In Jesus' instructions to His disciples, and to the church, He said: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
In a recent article by Tim Stafford, he writes, "Christians often act like they live in Jerusalem". That statement caught my attention. What does he mean Jerusalem? And the more I thought about it, I think he means we are expecting everyone in our world to think, act, and live, as if they are Christians. The fact is we often are expecting non-believers to act like believers.
The reality is that we live in Babylon - we are aleins and strangers; isn't that what the Word says? So why are we surprised when we see a movie that offends our values? Babylonian movies reflect Babylonian values.
The more I thought about it though, I no longer think we live in Babylon -- we live in Samaria. Babylon is far from Jerusalem, and what you believe or how you worship is of little significance as long as you keep the peace and contribute to civic life. Remember Daniel and the boys? They were fine until they were thought to undermine the government and got caught up in the politics of the day.
Samaria is different from Babylon. In Samaria the people knew a lot about the religion of Jerusalem, and they had a definite bias against it. They knew each other and the fued between them was being fueled from both sides -- each thinking they were right and the other wrong.
More and more I am convinced that we don't have unchurched people around us -- people from Babylon. People whom are just dying to hear the good news and will immediately respond to this message of hope. You and I, however, live in Samaria, a land that is full of cynics and skeptics. The people in our land are not ignorant of the church, in fact they are very aware of it, and they have had some contact with it, and it has most likely been bad. The people you and I work and play with each day, are people who look at the church and see only its hypocracy.
How do we share our faith with cynics and skeptics? By being authentic and real people of faith, who live their lives transparently before a world looking for the authentic. This type of witness is not going to be accomplished with a chic track or the four spirutal laws. An authentic witness must be lived out day by day, moment by moment. An authentic witness may take years to substantiate. We are trying to overcome the broken bond of trust.
What are you going to do today that will show the people of Samaria that live around you that the grace of God is real and can transform their lives? Is there an area of your life where you need to build greater integrity, that you might live authentically?
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2 comments:
I so agree with this! As I'm beginning to tell people the plans to be part of a new church, a blank stare comes over their faces, as if to shut me out. They faintly appear interested (ok, maybe they're being polite) but every single time I continue to talk about the vision and begin to break down the stereotypes, they immediately have a 180degree change of interest.
All around me, every day, people are turning to "New Age" religions, searching for answers because they have been turned off by Christians. And they continue to struggle and question...
Your comment, "How do we share our faith with cynics and skeptics? By being authentic and real people of faith, who live their lives transparently before a world looking for the authentic." is right on!!
Thanks for the affirmation! Let's keep sowing the seeds!
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