There is often too cautious a reception to hearing the amazing stories being told of God’s glorious workings in the world. After suspicious listening come the probing questions to determine whether or not huge mistakes are being made.
Christians excited about the Gospel can be made to feel like they are undergoing a medical examination, tax audit, or answering the supreme inquisitor: “Have you done this?” “You haven’t done that I hope?” “You know, you really need to be careful about something.”
This is a real problem. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has successes. Why does it seem that only some are allowed to make mistakes and others are not trusted to do so? As a whole, mistakes are too harshly criticized and learning by doing is too undervalued. And the reality is that some have forgotten that this is how they got where they are today.
Stories the New Testament Tells
The success stories of the Twelve and the Seventy-Two from their village to village short-term preaching ministries were received by our Lord Jesus with joy and intense delight (Luke 9-10). The church at Antioch listened intently to the stories of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas as they recounted that first real “to the ends of the earth” missionary trip (Acts 13-14). And the Gospel success stories only continue to mount throughout the New Testament. In fact, that is the very content of the New Testament and its reason for existence--the Gospel’s progress throughout the world.
Did the Apostles ever make mistakes? Of course they did. But, mistakes are not recorded because mistakes are just not that important. Besides, the Gospel is powerful unto salvation by itself (Romans 1:16), and it is impossible to really mess it up if one just declares the Gospel. Yet, one sure way to mess things up (speaking from a human perspective) is not to clearly proclaim Jesus at all. Even the Apostles become better over time because they practiced in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Tell Stories to Those Who Will Listen
American Christians generally think there is more power in human persuasion and cultural insight than God has placed in His Gospel inherently. As a result, mistakes are very serious matters. This theological and perspectival blunder is also why so few believe the stories of success when they hear them. It seems too good to be true; something must not be right.
However, when understanding things rightly, there is great freedom in Gospel proclamation and great encouragement to keep on learning how to do things better. There is trust in God for God’s work. The joy is for those who believe the stories because they believe the Gospel is more powerful than human hearts and ingenuity.
Keep Proclaiming, Making Mistakes, and Learning by Doing
It is much more preferable to encourage the preaching of Jesus and trust Jesus to take care of His own Gospel, its success, and even the proclaimers and the hearers of it. He is much better at this than we are at being its guardians.
What if we unleashed people to proclaim the Gospel with only a little training? And then, what if we listened to their stories without telling them what they did wrong? And then, what if we encouraged them to keep preaching Jesus?
What if we shared in the joy and delight of the success of God’s Gospel along with them? What if we let them get better on their own, perhaps just facilitating their learning together?
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