I ignore thousands of people every day. And you probably do too.
As I’m typing this article my social media feeds are still rolling. People are still tweeting, liking, linking, and carrying on conversations. I’ll ignore 99% of it. You will too, because we live in a culture of dismissal.
This is why we are told that if you want to get noticed online then you’ve got to stand out. The worst thing that can happen to a writer, like myself, is to be ignored. You can write the best piece in the history of writing but if nobody reads it, then you really haven’t done much.
The old acronym is mostly true: there is no such thing as bad press. To modernize that, one would say that there is no such thing is bad traffic. If you get their attention and get them to your site then you have won a good part of the battle.
But for a Christian blogger (really for any Christian communicator) winning someone’s ear is only a small part of the battle for faithfulness. What you do with that ear after you’ve won it is what really matters.
Let No One Disregard You
In Titus 2:15
Paul exhorts Titus with these words, “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
I first read this with my 21st century eyes. When Paul told Titus to “let no one disregard you”, my mind immediately went to the need to stand out. I translated this as if Paul was saying, “Don’t let them ignore you. Stand out, Titus. Cause them to take notice”.
An illustration also came to my mind. I pictured a panicked mother looking for her child in a crowded area. She will demand attention until she found her baby. If it meant stopping traffic, shooting a gun up in the air, or screaming at the top of her lungs, she’ll do whatever it takes until she gets every persons attention and gets her baby back. That, I thought, was something similar to what Paul was saying to Titus.
“Make them hear you”.
But as I started studying a little more I came to see this isn’t merely talking about getting attention. Their disregard for Titus is a type of evasion. It’s not that Titus needs to get their attention. He has their attention. The problem is that they are dismissing his words as if they are insignificant.
What Paul is saying to Titus is that he is to speak with such authority that they must deal with his words. They can’t remain neutral after hearing Titus speak. In other words, it’s not enough to gain a hearing. Those who hear you need to be pressed to consider and respond to you.
Decision Making and the Sovereignty of God
As an unashamed Calvinist I’ve noticed in my own heart an unhealthy way that the truths of God’s sovereignty has impacted my speaking. I’ve taken a truth one step further than it should go.
I’ve rightly, I believe, made the point that we as preachers and writers are not responsible for the decisions that people make. We preach and proclaim and leave the results up to the Lord. As Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
In my heart I’ve taken this truth one step further than it ought to go. Because though we aren’t responsible for the decision that people make—it seems to me that we areresponsible for people making a decision.
If we preach, and teach, and write, and engage unbelievers in such a way that they are able to stay neutral, then we are not listening to God’s Word on this point. We are allowing them to disregard us.
If a messenger sent from the Queen of England demands your presence you will respond. There is no neutral ground. You can’t dismiss the edict. You either rebel and stay at home or you obey and go see the Queen. This is the case because the messenger speaks with authority. How much more authority then do messengers of the living God have when they speak.
Therefore, we cannot pretend that simply gaining an audience is a job well done. If we are speaking as messengers of the living God then we must speak with authority and press people to respond to His Word. If not we aren’t being faithful to our charge.
Speak in such a way that people must make a decision.
Yes Mike, we need more of this in the church. These days… if the members don’t seem to like the preacher, they systematically dismiss him until he leaves or until they can move him out. Paul’s instruction inside the church should be something to take to heart. Its a day to day battle.
I like what you said here “What Paul is saying to Titus is that he is to speak with such authority that they must deal with his words. They can’t remain neutral after hearing Titus speak. In other words, it’s not enough to gain a hearing. Those who hear you need to be pressed to consider and respond to you.”
There are some good ways to make this happen inside the church. Ask the congregation questions, or even better, have them ask you questions. Get things out on the table, and then rightly divide the word.
Thanks Mike. I think I get (and appreciate what you are saying here; but I must quibble with this by an unashamed Calvinist: “we are responsible for people making a decision.” (By implication – one way or the other).
How?
If you are, indeed, a Calvinist then you know that you would have no power whatsoever to alter anyone’s predetermined “decision”. The individual decision to receive the truth or reject the truth would be an eternal and immutable decree, if Calvinism is true. Our contribution, as means of grace or wrath, would also be immutably predetermined. It would not matter if you preached like Spurgeon or Osteen. The decision would be fixed.
I appreciate the tension here, for both sides of the debate, but the Calvinistic fatalism is inescapable. How would your words play any meaningful role in a final outcome that would have been irresistibly predetermined before the foundation of the world?
Calvinism throws meaningful repentance under the bus and emasculates justification by faith. If they both are irresistible (or impossible) then they both are perfunctory, in terms of a meaningful/volitional response. Try as they have, no one has ever successfully shown how saving faith can be both irresistible and voluntary. Those terms, in their normal usages, are opposites.
Would you dis-agree that, somehow, our words and our conduct have a meaningful role in the eternal outcomes of our kids, neighbors…?
Please know that I am not arguing for the sovereignty of man, but we must own the mystery that is true repentance and faith as a meaningful condition of eternal life, and the divinely delegated role that we all play in that decision.
Doug,
My point is that we are called by God to preach and teach in such a way that a decision must be made. I didn’t say that such a decision is a positive decision or a negative decision. But we cannot preach/teach in such a way that people are left assuming that they are comfortably on a fence.
I also believe (along with scores of other Calvinists) that our words and our conduct has a meaningful role in the eternal outcomes of others.
But the point of this article isn’t to debate Calvinism. Honestly, I should have been more sensitive to the audience–knowing that folks cannot reasonably discuss this issue here. That was a carry over from my own site where I can easily mention the C word and it doesn’t stir up a hornets nest.
I’ve no desire to defend or debate Calvinism at this point.
Sorry Mike, I was definitely not trying to be unreasonable. You brought the tension of your Calvinism into the post and I responded, I hope, respectfully.
I get your point and would agree with Jess, that the ultimate decision to follow Christ or reject Him is not merely a momentary decision but better understood as a lifelong decision.
Doug, just because a believer understands that they have won the war in Christ before the foundation of the world, does not mean that they do not faithfully engage in the war. When understood, it is all the more reason to repent, it is all the more reason to follow the Apostles call to obedience, and be heard on the battlefield. It is all the more reason to follow Christ and what He has done. It is all the more reason to share the gospel of God, and see the power of God’s salvation come to fruition. It is all the more reason to call for repentance.
As Mike has put into this post,…that is the call. The message of God should not be disregarded, or replaced with more legalistic manners as the Apostle was protecting against.
Mike Leake,
Great post, brother. Even if someone’s decision is a flat no, their decision will stick with them and come up time and time again throughout their life. It may very well be that their no answer will lead to salvation some point in time. A decision must be made.
On a slightly further note may I add, that if Paul could “Plead” with them who am I not to. I do not believe someone else’s salvation hangs in the balance if I fail to preach the gospel in such a way that they must make a decision one way or the other. I was taught this years ago, that my failure to be a witness may send someone to Hell. I no longer believe that (haven’t for years) but I do see it as a matter of faithfulness to Christ. Part of that faithfulness is to reason with them, plead with them if necessary, and always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within me.