Do You Trust Me? No Really!

Probably one of the best chapters that I have ever read on Christian community is in chapter 11 (The Truthful Community) of unfashionable.

Tullian discusses the first of six ways that Paul addresses the church, as a whole, for living and putting on the new self in Ephesians 4.22-32. The first of these counter-cultural marks is truthfulness. He says,

"We should be a truthful community. We're to put off lies and fully embrace truth. Why is this such a crucial step in our witness to the world? Because we live in a trustless culture, and people are hungry for an alternative to that trustlessness. Few people trust anyone these days, and it's for good reason: too few people these days are trustworthy. We live in a perpetual state of suspicion, wondering whom we can really rely on."

He then goes on to quote Francis Fukuyama in his book, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity....

"every culture that has been able to advance its economy, achieve technical proficiency, and develop innovative organizations has been a culture where trust is entrenched in the society. Fukuyama argues compellingly that in comparison with low-trust societies that need to negotiate and often litigate rules and regulations, high-trust societies are able to minimize the cost of doing business and, as a result, advance culture to a high level."

"Why is this? Because every healthy, functioning community is built on trust--in your home, in your neighborhood, at work, or wherever relationships among people are critical. Cities, towns, villages, countries, and cultures are all dependent on trust to function properly. Take away trust and you take away community."

"That's because healthy community relies on people who invest in one another, serve one another, provide for one another, and defer to one another. Without this 'one-anotherness' genuine community cannot exist."

Do you SEE the dilemma? Do you SEE the opportunity?

It's in this area where the church can literally stand firm the strongest in this culture. If the secular community around is growing in paranoia, because they can't even genuinely trust those in their own homes, the religious community (the Church) should be able to humbly stand tall and be the trustworthy people that others can look to and rely on. Our yes should mean yes and our no should mean no.

We ought to stand out like a beacon in the dark-blinding night, as a community of Christians who hold to truth and embrace it with everything we have and live truth. Truth is what enables us to live in such a way that is pleasing to Christ and that is illuminating to the dark world around us.

The irony of the whole thing is this, even though this culture we live in is shunning truth, it's the one thing that they desperately need. They desperately need to embrace the truth of God's sovereignty over all things. They desperately need to embrace the truth that they have sinned against God. They desperately need to embrace the truth that He has provided a way for them to be right with Him. And they desperately need to embrace the truth that the way to be right with Him is through His Son Jesus Christ.

Will we be the ones to live truth in a truthless culture, so that others can find the ultimate Truth--Jesus Christ?

Let us be that kind of 'true' church--NLC!