SEEPAGE

There are things that seep into our consciousness that do so without examination. It's as if we admit ideas into our minds without the proper papers. We hear something that sounds good, but we don't examine its qualifications for admittance into our lives. For the Christian, there is only one qualification for admittance into the thinking of the church: it must square with the Bible.

There are many things in many areas to which we give no thought. For example, let's look at the English language, a language which is difficult for the foreigner. I wonder if you've ever thought of the fact that we pronounce a vowel in English differently, depending on whether it's "long" or "short." Have you ever thought that it would be a lot simpler if we had a letter for a "short" A and a different letter for a "long" A and all the other vowels, but no, we don't.

Or how about this: when you're writing or talking, do you have to consciously think, "Do I use 'a' or 'an' in front of 'boy?' Do I say, 'an boy' or do I say 'a boy?'" We don't have to give a nanosecond's thought to the question, do we? We don't have to think about the rule of grammar governing the use of "a" or "an," we just write or say the word with the proper article, no thought given. If we had to think of the grammatical rule for the use of "a" or "an," it would make for some mighty boring and lengthy conversations while we each waited for the other to remember and apply the rule in every sentence.

SEEPAGE OF A MYTH: HOW? WHY?

There are ideas that seep into our churches without the proper papers. The seepage may be because 1) it sounds good or 2) it's been repeated so often and so much that we just accept it or 3) my parents believed it, so I do too, i. e. traditionalism, 4) my pastor believed it.

THE MYTH

OK. Our study of English grammar is over. Our look at the "Why" and "How" is over. Let's get to the myth, which is, "You have to earn the right to witness." By that statement, the myth says that we have to earn our right into someone's life before we can tell them the good news of Christ.

Is that concept anywhere in the Bible? If it is, I haven't yet found it. I've found the opposite. The Ethiopian had no relationship with Phillip the hitch hiker he picked up as he read Isaiah 53. Paul had no relationship with Felix or Sergius Paulus. Paul didn't have to earn the right to speak to the academics in Athens. Peter had never met Cornelius, his family, or his slaves, but he wasn't to wait until he earned the right (or as is sometimes said, "Live the life before them") to tell them about Jesus.

Francis of Assisi is attributed with the following quote which promotes the myth: "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words." I Corinthians 15 shows us that to communicate the gospel, we must use words to tell people that Christ, the God/Man, died for their sins and rose from the dead and that those who trust Him alone have everlasting life. We can't give the gospel apart from words. Forget Francis.

In the Parable of the Sower and the Seed, the Sower threw the seed all over the place; there was no discrimination in the casting. Jesus met the woman at the well, the blind man at the Pool of Bethesda, and upon that first contact, He told them the good news. Paul wrote, "I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." To  discharge that debt, he went into the synagogues and the forums to throw the seed of the gospel to one and all, whether he had built a relationship with them or not. He hadn't in most cases. On one occasion, he even wanted to enter a mob to give them the gospel. He had built no friendship with the mob.

No, we don't have to earn the right to speak to others about Christ. Christ gave us the right to do so. 

In over 2,000 of church history, there's been a lot of seepage. For every concept seeing admittance to the thinking of the church, we need to ask for its papers.