Despised for all the right reasons!

I am shocked! The world doesn't like me. Yes, results from a Barna poll tell us that "only 3% of 16 to 29 year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals." I am an evangelical, someone who proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believes it is essential to do so. So I guess 97% of non-Christian young people can't bring themselves to tell some poll-taker I'm OK.

I will be the first to admit we evangelicals have lots of room for improvement. David Kinneman has proposed in his new book, UnChristian, that we address failures like hypocrisy, treatment of outsiders as conversion targets, hatred of homosexuals, seclusion from the real world, over-politicization, and condemnation. Tony Woodlief, from World Magazine, wrote an editorial, Going Negative, that is favorable toward the book and that suggests we should be even tougher on ourselves than UnChristian recommends.

Let's put some Light-work balance into the equation. Jesus was VERY CLEAR when teaching His disciples that being hated goes with the package: “And you will be hated by all because of My name” (Luke 21:17). At the Last Supper, He explained the basis for this hatred:  “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:19). If we are living for high approval ratings from non-Christians, we might as well pack it up. Not gonna happen! Jesus says that the more clearly our allegiance to Him shows, the lower our approval ratings will sink.

However, this doesn't mean that we write off every critic.  Peter explains, For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong (1 Pet. 3:17). There are times when we are criticized and suffer recrimination for doing what is wrong. In those times, repent, confess it, and put things to rights. But there will be times when God allows us to receive criticism and reprisal for doing exactly what He desires. Those are the times when we are despised for all the right reasons. 

So when our approval ratings are low, some healthy self-examination is in order. If we can discern ways to "improve our serve," let's do it. But if that examination confirms we are doing exactly what Jesus wants, then it is time to reaffirm for whose pleasure we live. It's time to take a cue from the church in Acts and throw a party: So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41).

Comments

[Bo]

· Do you think some Christians are afraid to engage the world because they are ashamed of the gospel or their faith in Jesus Christ (when not in a "church" setting) that they avoid non-Christians or conform to non-Christians in order to conceal their faith?

· Are we so prosperous and comfortable in our society that we don't want to be bothered with persecution or resistance however it may come? What does that say about our faith? Are Christians our worst enemy?

· Our American culture is trying everything it can to censor and place the obscenity sticker on the Christian faith while the lawmakers that be pray before they persecute Christians in a building that is esteemed with ornate carvings of prominent Biblical figures such as Moses.

[Alex Marshall]

I think in American culture a lot of Christians are ashamed of the gospel, and perhaps for a number of reasons.

Two things I know I have wrestled with a lot that I think are pretty prevalent:

First, I think Christians in this country have unfortunately degraded faith to meaning a "blind belief in something" rather than the more reasoned trust in authority that it seems to be in the New Testament. I think because of that, a lot of Christians feel intellectually insecure (especially sense the stereotype of Christians in this culture is by and large that they refuse to use their minds). That makes it pretty easy to feel ashamed of your faith, especially when confronted with some one who takes a more "enlightened" position (ie., post-modernism, naturalism, secular humanism).

A second issue is that for whatever reason I think Christians feel the need to develop their own subculture. Personally, I think its vital for us to engage our culture in order to effectively make disciples, but a large part of the Christian community in this country seems to self-isolate itself from the rest of American culture (our own music, books, cinema, cable channels, radio stations, focus groups, communities, etc). Yet, most of us can't really isolate ourselves (the Amish get close, but even they have contact with the rest of society). So perhaps that gap between our "Christian" society and American culture at large contributes as well to a sense of "being ashamed of our faith." Shame may not be the best term there, but to some extent it seems this "sub-culture" trend also carries with a desire to almost make Christianity a secret. Not exactly what we're supposed to be doing...

[Jim Fleming]

Here is an interesting statement in John: "Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God" (John 12:42-43). These rulers believed but could not bring themselves to openly voice that belief because they cared more for the good opinion of men that God's. Some things never change.

That being said, here is an important Proverb to remember: "Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent" (Prov. 17:28). When we open our mouths, we ought to have something more to say than the prattlings of a fool. The world needs to hear from us what is articulate, gracious, well-reasoned, and on-point. But let's also not kid ourselves that whenever they do they're going to like us!

[Randy]

These posts just keep getting better. It’s amazing how many subjects (economics, politics, science…) where we can look to the Bible for a Christian worldview perspective. Thanks!