So I was reading some more about this McDonald's thing and ran across a posting on Tim Steven's blog. This is genius. Here is an excerpt from his blog about this subject.
In their book A Matrix of Meanings, Detweiler and Taylor make a great point...
"In the New Testament, only the Gospels were written with the general public in mind. Yet many in the church read pop culture in light of Peter, Paul, and John's letters. Books of the Bible intended as “in-house” documents, designed to purify God's people, have been used inappropriately to correct the broader culture. So the warnings against sexual immorality in I Corinthians 7 get directed toward audiences Paul never intended."
The authors go on to point out Paul’s writing in I Corinthians 5:12–13, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside."
I like how the same passage reads in The Message , “God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.”
So, there it is. We have to stop worrying about how those outside of the grace of God live their lives and worry about how we can get them to know Christ. When that happens, the Holy Spirit (who I believe is in charge of convicting people of their sin) will be able to change the hearts of those who put their trust in him.
There is no need to create separation from those who are not believers. There is enough of that as it is. Christians are getting a bad rap because of those who love to create conflict and force our beliefs on people who don't know Christ from Adam's house cat...that's right, Adam's house cat. Let God take care of the outsiders. Let's focus on introducing the outsiders to Him.
|
In their book A Matrix of Meanings, Detweiler and Taylor make a great point...
"In the New Testament, only the Gospels were written with the general public in mind. Yet many in the church read pop culture in light of Peter, Paul, and John's letters. Books of the Bible intended as “in-house” documents, designed to purify God's people, have been used inappropriately to correct the broader culture. So the warnings against sexual immorality in I Corinthians 7 get directed toward audiences Paul never intended."
The authors go on to point out Paul’s writing in I Corinthians 5:12–13, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside."
I like how the same passage reads in The Message , “God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.”
So, there it is. We have to stop worrying about how those outside of the grace of God live their lives and worry about how we can get them to know Christ. When that happens, the Holy Spirit (who I believe is in charge of convicting people of their sin) will be able to change the hearts of those who put their trust in him.
There is no need to create separation from those who are not believers. There is enough of that as it is. Christians are getting a bad rap because of those who love to create conflict and force our beliefs on people who don't know Christ from Adam's house cat...that's right, Adam's house cat. Let God take care of the outsiders. Let's focus on introducing the outsiders to Him.
|
