From One Degree to Another

Phil Auxier's Blog

Connect

SS Recap – Making A Defense of the Faith

by

I posted last week a brief update on the Sunday School class I’m teaching at Crestview.  This class is studying BILD International’s First Principle book, Participating in the Mission of the Church.  In the three lessons in this particular book, we’ve noticed the strategy of the early church: proclaim the Gospel, plant churches, establish leaders and move on.  Then, we saw the role of having good deeds to back up the message we’re proclaiming.  In week 3, we saw how we should speak to make the Gospel attractive and invite opportunities with those who are outside the faith.  In this lesson, the focus was on making a defense, using 1 Peter 3:8-17 as our springboard.

I pointed to Tim Keller’s writings on Defeater beliefs as well as Barry Cooper and Paul Williams’ book If You Could Ask God One Question.  On the whole, though, what stuck out to me wasn’t so much about being ready to get an answer out as much as living in a compelling way that accentuates the defense.  It might be the case that if we were prepared to answer with gentleness and humility rather than know it alls who don’t need others, we’d be able to give a more compelling defense.

TCT – Defending the Faith

by

As we continue to look at Total Church, this week brings us to chapter 11 on Apologetics. I thought the authors did a great job of unfolding the history of how the faith is defended. They eventually call for a “relational apologetic”:

Apologetics is answering questions raised by our lives. This is not simply a matter of lone Christians living godly lives and doing good works. In the Old Testament it was the life of the covenant community that was to function as a light to the nations. And in the New Testament too it is the life of the community that commends the gospel…We need to persuade people that our story, the story of God, is true. But they will only explore its truth if we can first persuade them that it might be a better story. We need to address their hearts before we can begin to address the questions in their heads. (pp.178-179)

There are some enormous implications: 1) The Christian community should demonstrate the Gospel. 2) We should be more concerned about hearts over heads. Both of these are traditionally weaknesses in my own life and in the life of the church. We seek to make evangelism a door to door with one person all alone kind of thing. But there are corporate elements that need to demonstrate the Gospel. Also, we need to avoid a campaign to just win arguments. Hearts have to be addressed. People in our culture need to see a demonstration of people gripped by truth. This will awaken our role to speak to the head questions. Let’s defend the faith properly, in a corporate witness that demonstrates the power of God.