AVLN: JAE - Sharing Christ ...

Journal of Adventist Education
Distance Education Issue - April/May 2003

Sharing Christ Through Technology
By Gordon Bietz (p. 4)

This article is excerpted from two morning worships by the author at the Adventist Virtual Learning Network (AVLN) and Computing and Mission Conference held at Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tennessee, June 27 and 28, 2002. The spoken quality is retained in this article.

I love technology. I got my ham radio license nearly 30 years ago. In the late ‘70s, I think I was the first on my block to buy a handheld calculator. It could add, multiply, and divide, and had a LED display. I love computers. My first was an IBM Display Write machine with eight-inch floppy disks. I was eager to get a home computer, and when I did, I got the most up-to-date one available, a 486 computer with a 20 mg hard drive. I love E-mail and frequently fall into the trap of checking my messages multiple times a day rather than doing my work!

It is easy to get caught up in technology—to be so fascinated with the mechanism that we forget the message, to enjoy the technology and forget the task, to be charmed by the machinery and forget the mission. The purpose of these tools—the goal—is to move people closer to the image of God. To make us more God-like. To fulfill the gospel commission. To go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.

Going into all the world is rather easy nowadays with all our forms of modern communication, such as the Internet. But as with my ham radio, we can “send” the message, but is anybody listening? Even though the “going” part has been made easier, the “make disciples” part is still a challenge. We must remember our goal—to live as Jesus lived. To live spiritual lives. But what does it mean to be spiritual?

To paraphrase what the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians: “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with a fancy Web site, brilliant graphics, or even superior content as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my communication were not with PowerPoint, streaming video, or culturally appropriate graphics, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (See 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.)

Paul says, "My message and my communication were. . . with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (NIV). [1] What does that mean in modern terms? We know what computing power is. We know what broadcasting power is. But what is the Spirit’s power, and how would we demonstrate it?

If I told you that I was going to give you “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,” what would you expect? A healing service where I lay hands on people? An exorcism? In any case, probably something dramatic and spectacular—like what might go on at the “Fire Baptized Holiness Church.” Is this what Paul means? What was he thinking of when he wrote about Spirit-filled communication in 1 Corinthians 2?

A few things Paul says he did not mean: “I did not come with eloquence.” “I did not come with superior wisdom.” “My communication was not with wise, persuasive words.” So, today, we could conclude that communication is not about Web site design, graphics, or fancy technology.

Paul’s Spirit-filled communication was in weakness and fear and trembling. We get further insight about what this means when Paul describes the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). Spirit-filled communication—that which communicates the Spirit’s power—is not about the conduit, the Web site graphics, or the speed of your CPU. Spirit-filled communication is filled with and produces the fruits of the Spirit.

Spirit-Filled Communication Is Full of Love
Too often, we seek to mold people’s opinions without melting them first. There are those who say: “Let the chips fall where they may,” “separate the sheep from the goats,” and “point out the sins of the people.” In reality, such people just want to unload some of their own negative baggage. And they have an audience: masochistic church members who respond to weekly beatings and come back for more. But because there’s a receptive audience doesn’t make this style of communication right. Sometimes, we do need to point to the sins of the people in a school or church, but such communication is best communicated from a broken heart with tears. Spirit-filled communication is loving.

Spirit-Filled Communication Is Full of Joy
When we have the gospel, we experience joy in our own lives and share it with others. But we can’t share what we don’t have. We can teach detailed exegesis about doctrines and fill the air with theological truth, but no one is made happy unless the teaching imparts joy. The gospel is happy news. There are too many people whose lives are weighted down with fears. Fear of the Second Coming, fear of last-day events, fear of disease, fear of a stock market crash, and fear of wars and rumors of wars. But Christians who know the end of the story do not have hearts that are failing them for fear. The Seventh-day Adventist Christian should radiate the joy of answers to the fears that confront us.

Spirit-Filled Communication Is Full of Peace
Spirit-filled communication brings peace. It does not load anxiety or guilt on God’s people. It reassures them that God is in charge and that they can place all their anxiety upon Him, for He cares about everything that concerns them and will provide for their needs. Jesus came as a peacemaker, and His disciples experience and share that spiritual attribute, too. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” Our communication should bring comfort, not anxiety, to people.

Spirit-Filled Communication Is Patient
Do people change as quickly as you’d like? Do you change a quickly as you would wish? I like the button—“Please be patient; God isn’t finished with me yet.” In our fast-paced, Internet world of instant messaging and rapid response, people have become more and more impatient. Spirit-filled Christians strive for an understanding of the big picture and trust God to work things out. This gives them a sense of inner peace that keeps them from becoming “road-rage” people whose lives are tied in knots of stress.

Spirit-Filled Communication Is Kind
Does your communication demonstrate a respect for the listener? Is it appropriate to the occasion? What fits in one place may be grossly out of place in another. A drug is a medicine out of place. A weed is a flower out of place. Spirit-filled communication is the right word at the right time. It is tolerant of differences of opinion and does not “flame” those who challenge its ideas.

