Mister Preacher: Being Disreputable for the Gospel.

"When you’re trying to be respectable, you have to seem correct all the time, you have to look like you've got it all together, and you have to say that which is thought to be decent, good and upright. As a pastor, I tried walking that road and I found out that, while I could fake it, I couldn't live with myself as a fake

So, I came up with a fabulous solution—I just stopped caring if people thought I was respectable.

I have the tremendous urge to explain that statement. Because there’s still a part of me that wants to be thought of as respectable. And I know that some of you are reading the above and have a laundry list of reasons running through your mind as to why I should care whether you think I’m highly reputable or not. But respectable in the eyes of God, and respectable in the eyes of men are often two different things. 

And the thing is: you can’t properly share the Gospel if you’re worshipping at the altar of respectability. 

And Jesus matters to me a whole lot more than whether you think I should only say things you agree with. 

I'll try to explain...

The main thing that makes me okay with not being well thought-of, and helps me not play the mind-games of other Christians is that Jesus wasn’t all that respectable either.

The religious leaders of the day thought he was a heretic:

John 5:17-18: "But He answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.' For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."

People were always misunderstanding him:

John 3:3-4: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?'"

He was always doing things that weren’t very religious:

Matthew 12:1-2: "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, 'Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.'"

WHAT I'M NOT SAYING...

My point isn’t to excuse my bad theology, sloppy communication, or irreligious behavior, it’s to point out that while I love you, and will refrain from freedom if I believe it will cause you sin, I won’t bow before your neurotic ideas about what it means for me to be a Christian. Especially not when it stands in the way of Truth. To be clear, I don’t say that with anger or one bit of rebellion. I say that to draw a healthy line.

My “line” isn’t me excusing future bad behavior. It isn’t me saying, "Ha-HA! Now I can be the sarcastic know-it-all I’ve always wanted to be!" It’s me loving you enough not to disrespect you by allowing your misdirected anger and sinful manipulation—no matter how well-intentioned—to have an effect on me for not being uptight, non-offensive and overly religious.

God’s truth frees the captives, offends the self-righteous, and legalistic, and gives lavishly rather than burdening heavily. So, if you're chained up in some legalistic mindset, sometimes I'm going to rub you the wrong way. Sometimes, I'll consciously refrain from that, but  other times to do so would make it seem like you're right, and the Truth is not true.

All this means there might be times when you don't think I'm all that reputable.

In "Freedom of a Christian" Luther says something similar:

"The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God but take care not to use your freedom in the sight of the weak. On the other hand, use your freedom constantly and consistently in the sight of and despite the tyrants and the stubborn so that they also may learn that they are impious, that their laws are of no avail for righteousness and that they had no right to set them up...These... resist, do the very opposite and offend them boldly lest by their impious views they drag many with them into error." 

There just might be times when I'm more reputable among the lost than the redeemed because I choose not to play the religious games. I'll still love you, I just won't be everything your legalistic religious system says I should. 

The problem is, I want you to like me, so I might compromise the truth if I don't have a line. 

So, that line is also me realizing that I’m deeply flawed and need these kinds of boundaries in my life in order to allow me to love you and represent God best.

What about turning the other cheek? You may be asking.

That’s where I’m trying to get.

CONCERNING NOT SLAPPING BACK...

I’m not going to attack you when you attack me. I’m not going to let it affect me at all. I’m just going to lovingly respond, or not, and go on with my day.

Understand—turning the other cheek is a volitional choice. To turn said cheek I have to be completely in control of my actions and be actively choosing to offer it. Turning the other cheek is not blindly allowing oneself to be manipulated by anothers lack of understanding or immaturity, it is recognizing an attack for what it is and choosing not to lash out in return because of Christ in you. 

It is a subversive love-act which exposes the violence intended by the others actions with the affectionate intention of bringing repentance.

Think of Jesus standing with the woman caught in adultery. 

He did not bluster or manipulate, he did not attack their character. He simply gave them a mirror to look into. “I’ll allow you to stone her. The person without sin goes first.” He was quick on his feet and smart, he could have easily used his intellect to make fools of them all, shaming them for their actions. But that would have accomplished nothing but resentment from the Pharisees and smug self-satisfaction, if such a thing were possible, for Jesus.

Instead, the shame they felt came from a personal realization that they were wrong to do this evil thing. It’s important to understand that this type of shame is from within and honest. It is not the kind produced by the mean-spirited taint that we often spew onto those that disagree with us. It is a sorrow unto repentance. But don’t take my word for it:

2 Corinthians 7:9-10: "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry—but that you sorrowed to repentance: for you were made sorry after a godly manner. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."

SOMETIMES LOVE LOOKS WEIRD...

So, I’ve decided it’s more important to love you, and respect myself, than it is to meet your unbiblical, unrealistic, or just plain wrong personal expectations of what I’m supposed to be, act like, and talk about as a child of God.

If I give in, I’m treating myself with contempt by allowing you to play with my emotions and reality in God. In short: being a doormat isn’t loving. That kind of behavior comes from fear, and God hasn’t filled you and I with that spirit (2 Timothy 1:7).

I know, by making this decision I’ll be struck—in whatever form that takes—but, by God’s grace, I will not strike back. I'll be tempted to give in, to please you—and so lie to you about who God is. May it be that I love you enough to seem disreputable instead.

photo by Solana, used under CC.