hardest to put off.”  Thomas Hooker

  Today is Palm Sunday. It’s the ticker tape parade of the New Testament. It’s the victory march. It’s recorded in all four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and is referred to as the “Triumphal Entry.”

  As I was contemplating all of this, one amazing fact stands out to me. Though thousands were there to welcome Him, though Jesus was being acclaimed as the King of the Jews, though His way was paved with His followers garments and layers of palm leaves (hence the expression “Palm Sunday”), yet in spite of all of this Jesus did not give in to the one sin that torpedoes all of us over and over and over again – PRIDE. That to me is astounding. But catapult that event 2,000 years. Can you imagine a sports hero or elected official being welcomed by a ticker tape parade like a conquering hero and yet not succumbing to pride? Can you imagine them not thinking about how great, talented, attractive or wonderful they are? Yet, our Lord, though He’s worthy of our praise and worship never once succumbed to pride. That’s amazing!

  If you listed out what you think are the vilest and most hideous sins, would pride even make your list? Yet, pride is the seed for every other sin. Someone wisely said, “There are only two safe places for a Christian—in the dust and in heaven. And of the two the dust is safer, for Satan fell from heaven.” Pride is the very first sin in all of God’s creation. It destroyed the perfect beauty of heaven and quickly invaded earth. It is truly the sin of Satan. It was pride that brought Lucifer down and cost our first parents Paradise. It’s the first sin to enter a man’s heart and the last to leave. No sin is more offensive to God than the sin of pride. Pride has been called the “complete anti-God state of mind.”

  Pride condemns more to a Christless eternity than any other sin. We’re in the Easter Season. When I talk to someone about heaven or hell, rarely do I meet someone who has not been deceived by pride. Most think that they’ll go to heaven because they’re basically a “good” person, or they go to church, or have obeyed the Ten Commandments. The Cross of Christ nails that pernicious lie to the doors of hell. If there were any other way that we could go to heaven, if there were any other way that our sins and crimes against God could be paid for so that God could be just in forgiving us – would a loving Father sacrifice His own Son? Isn’t that the meaning behind Jesus’ prayer in the Garden, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39). It wasn’t. There was no other way. It’s Jesus only and only Jesus. The Bible teaches the exclusivity of Jesus Christ – He is the only way to heaven (John 14:6).

  Pride causes more cowardice on the part of Christians than any other sin. I like to be liked. It bothers me when people whisper about me behind my back or suggest that I’m some type of fanatic or wacko. Being caricatured with some of the “Christians” that are “so out there” weighs on me. And I find that my pride can shut my mouth and silence me faster when it comes to sharing the gospel than any other sin I deal with. While I may not be driven to be popular, I at least like to be liked…don’t you?

  Pride produces prayerlessness. Humility is detestable to the independent self-made man or woman. What’s the most difficult act for most of us? To ask someone for help, to admit that we can’t do it, that we haven’t got our act totally together. Isn’t that why we only tend to become serious about prayer when we’re desperately desperate? We pray when our marriage is falling apart or when our child is going off the deep end and nearly every other avenue has been explored. We pray when we’re sinking financially, or a loved one is facing a terminal illness. Sure, we pray at other times but let’s be honest, it’s more like a “wish list.” There is little intensity and certainly no desperation. Humility always precedes true prayer, but prayerlessness is the first sign of pride. Proud people don’t pray. Why would they? They don’t need anyone really, even God.

  Pride gives birth to conflict. It’s hard to say you’re sorry or admit that you blew it, and are wrong. Even when we do, we often fudge our admission with some type of rationalization. It’s pride that ruins relationships and massacres marriages. Pride is often at the root of church splits or church drifts, as believers just grow cold to their church family and just drift away. “Where there is strife, there is pride” (Proverbs 13:10). Just as pride erects a barrier between us and God, it builds walls between us and others. Love builds bridge; Pride erects walls. It’s pride that keeps us from apologizing when we’re wrong and causes us to defend yourself. It can cause us to look down on others and steals some of our most treasured relationships in life. “I was wrong. I’m sorry. Will you please forgive me?” are healing words that only a humble soul will use.

  Pride is horrible and perverse sin. No wonder Andrew Murray said, “Welcome everything that helps you on toward humility.” Listing the various forms of pride are nearly limitless. Arrogance and conceit are as common as the air we breathe. Pride must become a sin to be hated, a sin to be confessed, a sin to mourn over, a sin to flee, and a sin to fight against. The bottom line is that pride must die or nothing of God can live in us.

  Humility is trait that always marks God’s people even though it’s our toughest battle. Obviously, the first step toward becoming humble is realizing and confessing to God that we’re proud. Continually, we must drag our pride to the foot of the Cross. It’s only by contemplating Christ’s Cross that we can begin to defeat this heinous sin.

  And if pride is the evil of evils, then humility is the virtue of virtues. Humility is a fruit of God’s grace. It’s only as we rely on God’s grace and His Spirit that we can have victory over pride but pride dies hard. Just when you think you’ve killed it and are finally humble, it’s once again been resuscitated. Yet, it is only in humility that we can truly walk with God and have His hand of blessing on our lives. So fight and don’t quit!