Called Out For God’s Mission #6
#6: People Who ATTRACT OTHERS TO GOD
1. Barna Research: “Hypocrisy is keeping people from Christianity”
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28)
“They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” (Titus 1:16)
2. Our actions and attitudes make the church attractive.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
Five Elements that made the early church attractive even under persecution (cf. Larry Hutardo, Destroyer of the Gods).
1) Multi-racial and multi-ethnic
2) Highly committed to caring for the poor and marginalized
3) Non-retaliatory, marked by a commitment to forgiveness
4) Strongly and practically against abortion and infanticide
5) Revolutionizing the sex ethics
“Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.” (Titus 2:8)
3. Our actions and attitudes make the gospel attractive.
… to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (Titus 2:5)
Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. (Titus 2:5–10)
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:1–4)