Publicity⤒🔗

We live in a time when everything is made public. There is an enormous urge to make public everything that is new. The more sensational the better. There seem to be hardly any limits for journalists and the news media. That enormous “openness” also has its consequences for the church.

Recently there were reports about ministers who have been suspended because of adultery. There the media had special attention for a minister from a very conservative congregation in Zeeland, Netherlands. For that is sensational to the world. That a minister becomes the talk of the town in a congregation “where nothing is allowed”. Where people are dressed in black and still walk to church on Sundays. Where a dress with short sleeves is taboo, because naked arms cause the arousal of carnal desires. It is a sensation when such a minister stumbles. That is why this case has been covered very extensively by the media.

Neighbours have been interviewed as well as people who are familiar with these circles, in order to publish these matters as sensational as possible. However, we should realize that this is not only a personal matter. This way the church of Christ on earth and the believers are smothered with shame.

This is no less the case with all kinds of publications about incest in Christian families and sexual abuse of children at Christian schools. And what about the financial malpractices involving church people or church organizations? The wave of publicity causes a tremendous discredit to the church and faith. Christ’s church is made a byword by the misbehaviour of officer bearers and church members.

How Do We Deal with This?←⤒🔗

We cannot ignore such negative publicity in itself. It is a reality we have to deal with. But the question does face us: How do we deal with this? Do we handle this the same way as the world does? Do we make it a spectacle when the church and the believers get into trouble? That is a reaction that does not suit a believer.

It is also possible to react completely differently. We can ignore these stories completely and say that they do not matter. Is not the kicking against the church the result of enmity against Christ? We don’t pretend that we are better than unbelievers. We acknowledge that we are sinners, that it is all about Christ who does not disappoint. Those are counter-arguments that are understandable and true in themselves. But is this the proper reaction?

Because it often is justified criticism that is being levelled against the church and believers. May the world not expect something different from people who claim they know God and belong to Christ? Are they not correct when they rate adultery by a minister differently from adultery by the manager of a company? Don’t we as believers have the calling to present a visible proclamation through our holy walk of life? Does the negative publicity regarding the church and believers not tell us something?

Biblical Publicity←⤒🔗

In the Bible we find a situation in which the Lord wants to bring his people to their senses through publicity. In Amos 3:9 the statement sounds, “Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt.” The strongholds – those are the palaces in Ashdod and Egypt.

In those days palaces had flat roofs. From those flat roofs the people could be addressed. Now Amos calls the heralds of the Philistines and the Egyptians to speak to the people from the flat roofs. They have to tell the people, “Have a look in Samaria, the capital of the ten tribes of Israel. See how the people are sinning.” They literally have to declare the sins of the people from the rooftops.

The heralds did not literally declare the sins from the rooftops. It is a scene that plays in the mind of the prophet Amos. But it does indicate the seriousness of the situation, because Amos tells the heralds to say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and the oppression in her midst.” Those heathen are called to come together on the mountains around Samaria. Those mountains that surround the city present, as it were, a nice gallery. From that gallery they can see what is going on inside the city. See the great tumults. With those tumults Amos indicates that in Samaria things are placed upside down: “What is right is called evil and the evil is called right. The poor and the needy are oppressed, they do not know how to do right,” God says. “They store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.” That is what Ashdod and Egypt should come to see.

God’s Publicity←⤒🔗

For Israel it is very humiliating that especially Ashdod and Egypt are called to declare from the roofs their shameful acts. Ashdod and Egypt are tyrants. For centuries Egypt had mistreated and exploited Israel as slaves. The Philistines oppressed Israel during the time of the judges and the kings. Must these uncircumcised people, who have always harassed them as God’s people, now sit in judgment over them?

Still, this negative publicity about Israel did not originate from the heathens. The heralds do not speak on their own authority. No, God is behind this. He gives the message to Amos, “Let those heralds declare it from the rooftops.” The Lord caused this. He makes public the shameful acts of Israel. As it were, the Lord says to the heathens, “Have a look what is going on in Samaria. You will be shocked. You will not believe it. You are known for your injustice and meanness and tyranny. Scratch your head in amazement and see how it can be even worse in Samaria.”

Why does the Lord do that? To bring his people to their senses! To make Israel realize how bad their situation is. For although they talk piously, they do not live piously. According to the outward practices, they are extremely religious, but their heart is not turned towards the Lord. Their faith is mere formal service. God is not the central focus. The Lord hopes that this publicity will have a shocking effect. Could that also be God’s aim for us? Could it be the hand of the Lord, who through it all, exposes our shameful acts? Does the Lord perhaps make public the sins of some believers in order to bring all of us to our senses? Does he perhaps make us realize that also in the church there is such a chasm between pious talk and pious life?

We know that in faith it is all about the reconciling work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness for everyone who pleads on the grace of God. But that belief in the forgiveness of sins has to show in the persevering struggle against sin. Could it be that this struggle against sin has disappeared in the church; that the knowledge of the never-abating struggle against sin is not found in the church anymore? Does perhaps the Lord make us realize that the life of grace is only a reality when we persevere in our fight against sin?

It declares us guilty before the Lord when the church is made a byword. Because for the unbelievers it is a reason to revile the Lord and to ignore him.

On the other hand, it may have a wholesome effect, when it brings us to seek shelter with the Lord with all our guilt and when it urges us to persevere in our fight against sin in the power of the Holy Spirit.