Month: April 2017

We are continuing a series in which we address questions posed by internationals in the church.

 Q: How should Christians communicate/build relationships with others who have different beliefs?

 A: This week I will focus only on the part of your question that deals with building relationships. We’ll do a second blog next week that focuses on the communication part.

I am glad that your question assumes that Christians should engage with nonbelievers. The light must shine in the darkness. I am also glad because your question shows that you understand that the light must still be light. When we go to the darkness, we are not to lose our light. We are to shine.

Here are some principles:

Walk with God

Spend time with God daily. Pray in the Spirit. Read Scripture and let it soak into your heart. Love your local church. These practices will help keep the light in your life. If you lose your light, you have nothing to share.

 

Pray

When you meet people who do not know Christ, God will be faithful to let you know whom to pray for. Pray for them. Regularly. Pray that God will open a door for you and that He will give you clarity and wisdom (Col 4:3-6). Pray that you will be bold and that God will work signs and wonders in the life of your unbelieving friends (Acts 4:26). Pray for them to repent (II Pet 3:9), and pray not just for them but those who will believe through their word (Jn 17:20). E.M. Bounds once said: “Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” In other words, before you talk to your friend about God, talk to God about your friend. You will get nowhere spiritually without prayer. You may get to know this person, you may be a great help to him or her, but without God, whatever you do will amount to nothing eternal. To get eternal things, you must bring God into the equation. Start praying.

 

Go Where They Are

Jesus came to us. We did not go to Him. Therefore, these people with different beliefs?  Do they like basketball? Play basketball with them. Or watch a game together. Do they enjoy bubble tea? Take them for a bubble tea. Are they in your lab? Talk with them in the lab. Eat lunch with them. Celebrate their birthday. Study with them. Go shopping with them. Most of these activities are pursuits you were going to do anyway. Just do them with someone else.

 

Listen Well

To share the gospel, you need to know your audience. Ask them about their story. How did they get here? Why did they choose Austin? What do they most miss? What do they hope to do? Have them tell you about their family, their background, their interests. Ask them what they believe spiritually. And when they tell you, ask questions to help you understand. For example, if they say they are atheists, ask them why. If they say, “Because I have a hard time believing things I can’t see,” you’ve just learned something about them. Don’t be quick to slam them if their views are not Biblical. You are asking in order to understand, not to argue, and you are dealing with a human being, not a website comments section.  When you ask them, be genuinely interested. You will get further with people spiritually if you spend more time listening than talking. Then when you do talk you can actually address real issues they have. You know. Diagnose before you treat.

 

Meet Needs

Do they need a ride to the grocery store? If you have a car, give them a ride. Maybe you can help them when they are sick or when they have to move. Maybe they need a place to stay for a week, and you say, “You can sleep in my apartment.” Help them pick a professor or an advisor.   Show them where to find food from their country.   Be a friend. This principle — meet needs — naturally flows out of the previous two. If you spend time with people where they are and you listen well, you will discover what needs they have. Go help them.

 

Let Them Meet Your Needs

Don’t be so strong that people can’t help you. Are you having a problem understanding a concept in a class? Ask for help. An unbeliever can help you just as much as a believer can. People don’t have to have Christ to understand aerospace engineering. Maybe you need a ride to the grocery store. Ask. Maybe you are sick or need to move. Ask. Be real. Don’t be this superman or superwoman who is so spiritual that you never have any needs or struggles. Let your friends see that you are a regular human being just as they are.

 

Apologize When Necessary

This is part of being real. And the reality is that sometimes you sin and nonChristians see it. You say things you regret. You get angry over flea-size issues. You forget to pick up your friend or forget that your roommate asked you not to put the mugs in the top shelf. When you realize that you have ignored your friend or mistreated another person, take responsibility. Confess your sin and ask for their forgiveness. When they see how you handle your own sin, they may be surprised, for humility is not normal in the world they live in. Sometimes your sin can be an open door for Christ.

 

Introduce Them to the Body of Christ

No one ever becomes a Christian because of only one person. Think of your own conversion. In your story, you became a Christian because of the influence of multiple people. One Christian was praying for you though you never knew it. Another showed you great kindness when you first moved here. A third was able to explain the message of Christ in a simple way, so that the light bulb turned on in your mind. You saw the love of a group. You saw joy in more than one person. You saw a Christian show integrity when most people from your culture would not. These are the sorts of things that draw people to Christ. The reality is that you cannot bring people to Jesus by yourself. The Holy Spirit will use a community, not just you. Therefore, don’t put pressure on yourself to do everything. Instead bring them to God’s people, and let the church be strong where you are weak.

