Barriers To Entry

Photo by Erik Zünder on Unsplash

Big words make us sound important.
Big words make us sound smart.
Big words make us feel special.
Big words make us seem like we are "in the know."

Are big words a big "do not enter" sign?

Does the way we use our words present a stumbling block to the unchurched? Jargon, or special 'insider' language has the potential to alienate others because of it's ability to isolate them. When we use big words, or special words within Christianity towards outsiders, we can actually be serving to confuse them.

How is a non-believer supposed to know and grasp what the word sanctification means?
In relationship we can explain and unpack it, but if we are using the word flippantly or with the expectation that others immediately understand, it can be harmful. When I started to come to faith from an unchurched background, there was much of the Christian jargon that I had to wrestle with before I gained some level of understanding.

Within Christianity I see flaws with using big words as well. First, we say a word with an almost "expected agreement" on the meaning for all people. However, we might not have that agreed upon meaning. The word we say might mean something differently altogether to others. We ourselves may only have a working definition -- we might not even get it right!

The other problem that could arise from the professing of big words is the issue of head knowledge that doesn't penetrate the heart. It is easy to throw around cold theological concepts and use big words and have great discussion without actually having the reality of the word penetrate into our heart and change our behavior.

Let's look at a big word that can often become Christian jargon: Sanctification. 

Now, let's go through the list above and see how using the word sanctification flippantly can become a stumbling block. *Note: It is important to realize the emphasis on flippant use of big words. When we use big words just to use them, or when we use big words with the underlying assumption or expectation that others understand them, we are being flippant with our words. 

If I am an unchurched non-believer coming into a church setting for the first time, hearing the word sanctification makes no sense to me. I would maybe go to saint, and make some link between sanctification and sainthood, but that's about as far as I would get. I might become confused or embarrassed to share my perceived lack of understanding.

If we use the word sanctification in our Christian spheres, even if we understand the concept, it might look very different to you and I.

If we are assuming an implicitly agreed upon definition without actually speaking out what we believe sanctification to mean, we might be overlooking potential disagreement, misunderstanding, or even incorrect thinking about the term. 

Lastly, if I talk often about sanctification without the reverence of the concept affecting real heart and behavior change in my life, the concept is simply cold, useless head knowledge. Growth in Christlike love is the aim, not the ability to spew big words.

1 Corinthians 13:1

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (ESV)

Big words aren't simply there to be thrown around in gospel conversations, they are concepts to be lived out whole-heartedly.

Paul's goal in ministry should be ours, and we should want to say with him: "We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry" (2 Corinthians 6:3 ESV).

Jargon can be an obstacle for outsiders coming into the church.
Jargon can be an obstacle for those who have been in the church a long time if assumptions are made about meaning and common understanding. We all know the old joke about making assumptions.
Jargon can be an obstacle for us if we don't take the terms to heart and hold them with reverence.

What's the answer? How do we fight this?

I don't have all the answers. In fact, this blog post is helping me realize how often and how casually I use presumptive wording. (HINT: My biggest one is justification.)

What I plan on doing in repentant action is prayerfully asking these kinds of questions:

Have I clarified what I mean? Have I understood what others mean?
Would someone outside the church be able to understand what I'm saying?
Is anything in the way I talk to others creating an obstacle?
Am I applying this head concept to heart change in my life?

For those of us in the faith, our goal is to magnify Jesus and help others in any way to see his infinite worth and majesty. One way we can further that goal is to continue to seek to use inclusive and relatable concepts and vocabulary while clinging to and living out the truth of what those words mean as the Holy Spirit works through us to make us more like Jesus.

To close, I would actually like to highlight two different representations of sanctification that have been ministering to me lately.

1. John Piper in the New City Catechism.

"Sanctification is the act of God by which he, through his Spirit and his Word, is conforming you little by little—or in big steps—into the image of his Son. So we are really becoming in our behavior righteous, really overcoming imperfections in our sanctification.
Another way to say it is like this: The power by which you daily strive to overcome the imperfections in your life is the confidence that you’re already perfect. If you get these switched around, if you think, “Okay, God demands perfection; I’ve got to become in my behavior perfect, and then God will look at me and say, ‘He’s doing pretty good; we’ll let him be perfect or count him to be perfect.’” It’s just the opposite. Because of Christ, we believe in him and what he did on the cross and his perfect life. We believe in him, and by that faith, God unites us to Christ. His perfection is counted as ours. And the evidence that we stand perfected in Christ is that we hate our sin, and we daily, by faith in his promises, strive to overcome the imperfections that exist.
So my exhortation would simply be, please don’t get these backward. The whole world gets it all backward. Other religions get it all backward, where our works and our efforts to overcome imperfections might make us pleasing to God. You never can get there that way. God reckons us as acceptable, makes us his children, counts us as righteous; and because of that righteousness we then spend a lifetime becoming what we already are."

2. David Powlison How Does Sanctification Work?

I hope this is an encouraging and helpful post! Like I said, I feel like I'm writing it to me. Thanks for reading!