I’ve been thinking about Dane Ortlund’s post on self-promotion in recent days, and at least one commenter on this blog thinks I need to think about it some more! I appreciate the spirit of Dane’s post, but I think we should probe the issues to get at the heart behind actions before we make policy proposals (or evaluate others who don’t adopt our own policy).
To that end, I’m going to ask some questions and offer some thoughts. These are tending in a certain direction, which I hope will become apparent, yea, obvious. At the end of this post I’ll pose some questions about Dane directly. That may incline you to scroll directly to the end, but please do read what’s between here and there.
Is it self-promoting to want to help people understand the Bible?
Maybe. Could be. Before we can say one way or another, we need to know more about that desire, don’t we?
If the aim of helping people to understand the Bible is ultimately so that we can advance ourselves, self-promotion would seem to be an issue.
But what if, as far as we can tell, we’re operating on a genuine desire to serve others? Love for God manifesting itself in love for God’s word and God’s people, provoked by the challenges God’s people face.
If that’s what’s driving someone, would self-promotion still be a concern?
Maybe. Let’s think about specifics.
Consider a few scenarios:
- You come up with a winsome, convincing explanation of the gospel. Are you promoting yourself if you post that explanation online and then try to entice people to check it out?
- You regularly have the opportunity to preach and teach the Bible, and recordings are posted online. Are you promoting yourself if you link to these things and try to make clear what might be of use in them?
- As you try to help people understand the Bible, you write a book. Are you promoting yourself if you try to explain why you think people will be helped by it if they read it?
- Someone interviews you about the book and posts the interview online. Are you promoting yourself if you mention the topics of the interview and link to the audio?
- What if you don’t do any of the linking yourself but someone who works for you (or a whole team of someone’s) does it? Is it self-promoting to try to get the word out in these various ways?
- Dane distinguishes between an individual marketing his own stuff and a corporation doing it. I assume he’s referring to things like publishers doing the marketing. What if publishing companies expect authors to do their own marketing? Are we forced to choose between no marketing or self-promotion? Are those the only choices?
It seems to me that we still have to respond, “well, maybe, it depends . . .”
Perhaps someone will think that this post is just Hamilton justifying himself since he does all of the above. If these things are inherently sinful, I’m guilty. Maybe you can tell by now that I’m asking questions to get at whether these things are inherently self-promotional.
How do we know whether self-promotion is happening? Doesn’t it depend on what our hearts crave?
What’s driving us? Are we trying to make a name for ourselves? Are we trying to make money, to build a platform, to raise a profile, etc.?
Or are we trying to tell anyone who will listen (or read) how great Jesus is?
Are we trying to answer questions we know people have about the Bible?
Are we trying to refute false teachers?
Are we trying to show other beggars where we found bread?
Are we trying to stir others up to love God and neighbor?
Are we contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints?
Is there a way to do these things that is neither self-promoting nor obnoxious?
Who is in position to evaluate what is motivating another?
We can look at our own hearts, and perhaps we’ll have a good sense of the hearts of those we really know. Forming impressions of others is inevitable. How can we best serve them?
What Am I Getting At In These Questions?
It is possible to attempt to promote oneself while trying to look like we’re not promoting ourselves.
That’s a real danger.
I want to avoid it.
Let me know if you think I haven’t.
I don’t want to be a stumbling block.
More than that, I don’t want an arrogant, self-exalted heart.
That shows through whether we promote ourselves or not.
It’s also possible to cloak our pride in a false humility that results in a counter-productive refusal to make it easy for people to find things we’ve written, things that could help them, things they may actually be looking for.
So I don’t want to do the proud thing because it would make me look humble, refusing to do the humble thing because I think it could make me look proud.
What we need is to get at the forces in our hearts that result in us promoting ourselves.
Refusing to link to our own writings or sermons will not make our hearts un-self-promotional. We could be proud of ourselves for being so pious. Have you ever had the sense that someone had put on a show of humility that masked an ugly combination of pride and insecurity?
We don’t want to forbid manifestations of a self-promoting heart so we can hide our self-promoting hearts.
What should we do when we sense that our hearts are slipping into self-promotion?
I don’t think a list of rules, or a policy about what we will or won’t link, will change our hearts. What we need is to re-focus our hearts away from self-exaltation to God-exaltation. We must take our thoughts captive to the knowledge of Christ whenever we feel them slipping in the self-promotional direction. Christ, who though exalted over all, humbled himself to serve others.
Let’s Make This Personal (in love and sincerity!)
A few questions about Dane:
Have I heard of Dane Ortlund?
Yes.
From what I know about him, am I interested in what he has written, taught, or preached?
Definitely.
Would I like to be able to find his sermons, lectures, and writings online with the magnificent ease of a Google search?
Absolutely! I’m especially interested in his dissertation, but I can’t find the title of it on his blog. I bet the PDF could be made available, and from what I do know, I hope it will be widely read.
Do I think that Dane should link up his own writings, lectures, and sermons on his blog?
To exalt himself? Certainly not. To exalt the Father by faith in Christ through the power of the Spirit? Absolutely.
Do I hope he does this?
You bet.
I’d love to see Dane do this, but I recognize that it’s a matter of conscience, so it’s up to him.
May the Lord confirm the work of our hands, may he give us humble hearts, and may he keep us from being stumbling blocks as we seek to proclaim the gospel of the glory of God in Christ.
Our watchwords were Defense, Dedication, Discipline, and everyone on the team learned the definition of discipline: doing what you’re supposed to do, when you’re supposed to do it, to the best of your ability, every time. Everyone responsible for everyone else. Bloodhounds for rebounds. We didn’t buy a ticket, so we’re not standing around watching. Leave it all on the floor, baby, go hard or go home.
