Put Up – Or Shut Up!

“Let love of the brethren continue.”¹ - Hebrews 13:1

“…most of all from those who say they belong to God’s family.”  Where do we begin with this statement? I suppose that we must begin by saying that Dr. MacArthur is exactly and completely correct! The unredeemed are absolutely and fully unable to draw any conclusion, in and of themselves, as to what God is like. They do not have "the apparatus" so to speak, being unsaved and not possessing the Spirit of God, thus unable to communicate with Him, understand His Word, etc. All they are able to do is observe those who profess to know Christ and see what they portray as Christ in the world and draw conclusions. This is what God intended.

For many unsaved people, the life of the Christian is the most profound sermon they will hear for a long time before they hear any real significant content from God's Word. This is the critical matter that must be considered when we think of this issue. This is, indeed, the great danger in the whole idea of becoming "user friendly" and the doctrine of accommodating ourselves to the world with the "intention" of winning them. They never come because they never the need to come! They never perceive the need to come because they never see any difference in those who, supposedly, have already come!

“They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible.”  And this is not surpising. Being who they are, they are not yet under the compulsion, the conviction of God's Spirit to be involved in His Word. Thus, many times, they are not being instructed by the Spirit of God as what tuth is and ar left ot their own imaginations to draw conclusions. You and I might be able to disect the intricacies of good behavior from bad, right actions from wrong. But what chance have they? They are prisoner of their own nature and their eyes and ears are the prisoners of th eenemies of their sould, Satan that old liars from the beginning!

“…is inadequate by itself to influence the world toward Christ’s gospel.”  Simply believing what is right, and sitting in churchc or at home in our rightness is not going to win the world. Having right opinions and right outlooks on life and the affairs of the world is not sufficient if we do not live those opinions out before the world into God has interjected us! This is the entire reason God has allowed us to remain here after we become His children. He is entirely able to take us home once are born again, but He does not, He leaves us to walk here, among the unsaved. He does this that we might live as redeemed people, NOT that we might think as redeemed people.

Of course, thinking as redeemed people is obviously an essentially part of livng and acting like Christians, and I don't mean to imply anything different. What I mean is, and what MacArthur means (I believe), is that thinking as Christian is not suffient. That is not why we're here. We must live and act as believers beause, at lease in part, that is the part of the Christian experience that the unsaved world will see. That is the part they will witness.

Yes, the content of what we tell them is essential and it is crucial tht what we say to them be 100% consistent with the Biblical truth. We must communicat the Gospel and no less to the unsaved world around us. But if that occurs in the context of a life lived just like the life to whom we are speaking...then the one to whom we are speaking WILL conclude that we are an hypocrite and dismiss what we say. It will simply be just another opinion at best and chalked up to falsehood and more typical religious deception at worst. For the unredeemed, at that point in thier lives, in many ways, the life out of which the Gospel is spoken carries as much punch as the Gospel itself.Of course, this is not to say that cannot and has not overcome Gospel witness iven out of a bad testimony, or that a bad life cannot give way to a good testimony. Of course it can - God is in the business, many times of doing that very thing. But that is not what we are talking about here and now. From the front-end of the matter we MUST approach this thing from a serious perspective and demand of ourselves, and frankly from others, that their lives demonstrate the truth of the Gospel that they have embraced and that they proclaim.

If they are not willing to do so,they they had better simply shut their mouths...for they are doing more harm then good!

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[1] This year I am often using MacArthur’s devotional “Strength for Today” as a starting point for my comments. Quotes from MacArthur’s Devotional are in boldface.