Passive Evangelism?
“Preach the Gospel at
all times. Use words if necessary.”
The first time I heard this phrase it really bothered me, and I didn't really know why. Something stirred in my spirit, and I asked "where did that come from?" Since then, I have challenged a few who really like this phrase, asking them where in the Bible this is written or implied. "Love your neighbor" and "live as an example" often come up. Let's explore this statement together, along with it's origin, implied and true meanings, and its place in the Bible and Christian life.
Following is an excerpt from this website:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/07/11/factchecker-misquoting-francis-of-assisi/
"GLENN T. STANTON
FactChecker: Misquoting Francis of
Assisi
Note: FactChecker is a new monthly
series in which Glenn
T. Stanton examines claims, myths, and
misunderstandings frequently heard in
evangelical circles.
...One very clever and popular quote we
often knock around
among ourselves is . . .
Preach the Gospel at all times. Use
words if necessary.
It is always attributed to St. Francis
of Assisi---founder of
the Franciscan Order---and is intended
to say that
proclaiming the Gospel by example is
more virtuous than
actually proclaiming with voice. It is
a quote that has often
rankled me because it seems to create a
useless dichotomy*
between speech and action. Besides, the
spirit
behind it can be a little arrogant,
implying that those
who "practice the Gospel" are
more faithful to the faith
than those who preach it.
But here's the fact: Our good Francis
never said such a
thing.
None of his disciples, early or later
biographers have these
words coming from his mouth. It doesn't
show up in any
of his writings. Not even close really.
The closest comes
from his Rule of 1221, Chapter XII on
how the Franciscans
should practice their preaching:
“No brother should preach contrary to
the form and
regulations of the holy Church nor
unless he has been
permitted by his minister . . . All the
Friars . . . should
preach by their deeds.”
Essentially, make sure your deeds match
your words.
While there's a nice and good sentiment
in the statement
---be sure you live out the grace and
truth of the Gospel-
--the notion as it is typically
presented is neither practical,
nor faithful to the Gospel of Christ.
It does not align with
St. Francis' own practice.
His first biographer, Thomas of Celeno,
writing just three
years after Francis' death, quotes him
instructing his co-
workers in the Gospel thusly,
“The
preacher must first draw from secret prayers what he
will
later pour out in holy sermons; he must first grow hot
within
before he speaks words that are in themselves cold.”
Mark Galli, senior managing editor at
Christianity Today,
wrote a wonderful little book on
Francis as well as a
clarifying brief article on the myth of
this quote. He
explains that Francis was quite a
preacher, actually more
along the lines of Jonathan Edwards or
Billy Sunday than
most of those who misquote him would
like to think. Galli
quotes Thomas' biography,
“His words were neither hollow nor
ridiculous, but filled
with the power of the Holy Spirit,
penetrating the marrow
of the heart, so that listeners were
turned to great
amazement.”
Our man clearly spent a great deal of
time using his words
when he preached, "sometimes
preaching in up to five
villages a day, often outdoors. In the
country, Francis often
spoke from a bale of straw or a granary
doorway. In town,
he would climb on a box or up steps in
a public building.
He preached to . . . any who gathered
to hear the strange
but fiery little preacher from Assisi."
He was sometimes so
animated and passionate in his delivery
that "his feet
moved as if he were dancing."
Duane Liftin, president of Wheaton
College,
recently addressed the trouble with
this preach/practice
dichotomy in an important article. Of
preaching the
Gospel in deed, he explains,
“It's simply impossible to preach the
Gospel without words.
The Gospel is inherently verbal, and
preaching the Gospel
is inherently verbal behavior.”
And the "deed" proclamation
of the Gospel is not biblical
either. Paul asks the Church at Rome
(Romans 10:14):
“How then will they call on Him in
whom they have not
believed? How will they believe in Him
whom they have
not heard? And how will they hear
without a preacher?”
So next time you hear one of your
brothers or sisters in
Christ use this quote to encourage or
challenge you in
your labors for our faith, gently guide
them from the land
of misinformation and make-believe into
truth.
