The gospel is not a personal preference. In “Disruptive Witness”, Alan Noble explains how the growth of alternative belief systems and of activities that provide immediate gratification make the Christian worldview seem like just another lifestyle choice. Once again, the Church’s challenge is to understand and overcome the world’s latest opposition to hearing and comprehending the good news of Jesus Christ. Noble asks us to consider a typical Sunday morning. After sleeping in a climate-controlled home in a comfortable bed, your alarm wakes you. You check your smartphone as you eat a delicious, healthy breakfast. After a hot shower, you dress in clean, comfortable clothes for the drive to church in a modern car on safe, paved roads. During worship, you sing songs and pray about God’s provision, mercy, and grace. But most of your experiences on that morning (and throughout the week) testify to human ingenuity and man’s control over the world. Providence, mystery, and wonder have been largely removed from our thoughts. We need to stop accepting the world’s way of thinking which trivializes the Christian faith. We must repent and shift our affections from creature-comforts and technology to the Creator and Lord of all. Then will we be better equipped to explain the hope of the Gospel in a way that doesn’t sound like we’re just “speaking our truth.”
Thankfulness has a profound way of realigning our desires and our appreciation of God. Consistently saying grace before a meal (both in private and in public) is a reminder that the food we have is a gift from God to who provides for us because He is kind, and He loves us. Gratitude acknowledges that everything we have is by God’s grace and is one example of a disruptive witness. Another example is delighting in the beauty of the natural world all around us. A sunset. A tree. A storm. A bird. Pausing for a moment allows us to recognize the beauty of creation and draw our attention toward God. An effective disruptive witness cannot be faked for long. Our thoughts and feelings toward God must be an honest expression of what’s in our heart.
Noble makes a strong case that corporate worship cannot be merely about learning Scripture, theology, or any other important aspect of the Christian faith. When the worship service becomes too educationally focused and the sermon resembles a classroom lecture, people will gradually stop gathering on Sunday because they can learn from books, YouTube sermons, podcasts, and a variety of excellent resources at a time and place that better fits their schedule and individual interests. Also people will eventually reach a point where they have learned enough about Christianity, and they will move on to something else. The responsibility for maintaining focus during the corporate time of worship resides with both church leaders and congregants. The gathering of the saints must be about nurturing our love for God, building relationships, and serving our neighbors. In these fellowship times we can both give and receive God’s grace within our Christian community. As Jesus said, our love for God and for one another will be an undeniable and disruptive witness to the world that we are His disciples (John 13). Our time together should “stir up one another to love and good works” in a way that leaves the world wanting to know more about our good, loving, and beautiful God (Hebrews 10).