Difficult Issues, Public Debates, and the Mission of God
Four Questions Before Entering the Fray
A friend of mine recently asked, “Isn’t in true that in Matthew 18, Jesus gave us clear steps to work out our differences with our brothers and sisters? Shouldn’t that inform the way believers grapple with difficult issues in the public square?”
His point is that many public Christians have little sensibilities about how and where we confront one another. I took his question as a statement that might go like this:
Any positive, life-giving, Jesus-honoring influence we might hope to have with our neighbors is severely limited by our inability to graciously work through difficult conversations with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is not a new question, but it did lead me to a few others.
For example, What’s the difference between a healthy debate and a harmful argument?
Two prize boxers schedule a match, and we all tune in to see who brings the goods into the ring on fight-night. But when the boxers enter the ring, they are not alone. There is also a referee who explains and enforces the rules of engagement. His job is to oversee a clean fight. Maybe that’s the healthy debate.
When those same two boxers, however, go at it verbally or even physically at the pre-fight press conference where there is no referee, no rules, and no expectation of a fair outcome, that seems like the harmful argument. It gets our attention. It makes headlines. But it’s not the actual contest.
Cheers and Jeers
Jesus-loving people need space inside the ropes to work through difficult, important, culture-shaping issues. But like undisciplined prize fighters, we often make more news outside the ring than progress inside. All kinds of people watch and listen in as we throw verbal jabs, impugn one another’s character, and assume a posture of superiority over our brothers and sisters. Both their cheers and jeers encourage us to give them more.
Rather than Jesus followers who fulfill his prayerful expectation for oneness that turns the world’s attention to him and his sufficiency to save sinners, many of us have become Corinthian in our reputation for disputes and divisions.
The next question involves our teachability or what it means to be a student of the Bible, a spiritually maturing Christian. What were the major factors involved the last time we shifted our thinking about a significant, biblical issue?
Christians who trust in the authority of the Bible often claim that we are immovable in our convictions as if our understanding of the Bible is as inerrant as the Bible itself. Could it be that the way we debate one other over the Bible’s teaching on the current cultural questions of the day are not actually a question of the authority or sufficiency of Scripture as much as they are a question of our willingness to admit we might have more to learn? Could it be that affirming the authority of the Bible is different than yielding to it?
The Mind of Christ
So the question of what factors led to acquiring greater understanding on an issue assumes that we are willing to change our mind, or to grow in wisdom and knowledge of the truth, or to admit previous errors, or in Pauline language, to “adopt the mind of Christ?”
Biblically faithful people necessarily believe the Holy Spirit lives in us and continues to sanctify us. This means we never assume we are masters of the Bible, but instead that we are students of it who learn obedience and are thus shaped into the likeness of Christ.
As a result, Spirit-filled Christians discuss serious questions together with a humility that says, “I have more to learn,” with a curiosity that seeks to better understand opposing viewpoints, and with the belief that being heard is a privilege that must be earned rather than a right that must be demanded.
A third question considers our view of history. What measure of respect do we owe to those who have gone before us? Certainly, a person’s longevity of service or place in history does not guarantee his or her godliness. We continue to discover too many once-heralded men and women of faith were not at all who we thought they were. History, recent or otherwise, is not always pretty.
Legions of Holy People
I serve a local church, however, that was founded in 1900. It’s been served by faithful men and women for over 120 years. Generations have come to know Jesus and live on mission to the glory of God. Multiply this story by thousands and thousands, and modern Christians stand on the shoulders of legions of holy people who gave their lives for the Gospel.
They were not perfect people. They did not see everything clearly. But the Lord did not cancel them. Instead, he bore with them, and graciously and powerfully used them to pass on the faith to us.
Now this is our moment. Despite our own humanity, the Lord graciously bears with us as well. And if the Lord bears with you and me, perhaps we can show greater grace to one another that the next generation can build upon. And perhaps at the presser, we can show the world something of Jesus by the way we honor one another, including those who are now in heaven, over ourselves.
We do not dismiss sinfulness and the wounds caused by it, but neither do we cancel people who fall short of our expectations. For the sake our witness of God’s grace found in Jesus, we refuse to we cancel leaders who follow a calling that is different than ours. We do not cancel people who we only know from a few social media posts or online debates. And we certainly do not cancel faithful men and women who have built the institutions from which we now benefit.
Instead, we herald them, not as infallible, but as both fellow image bearers and as brothers and sisters in Christ. As co-laborers, we champion them publicly, and then when needed and when possible, we challenge them privately while inviting the same accountability from them. But mostly, we show them grace—the same grace we will need from those coming behind us.
One final question: How old do you have to be to participate in public debates? The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy,
“Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
I remember being at a denominational meeting where a hero of the faith called us to make room for young leaders. At the time, I was a young leader, and I was grateful for the invitation. Young leaders bring so much to the table at every level of Jesus’ kingdom work.
Worthy of Imitation
While we often focus on the first part of that verse, the second part often gets neglected. It reads, “But set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” Paul believed any expectation of respect from others that Timothy might have was predicated on his reputation of speaking and behaving in a way that earned that respect.
Unfortunately, much of the rhetoric from public Christians falls short of what parents expect from pre-adolescent children. It’s certainly not worthy of imitation for believers or a faithful witness to unbelievers.
I don’t know how old we have to be to participate in the public square, but whatever our age, joining Jesus’ kingdom work requires a commitment to prove an example worth imitating. It requires a willingness to die to the temptation for likes and headlines, and to instead measure our words with care. Public engagement is a divine calling to conduct ourselves with excellence, to love one another well, to walk in step with the Spirit of God, and to live above reproach.
The Wisdom of Silence
Even Job’s patience had limits when it came to the wayward words of his friends. He gave this advice, “If only you would remain silent, for that would be your wisdom” (Job 13:5). Public platforms are a gift to all of us, but apparently, not every platform that is permissible is profitable. When the Gospel is our aim and the good of our neighbors is our delight, sometimes, it is our silence that speaks with greatest wisdom.
Photo Credit: Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
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The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Man, Carl S. Trueman
Loving the City, Timothy Keller
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Grant, Ron Chernow
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