Some of the less useful sayings (I am being very restrained) that have been bandied around over the years in the Christian sub-culture that I inhabit are these:
Evangelise all the time and use words only if you have to.
I witness by the way I live.
We proclaim the gospel in word and deed.
It does my mind in working out where to start in critiquing these sorts of screamers. But in the interest of objectivity and fairness let me firstly attempt to defend the concerns that lay behind them.
1) Walk the talk
We are all aware of the stereotypes about Christians and hypocrisy. We have all had to contend over the years with the stinging criticism about Christianity and the Crusades. Or the preacher who ran off with the organist. Or our own failures.
This issue of hypocrisy could never be more acute than at present as, almost daily, one denomination, diocese or church institution is being called to account for its handling of child sexual abuse allegations in institutional care.
Christian integrity requires that we walk the talk. Nobody would argue with that.
God calls us all to live in a manner worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27). There is a specific call for particular groups (slaves for example) to be trustworthy to make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive (Titus 2:10). And for wives to win their unbelieving husbands over without words, but by their behaviour (1 Peter 3:1).
2) Win the right
We must win the right to speak by the exemplary nature of our love and life. But who decides when the right has been won? Whose criteria determine victory here? Do we make the arbitrary decision? Do others? How will we know when they decided that we have won them over with our winsomeness?
A very dear old friend of mine, a shy man if you can believe it, pulled up on the side of the road where a road gang had downed tools for a smoko. He asked the foreman if he could speak to the men about eternal matters. After a few not very well chosen words about the laziness of clergy (my friend was wearing a dog collar) who haven’t done a day’s work in their life, my friend asked that if he came back tomorrow in suitable clothes and competed with the foreman digging so many yards of trench, could he speak to the men if he dug that agreed distance first.
My friend turned up the next day dressed like a wharfie and when the foreman saw his chest chiseled by years of physical activity (he had once been a college heavyweight boxing champion and a first grade club rugby player) the foreman took fright and my friend had a happy time and a more than useful conversation with the men, leaving them with tracts and bibles.
We could do a lot worse than following my friend’s example. We could also talk as we walk, rather than walk and walk and wait and hope.
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However, the overwhelming testimony of Scripture is that the gospel can only come to people in words:
1) Evangelism is a word word
Gospel ( important announcement) is a word word. So too, to evangelise (announcing the announcement) is a word word.
You can’t evangelise without using words.
God has spoken. Jesus declared God’s gospel. Faith in him comes by hearing. That’s how it came to us. Why would we think it can come to others in some other way?
Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach if they are not sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news (Romans 10:13-15)!’
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ (Romans 10:17).
Honestly, if it could be done, I would love to know how to communicate the gospel in deeds. One part of me thinks it would be so much less offensive than using words. I find evangelism really hard. But at best wordless actions are ambiguous. At worst they are misleading.
I just don’t know how to pull it off. How can I convey gravitas truths about God’s character, human accountability to our Creator, sin, judgement, hell, Jesus death and resurrection, repentance, faith, forgiveness, hope and assurance? Even if I use pictures, like a crucifixion scene or an empty grave, I will still need to use words to explain what has gone on there.
Another part of me thinks if it could be done it would just take too long and I don’t have that many lifetimes so why not do it more efficiently and accurately with the gift of communication that Jesus used and that he gave us.
Yet another part of me thinks that if I am going to do ‘wordless evangelism’ or proclaim the gospel by ‘deeds’ am I not teasing and almost torturing the person I love and want to bring the truth about Jesus to? It’s tantamount to saying, ‘Try and guess why I am being so nice to you.’ It doesn’t seem loving at all. And the situation might be made worse because our friend may have other friends, who don’t give a nostril’s hair about Christianity, are even nicer to them than I am
2) Jesus used words
If our Lord and King used words, why wouldn’t we? If we want to follow him, identify with him, walk in his steps and ask WWJD, we come to the inescapable conclusion that Jesus would speak.
Why did I even use the word inescapable as if this is something I want to run from? Doing what Jesus did is something that I should want to run to. And he spoke, declared, proclaimed and taught.
3) Talk the walk
Walking the talk assumes that there is talk that walking needs to accompany. But how much talking is there, really?
Walking the talk can easily become an excuse for not talking at all. What we may need, more than ever, as people drift further and further away from Jesus is a generation of Christians who, like never before, will stand up and talk the walk.
As the TV rating seasons get underway this year we will be bombarded with talent shows like ‘The Voice’.
Strong voices. Sweet voices. Beautiful voices.
The truly beautiful voice is the one held up by beautiful feet. It may be gravelly. It may be squeaky. It may not be able to sing in tune. Like those who think they have a good face for radio, we might think we have a good voice for silent movies.
But if it speaks the truth in love, it is a voice from heaven. It is the voice of angels.
Even the voice of the living God.
Feature photo: aleks
