Following, Feeding and Fireworks

Lately, I’ve been having another one of those useless online arguments with a facebook friend.  I don’t know why I get myself entangled in those, but it often seems to be the case.  It might have something to do with my strong opinions, as anyone who knows me can strongly attest to.  Allow me to share what I’ve been arguing with this guy about and then offer, hopefully, some helpful considerations that we both might benefit from.

I put a quote as a status this past week.  Allow me to repost it here.

I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned with the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, 'Now is that political or social?' He said, 'I feed you.' Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.

-Desmond Tutu

And here are the comments that followed the post:

HE is all about people...all people:-)

Jesus did feed people... after teaching them for two days. And then rebuked those who followed Him for the purpose of getting more bread...

Me -  “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You? Or thirsty and give You something to drink? (The Gospel according to Matthew 25:37 TLV)

Me - Whole gospel is for whole person.

Me - Jesus gave them the bread of life AND physical bread. BOTH are needed.

And then He said, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you." The only reason I bring up any of these scriptures is that after spending a couple years giving people food, I realized that I and the people I was laboring with had not offered the people the Bread of Life, and I think that much of the modern day church is in the same predicament. I think it's all about emphasis. Are we pointing people to their need for the Savior by preaching the gospel, or are we pointing them to their need for the church by only meeting their felt needs? Jesus taught the people first and then provided for the less important physical needs. The modern church tries to bait and switch people by meeting felt needs first... usually there's not much of a switch, though, as most involved in the social gospel don't actually ever get to the biblical gospel.

Me -  So...fireworks is a better bait then? Wasn't that one of your posts? Whether we attract them with fireworks or food, the Biblical gospel is the point, right? And how did Jesus announce that He, the Messiah had arrived?

Me -  And couldn't the same thing be applied to attractional church model? We attract them with awesome music, an incredible multi-million dollar building, and preach the health and wealth gospel? Obvi not all mega churches are like that...but perhaps the same percentage of mega churches as those who practice the social gospel?

Me - As for me, I will always try and side with the poor and outcast. If that means feeding them first and then sharing Christ with them or sharing Christ first and then feeding them, I don't really care. How many natives have accepted Christ into their hearts bc they knew they would get fed afterwards? I heard a heart-breaking story about Indians who had accepted Jesus countless times just to get food.

The fireworks comment was in response to one of his posts about how a group of his friends had shot off fireworks on some beach to attract people and then shared the gospel with them.

Some basic observations to begin with.  We both use Scripture to defend our beliefs.  We both have logical arguments.  More importantly, we both lack one crucial thing in my opinion.  That, in case you missed it there in the ramblings, is love.  Neither one of us is acting very loving towards the other.  I have yet to figure out why I have such a difficult time loving some of my brothers and sisters in Christ.  For some unknown reason, sometimes I have a much easier time loving non believers than believers.  I haven’t exactly figured that out quite yet, but I have a theory.  Perhaps it simply has to do with the fact that the body of Christ is a family.  Families are dysfunctional, and brothers in particular are known to fight, whether with words or fists.

So, are ya ready for it?  Here’s my simple solution.  Sometimes we get so caught up in defending our beliefs that we neglect that maybe, just maybe, there might be a third way.  What if we put on a fireworks show, fed people and then shared the gospel with them?  My friend argues that Jesus taught people first, but I think/assume they used fireworks first in their sharing of the gospel so maybe we could feed people first too?  Just a thought there. 

I will say I have a lot of respect for this guy.  I’ve checked out his profile and he graduated from some Bible seminary.  I definitely have no such credentials behind my name.  I simply graduated from a state school; some might call it a secular school even, with a degree in education.  Clearly, this guy knows a lot more about the Bible than I probably ever will.  Aside from that, we’re probably not so different after all is said and done.  He’s passionate about Jesus, so am I.  We just express those things differently it seems.

From what little I know about church history, and I’ll be the first to admit it’s not much at all, there was a major split in the church in America sometime in the early part of the 20^th century.  One side focused on what has been called the social gospel.  The other side focused on the fundamentals of the faith.  Ever since then there have been churches that usually lean towards one side or the other.  Hopefully we can learn to merge those two again.  It seems that my friend and I just focus more on one of those sides as the other when clearly both are needed.  We need to meet physical and social needs and we need fundamentals of the faith.

While I’m sure this won’t be the last of my little online entanglements, hopefully I can learn to be more loving in my statuses and posts.  Basically it’s just a symptom of my natural lean towards being opinionated and argumentative.  Sometimes I feel the need to rebuke fellow believers, but that wasn’t the case here.  I posted a quote from someone whom I really respect and he commented on it.  What ensued was anything but loving, and for that I repent.  Obviously, people can agree to disagree, but we need to do it in a loving and gentle way.  This is a lesson that I am constantly learning.