Spirit-Filled Communication Manifests Goodness
There is a false goodness that we fall for. It’s all about doing things to keep up appearances. True goodness grows out of a genuine heart; it is not worn like a Halloween costume of pretense. The goodness of the Spirit is not a goodness of avoidance or an artificial separation from the world. Bragging about what we “don’t do” is like the hypocrites standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men (Matthew 6:5). Steven Mosley has said: “Conservative Christian goodness has acquired an insipid image. Too often it simply whines from the corner of the sanctuary, mumbles excuses at parties, and shuffles along out of step and slightly behind the times. Religious goodness is regarded by our secular contemporaries as a trivial pursuit. Compared to efforts to achieve world peace and end world hunger, preoccupations with jewelry, foul language, and whether women should preach do not seem earthshaking.” [2]
The world we live in sees religious piety as merely the avoidance of evil, and some of our members see it the same way. It is a piety that deals with the world by avoiding rock music, pornography, and bad TV. It doesn't take much creativity to point out the sins of the world. When avoidance, escape, and shunning the world are the focus of our goodness, then our piety will appear pale and stifling. The testimony of Christians converted to this goodness-of-avoidance lists all of the things they don’t do anymore. They don’t dance. They don’t drink. They don’t swear. They don’t. . . .They don’t . . . .That is hardly an appealing testimony. Spirit-filled communication goes beyond the piety of avoidance. It is based on the idea that the remnant are called to be separate rather than that they are called to a task. Spirit-filled communication actively manifests true goodness.

Spirit-Filled Communication Is Faithful
We usually think that faithfulness means being faithful to the truth. Spirit-filled communication is faithful to the truth. However, before you say, “Yes, I give the truth, so I am Spirit-filled,” let me warn you that for true Spirit-filled communication, you need more than truth. The truth sounds nonsensical coming out of the mouth of one whose life shows no evidence of the fruits of the Spirit. To prove that the seventh day is the Sabbath is not enough. Spirit-filled communication is more than Federal Express delivery of the truth. If knowing the truth was all that was necessary to change lives, no one would be a smoker! Spirit-filled communication means faithfully participating in the gospel.
Spirit-Filled Communication Is Gentle and Self-Controlled

Godly communication isn’t about personal fulfillment. Have you ever been attacked by communication that was overbearing, imperialistic, and self-righteous? Religious imperialism presents truth in ways that may produce temporary conversion, but in the end, the hearers realize that they have been coerced and will reject what has been thrust upon them. Spirit-filled communication cares about the needs of the hearer and seeks to minister to those needs. It’s not about numbers or self-glorification.

A Second Look at Love
So, how does our communication become Spirit-filled? To answer this, we return to the first characteristic—love. As scientists look back to the beginning of time, they believe that it is likely that all matter in the Universe is related and that one kind of force governs its behavior. They don’t have all the evidence yet, but they keep looking for what is called the “unified field theory.” Love is the unified field theory of life. And God is love. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. God’s love is the glue that holds us to His heart. "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there" (Psalm 139:7, 8).
How can we learn about this force and how it affects us? By studying the Bible, we discover that we are chosen and that God cares about us! “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Romans 8:28, 29).

Sometimes, we spend more time explaining what this text doesn’t mean than what it does mean. It doesn’t mean “once saved, always saved,” or that human beings have no choices. It does mean that God has chosen us and wants us to be His people. “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). If the team captain chooses you, you expect to be on his side. You are on the side of God. There are bad rumors going around about God. They suggest that God is not on your side. That He is out to spoil your fun, to trip you up, or to catch you doing something wrong. But “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (vs. 32). What can separate you from a love like that? “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" (Romans 8:35). What could separate you from God’s love? Nothing! You can choose to not accept that love, but that does not turn it off. It’s like the rain: You can stop it from falling on you by putting up an umbrella, but that doesn’t stop it from coming down.

I know people who have left the church and feel separated from the love of God. They say, “The church turned me off to Christ,” “It was all that asking for money,” “The hypocrites turned me off to Christ,” “The school wasn’t fair—I got a raw deal,” or “I was punished unfairly.” They have erected an umbrella—a shield to keep the love of God away. But all the while, God’s love keeps falling. They are making excuses to ignore the love of Christ, to escape God’s love. But nothing can separate us from the love of God. We may choose to ignore it. We can make it ineffectual in our lives, but it is still there.

Paul repeats the idea again in referring to not only physical and mental trouble, but also spiritual trouble: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39). Nothing! You are secure in Christ. His love is Super-Gluing you to Himself.
In all your wanderings, in all your travels, in all your work, in all your social life, in everything you do, remember this: God is after you. He chose you. He died for you. Nothing can separate you from His love.

“But what if I reject Him?” you say. You can make His love ineffective in your life, but you can’t make Him stop loving you. You can construct a shield of amusements to divert your attention from Him or adopt an attitude of apathy, but you can’t make Him stop loving you. You can reject all you have been taught and become an atheist, but you can’t make God stop loving you. You can build a hard shell of bad behavior; you can create images of God as being mean and out to get you, but you can’t make Him stop loving you. You can shut Him out at every opportunity, but He will always be there. He’s like Super Glue! There is nothing you can do to cause God to love you any more than He does, and there is nothing you can do to cause Him to love you any less. His love is absolute and unconditional, and it will pursue you until the very end of time.

And so the goal of our wonderful ideas about computers and Web sites is singular—it is to communicate God’s love. We might translate 1 Corinthians 13 into contemporary language in the following way: