Tez Brooks's Blog: TezBrooks.com, page 13
November 13, 2019
Is Humanitarian Aid the Gospel? What Our Kids Need to Know
A few years ago, on Thanksgiving Day, my kids helped feed the homeless with a church in town. After eating, the homeless men and women thanked the servers, then walked away–never hearing the Good News of Jesus. The adult in charge said “We aren’t here to preach. We aren’t pastors. We just want to show the love of God. That’s the news we want to give them. God is love!”
I was disappointed and confused.
While showing kindness is a great way to show love for people, I didn’t know it was the end result of why me and the kids had given up our holiday.
A lot of words are thrown around these days describing various kinds of compassion, acts of mercy, justice, and peace. Our society has redefined some of these biblical terms but muddled the meaning in the process. Lumping words together or using them interchangeably can cause quite confusing definitions.
COMPASSION DEFINED
The Bible never mentions the word “humanitarian aid” but it does speak of compassion. Humanitarian work is the practice of improving human life. So, let’s use the word compassion instead, which depicts more a stance of love and care, rather than supplying the outward physical needs one may have.
Using the words found in scripture helps us avoid any confusing definitions attached to modern terms or slang. Zechariah 7:9-10 says, “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.”
I believe helping others not only shines our light as Christians in a dark world but can sometimes open doors to a gospel presentation.
Mercy ministry—much like Jesus did when showing love to the sick, weak, and oppressed—can be a powerful tool to open hearts to hear the message of Christ. I’ve seen the power of mercy ministry in:
feeding/clothing those in needhelping widows/orphansfreeing slavesrescuing human traffic victimsdisaster reliefmedical care unitsand more
A few years ago I went on a medical mission trip to provide health/dental/vision care in Cambodia. It was clear to me how meeting the physical needs of individuals more readily prepared hearts to receive the message of the cross we presented.
But we must be careful not to take James 1:27 (like some Christians do) as a verse that explains what the gospel message is. This passage says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, ….”
This verse addresses pure and undefiled practices or good works (compassion). If we keep the verse in context, it’s clear James is talking about how we should live as a believer, not how we are to share the gospel.
We deceive ourselves when we begin to apply this verse or others like it, as a formula for the Great Commission. If we dig a well in Africa, play soccer with some kids, and hug a few villagers, yet never share the actual gospel—it would be wrong to say we evangelized. That’s actually a compassion trip, and even non-Christians are nice to the weak and oppressed.
These trips are wonderful acts of love Christians should participate in. And I love it when I see teens go. But without a gospel presentation, I fear we reduce our kid’s time, money, and effort to mere secular kindness. They might feel great about themselves; but while hundreds might now have a full belly, a cleft pallet repaired, or be freed from a brothel, no eternal difference was made—the souls of these people are not secured.
Let’s remind our kids that compassion is merely a tool to open heart doors. I too love a good evangelism tool. But if I rely on tools alone as the gospel, I miss the mark. A clear, simple, gospel explanation must follow our love and generosity.
THE GOOD NEWS DEFINED
The gospel or Good News is clearly summarized in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, where Paul gives the most basic ingredients of the message—namely Jesus’s substitutionary death on the cross for us, his burial, and resurrection. It’s easy. If we share our faith in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God, there’s no limit to what he can do, with or without our good deeds.
While kindness is an effective tool, John 3:16 or Acts 10 or 13 doesn’t seem to mention anything about meeting people’s needs in order to present the Good News.
I’m concerned we’ve allowed the world to adopt and twist our terminology to water-down the definition of Christian outreach. How often have you heard secular organizations calling their medical practices in the jungle a “mission trip?”
As we get involved with outreaches, here or overseas, let the worldwide Church be diligent not to embrace a watered-down gospel, but to communicate the true message of the cross. May we remind ourselves and our kids daily, that the Good News is the person and work of Jesus Christ—especially his virgin birth, righteous life, atoning death, and resurrection—with the promise that he will save anyone who turns from sin by trusting him as Lord. Let us continue to love sinners, using valuable tools like compassion to help the Holy Spirit prepare hearts. But may we never neglect to preach the gospel of grace to all nations, making disciples and teaching them to observe all Christ commanded.
October 12, 2019
Dirty Little Secret
October 11, 2019
Dirty Little Secret
Good Saturday morning! It’s the weekend and I thought I’d send a quick moment with you all before breakfast.
Just when I think all the hub-bub about The Single Dad Detour is over. Just when I’ve resigned myself to embracing that it will be shelved and forgotten amidst the myriad of other dusty, countless books, suddenly I hear how God is using it to minister to a dad here or there.
I’ve been feeling so grateful lately for the opportunities God is providing to reach out to single dads and offer encouragement. This week I met with two different men to hear their stories and lend a shoulder. If only I had that opportunity years ago, during my own journey as a single father. I wonder how many other dads are out there without anyone to bounce things off, without a friend to listen or even offer help with the kids from time to time?
Can I share a dirty little secret? To be frank, I’m not naturally compassionate. My wife will be the first to say, when I display compassion it’s a total God thing. It pretty much has to be a move of the Holy Spirit in my heart.
Like I mentioned in The Single Dad Detour, I did not want to write a book about my painful journey through divorce and single parenting. I compared it to digging through nasty cat litter to find someone else’s car keys.
It’s pretty safe to say the entire book was a work of the Holy Spirit moving in me. When I finally began to write it, I was moved with compassion and love for my fellow brothers on that road. And God continues to stir that up in me, in order to help guys struggling to find direction and hope. Thanks to Christ’s power in me (changing me day-by-day into his image) and some awesome Stephen Ministry training, it’s become more natural for me to come alongside men and feel their pain.
I’m humbled to be a part of what the Creator is doing and I’m grateful for each of you who even bother to read these posts. I don’t hear from most of you, but I can see I have readers around the world and that is hard to wrap my head around. I often feel I don’t have a thing to offer. I guess I just want to say I appreciate you.
Now, I must go and figure out how to convince my wife that crepes are on the menu for breakfast today. Have a blessed weekend.
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June 14, 2019
An Open Letter to Dads on Father's Day
On this Father’s Day weekend I have a gift for you…a gift of words, beginning with some validation and encouragement, then ending with a challenge.
As a father, you no doubt have a lot of weight on your shoulders and I’m guessing that you often feel overwhelmed with all that’s expected of you, even though at times you try to ignore the intensity and immensity of that reality. (I know this because many of you have trusted me enough to tell me what this is like for you).
And much of the time you find it easier to push away the discomfort of facing your own inadequacy so that you don’t have to sit in the space of admitting that it might actually be true that you’re not enough.
But if you peel back the layers and allow yourself to be honest, even vulnerable, you’ll discover that every other father is feeling the exact same way—with a sense of being less than competent, at least when it comes to relationships. Perhaps it’s most noticeable when the women in your life say they need more from you or point out areas of ineptness. And that’s when you find yourself falling into a pattern of slinking back into your shell to find safety from the perceived attack.
But Dad, you weren’t made to shrink back and hide. That’s not where you thrive. You were created to pursue and conquer and lead. The truth is that you’re at your best when you’re taking action while proving to yourself and the world around you that you have what it takes to courageously go after the things—and people—you love and believe in. Read the full article here.
