For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. (NKJV)
The death of a celebrity. The divorce of a politician. The affair of a mega-church preacher. Details and pictures on the 7:00 news or on Yahoo or in a tabloid.
Anything and everything for money. Voyeurism at its best.
Reality shows weren’t created and then we were drawn to them. We are drawn, through our sin nature and through temptation, to the darkest, most evil deeds of others; to gloat at their faults; to stare at their sin. And then, without even knowing, we become infused with the desire for more, more lurid details, more outspoken insults, more outrageous behavior. Suddenly, we begin to think that we need to communicate the gospel of Christ in the same manner. The gospel presented on TV, on t-shirts, on mugs, on key chains. Christianity as an industry. The Church in a tabloid. The gospel as a youtube channel.
And we wonder why the world fails to take us seriously.
Using the world’s methods to hawk, to peddle, the gospel isn’t new. The apostle Paul encountered it often. People who preached the gospel and then passed the offering plate. Evangelists who demanded the best (and more) for themselves and their families without thought for the sacrifice of the giver (1 Corinthians 9). Sorcerers who wanted the power of the Holy Spirit in order to extract money from people (Acts 9).
Paul knew that the power of the gospel was never going to be in how much we could conform Christianity to the existing culture nor would people be attracted to Christianity because we somehow made it seem attractive to them. The power of the gospel isn’t in how it’s marketed. Quite the contrary. The power of the gospel is in how we react when we suffer:
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:8-12 NKJV).
As Christians, we have always been called to a lifestyle that is very different than the world’s. We have been called to live out the fruit of the Spirit in every situation and through every circumstance, being willing to suffer anything and everything that is placed in our path, understanding that we are suffering for the gospel and that we will persevere through the most dire circumstances because of the power of God. This is the "holy calling according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus." Our holy calling isn’t how many watch us on a youtube channel or how many "Christian" t-shirts we might own or the enormously large mega-church we attend. Our holy calling is how we live our lives through the daily suffering that most people face anyway and perhaps even through inordinate suffering that is thrown at us through either the attacks of Satan or through the plan of God. He has called us to a holy calling according to His own purpose, giving us the grace to trust Him even in the most dire circumstances.
There is an old hymn (by Whittle and McGranahan) that came from this passage in 2 Timothy:
I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own.
I know not how this saving faith to me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word wrought peace within my heart.
I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in Him.
I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noonday fair,
Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him, or meet Him in the air.
But ‘I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.’
I may not understand why the Lord leads me through the situations that come my way. Those situations may not resolve in the ways I had intended or even hoped. But I can have confidence, with Paul, that if I remain true to the holy calling on my life, that if I refuse to resort to reducing the gospel to something can be "peddled," God Himself will bless my efforts with His grace and will keep all that which I’ve committed to Him until the Day when He returns to take me Home.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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