Jesus' Communication Strategy

Here is an excerpt from Dad's book Making Friends for Christ: An Inductive Strategy for Personal Evangelism. You can hear Dr. Wayne McDill present the contents of the book in the seminar our church is hosting this Friday evening and Saturday morning. Check out the details here.

"Since Jesus is our model for communication strategy, it is important to us to see how His mission is presented in the Bible. In Jesus of Nazareth God communicated with man as never before. He translated His message into a language mankind could understand, the language of human experience. Jesus was, in an ultimate sense, the Word of God to man. God had spoken once and for all time in an unmistakable way. His message was contained not only in the things said by this Visitor from another world, the message was also in who He was and what He did, His attitudes, and how He related to those around Him. His communication strategy then becomes ours.

. . . An evangelism that ignores the experience of the individual person is not consistent with the gospel of Christ. People can sense our motives. They know when we are attempting to manipulate them for our own purposes. They know when we are out for their good only, and when we aim only to fatten our church rolls and our offerings at their expense. They know when we really care, and when we see them only as objects on which to unload an evangelistic “pitch.” They know when we are actually listening, and when we only wait impatiently for a chance to continue our canned presentation."

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

A couple of weeks ago I discovered that Andrew Peterson's "children's" book was available on iTunes for $3.95. So I downloaded it and haved listened to about a third of it. The books is wonderfully titled: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: Adventure, Peril, Lost Jewels, and the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree. Knowing of Peterson's appreciation of the legendary otherworldly creations of Lewis and Tolkien, it is easy to see how they inspired him. Peterson has indeed brought forth a new world, complete with enchanting humans and many other strange creatures. But he is no copycat. This is a fresh and unique story, with wonderfully developed characters and a writing style all his own. I look forward to enjoying the whole Wingfeather Saga! And don't forget that Andrew Peterson's primary contribution to bringing light and hope to this life is his music! He is one of my top three all time favorite artists.

Political Corruption

We find in Livy's The Early History of Rome assurance that corruption in politics in not a new development. It is fascinating that such strategies have changed very little.

"In and out of the houses of patrician families--the 'lesser' families especially--he began  to solicit their support; he reminded them of the favours his father had done them, and urged them to show their gratitude; to the younger men he offered money as a bait; he vilified Servius [the incumbent], and promised heaven on earth, should he succeed."

Socrates, Paul, and Baptism for the Dead

“Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?” 1 Cor 15:29

Here is a notoriously difficult verse. There are two reasons for its difficulty: 1) “There is no historical or biblical precedent for such baptism,” and (more importantly) 2) Paul mentions a clearly unbiblical practice “without apparent disapproval.”[1] Gordon Fee states that “at least forty different solutions have been suggested.” However, most of these propose interpretations that do not match the straightforward meaning: some are being baptized vicariously for those who have already died. Whatever they were actually doing (which Fee says cannot be known), “what is certain is how the text functions in the argument . . . those actions are a contradiction to the position that there is no resurrection of the dead (v. 12).”[2]

The very same week I began to study this passage, I also started reading Plato’s The Last Days of Socrates. The introduction includes a discussion of the persuasive strategies of Socrates. One strategy is called elenchus. “It is a tool for the exposure of problems with beliefs and inconsistencies in sets of beliefs rather than for demonstrating what is true and what is false.”[3] Based on observations of Paul’s argumentation and rhetoric, it is reasonable to assume that Paul would use such a strategy. For the sake of this argument, Paul ignores the fact that being baptized for the dead is a bad idea and demonstrates that those who claim there is no resurrection have an inconsistent set of beliefs. This possibility is supported by Paul’s unusual use of third person (usually 2nd person in such a context, cf. v. 12) and its clear contrast to the first person in the next verse. He certainly keeps his distance from this practice. He goes on to demonstrate that his own actions only make sense if the dead are raised, and therefore are consistent with his claim about the resurrection (vv. 30-32).

Paul assumes that one’s worldview should be internally consistent. I’m sure than none of us want to contradict ourselves. Although we may have theological consistency, it is possible we have not thought through the implications of our faith for other parts of a worldview – economics, philosophy, politics, sociology, etc. It is not uncommon to find people with a biblical theology and an unbiblical political position. More to Paul’s point in this passage is the consistency of our faith and practice. Are our daily actions and lifestyle habits consistent with our professed faith? If not, it is appropriate to ask whether we believe it at all (James 2:18-26).

[1] Fee, 1 Corinthians, 764.

[2] Fee, 1 Corinthians, 763.

[3] Introduction to The Last Days of Socrates, xv.

Friendship Evangelism Seminar

My dad will be coming up to Boone at the end of February to teach a seminar called "Friendship Evangelism." Here is the info:

Friendship Evangelism

Making Friends

a seminar with

Dr. Wayne McDill

Author and Senior Preaching Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Friday, Feb 26, 6:30-8:30pm Saturday, Feb 27, 8:30am-12pm

The banquet hall of The High Country Home Builder’s Association 755 Hwy. 105 By-Pass, Boone, NC hosted by Highland Christian Fellowship

Find out more about the seminar and download a FREE copy of Dr. McDill’s E-Book

Showing the Face of God: An Inductive Strategy for Evangelism

@ highlandchristianfellowship.org

The Jesus Paradigm

Dave Black, who was my Ph.D. mentor, is finishing a new book that will be out soon, The Jesus Paradigm. The website for the book provides this description: "The Jesus Paradigm challenges modern Christians to become completely sold-out followers of Jesus, to make ministry and mission the work of every believer, and to give their primary allegiance to the kingdom of God rather than to any nation, political party, or movement."

You can read a review of the book by Alan Knox. I'm looking forward to getting a copy.