-----Glenn T. Stanton is the director
of family formation studies
at Focus on the Family and the author
of five books on
various aspects of the family,
including his two most
recent, Secure Daughters Confident
Sons, How Parents
Guide Their Children into Authentic
Masculinity and
Femininity (Waterbrook, 2011), and The
Ring Makes All the
Difference: The Hidden Consequences of
Cohabitation and
the Strong Benefits of Marriage (Moody,
2011)."
DEFINITIONS:
*Dichotomy
Noun
A division or contrast between two things that are (or are
represented as being) opposed or entirely different.
**Preach
PREACH, v.i. [L. proeco, a crier;
precor.]
1. To pronounce a public discourse on a
religious subject,
or from a subject, or from a text of
Scripture. The word is
usually applied to such discourses as
are formed from a
text of Scripture. This is the modern
sense of preach.
2. To discourse on the gospel way of
salvation and exhort
to repentance; to discourse on
evangelical truths and
exhort to a belief of them and
acceptance of the terms of
salvation. This was the extemporaneous (Spoken
or done without preparation)
manner of
preaching pursued by Christ and his
apostles. Mat 4:10.
Acts 10:14.
PREACH, v.t. To proclaim; to publish in
religious
discourses.
What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye
on the house-tops.
Mat 10.
The Lord hath anointed me to preach
good tidings to the
meek. Isa 61.
***1. To inculcate (Instill
(an attitude, idea, or habit) by persistent instruction.
)in public discourses.
I have preached righteousness in the
great congregations.
Psa 40.
To preach Christ or Christ crucified,
to announce Christ as
the only Savior, and his atonement as
the only ground of
acceptance with God. 1 Cor 1.
...My
heart is to empower the people of God to be bold
and
effective, and to recognize error which strays (even slightly)
from God's word...
from God's word...
We must LIVE our lives as a light.
Mat 5:14 "You are the light of
the world. A city set on a
hill cannot be hidden.
Mat 5:15 Nor do people light a lamp
and put it under a
basket, but on a stand, and it gives
light to all in the
house.
Mat 5:16 In the same way, let your
light shine before
others, so that they may see your good
works and give
glory to your Father who is in heaven.
We must be a good example.
Tit 2:7 Show yourself in all respects
to be a model of good
works, and in your teaching show
integrity, dignity,
Tit 2:8 and sound speech that cannot
be condemned, so
that an opponent may be put to shame,
having nothing
evil to say about us.
We must obey the word, though it
comes from the mouth of a human (even a hypocrite), because it is
God's authority... but we are not to follow their bad examples.
Mat 23:3 (Jesus said to his disciples)
“so practice and observe whatever they
(pharisees, who sit on Moses' seat)
tell you--but not what
they do. For they preach, but do not
practice.
Mat 23:4 They tie up heavy burdens,
hard to bear, and lay
them on people's shoulders, but they
themselves are not
willing to move them with their
finger.”
Godly living holds promises for now
and later.
1Ti_4:8 for while bodily training is
of some value,
godliness is of value in every way, as
it holds promise for
the present life and also for the life
to come.
Preaching is more
powerful than life-example.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the
gospel, for it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness
of God is revealed
from faith for faith, as it is written,
"The righteous shall live
by faith." (Underline/bold added).
Php 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ
from envy and
rivalry, but others from good will.
Php 1:16 The latter do it out of love,
knowing that I am
put here for the defense of the gospel.
Php 1:17 The former proclaim Christ
out of rivalry, not
sincerely but thinking to afflict me in
my imprisonment.
Php 1:18 What then? Only that in every
way, whether in
pretense or in truth, Christ is
proclaimed, and in that I
rejoice.
(So it is not strictly necessary
for love to be displayed, or a relationship to be present for the Gospel to have its power and effect.)
(There is a subtle line of error,
practically undetected, in this "Assisi" quote. It says “If I live my life
right, people will be drawn to Jesus without me saying a word.”
