Speaking the Truth in Love
Understanding each others story is really important. After all it is the lens by which each one of us perceives things. It is also the key in being able to speak the gospel to one another and being sympathetic to the fact that all of us are broken and need to be redeemed.
In my own story I have realized that I have put more confidence in a prayer that I prayed, one not even found in the scriptures, instead of Jesus. I was so much more concerned for my eternal destiny after I died, then I was about now and the eternal kingdom breaking in my world right now. I believed it was all about me, my calling, and then after I died Jesus would do whatever he did in heaven before God and I was covered. Now I understand it is about giving him my whole life and not just my afterlife. The gospel has meant much more to me then a decision I made at some point in time. I have now realized that the gospel is there for all of us as a common language, to build each other up in Christ, that I may worship as he truly is rather then what I have made him to be. Living missionally and speaking the gospel in truth to one another is something that we need do in our every day life.
But that’s just it. What is our common language and what are we proclaiming? In my past leadership I figured out really quick the formula to having good church. I really understand how to rally people and inspire them. I know how to give them great points for living a good life, but having the knowledge and capability to understand and perform doesn’t necessarily mean I gave them Jesus. In fact, I am pretty aware now that even though we celebrated Jesus, sang about Jesus, and did our rituals around his name we never had a learned to encourage each other in Christ or speak the Gospel to one another. God has kind of interrupted me as a leader and shown me that we need to revise, shift, and change the way we approach being his church. We need to be a Gospel centered community and lead gospel centered life. That reality has led me to ask:
HOW DO WE LIVE THE GOSPEL IN ALL OF LIFE?
So let us start by reading Paul’s writing in Ephesian and see what he has to say about.
“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.” (Ephesians 4:11–21)
In the scripture above we see the DNA of what it is to be a healthy and mature people of God. This maturity and DNA is found directly in Christ as a result of being sons and daughter through his work and person. That is to say that Jesus gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers (APEST) to us because he was and is the sum of all of those giftings. In other words, there was no greater apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd or teacher then Jesus. Thus, out of himself or his own fullness he fills each one of his children with these gifts and the result is the body of Christ. It is in these gifting in the body we are to equip the body until it matures in Christ until “we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.” This maturity is measured at the end of verse 13 by the “stature of the fullness of Christ”. Therefore, it is in Christ’s body, his church, where each individual is building up each other in these gifts of APEST maturing toward his fullness.
Maturity in Christ is being at a place where you are not easily fooled and you are able to distinguish what truth is. If people grow up into maturity in Christ then they aren’t going to walk away from Jesus. Having perpetual immaturity in the church is kind of a ridiculous idea when we read that God is growing us up into his fullness, unity, and maturity. This idea is one birthed culturally from an atmosphere created by the institution that we would have a bunch of people just kind of show up be depending on paid staff for programatic discipleship and and a main meeting to try to fulfill the APEST gift within the meeting itself.
If the apostle Paul was here and saw that that’s what the majority of our churches were doing, he would be shocked and in wonder. I think he would say, “Didn’t you, personally, know that this was your job and you are to use your gifts in this world to spread his glory?” In other words, to actually grow people up in their faith? It can’t be 1 or 2 people telling you how to live every week, it’s everyone growing up into Christ as his body together.
Paul continues in verse 14 to show us the influence of Christlikeness and the affects of APEST in the body. He states that that the craftiness of other stories, doctrines, and human cunningness will no longer infiltrate our hearts or minds because, as verse 15-16 explains, the gifts of APEST are working through the body of Christ as we begin to speak a common language of “truth in love” we grow up “into Christ who is the head” of his church. Thus, when each part of the body is speaking the truth in love we are equipping each other in Christ and building each other into his likeness. This is what it means to be mature. Everyone speaking the truth of the gospel to each other and building each other up. We are dependent on one another to grow into godly biblical maturity as opposed to just a guy on stage giving sermons.
As we move forward in verses 17- 19 we see that as the mature body of Christ finds itself in Jesus, the gifts of APEST flow freely building up one another in Christ. The cause of this grace flows from Jesus through the gifts he have each one of us, his body, and in serving as he served, we begin to operate for the others rather then for self. So no longer are we operating in futility of thinking, darkened from understanding, alienated from God because of hardness of heart. Those things reign supreme among those who are not found in Christ. Verse 19-20 tells us that those who are not found in Christ find fulfillment outside of his person and gifts seeking sensuality and fulfillment in impurity. It is hear that Paul is adamant to all of us saying, “That is not how you learned Christ!” Instead we find that in receiving the Gospel we receive Jesus and we were taught the truth. That truth is Jesus. He is the truth for all life in all areas of life. Our understanding of this becomes vital to the walk of those who claim to be Jesus’s. For as we learn about APEST and what a mature body of Christ is we also learn that we are to speak a common language amongst each other. Paul’s tells us that we are to speak the “truth” in love (v15). Speaking the truth in love is speaking Jesus to one another, or as we like to call it being Gospel fluent.
