“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matthew 11:21, ESV).
Within the past 24 hours I have spoken with three different groups of Christians via the internet in two South Asian countries and have taught more Bible lessons and discussed evangelistic plans in both of those, plus one other neighboring nation. I was able to both hear and see those people online, as they were able to see and hear me, in spite of the distance of approximately ten thousand miles (in a straight line) between us.
When I began preaching in the 1960s it was still common for missionaries to travel between continents by ship, though airline travel for those purposes was becoming more practical and common. The legendary twentieth century evangelist, Marshal Keeble, titled his memoirs, From Muleback to Super Jet with the Gospel. If I were to write a similar volume it might be called, “From Plane Flights to Zoom.”
Our modern technology is wonderful. It enables us to communicate worldwide with ease and comfort. Yet, I am also reminded that this technology is only as good as the use to which it is put.
Television ads for electronic services (mobile phone, television, internet, etc.) state that the average American family home contains 8 devices capable of receiving their signals. The majority of those devices are used primarily for entertainment and casual communications. Unfortunately, many are also tools used for gambling, pornography, and criminal behavior.
I read a story many years ago about a man who talked to the author, Henry David Thoreau, about Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. “Just think,” he said, “A man here in New York can speak directly to a man in Texas over that instrument.” Thoreau is said to have responded, “But what if the man in New York has nothing to say to the man in Texas?”
The emphasis of evangelism has always been and must always remain on the message delivered rather than the method of delivery. We all have watched new methods become fads, from mass media to Power Point presentations, to streaming services. Each of these offers advantages in time and cost, yet each of these may easily be abused and misused. The power to save is not in the method – it is always in the Word (message) which is proclaimed (James 1:21).
I have often considered the vast challenge of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and wondered how any generation could hope to accomplish that awesome task. As the world’s population swells to well over 7 billion people it seems more difficult than ever. Yet, with the means we now have those billions may be reached more quickly, at less relative expense, than ever before.
That consideration makes me turn to the words of Jesus regarding the cities in which he performed miracles and taught (Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, Matthew 11:20-24). He stated that notoriously evil pagan cities such as Sodom, Tyre and Sidon would have repented had they experienced what the Judean cities had seen and heard. He was invoking the principle often called, “the peril of privilege.” In other words, the more we have been given the more we are accountable for how we use it.
As we enjoy our devices and connections let us each reflect on how we are using them to serve God and do the work of his kingdom. Entertainment is not wrong, but excessive pleasure without corresponding service is certainly not responsible stewardship. We are greatly blessed. Are we responding to those blessings appropriately?