But how can we, who are righteous by faith alone, lead anyone to God
with our undeniably flawed lives, no matter how transformed they may
be, without preaching about Jesus' saving grace? And how does one
receive this grace? By faith and confession, according to the Word.)
More verification that the written
Word of God is a vital ingredient.
2Ti 3:15 and how from childhood you
have been
acquainted with the sacred writings,
which are able to
make you wise for salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out
by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for
training in righteousness,
2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be
competent,
equipped for every good work.
2Ti_4:2 preach the word; be ready in
season and out of
season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort,
with complete
patience and teaching.
Tit
2:15
Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no
one disregard you.
The discomfort and awkwardness of
sharing the Gospel is a battle we all must overcome.
We must recognize that Satan wants
to keep us quiet and “seeker sensitive”.
His schemes usually appears as a
half-truth, to introduce a minor
amount of error that through time
and use becomes accepted in our minds as Scriptural
truth. We remember that Jesus said
we would be hated by the world, because it does not know Him or the
Father. He said we would be persecuted. He said that destructive
doctrines and spirits would try to infiltrate the church. He warns
us to remain sober and alert, testing the spirits, and that any
spirit that denies Jesus Christ is of the anti-Christ. I ask this: Is "living out the Gospel" quietly without words acknowledging Jesus Christ? Or is it saying "don't offend, don't push away... no one likes a pushy Christian..."?
Mat 24:9 "Then they will deliver
you up to tribulation and
put you to death, and you will be hated
by all nations for
my name's sake.
2Ti 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to
live a godly life in Christ
Jesus will be persecuted,
In fact, adhering to this
un-Biblical principle HINDERS the
spread of the gospel, and even
possibly delays the return
of Christ:
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the
kingdom will be
proclaimed throughout the whole world
as a testimony to
all nations, and then the end will
come.
So if we succumb to a "silent
approach", we are potentially falling
into the trap of Satan who says "Shhhhhh, don't talk
about Jesus, we don't want offend
anyone."
Rom 10:8 But what does it say? "The
word is near you, in
your mouth and in your heart"
(that is, the word of faith
that we proclaim);
Rom 10:9 because, if you confess with
your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one
believes and is justified,
and with the mouth one confesses and is
saved.
Rom 10:13 For "everyone who calls
on the name of the
Lord will be saved."
Rom 10:14 How then will they call on
him in whom they
have not believed? And how are they to
believe in him of
whom they have never heard? And how are
they to hear
without someone preaching?
Rom 10:15 And how are they to preach
unless they are
sent? As it is written, "How
beautiful are the feet of those
who preach the good news!"
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For
Isaiah says, "Lord, who has
believed what he has heard
from us?"
Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing,
and hearing
through the word of Christ.
Don't worry about pushing people away
with the Gospel. That should not be a determining factor. Jesus said some of your seed will fall on rocky
ground, thorny ground, shallow ground, and get eaten by birds. You
just scatter seed. Let God bring the growth and increase, like Jesus
explained to His disciples. Then you harvest also, what others have
sown. Pray that your seed falls on good ground! And don't be
intimidated by rejection or offending with the Gospel. It simply
will be an offense to those who are perishing. And know that this IS
what the Father is doing. It's what Jesus did in every town he
visited. It's not something we have to wait for a “go” in our
spirits. We already have the Go here in our hands. Trust that God's
word will do the work as you deliver it.
2Co 2:15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
2Co 2:16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
2Co 2:17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
2Co 2:15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
2Co 2:16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
2Co 2:17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
2Co 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.
2Co 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2Co 4:5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Much is at stake, so we must
persuade.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before
the judgment seat
of Christ, so that each one may receive
what is due for
what he has done in the body, whether
good or evil.
2Co 5:11 Therefore, knowing the fear
of the Lord, we
persuade others...
Act
4:29
And now, Lord... grant to your servants to continue to speak your
word with all boldness,
Act
4:30
while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are
performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