Many times when we have heard the passage of scripture talking about “speaking the truth in love” we have taken this phrase out of its context and redefine it to mean “saying something hard to someone in love”. For example, we might tell someone that we don’t like the shirt they have on and feel it’s our duty to tell that person because we are “speaking the truth in love” to them for there own good. In essence we have used this phrase in this manner to make judgments of each other and to give ourselves an excuse to speak those judgments in a loving way. The problem is that this passage does not mean that and by using it in this way we have not only taken it out of its context, but used it in our own context in our own way trading what could of been good news for a passing of judgment. The best way to understand what this means is to let the scripture interpret themselves. Paul does define what “speaking the truth in love” means as we continue to read from verse 15 to verse 21. There he defines truth as Jesus. So speaking the truth to one another is speaking the truth of Jesus to one another. We cannot grow up into Christ and in maturity without speaking Christ to someone. Therefore we need to speak the Gospel to each other and to others.
Many times in the institutional realm of Christianity we tend to reduce things down so much that we often offered propositions and concepts from the pulpit to the people and then we leave them in the hands of the audience asking nothing in return but to hear. We have turned, for example, speaking the truth in love into speaking conceptually about justification or sanctification. While these are good concepts for understanding the work Jesus did on the cross, it is not the same as speaking the truth about Jesus in their lives. When we add an “AND” to Jesus, like Jesus AND justification, it can potentially turn them away from the person of Jesus if they do not get Jesus through those things.
For example,
Jesus AND Church
Jesus AND Giving
Jesus AND Tithing
Jesus AND Singing
Jesus AND Bible Study
Jesus AND Events
While these things are not evil by any means, they are not the person of Jesus who is the answer to every question we have. If you give people Jesus AND something, like bible study, they may like the studying the bible more then Jesus. This holds true to all spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, and reading ones bible. The practices of disciplines don’t grow you up in Christ. The only thing that can grow you up in Christ is Christ. If you don’t get Christ in your disciplines then you will be like the Pharisees in John 5:39 who were blinded by the very scriptures they devoted themselves to.
““You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!” (John 5:39, NLT)
This helps us to understand that the point is not to get good truths from scriptures. The Pharisees searched the scriptures for God’s truth but rejected Jesus. The point is to get the truth, Jesus. Any discipline we undertake isn’t for disciplines sake, but for the drawing in near to Jesus. Therefore, we need to learn the language of love and speak that to one another and let it be the proclamation of our heart to this world. That language is Jesus and we need to be gospel fluent so we speak the good news of Jesus to all of life.
In my own story I have realized that I have put more confidence in a prayer that I prayed, one not even found in the scriptures, instead of Jesus. I was so much more concerned for my eternal destiny after I died, then I was about now and the eternal kingdom breaking in my world right now. I believed it was all about me, my calling, and then after I died Jesus would do whatever he did in heaven before God and I was covered. Now I understand it is about giving him my whole life and not just my afterlife. The gospel has meant much more to me then a decision I made at some point in time. I have now realized that the gospel is there for all of us as a common language, to build each other up in Christ, that I may worship as he truly is rather then what I have made him to be. Living missionally and speaking the gospel in truth to one another is something that we need do in our every day life.
But that’s just it. What is our common language and what are we proclaiming? In my past leadership I figured out really quick the formula to having good church. I really understand how to rally people and inspire them. I know how to give them great points for living a good life, but having the knowledge and capability to understand and perform doesn’t necessarily mean I gave them Jesus. In fact, I am pretty aware now that even though we celebrated Jesus, sang about Jesus, and did our rituals around his name we never had a learned to encourage each other in Christ or speak the Gospel to one another. God has kind of interrupted me as a leader and shown me that we need to revise, shift, and change the way we approach being his church. We need to be a Gospel centered community and lead gospel centered life. That reality has led me to ask:
HOW DO WE LIVE THE GOSPEL IN ALL OF LIFE?
So let us start by reading Paul’s writing in Ephesian and see what he has to say about.
“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.” (Ephesians 4:11–21)
In the scripture above we see the DNA of what it is to be a healthy and mature people of God. This maturity and DNA is found directly in Christ as a result of being sons and daughter through his work and person. That is to say that Jesus gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers (APEST) to us because he was and is the sum of all of those giftings. In other words, there was no greater apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd or teacher then Jesus. Thus, out of himself or his own fullness he fills each one of his children with these gifts and the result is the body of Christ. It is in these gifting in the body we are to equip the body until it matures in Christ until “we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.” This maturity is measured at the end of verse 13 by the “stature of the fullness of Christ”. Therefore, it is in Christ’s body, his church, where each individual is building up each other in these gifts of APEST maturing toward his fullness.
Maturity in Christ is being at a place where you are not easily fooled and you are able to distinguish what truth is. If people grow up into maturity in Christ then they aren’t going to walk away from Jesus. Having perpetual immaturity in the church is kind of a ridiculous idea when we read that God is growing us up into his fullness, unity, and maturity. This idea is one birthed culturally from an atmosphere created by the institution that we would have a bunch of people just kind of show up be depending on paid staff for programatic discipleship and and a main meeting to try to fulfill the APEST gift within the meeting itself.
If the apostle Paul was here and saw that that’s what the majority of our churches were doing, he would be shocked and in wonder. I think he would say, “Didn’t you, personally, know that this was your job and you are to use your gifts in this world to spread his glory?” In other words, to actually grow people up in their faith? It can’t be 1 or 2 people telling you how to live every week, it’s everyone growing up into Christ as his body together.
Paul continues in verse 14 to show us the influence of Christlikeness and the affects of APEST in the body. He states that that the craftiness of other stories, doctrines, and human cunningness will no longer infiltrate our hearts or minds because, as verse 15-16 explains, the gifts of APEST are working through the body of Christ as we begin to speak a common language of “truth in love” we grow up “into Christ who is the head” of his church. Thus, when each part of the body is speaking the truth in love we are equipping each other in Christ and building each other into his likeness. This is what it means to be mature. Everyone speaking the truth of the gospel to each other and building each other up. We are dependent on one another to grow into godly biblical maturity as opposed to just a guy on stage giving sermons.
As we move forward in verses 17- 19 we see that as the mature body of Christ finds itself in Jesus, the gifts of APEST flow freely building up one another in Christ. The cause of this grace flows from Jesus through the gifts he have each one of us, his body, and in serving as he served, we begin to operate for the others rather then for self. So no longer are we operating in futility of thinking, darkened from understanding, alienated from God because of hardness of heart. Those things reign supreme among those who are not found in Christ. Verse 19-20 tells us that those who are not found in Christ find fulfillment outside of his person and gifts seeking sensuality and fulfillment in impurity. It is hear that Paul is adamant to all of us saying, “That is not how you learned Christ!” Instead we find that in receiving the Gospel we receive Jesus and we were taught the truth. That truth is Jesus. He is the truth for all life in all areas of life. Our understanding of this becomes vital to the walk of those who claim to be Jesus’s. For as we learn about APEST and what a mature body of Christ is we also learn that we are to speak a common language amongst each other. Paul’s tells us that we are to speak the “truth” in love (v15). Speaking the truth in love is speaking Jesus to one another, or as we like to call it being Gospel fluent.
Many times when we have heard the passage of scripture talking about “speaking the truth in love” we have taken this phrase out of its context and redefine it to mean “saying something hard to someone in love”. For example, we might tell someone that we don’t like the shirt they have on and feel it’s our duty to tell that person because we are “speaking the truth in love” to them for there own good. In essence we have used this phrase in this manner to make judgments of each other and to give ourselves an excuse to speak those judgments in a loving way. The problem is that this passage does not mean that and by using it in this way we have not only taken it out of its context, but used it in our own context in our own way trading what could of been good news for a passing of judgment. The best way to understand what this means is to let the scripture interpret themselves. Paul does define what “speaking the truth in love” means as we continue to read from verse 15 to verse 21. There he defines truth as Jesus. So speaking the truth to one another is speaking the truth of Jesus to one another. We cannot grow up into Christ and in maturity without speaking Christ to someone. Therefore we need to speak the Gospel to each other and to others.
Many times in the institutional realm of Christianity we tend to reduce things down so much that we often offered propositions and concepts from the pulpit to the people and then we leave them in the hands of the audience asking nothing in return but to hear. We have turned, for example, speaking the truth in love into speaking conceptually about justification or sanctification. While these are good concepts for understanding the work Jesus did on the cross, it is not the same as speaking the truth about Jesus in their lives. When we add an “AND” to Jesus, like Jesus AND justification, it can potentially turn them away from the person of Jesus if they do not get Jesus through those things.
For example,
Jesus AND Church
Jesus AND Giving
Jesus AND Tithing
Jesus AND Singing
Jesus AND Bible Study
Jesus AND Events
While these things are not evil by any means, they are not the person of Jesus who is the answer to every question we have. If you give people Jesus AND something, like bible study, they may like the studying the bible more then Jesus. This holds true to all spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, and reading ones bible. The practices of disciplines don’t grow you up in Christ. The only thing that can grow you up in Christ is Christ. If you don’t get Christ in your disciplines then you will be like the Pharisees in John 5:39 who were blinded by the very scriptures they devoted themselves to.
““You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!” (John 5:39, NLT)
This helps us to understand that the point is not to get good truths from scriptures. The Pharisees searched the scriptures for God’s truth but rejected Jesus. The point is to get the truth, Jesus. Any discipline we undertake isn’t for disciplines sake, but for the drawing in near to Jesus. Therefore, we need to learn the language of love and speak that to one another and let it be the proclamation of our heart to this world. That language is Jesus and we need to be gospel fluent so we speak the good news of Jesus to all of life.