What do Ducky and Phil, from Duck Dynasty, have in common?

 

Question... What do Ducky and Phil, from Duck Dynasty, have in common?  

Answer...  They both speak to dead people.  

Let's me explain.  Fans of NCIS know that Ducky, the Forensic Scientist tasked with determining the cause of death in the latest victim, is known to speak to the bodies he is examining.  (It sounds creepy, but, somehow, it is quite endearing.)

Phil, from Duck Dynasty, represents a host of people who speak about lifestyle issues to people the Apostle Paul describes as spiritually dead. (in this case, as the fallout from the recent GQ I article shows, it is quite creepy and far from endearing.)

For the record, I never watched Duck Dynasty. I am not concerned about A&E’s decision to suspend Phil.  I do not write to affirm or distance myself from Phil’s crude comments about homosexuality and the “improved” status of minorities in America.  I am writing about talking to the dead.

Take a few minutes to read a portion of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, specifically chapter 2, verses 1-10.

Paul is writing to followers of Jesus living in the thriving city of Ephesus.  In Chapter 2, Paul reviews their spiritual journey.  He begins by saying, "as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins..." Even without context, it is easy to understand that the readers of Paul's letter were quite alive and well.  Paul reminded his readers that they were spiritually dead, prior to coming to faith in Jesus.  

This current debacle provides at least two lessons for followers of Jesus. 

1- You don't always have to take a side.  In situations like this, we instantly fall in line between party or position A or B. There is usually an aggressor and a victim.  In this case there is a corporate powerhouse and Phil, the cartoonish character of Duck Dynasty.  If we take sides in the debacle de jour, we put ourselves in a position to defend “our guy.”  Sometimes we should take three steps back and wait until the “circus” leaves town!

2- We are to call people to a personal faith in Jesus. We are not to call the spiritually “dead” to lifestyle choices.  Speaking to followers of Jesus in the city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul said, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?” 1Cor. 5:12

Ducky, the NCIS’s Forensic Scientist, would never exhort his cold, stiff, corpse to get up and dance.  Why, because it is impossible for a dead man to dance!

In the same way, Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets never called a person to a lifestyle change.  They called people to a personal faith, a new birth, in which we are made spiritually alive. They called people to a personal faith in which the Holy Spirit of God indwells a person giving them a new heart, a new mind and new desires.

SO, let the followers of Jesus be wise.  Let us “preach” faith in Christ, alone.