So. Throw a party and invite your Christian and nonChristian friends together. When you watch that basketball game, do it with five people instead of two.

 

Respect Their Culture as Much as Possible

If your friend is Muslim, don’t serve pork. If she is vegetarian, don’t serve meat. If he is fasting for Ramadan, don’t offer food during the day. Celebrate their holidays. Take off your shoes when you enter their home if that is their culture. People will appreciate your efforts to accommodate their cultures. Ask them about their culture and if they have any practices you should know about. Understand, however, that you may not be able to accommodate everything. You should not skip church because Sunday morning is the best time to get together in your friend’s culture. You will lose your light. Nor should you approve of Western sexual ethics just because your roommate lives them in front of your face. You have to walk with God. But in most issues, you should be able to respect the other person’s culture.

I hope you see that everything in this blog is basic, common sense. Rather than shaking your world with radical, new concepts, I hope I have merely confirmed what you already knew and have, thus, emboldened you to practice it with confidence.

This is an ongoing series in which I am addressing questions that internationals in AIF have asked.

Q: What do I say to someone who criticizes me for going to church?

 A:  The Short answer: Attending church is important … I can’t grow in Christ if I don’t go to church … I really enjoy it … I want to be with God’s people … God wants me to worship with His people.

If someone questions the fact that you attend church every week, any of these answers works, and you probably can think of others. In that sense, I don’t know that you need much advice from me. Listen to the Spirit and give them a simple, straightforward explanation of why you go to church. When people question you, they are generally not looking for a big, long discourse.

The Real Issue:  In most cases, people who criticize you for going to church are not genuinely interested in your reasons for going. They are more likely upset that you don’t do something else that they would rather see you do. Maybe they want to go shopping with you or watch a game or go to the park, but you tell them you’re going to church. Sometimes they have negative stereotypes of Christians and are concerned that you are spending too much time with “those” people. They don’t want you to become just like their stereotype.

The key to your response is not so much having the perfect answer but being OK with the criticism. You say people criticize you for going to church.  So what?  Let them criticize you. You have to walk with God, and the closer you walk with God, the less you will be swayed by people who want you to walk away from God. I am not saying, “Don’t care for your friend or family member.” Rather I am saying, “Don’t let the criticism get into your head.” Spend regular time with your local church, and if criticism comes, then criticism comes.

It is far more important for you as a Christian to understand that if you are to walk with God, you must be with His people regularly. If you abandon your local church, your faith will eventually wither away. In fact, if you abandon your local church, your faith has already begun to wither. You need the body of Christ.

Going Deeper:  I have given you the basic principle because your question is framed in the broadest way possible. But you might dig deeper. When someone criticizes your practice of going to church, you may have an open door for a spiritual conversation. They brought the topic up, so ask them what their specific issue is. You may have an opportunity to share more than just your reasons for going to church.

This blog is a continuation of a series of questions that internationals in our church have asked.

 Q: If someone asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you, how would you respond?

 A: I suppose I should begin answering this question by stating what my hope is. Biblical hope has certainty just as faith does. Biblical hope is not the sort of hope people mean when they say, “I hope it will be sunny tomorrow.” That’s something more like a wish. In addition, Biblical hope deals with the future. Thus, the hope that is in me is a certainty that my future will be glorious in Christ.

Now. To the question. What reason can I give for the hope that is in me? Lots of reasons actually. In fact I could give a thousand reasons, depending on the context of the question. Some of those reasons would deal with apologetics. Others would be personal. Some would deal with what I see in life. Others with what I see in the church. Still others with what I see in me. But, in the end, all of them would somehow deal with what I see in God through Christ as related by the Scriptures.

So why am I certain that I have a glorious future in Christ? First of all, the Scriptures promise me this. I have an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for me (I Pet 1:4). I will see his face (Rev 22:4). I have eternal life (I Jn 5:11). We could go on. I understand that for some people, the Bible is not a reason, but you’re asking me for my reason, and that will be part of my answer because I’ve seen that the Bible is reliable.

