balance

There is an interesting article on relevant.com (click here to read) titled "Silent Evangelism." It starts with this quote by Dieter Zander, “If Christians in the US would be quiet for a year and only do good works, that would be evangelism. Our actions are way behind our words.” I don't know who Zander is nor do I know anything about his theology, but his observation is interesting.

Certainly there are plenty of passages in the Bible that deal with words and deeds.

Matthew 28:19
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

and

Matthew 5:13-16
"¹³"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

¹⁴"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

and

James 2:26

"As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

These are the three that I thought of off the top of my head. In each of these passages we are encouraged to take action. In Matthew 28, Jesus doesn't say "preaching to them ..." He says "teaching them to..." Teaching takes more than just words. The best teachers I've ever had were the ones who taught through their actions not the ones who lectured from the front of the classroom.

I'm not sure what Mr. Zander intended in his statement, but to me it is a reflection on the way the "world" perceives the "church." I can relate. I haven't been active in a church for a long time mostly because I have difficulty with this exact issue. I've watched men lecture the Gospel from the pulpit and not live it out. I've listened to my peers say all the right things in church and then live a different life at home. I began to perceive the church as a hollow social club, and I decided that I couldn't justify the duplicity I was living in my life or watch it in others. I realize that this might not be the best answer, but it was my answer at the time.

Our world values action over words. People are inundated with words. All the blogs (even mine), newspapers, TVs shows, radio, magazines pollute us. What the world wants to see are people who will back up their words with action. For example, we want a President who will stand behind his campaign promises regardless of the politics involved and move this nation to be better. We don't want a man who will say anything to get elected and then start playing games with our tax money to benefit his already wealthy friends. (I'm not picking on Bush specifically. Most politicians are guilty of this including our current leader.)

In the same way, I'm not so sure the world cares what Christians say. The world looks at the fruits of our labor. They see churches organizing book burnings for "The DaVinci Code." What good is a book burning any way? They see stupid bumper stickers and T-shirt theology. They hear their Christian neighbors, and sometimes Christian leaders, sling racial slurs at the Arabic community (and many other ethnicities). They see televangelists selling salvation for a "small donation." They see a close minded sect who chooses to isolate themselves from everyone else by sending their kids to Christian schools instead of the public schools. They see elitism when they visit our churches. They see greed. They wonder why we spend so much money on a building with a basketball court that is only open to members of the church when there are homeless in the community who could use a place to sleep. So, I can see where Zander's statement is coming from.

Deeds alone will not work either. We can't work our way to heaven. If we're not careful the deeds will become just as hollow as the words.

Isn't the answer that we should learn to balance faith with our words and our actions? To me that is one of life's great struggles. It’s something I will struggle with my entire life. For those of you who know me well, I can be quite the loose cannon with my words. As my friend, Lafe, puts it,”John likes to spout off at the mouth." Now that I've written all this stuff, I guess I have to put it into action. I have decided become involved in the church again. I figure that is a pretty good start.