There is a joke that I came across a few years ago about a pastor who walked into a bar. The guy was wearing his clerical collar and everything, so when he entered, all the patrons grew deathly quiet. They stopped talking, cussing, and drinking when they saw the reverend enter.
The pastor went up to the bartender and said, "Excuse me, sir. Where are your restrooms?"
The bartender paused and moment and said, "They’re over there, but you might want to think about going someplace else to use the restroom."
The reverend said, "No. I’ve got to go, and this was the nearest place."
The bartender once again said, "Well, reverend, the reason I say that is we have a statue of a nearly naked woman in there. She’s only wearing a fig leaf."
The reverend replied, "I think I can handle such a thing."
The reverend departed, and when he returned from the restroom, the bar was back to normal. Folks were cussing, discussing and drinking rowdily.
The reverend was confused by this turn of events, so he went up to the bartender once again. "Excuse me, sir. When I went into the restroom, this bar was as silent as a church mouse. Now, when I get back, everyone is partying and carrying on. What happened?"
The bartender grinned. "Well, reverend," he explained, "that statue is rigged up to the lights in here. If anyone picks up the fig leaf, the lights blink on and off out here. No one else was in the restroom, so we figure you’re one of us now. Have a beer on the house!"
I hope that joke made you chuckle a moment, because now I’m going to ask you a serious question based upon our first lesson from the Book of Acts. In this lesson, we see Jesus ascending into heaven. I personally believe what is most important about this text is not Jesus’ ascension as much as His final instructions to His disciples. He tells them in verse 8, "8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Shorten that down to just a few words, and Jesus tells his followers, both then and now, "You will be my witnesses." Shorten that into a command, and you have Jesus telling you and me, "Be my witnesses."
Now, here’s the question: when would that reverend be a more effective witness, before or after he picked up that fig leaf on the statue in the men’s room? Let’s pause just a moment to let that sink in. Would that reverend be more effective to that silent room of men who stopped because they saw the collar around his neck or would he be more effective with that room that was rowdy, carrying on, and buying him a beer? Isn’t that a bit sticky?
I mean, there seems to be three trains of thought when it comes to Christian witnessing. One train is to hold oneself above what everyone else is doing and set an example of righteousness by refusing to do anything or associate with anyone that might be considered sinful. There is precedent in Scripture for such a position. If you carefully snip certain verses, you can build a case for never associating with anyone who is sinful.
For instance, snipping 1 Corinthians 5 verse 11 out of context gives you a start, "11But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one."
Now snip Ephesians 5:5-7, "5Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be associated with them."
Separate yourself from evil, from sin, and anything that might lead you into temptation. Associate with folks who are just like you, who do the things you do, who believe the things you believe. By doing so, you are showing what it means to live a moral, upright life–a life that God calls us to live.
But does it work in the witness arena? That’s a little harder to judge. Oftentimes, a person simply comes off looking holier than thou. And believe me, if you come across as a holier than thou, you aren’t going to be an effective witness with most people.
So, let’s look at another train of thought within Christianity–this is the train of thought which suggests: I’m just like everyone else. I don’t really want anyone to think that there is anything different about me. I can be a Christian and separate my church life from my private life. Therefore, I can drink with my friends, and cuss with the best of them, and act out sexually and cheat my neighbor. And if anyone confronts me, I can retort, "Hey, I’m forgiven. Jesus loves me. I believe in Him. Plus, I have to do these things so that I can witness to others. If I stopped doing all this stuff, I’d lose all my friends and never get a chance to witness to them in the first place.
This position I think is best summed up by a joke that I heard about three brothers who while growing up would head to the bar once a week and enjoy a beer together. They made a pledge that if they should become separated, then once a week, they would gather at the local pub and drink three beers to stay connected to the relationship.
One brother moved to the deep South of the U.S. and continued this custom. He explained this to the locals at the bar, and they resonated because of their deep loyalty to family. However, one day, the looks of the patrons of the bar became grave as the brother entered the bar and only ordered two beers.
The bartender approached him and said, "I’m sorry for your loss."
The brother stopped for a moment, and then grinned. "Oh, you’ve got it wrong. Both of my brothers are fine. This weekend, I got saved at the Baptist church, and my wife made me give up drinking."
I’m not sure this qualifies as being an effective witness. There is a lack of integrity.
So, therefore, let’s move onto the third train of thought–the train of thought that I am most associated with. It links imitating Jesus with a profound understanding of God’s grace, and a huge dose of humility.
First, imitating Jesus means we do not disassociate ourselves from folks who we consider sinners. If you look at Jesus’ life, you will see that He simply just didn’t do that. In fact, Jesus was most often found with people society considered sinners: tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and others. He freely moved among them, ate with them, drank with them, and shared with them a good word from God.
Jesus didn’t hold himself aloof from these folks, yet He also didn’t do the things they were doing. He held himself to a different standard of living. Well, of course, He was the Son of God, so He could. Most of the time, we’re not that lucky. Even though, we try to do as Jesus did, we fall short. We know we cannot walk perfectly, so we are driven to the grace of God to experience His forgiveness. We know we are both saint and sinner and totally dependent upon God’s forgiveness.
Which leads us to humility. Instead of walking around with our heads held high and our noses in the air, we see others eye to eye and heart to heart. We seek to live differently, knowing we can and do slip all the time. As such, we regard ourselves as all too human, all too imperfect, and dare I say, all too real.
To be an effective witness to Jesus Christ, we must allow our humanness to show. We must allow others to know we have clay feet. We must allow others to know we are no better than anyone else. The only difference is we know we are forgiven, and we aren’t trying to rub anyone else’s nose in this. Instead, we are striving to live a holy and upright life out of respect and love of the one who has forgiven us. A life full of humility, because even though we are witnesses, we too still will pick up a few fig leaves. Amen.
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