Apples, Milk, and Fire Hoses

Courtesy designtaxi.com

How Apple's latest software update reminded me about how we should talk with people.

As many of you know, Apple recently released it's new operating system, iOS 7, to the general public, and those familiar with Apple's style will notice a difference.  Gone are much of the three-dimensional images, wood, leather, felt etc.  A recent post on the website Fast Company explains much of the reasoning behind the change.  A quote from one of their sources,

"Our culture has changed. We don’t need translation of the digital medium in mechanical real-life terms. It’s an old-fashioned paradigm."

To put it in other terms, we don't need a calendar that looks like a physical calendar to know how to use the program.  We don't need that bridge to understand a no longer unfamiliar concept.  Those who want to share the gospel with other people need to implement a similar methodology.

In the apostle Paul's first letter to the believers in Corinth, he stated,

"Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?" 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NLT

Paul spoke to them in certain terms because they would have been unable to understand more advanced concepts.  In doing this, he followed the same line as Jesus with His disciples when He said

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." John 16:12-14 NIV

Now where the rubber meets the road is how do we put this principle into practice in our own lives.  We need to have discernment as to how much people can bear; how much can they understand.  We don't want others to have to drink out of the proverbial fire hose. A key to doing this is simply to relax a bit when communicating with others.  I know from personal experience that learning something new and interesting can be very exciting, and I want to transmit as much information as quickly as possible.  However, not everyone wants to hear it and even those who do want to hear it can be overwhelmed if it involves concepts that they don't understand.

So next time you want to share something with others: stop, pray, and then share.  The results may surprise you.

Standing Up

A great thing about the Bible is that you can learn new things from verses you've seen many times before.

I've recently been thinking and studying about temptation (here's why), and I came across a verse that is very familiar to me, perhaps too familiar.  It is 1 Corinthians 10:13.  The part that stood out to me is the last phrase that states " so that you can stand up under it."  Other translations use the word "bear" or "endure", but "standing up" works the best for me.

"Standing up" gives me a lot of positive associations when it comes to temptation.  The verse doesn't say that God will make the temptation magically disappear, but rather He will give us a way out so that we can stand up. To stand up means that the weight of the temptation is still there, but now so is the strength to deal with it.  The temptation is no longer crushing me, and by God's grace I have the power to move forward.

Thank you God for Your grace.

Apostasy in Galatia

We are not to have a cookie-cutter approach to evangelism.

In this chapter the contrast is brought out between how the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians and how he wrote to the Galatians.

How different from Paul's manner of writing to the Corinthian church was the course he pursued toward the Galatians! The former he rebuked with caution and tenderness, the latter with words of unsparing reproof. The Corinthians had been overcome by temptation. Deceived by the ingenious sophistry of teachers who presented errors under the guise of truth, they had become confused and bewildered. To teach them to distinguish the false from the true, called for caution and patience. Harshness or injudicious haste on Paul's part would have destroyed his influence over many of those whom he longed to help. 

In the Galatian churches, open, unmasked error was supplanting the gospel message. Christ, the true foundation of the faith, was virtually renounced for the obsolete ceremonies of Judaism. The apostle saw that if the believers in Galatia were saved from the dangerous influences which threatened them, the most decisive measures must be taken, the sharpest warnings given. pg. 385

To put it into more modern terms, Paul exercised some tough love with the Galatians. Many Christians are hesitant to get tough with people for fear of driving them away. The scales seemed tipped in the direction of softness, tenderness and permissiveness causing a lot of things to go on in the Christian church that should not be allowed to happen. I won't give examples, but I'm sure that you can think of some.

What made Paul such a successful missionary is his ability to adapt, and we can develop that same ability.

An important lesson for every minister of Christ to learn is that of adapting his labors to the condition of those whom he seeks to benefit. Tenderness, patience, decision, and firmness are alike needful; but these are to be exercised with proper discrimination. To deal wisely with different classes of minds, under varied circumstances and conditions, is a work requiring wisdom and judgment enlightened and sanctified by the Spirit of God. pgs. 385,386

A problem I see in much of Adventist outreach efforts is the lack of adaptation. We have programs on top of programs. Every time you turn around someone has developed a new evangelistic program. The individual churches take these programs, follow them to the letter, and expect the converts to roll in. We need less programs and more "wisdom and judgment enlightened and sanctified by the Spirit of God." I'm not advocating the abolishment of programs, I'm simply saying that we need to use wisdom and judgment in adapting those programs to the various circumstances and conditions.

A good example of this is an evangelistic campaign I was involved with in San Francisco, CA. The evangelist used the traditional program but changed it somewhat. The traditional Seventh-day Adventist program starts off with the metal image in Daniel chapter two and uses it to show how people can trust the Bible. The evangelist saw this and thought that something should be altered. He looked around and saw that San Francisco was an extremely secular city. Whereas in other places people grow up with some knowledge of God, the Bible, etc., in that city there was an extreme lack of that knowledge. So instead of starting off with the traditional presentation, his first presentation was "Who is God?" in which he sought to let people know the truth about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

In order to make such adaptations we need to get to know our surroundings. Exactly how we go about learning about them is something will probably vary but it often involves doing some research. I had a class in missions as part of my graduate work in which the professor advocated looking at recent census data, as well as looking at The Association of Religious Data Archives to see the socioeconomic and religious make-up of your area. Another great resource is Mark Finley's book "Studying Together" which goes through various belief systems and shows the similarities and differences between them and Adventism.

Whatever tools we use, they are useless if we don't have the Spirit of God in our hearts, so as we seek to draw others a better relationship with God, let us seek to improve our relationship as well.