Second, I see what Jesus has already done. If He loved me so much that He went to the Cross to pay for my sin, then will He not graciously give me all things? (Rm 8:32) The Cross is both the means to my hope and the proof that God will grant me that hope. I do not need to worry about the love of God for me. I see it plainly in the Cross.

Third, I have God’s Spirit, and His Spirit is like a down payment, a guarantee of a future inheritance (Eph 1:13-14). His Spirit gives me abundant peace and joy from the inside. Christ makes my heart bubble over. I see as plain as the sun that Christ fulfills what He promises here on Earth. How much more then can I trust Him for what He promises later?

These are the reasons I would first choose to give. These reasons may then initiate a conversation like “How do you know the Bible is reliable?” Or “How do you know Jesus died and rose again?” Those questions then take us into the realm of apologetics, and there are good answers to those questions, but they are not the question you asked me.

 

We have been addressing real questions posed by internationals in our fellowship.  Today’s question deals with suffering.

Q: How do I endure longsuffering/agony in this fallen world without falling into sin?

 A: This question certainly fits the theme of I Peter that we have been preaching through, and I suppose I need to begin with a disclaimer. When we deal with suffering, it is much easier for me to talk than to do. I make no claims of being one who suffers well. So as I point out a path, I must tell you up front that that path is hard.   It is easier to see it than to walk it just as it is easier to see the path up Mt. Everest than to walk it. Nonetheless here are a few principles that Scripture teaches.

 

Suffering is a Normal Part of the Christian Life 

If you know in advance that suffering is something God promises you (Jn 16:33; Ph 1:29), you will be better prepared when it comes. And, yes. It will come. If, however, you believe a prosperity gospel that says that suffering shows your lack of faith, then you will be ill-prepared when suffering knocks on your door. In fact, you will be questioning your faith. Therefore, the first thing I want to say is that you should not be surprised when suffering comes as if it were some strange thing (I Peter 4:12).

 

Focus on Eternal Things

Suffering is a consequence of sin. It is, thus, a reminder of the transitory nature of earth. Paul said, “our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (II Cor 4:17). Jesus said that it is in this world where we shall have tribulations. But Scripture shows us that when we leave this world “he shall wipe away every tear” (Rev 21:4). In other words, this world equals tribulation. Eternity equals peace. When an athlete focuses on the championship trophy, that focus helps him get through the grueling workout. He sees that the hardship is temporary, and the reward is worth it. He has a goal at the end. Paul strained for what lies ahead and pressed on toward the goal of the upward call in Christ (Ph 3:13-14). So must we.

 

Walk with God

This is easier said than done, and perhaps I am stating the obvious, but your overall walk with God affects everything. As I have said before, a healthy person handles stress better than a sick one. Spiritually, this principle is the same. Spiritually healthy people handle difficulty better than spiritually weak people. And just as physical health involves many different things — eating right, exercising, getting good sleep, shunning obvious dangers, maintaining healthy relationships, reducing stress, having a proper work balance — so too does spiritual health involve many different things. Spend time daily in God’s Word, put your heart into the Scriptures, pray from the heart, share your faith, show integrity in your dealings with others, give yourself to a local church, find a way to serve the body of Christ, abstain from the passions of your flesh, and more. If you have a heart given to Christ and not to your earthly desires, you will be better able to endure suffering without sinning.

 

Commit to the Process

Sometimes when people ask questions about how we should handle a specific situation, what they want is a magic formula — two or three specific steps that they can immediately practice. They want to take a pill and make the pain go away. But God isn’t really a God of the five steps to reducing stress. His solutions are deeper than that. He wants you. Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength. He is not particularly interested in a few magic steps. His method is to build men and women.   And frankly, one of the tools He most uses to build men and women is the suffering you mention in your question.

When a surgeon does open heart surgery, the patient willingly submits himself to having his chest cut open. Why? Why go through all the pain? You know the answer. It is because the patient believes that his heart will be better off with the surgery. The patient then must trust the surgeon. This is how it is with God and suffering. You see, your heart and my heart are filled with gunk, and God, in His mercy, puts us on the operating table and cuts us open in order to work on our hearts. And “suffering” is often the name we give to God’s surgery. It hurts, yes. But can you trust the surgeon? When you see that your heavenly surgeon is trustworthy, you will be more willing to commit to the process.