GENTLE PERSUASION

Warm-up: Isaiah 42:1-4

I heard a story the other day about an Irishman who stopped to watch a street fight and inquired, "Is this a private fight or can anyone join in." Unfortunately, some of us are a lot like that when it comes to the gospel: we're always spoiling for a fight.

Sad to say, the fighting is usually dirty--fist shaking, name calling, fierce, angry faces and verbal abuse. Discussion and debate is one thing; fury, innuendo and insult is another. When we resort to bitter abuse we lose our moral and rational force and, what's worse, we push people away from God. When we do that we're sure of just one ally--the devil.

Isaiah writes of the Servant of the Lord, our Lord Jesus that he would not "shout or cry out…"(Isaiah 42:2,3). Matthew in his Gospel translates this phrase: "He will not quarrel or cry out"(Matthew 12:19). The word translated "quarrel"means to "to wrangle"and was chosen to describe the tactless heat and intensity of the Pharisees in contrast to the calm, quiet manner of Jesus who, though bold in his proclamation, never, never bullied people. We should follow the Servant's example.

"At some point [one] stands perplexed, above all at the sight of human sin, and…wonders whether to combat it by force or by humble love. Always decide: `I will combat it by humble love.' If you resolve on that once for all, you can conquer the whole world. Loving humility is a terrible force: it is the strongest of all things, and there is nothing else like it"(Kallistos Ware).

The Puritans were right when they enunciated the principle of "consent."Faith can never be foisted on another. It "remains an act of choice which no one can force upon another"(W. H. Auden). It must be gained by loving humility, gentle persuasion and reason.

Though we must contend for the faith we must never be contentious--quarrelsome, argumentative, unpleasant and in other people's faces. We must be prepared to answer those who ask us a reason for the hope we have, but we must do so "with gentleness and respect"(1 Peter 3:15). Railing at people is contrary to the spirit of Christ.

"The Lord's servant must not quarrel. Instead he must be kind to everyone, able to instruct, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth, and they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."(2 Timothy 2:24)

Those who oppose us are not the enemy. They are victims of the enemy taken captive by him to do his will. If they are to be released from Satan's control it must be through quiet persuasion. We must be gentlemen--courteous in our demeanor, non-defensive in our responses, respectful in our efforts to convince those who oppose us. Only then can God "grant repentance leading…to the knowledge of the truth."

Manner and message are inextricably linked; one goes with the other. We must speak the truth in love. Truth without love is hard dogma; love without truth is soft and mawkish sentimentality. Only God's truth delivered with love has power to bring about consent.

In our enthusiasm we must not resort to severity. Others' salvation depends on it. The good news, it seems, only sounds good when it's delivered with good manners.

DR
4/7/97