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| Blog Rules? Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching |
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We’re all a little new at this blogging thing and so we’re trying to feel our way. It’s a bit of a challenge and we need all the help we can get. Fellow blogger Joel gives us all good advice when he cites "Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." To help us collect all five, let's break that down: Convince-to bring to a decision concerning the truth or the falsehood of a proposition (ISBE). Rebuke-To reprimand; strongly warn; restrain. (KJD) Exhort-signifies, originally, “a calling near or for” (as an advocate or helper who should appeal on one's behalf), and carries the twofold sense of “exhortation” and “consolation” (ISBE). The American Heritage Dictionary has" "to make an urgent appeal." Longsuffering-The word in the New Testament rendered “longsuffering,” makrothumia (once makrothuméō, “to be longsuffering”), which is the rendering of 'erekh 'appayim in the Septuagint, is literally, “long of mind or soul” (regarded as the seat of the emotions), opposed to shortness of mind or soul, irascibility, impatience, intolerance. It is attributed to God (Rom_2:4; Rom_9:22; 2Pe_3:9), of His bearing long with sinners and slowness to execute judgment on them. It is, therefore, one of “the fruits of the Spirit” in man (Gal_5:22) which Christians are frequently exhorted to cherish and show one toward the other (Eph_4:2; Col_1:11; Col_3:12, etc.); it belongs, Paul says, to the love, without which all else is nothing: “Love suffereth long (makrothumeí), and is kind” (1Co_13:4) (ISBE Teaching-Matthew Henry says this: He must do it rationally, not with passion, but with doctrine, that is, “In order to the reducing of them to good practices, instil into them good principles. Teach them the truth as it is in Jesus, reduce them to a firm belief of it, and this will be a means both to reclaim them from evil and to bring them to good.”
Vincent (in Word Studies) sums this all up well: “Longsuffering is to be maintained against the temptations to anger presented by the obstinacy and perverseness of certain hearers; and such are to be met, not merely with rebuke, but also with sound and reasonable instruction in the truth. So Calvin: “Those who are strong only in fervor and sharpness, but are not fortified with solid doctrine, weary themselves in their vigorous efforts, make a great noise, rave,... make no headway because they build without foundation.” Men will not be won to the truth by scolding. “They should understand what they hear, and learn by perceive why they are rebuked” (Bahnsen)" We need to remember how easy it is to shut someone down and chase them from this (or any other) blog or room or church. But if we're to fulfill Paul's charge, we're going to have to slow down and listen. Remember that love implies relationship and relationship takes time. Be prepared to respond and offer your reasons why. Remember Hanlon's Razor ("Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.") and don't be too quick to assume you know just where someone's coming from. And don't be too quick to hit that "submit" button. (Some of my best proofreading happens in that split second between hitting the button and the screen going blank!)
Treat one another as brothers and sisters (I Tim 5:1). Show respect. Our calling isn't to as small a thing as scoring points or winning arguments; even on the web we’re supposed to be about making disciples. Bluster is easy, disciplemaking takes time.
God bless you,
+ Pastor Dan
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| I wrestle with this sometimes. It's not always easy to speak the truth of Christ in love. Thanks for reminding me. |
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| Thanks Pastor Dan for the rules of engagement :-) |
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| A rebuke is always easier to receive from someone who has been and will be standing beside you. We fail to notice the rebuke is sandwiched betwenn convince and exhort...Well stated. Too many of us just like to rebuke. |
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It couldn't be because rebuking reinforces my all too tenuous sense of superiority, could it?
Nah, I didn't think so either... ;-] |
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Preview, preview, preview, delete, preview, delete more, cancel. No one will ever know the volumes of carefully crafted comments that have been resigned to the bit bucket.
When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. |
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The bit bucket's where I file all my best stuff...
In the Navy, I used to have to write performance evaluations. Working against the pressure of reporting deadlines, there'd always come this moment where you'd get carried away writing all this awesome descriptive stuff...and then you'd read over it and realize it was great because it was fiction. That person didn't exist. You'd have to go back through it saying, "Yes, that's great writing--but is it true?"
