Last week I offered you a brief introduction to what the Lord is doing in my heart and ministry. If you missed that post, please go here to read it because it is important background for what I will share with you today.
In short, the Lord is doing a new work in my heart. It is a work of teaching me to listen to and love others in a way that mimics Christ’s actions and heart. This work that He is doing in my heart causes me to engage in the lives of others in a new way by letting them know that I truly care about them. They are not simply a name on my Sunday school roll or another person I meet on the street. But rather, they are a person of inestimable worth and value and they are loved deeply by Jesus. Do I get it right every time? Pretty sure I don’t. However, I’m trying.
Good grief, this is a long post and I’m so sorry but I just couldn’t cut any of it out. Hang in there with me, please. Today I want to share with you more about the heart work that the Lord is doing using the book entitled UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons.
One of the perceptions that young outsiders (young adults ages 16-29 who are outside of the church) have of Christians and Christianity is that we say one thing and do another. In short, they believe that we are hypocritical. Is this accusation true? Well, yes….and no. Certainly there are some Christians who live see-through lives….lives that are transparent and real for all the world to see. Transparency is what a world that doesn’t know Jesus is desperately seeking. They need to know that we, as Christians, are not ashamed to admit our struggles and failures (we ALL have struggles and failures), all the while looking to Jesus to help us through them.
These young outsiders are not stupid. They can recognize holes in our lives….places where what we say and how we act do not match up. Allow me to share with you a quote from UnChristian that broke my heart.
“They (young outsiders) believe that everyone says and does whatever is necessary to get ahead. Mike, age twenty nine, made this comment: ‘You could say that I am a lot like Christians—I have gotten good at telling people what I think they want to hear. I see why Christians do it. They want to look good. I guess I don’t really see the harm in it.’” (p.44) emphasis, mine
And another quote: “We (Christians) are not known for the depth of our transparency, for digging in and solving deep-seated problems, but for trying to project an unchristian picture of having it all together. Young outsiders believe that rather than being able to help them sort through the imagine-is-everything world, followers of Christ are playing the very same mind games that they are. They perceive us as employing the same tactics as everyone else to preserve an appearance of strength.” (p.44-45). emphasis, mine
Whew!!! Does that convict you or what? How in the world will we ever convince those who don’t know Jesus that He can be relied upon and trusted if we refuse to let the world know that WE NEED someone in whom we can trust? Most of us do not have it all together a huge percentage of the time. We just don’t.
In Matthew chapter 23 we find Jesus pronouncing a scathing indictment on the Pharisees and teachers of the law for this very thing. The entire chapter can be summarized in one verse.
Matthew 23: 28 says, “In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
What was He saying to the RELIGIOUS PEOPLE of His day? I think it was something along the lines of ‘you are saying one thing and doing another’. Hmm, sound familiar? This is exactly what young outsiders say that Christians…..Christ followers…..are doing.
Allow me to close with a few quotes from UnChristian to solidify my point.
Kinnaman and Lyons quote Phillip Yancey from his book What’s So Amazing About Grace:
Having spent time around ‘sinners’ and also around purported saints, have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group; I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus. (p.60)
Another quote from Leroy Barber who is president of Mission Year:
Young adults are turning away from a modern church that they see as nothing more than hypocritical. Standards and rules without sacrifice and solidarity is hypocrisy. Christian rhetoric without tangible acts of love is hypocrisy. Churches on every corner with hurting people outside is hypocrisy. A large building with little connection to the streets is essentially empty. (p.65)
Finally, this quote from author Jim White:
We must stop presenting ourselves as the message and begin presenting Jesus as the message.
If transparency will draw someone to Christ, then sign me up…..even when it costs me something personally. If I appear to you to have it all together all the time—shame on me. Because I do not. Many days I feel like if one tiny thread pulls, the whole danged thing will unravel on me. My beautiful 20-something friend and I were talking just this week about how twisted and screwed up we can be and sometimes, in fact, are. Jesus is the only reason why I’m not a sniveling, snotty mess most of the time. I MUST rely on Him every day to help me get my act together, because I cannot do it myself. How about you?
More next week on the New Thing God is doing in my heart.
