“And I pray that the
sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good
thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”
-Philemon 6 (ESV)
I have received that quizzical
look all too many times before. The people, they praise me for my works, they
praise me for my actions, they praise me for my speech (and I mean this is the most humble fashion possible), and yet it is always
interspersed with that quizzical look. That look that says, “How can you preach
after coming from a secular religious education?” or, “How were you able to put
up with studying religion in a secular institute?”
It is not a bad question to ask,
and I am not knocking on those who have received a Christian education.
However, the thing to note here is that these people approach me as if the
leading condition in order to be a pastor is to receive your degree from a
Christian institute.
Let me ask the question: is it
wrong of me to receive my religious education in a secular setting? Am I
suppose to draw myself out into a Christian institute in order to be effective
as a pastor?
The quizzical look is a direct
result of their view meeting conflict with the physical representation of its
counterpart, namely me. But I’m not here to try and refute their view because
the important thing here is not that they question “how,” but that they don’t
question my effectiveness or efficiency. No matter what education I have
received, I am still effective.
If any of you know me, you know
that my whole mantra for life is “change the world.” That is why being
effective is so important to me! Being effective is the first step in changing
the world.
But how do you become effective?
The verse above is from Paul’s
letter to Philemon in the New Testament. In this short book, Paul is appealing
to Philemon, a fellow brother in the faith, to forgive a man by the name of
Onesimus. You see, Onesimus was a slave to Philemon, but Onesimus decides to do
wrong to Philemon and then run away. Along his excursion he meets Paul and
through him enters into a relationship with Jesus. This letter is an appeal to
Philemon to allow Onesimus to come back, as a slave and as a brother. This is
all summed up in verse 16 of the letter, where it says: “No longer as a slave
but more than a slave, as a beloved brother-especially to me, but how much more
to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.”
You see, Paul is having Onesimus
return as a slave, but how is his return as a slave more than a slave? Paul describes Onesimus as being useless before
but useful now (vs. 11). He is useful now because he has faith.
So I return to the question: how
do we become effective? Refer to the verse above. We become effective by
actually having a faith that is big enough to be shared.
Think about it: faith itself is
an odd sight to see, especially in a world where the most that people stand for
is their own self-governing and eclectic collection of values. Being effective
requires having faith, because faith draws you out.
Now I say ‘draws you out’ but if
anything, faith draws us in more than it draws us out. Let me explain. It calls
us out of the world, but it also calls us to be effective which requires being
in the world. So how do we reconcile this thought of drawing out of the world
yet sharing the faith? You become effective by drawing into the lives of people
(this is what I meant by faith calls us to draw in), and that action in itself,
draws you out. Especially in today’s isolationist culture, the idea of a person
reaching out to another without acting out of any selfish accord is unheard of!
That act of love, of drawing into people’s lives, is a calling out of the
world.
But you can only do that through
continuing your secular calling! Notice how Paul sent Onesimus to return as a
slave. He didn’t call him to live this monastic life in the hills, but rather
to return to his position before. There is no physical revolution to be had
here! The revolution comes in the fact that the believer renounces rebellion
and revolution for the sake of expressing that his life is fixed upon the hope
of Christ and not the hope of this world1.
He is more effective as a believer in his secular calling.
So this is my appeal to those who
believe that in order to be effective for the Kingdom, they have to draw
themselves out of the world. We are effective through faith. We can only share
our faith by remaining in our secular calling. You can have greater influence by remaining where you are, just as long
as you have an imperishable faith.
“Each one should
remain in the condition
in which he was
called.”
-1 Corinthians 7:20
(ESV)
1 Bonhoeffer,
Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. New York: Touchstone, 1995. 260. Print.
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