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A Rancher's Rumblings | |
| January 15, 2008 |
| BIBLICAL ETHICS AND EVANGELISM - A SEAMLESS DESIGN FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING |
On Monday evening, I attended the ENGAGE Evangelizing Texas Conference in Rockwall. Jon Randles – the new director of the BGCT Evangelism Team – brought a great message. When I spoke to him after the meeting, Jon reminded me that we first met 25 years ago. I have long appreciated his ministry.
In February, the Evangelism Team will hold five regional ENGAGE XP conferences. I plan to attend the conference being held in Midland. I urge you to make plans now to attend the conference in your area. Following is a full schedule of the regional conferences:
I received my Ph.D. in Christian Ethics. I have always found disturbing the perception – that many people appear to have – that there is a separation between ethics and evangelism . . . that somehow there is one group that does ethics and a competing group that does evangelism. This has never made any sense to me. I never understood such a separation, and I really haven’t known or worked with anyone who has demonstrated such an “either-or” type of mindset.
In his message Monday night, Jon spoke of evangelizing and discipling. To me, a big part of discipling is teaching and practicing biblical ethics. Dr. T. B. Maston, the Baptist ethicist who shaped so much of our understanding of biblical ethics, wrote a book that captured the seamlessness of discipleship and biblical ethics. It was entitled Why Live the Christian Life?
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However, discipleship and biblical ethics have no meaning outside of a personal relationship with the Living Christ – in other words, they depend upon our commitment to evangelism. Once a person starts the journey into Christlikeness, we begin teaching discipleship and ethics as the way of the new life.
People committed to ethics should be passionate about evangelism. People committed to evangelism should be passionate about biblical ethics – living out every part of our lives, including our evangelism, in the manner taught and exemplified by our Lord. Our churches grow when they emphasize evangelism side-by-side with discipleship and ethics – that is, bringing the lost to Christ and then teaching them how to live the Christian life, be faithful and effective church members, and partner with the Living Christ in all that they do and say.
On my way home from Dallas, I stopped at Howard Payne University – my alma mater – to finalize plans for the inaugural “Currie-Strickland Lectures in Christian Ethics,” which will be held this spring, probably in late April.
The theme of the lectures that will take place this first year is “The Bible Speaks on Ethics and Evangelism, and the Church Responds.” As these lectures continue through the years, the theme will always take the form of “The Bible Speaks on . . ., and the Church Responds.” We will deal with various ethical issues through the years, but I wanted the first one to make the point that biblical ethics and evangelism can never be separated. Our format will feature two or three speakers – including an ethicist teaching what the Bible says on a particular topic and a pastor teaching how the church should respond to the Biblical teaching in application.
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We hope to announce the date and speakers within the next few weeks. I hope to see many of you there.
I’ll finish with another word about the relationship between ethics and evangelism.
For too long, the Gospel has been dichotomized and even prostituted with out-of-balance emphases, exemplified by slogans such as “evangelism is the umbrella under which everything must fall” and “faith without works is dead.” Both of these slogans carry elements of truth, but we cannot faithfully render the whole Gospel if we impart only selected portions of the truth.
Evangelism is essential, but we must carry it out in a manner that is faithful to Christ’s example and teachings – and yes, faith without works is dead, but so are works without faith.
Everything we do as Christians begins with the worship of God. Our initial response of faith in Christ is an act of worship. The work of the indwelling Spirit of God on our personalities and character comes as we yield allegiance to Christ. If the work of the Gospel in us is authentic, the energies of God will certainly overflow in everything we do and say. As we act in such ways, we extend the person of Christ to others. Feeding the hungry in Christ’s name is just as much evangelism as an overt act of witnessing. Just look at the Gospels to see how Jesus lived His life.
All Texas Baptist churches and Texas Baptist church members need to focus on both evangelism and ethics, because Jesus told us to do so. In the Great Commission, our Lord said clearly that we are to both “make disciples” and “teach” them to live as He taught us. Evangelism and ethics – they go hand-in-hand.