Dear Friends,
"Choose being kind
over being right and you will be right every time." I memorized this
quote by Richard Carlson because I believe it is an
important principle to keep in mind when witnessing.
When I first read this
quote, I thought of Paul's words to the Corinthians: "Knowledge puffs up
but love builds up. (1 Corinthians 8:1). How important it is to keep
a balance between knowledge (truth) and love.
It is so true that
"Knowledge can become a weapon to hurt people or a tool to build them
up." Chapter by Chapter Bible Commentary, Warren Wiersbe, p.
749.
How often I have watched
people try to argue others into the Kingdom with biblical truth rather than
loving them into the Kingdom through a biblical life. It is certainly far
easier and more convenient to speak the truth than to live the truth, but we must
do both if we are to be successful witnesses for Christ. Truth is
important when sharing your faith, but we must always be careful to wrap the
truth in love.
Howard Newton reminds us
that "Truth is the art of making a point without making an enemy,"
and all Christians need to learn this principle. We can be right, but we can
never be unloving for as Paul writes we must always "speak the truth in
love" (Ephesians 4:15).
When the newly formed
church in Antioch needed some doctrinal grounding, the church in Jerusalem
sent Barnabas to visit Antioch. Why Barnabas? I think it was because he was a
loving truth teller, and because, while grounded in doctrine, the church knew
he wouldn't use his knowledge as a club. They knew that he would be as
interested in loving them as changing them. Barnabas was loving, accepting and
flexible, and no doubt he developed a real ministry among that church where
believers were first called Christians. It was the church at Antioch that sent
the first missionaries into Europe.
Fortunately, Barnabas knew
that truth always needs to be balanced with love, a love that tolerated those
who may think differently, act differently, worship differently, and even
believe differently.
Christians must learn to
disagree without becoming disagreeable. We can witness to others by the way we
'disagree' with them.
This reminds me of the
story involving Bishop Pike who for many years was a strong defender of
biblical truth. However, in later years, he renounced biblical orthodoxy in
favor of sciences and other non-biblical revelations. Before his death he was
involved in a debate with a well-known Christian scholar who absolutely
devastated him intellectually. The man ground him up and spit him out. He made
Bishop Pike look like a fool, and the sad thing was that he didn't stop when
Pike was down, but instead he kept whipping him and beating on him. Some of
those who came to the debate as defenders of orthodox truth began losing their
respect for the man who was acting so ungraciously, and before long some of
them were even siding with Bishop Pike. As a result of the debate, the
embarrassed Pike became even more adamant and convinced of his beliefs.
The Christian won the argument, but he lost a soul in the process
Later in the same year
Bishop Pike was involved in another debate, but this time it was with Francis
Schaeffer from La'bri, the Swiss theologian and churchmen who was not only
known for his grace and wisdom, but for his orthodox religious beliefs. Orthodox
but loving, Schaeffer debated Bishop Pike's belief system graciously and
lovingly. He pointed out the errors and Pikes belief system, but he did it in a
charitable and non-dogmatic fashion. He would make his point and then he would
back off, always giving Bishop Pike the opportunity to respond.
Do you know where Bishop
Pike was headed before he mysteriously died in the desert? He was going to
La'bri to sit at the feet and learn from Francis Schaeffer.
Let us be reminded once
again of the words of the 16th century theologian who wrote, "In
essentials unity; In non- essentials liberty; In all things, charity.
Yours in faith and
friendship,
Tom
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