A Mess, Nonetheless

S3E3: How to be loving when it comes to hot topics

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Miss and Rachel cover hot topics! They discuss the dangers of turning non-Christians away when we approach hot issues in a black-and-white way. They share their own experience with wounding people and no longer being able to be good news due to publicly taking stances on social media. Before posting on social media, they encourage listeners to ask, “Am I going to draw others closer to Jesus, or further, in how I am portraying myself?” They also suggest considering taking hot-topic conversations off of social media altogether and approaching them in a one-on-one manner. In this season of political hostility, we highly encourage you to tune in. 



Show Notes:

  • Am I drawing people toward Jesus or away in my response?
  • We should be loving others as image-bearers even when we disagree.
  • We should aim to listen with an open mindset to learn, not to change the other person’s mind.
    • If we cannot do that, we shouldn’t be entering the conversation
  • Ask ourselves, who is our audience? If it’s non-Christians: 
    • 1 Cor 5:12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. 
  • Matthew 22: 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
    • Carey Nieuwhof
    • Before you judge a non-Christian for behaving like a non-Christian, think about this: 1. They act more consistently with their value system than you do. It’s difficult for a non-Christian to be a hypocrite because they tend to live out what they believe. Chances are they’re better at living out their values than you or I. Jesus never blamed pagans for acting like pagans. But he did call out religious people for acting like self-righteous hypocrites.
  • Some of the most judgmental Christians have zero non-Christian friends. Is that a surprise, really?
  • Judgment is a terrible evangelism strategy
  • People don’t line up to be judged. Think about you respond to people you don’t know judging what you believe and how you live. I’d be willing to bet you’re not receptive to that kind of critical feedback. And why would you be? If you want to keep being ineffective at reaching unchurched people, keep judging them.

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    Challenge: Do you want to be good news to be people? Is the way you interact with others about hot topics showing the good news to people? 



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