Passive Evangelism?

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...

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 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."