Before I hit send (or submit), I take a deep breath and ask myself:
- Is this true?
- Is this helpful?
- Is the tone right for the content?
- Is this delivered as kindly as it should be?
- How would I feel if this was directed at me?
- Will this make anyone other than me feel better? (I think this one alone kills more bits than all the others combined.)
And for forums I add one more:
- Would I want this message delivered to me publicly? |
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Phenomenal post Pastor Dan. Thanks for writing this. We've been thinking about somehow helping to set some tones of encouragment and uplifting, whether it be with bulletins, blog comments, or private messages.
Let's remember to share our thoughts with *heart*! |
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Sue |
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February 17, 2007 at 1:31pm |
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Can I just add a few comments, has to do with blogging, but not the original blog. I would like to preface this comment with saying that these are just things I have observed. My opinion only, take it or leave it, I am just thinking out loud. Please note that none of this is directed at anyone in particular. Just in case you were thinking "she must have wrote that because of me." Not true :)
1). The shorter the blog, the better chance it will get fully read. (I know this from personal experience. I never seem to have time to read the long blogs :) I am not saying you shouldn't write a long blog, somethings do take longer to say, but I am saying to know that if it is long, the chances of it getting fully read are much slimmer.
2). You can delete what you wrote if necessary. (wouldn't it be nice if we could do this with face to face conversations :) I have seen a few (very few) outrageous comments (none from CCC), and I often wonder, "don't they know they can delete this!"
3). Tone is hard to determine, so use up those smiley faces bro/sis :) That's what they are there for.
4.) Maintain a humble and teachable spirit. We are all in the learning/growing process. Just because we have an opinion, it doesn't make us right and them wrong or visa versa.
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JAN |
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May 11, 2007 at 1:41pm |
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Helpful for newbies and a needed reminder for all,Thanks, PastorDan. Sue, I agree with you on the long one's sometimes I just don't have the time to read all and then, I am a bit pulled back to comment not knowing the full jist of what has been said. Some I just cant follow( to be truthful)... a little more layman's language would help. Blogs for dummies ? anyone???/  |
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Grant |
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May 11, 2007 at 5:50pm |
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I preached for 20 years to largely teachable and wonderful congregations. Since then I have taken a long sabbatical, a result of burnout. So, judge me and say that I would not have burned out if I had prayed hard enough. Enough people do. Now that you've got that out of your system, we'll go on with my point.
In recent years, I have begun fellowshipping with the most stubborn and hard-hearted congregation that I have ever known. They are all opinionated, bull-headed and can't seem to agree on much at all, except for Jesus being the center of it all. For the longest time, I wondered why God had led me here. I have never had so many interruptions during my preaching and public disagreements about what I preached. It was quite a shock, so I stepped back from preaching until I could figure it all out. Maybe I was just not the guy for this group.
Then I managed to sit in on some training sessions from one of our country's top public speakers. He was amazing. Nothing like what he taught was in any preaching class. He simly said that we can't teach anyone anything. The public is not interested in being taught. He was talking about the overwhelming majority of adults. He said that all we can do is help them better synthesize what they already know.
Wow! That was a great revelation to me! I now understand that instead of trying to teach a group of people who are following a dozen different gurus and captivated by another dozen different Christian fads, I can only help them where they are at spiritually. Now that applies to any topic outside of the centrality of Christ doesn't it? You name it - alcohol, iconography, Marianism, tongues, prophecies, miracles, gambling - and other such things which cause so much division and so much judgmentalism today.
Yet, if we focus on the simple command of Jesus to teach what he taught, we define what is the most important right off. We put things into priority. All Christians, no matter what persuasion, no matter what modern fad or ancient tradition they are following, know instinctively that what Jesus taught in the Gospels, has priority #1.
My resolution is to focus on Christ, and to let the Holy Spirit bring people to clarification on other issues in God's time. |
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