How can we preach the Gospel at all times?
I have been haunted this week with this question. The Dude and I talked about the famous St. Francis of Assisi quote a few months ago -- "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words" -- and agreed that: 1) most Christians use that quote as an excuse to not use words, 2) while it seems basic, most of us don't know what the Gospel is and 3) if we don't know what it is, we certainly don't know how to preach it at all times.
Preaching the Gospel at all times undoubtedly requires attention, as we discussed last week, to the amount of time dedicated to work and home, but it is much, much bigger than that. I may be wrong, but I think most Christians in the business world boil their ministry down to relationships at work and relationships at home. And while relationships are clearly extremely important, I think that view is way short of God's intention for our lives.
The Bible is clear about how marriage is intended to boldly and clearly communicate the Gospel, but what about a job in marketing/medicine/financial planning?
I talked to a buddy tonight who currently works for one of the Big 4 accounting firms and is considering a new job doing financial planning for small companies. As we talked about this question -- how he could preach the Gospel at all times in this new job -- we talked about the opportunity to study God's teaching about money and share that with the companies he consults. Odds are he won't talk about tithing, but he can certainly encourage them to get out of debt. And if the occasion arises, he can talk about the power money has over the heart...and maybe about how money isn't a bad thing, it just has to be honored as a gift from God for His glory, that we are helpless without Jesus and even the decisions we make with our money should reflect that understanding.
I was encouraged after talking to this guy because I'm afraid we/I too often overlook what we do every day, 8/10/15 hours a day in terms of how it communicates the Gospel. What do you guys think? How can you communicate the Gospel in sales when you have targets you have to hit? In law when you have hours you have to bill? How have you done it or seen it done?
Preaching the Gospel at all times undoubtedly requires attention, as we discussed last week, to the amount of time dedicated to work and home, but it is much, much bigger than that. I may be wrong, but I think most Christians in the business world boil their ministry down to relationships at work and relationships at home. And while relationships are clearly extremely important, I think that view is way short of God's intention for our lives.
The Bible is clear about how marriage is intended to boldly and clearly communicate the Gospel, but what about a job in marketing/medicine/financial planning?
I talked to a buddy tonight who currently works for one of the Big 4 accounting firms and is considering a new job doing financial planning for small companies. As we talked about this question -- how he could preach the Gospel at all times in this new job -- we talked about the opportunity to study God's teaching about money and share that with the companies he consults. Odds are he won't talk about tithing, but he can certainly encourage them to get out of debt. And if the occasion arises, he can talk about the power money has over the heart...and maybe about how money isn't a bad thing, it just has to be honored as a gift from God for His glory, that we are helpless without Jesus and even the decisions we make with our money should reflect that understanding.
I was encouraged after talking to this guy because I'm afraid we/I too often overlook what we do every day, 8/10/15 hours a day in terms of how it communicates the Gospel. What do you guys think? How can you communicate the Gospel in sales when you have targets you have to hit? In law when you have hours you have to bill? How have you done it or seen it done?
posted by Matthew at 11:48 PM
4 Comments:
In some sense I feel like you're approaching the question backwards. You seem to be asking: "How do I choose to act in a Godly manner in all these various situations?"
How about this question: "How do we become Godly so that when faced with choices we choose rightly [keeping in mind that the most important moral decisions we make, we don't really make since we act out of the manner in which we've been formed]?"
Good point. I am certainly not a proponent of simply accepting the status quo and trying to layer on morality/religion. I think you're right -- we have to first be transformed by the Gospel so the Gospel will then transform the people and circumstances surrounding us. The question I intended to ask is "What does it look like to live out the Gospel in every facet of life?" My fear is we assume we are Godly but ignore many/most of the decisions that transformation demands.
Yeah, I just think you're focusing to much on 'decisions'.
Would you argue that then there is no purpose behind circumstantial or application-based teaching? Certainly the Gospel must be preached and preached again, but is there not also need for teachers to help us to understand the practical application of spiritual transformation (e.g., the Sermon on the Mount).
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