The Posture of Convicted Civility

Greetings to All,

Jesus’ convicted civility is most clearly on display in His radical inclusiveness and exclusiveness. Jesus is radically inclusive. He is willing to dialogue with people and engage with them where they are, and as they are. He will dine with sinners and the outcasts without condemning them—He lived freely in the tension that their convictions and lifestyle are in contrast to His own. Yet He maintained truth and standards that demanded total loyalty.

His inclusivity never compromised His convictions as He called for trust in Him exclusively. He invited all into repentance out of their sin. But Jesus also affirmed their value while not condoning the aspects of their lives that did not align with the ethical dimension of the Kingdom of God. This seems so gray and messy, right? Yet Jesus is capable of living in these fuzzy areas. So we must ask, how can we adopt such a posture?

A basic rule of thumb for the posture of civility: “Concentrate on your own sinfulness and on the other person’s humanness.” This posture is cruciform.

The cross brings us to an awareness of our own corruption, rebellion, brokenness and misplaced convictions. It knocks us off any pedestals we might want to prop ourselves up on and we fall onto level ground at the foot of the cross. The cross is radically inclusive, all are welcome and nobody is so foregone as to have excluded themselves from the offer of God’s saving love. The cross also tells us of our immeasurable worth to God. It is because of love that Jesus was willing to sacrifice Himself for us all. The cross is the extent to which God is willing to show us that His love has no bounds. 

Convicted civility is birthed when we focus on the humiliation of the cross for ourselves and the exaltation of the cross for others. It takes root in us when we focus on what the cross tells us about our brokenness, and the value of the person sitting across from us. Christ on the cross is where we must always begin when engaging other people.