Being Right in the Wrong Way

Quite a few years ago, my friend and “preaching hero,” Myron J. Taylor wrote a wonderful article for Christian Standard titled “Speaking the Truth in Love.” It was classic Myron Taylor – connected to the text in Ephesians 4:15 that says “speaking the truth in love,” well thought out, well written, and challenging. 

More than a few people wrote “letters to the editor,” – some of which were published – suggesting that Taylor wasn’t quite “true to the faith” and was allowing something as “warm and fuzzy” as “love” cause him to compromise “truth.” Those aren’t exact quotes of those letters, but do reflect the spirit they portrayed.

Apparently those folks would have had issues with Paul. After all, he is the one who said, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects to him who is the head even Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15, NASB)

If you follow social media at all, you likely are exposed to a whole lot of “speaking something like the truth, without love.” Over the past few weeks I’ve seen “Jesus really isn’t ‘the reason for the season’ the fact that I am a sinner is;” “as a husband, if I’m not ‘correcting my wife’ it could cause her to end up lost,” “Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem as good citizens, just to pay taxes,” and lots more. All of this kind of “truth” is connected to some Scripture text in a way that suggests it is “absolute” in terms of its “truthfulness.” None of it was said with any authentic indication of what “in love” had to have meant to Paul.

Where did we get the idea that “truth” and “love” are competing ideals? In this Ephesians text, Paul’s phrase “speaking the truth” employs a word group that is ultimately centered in Jesus Himself, who said, using a noun form of this verb, “I am the truth.” (John 14:6) This particular verb is used only twice in the entire New Testament – Ephesians 4:15 and Galatians 4:16. You can’t read either of these texts in their context and think that Paul thinks that truth and love are competing ideals.

The “in love phrase” in Ephesians 4 is the word for love we all likely have heard a time or two in church – agape. The word isn’t so much the “warm and fuzzy” sense we often associate with love, but rather, “intelligent good will” as my first Greek teacher, Jim Evans (long-time EES Executive Director) insisted it meant. If I’m putting the meaning of these two words – “speaking the truth” and “in love” – together appropriately, then my goal for speaking the truth ought to be centered in good will for those who hear (or read) my words.

Interestingly, the goal of “speaking the truth in love” is that those who hear us will grow up in all aspects to Christ, the head of the Church. When I see truth and love as competing ideals, my “speaking in the truth” likely sounds more like condemnation than encouragement to grow up and be more and more like Christ – in all aspects of my life. When I see truth and love as two sides of the same coin – the potential is that I sound like I want you to join me in growing up to be more and more like Christ, who is “truth” and “love” in a rather remarkable fashion.

Going back to my friend Myron Taylor – I heard him preach many times. I read lots of his sermons. His articles in “The Cathedral Messenger” became the impetus for lots of my own thinking and preaching. I’ve read the books he wrote.

He was committed to “truth” but did it in a way that let me know he loved me (and the truth) enough to want it to attract me to it rather than feel condemned by it. 

Most of us reading this can no doubt make quite a list of things we believe to be “the truth” about who Jesus is and what difference he makes. Like is true for me, truth probably fascinates you as you think about “the God who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17) and the fact that He cares about us.

But . . . if in speaking that “truth” I don’t sound as though I love you enough to want you to embrace it as truth in your life – then “truth” is spoken, but not “heard.” Thus, we find ourselves “being right in the wrong way.”

My resolution for the new year upon us – speak the truth in love!

Getting Out Of Church!

It was the Friday after Thanksgiving – Black Friday as we call it in our culture – and after the crowds had become less intense, my two daughters and I went to Target. As we were rather aimlessly walking around the store, we ran into a Mom and her toddler son with whom we go to church. 

The little boy is at the stage where non-stop talking is the norm and he was talking up a storm with my two daughters and his mom, when all of a sudden he realized I was there. Looking directly at me, he said, “How did you get out of church?”  I replied with, “That’s a great question.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about that question. I’m confident that my toddler friend assumes that since he only sees me “at church” then somehow it is amazing that on Black Friday I was “out of church.” But could that innocent question from a toddler that made me, my two daughters, and his Mom laugh actually be one of those “out of the mouths of babes” moments? Especially during this season of the year where Advent quickly rushes us toward Christmas – a season filled with opportunities to be Jesus to the world around us – if only we could “get out of church.”

One of my favorite church plant stories in Acts is the one found in Acts 16 about Paul and his missionary companions as they visit Philippi. Luke tells us that Paul and his friends had been in the city for several days, perhaps doing some research about where they might find a place of opportunity. On the Sabbath Day, Luke says “they went outside the city gate.” Interestingly, Luke uses a verb that means “to go outside of” and then adds a preposition that means “out of.” What we would see as redundancy in English may very well be emphatic about “go out of, out of the city gates.”

Their research (“we supposed there was a place of prayer” in 16:24) suggested there might be a place where there would be an opportunity to say a word about Jesus. Sure enough, they found a place of prayer by the river where a group of “God-worshipping women” met. Most likely, these are Gentile women who like the God of Israel but aren’t too impressed with His people, the Jews. 

Amazingly, in a cross-cultural exercise of faith, Paul and his friends sit down with the women, have a conversation, and the outcome is that Lydia and her family become believers and are baptized and the church who would later receive the wonderful epistle we call Philippians was born. 

Crazy things happen when we are willing to get “outside” of whatever places we normally allow to define us. For the church in our day, many of us do allow the place where we worship on Sunday to be the defining reality of our faith.

What if, during Advent as it leads up to Christmas, we decided to get “outside of out of the church” (to use Luke’s redundancy) and find a place where we can go and have a conversation about Jesus that leads to people coming to know him as Redeemer?

Even more challenging, what if – like Paul and his companions – we found a place to have that conversation that was challenging to our cultural norms? That could be a group whose ethnicity is different. Or a group from a different socio-economic category than we occupy. Or what about people with different politics? Or people of different faiths?

It’s one thing to talk about the division and tension in our culture. It really isn’t hard to see. But it is a whole different thing to have the courage to do something about it!

Perhaps my little toddler buddy was on to something. We all ought to “get out of the church” for a moment and find someone with whom we can have a conversation about Jesus!

After all - we insist that "He is the reason for the season!"

Point Preaching Students and Q Union

Christian colleges and universities like Point are constantly asked “how many preachers are you graduating?” I often want to respond with “as many as you will send us to educate” but of course that would be viewed as a bit on the rude side of things.

The real answer is “not enough.” That answer is rooted in the reality that faithful, biblical commitment to Christ and His kingdom will never be “enough” until at least every person on the planet has had a fair opportunity to hear the truth about Jesus.

I am more grateful than words can express that I get to teach in a university where preaching is important. I even get to teach some in the area of preaching and ministry alongside of amazing colleagues. But I’m also thrilled that at the place where I get to teach, we actually believe in the biblical idea of the priesthood of all believers and have the audacity to think that every graduate of Point ought to be engaged in kingdom ministry!

I could give dozens of example about that idea – but let me offer one that makes the point. A few years ago a business graduate decided to go and spend a year in the residency program at Christ Church of the Valley in Arizona – with whom Point has a partnership. He finished the program with flying colors and is now coaching cross-country at Point. He doesn’t have a preaching degree, but please don’t tell me you don’t think he isn’t doing ministry! Like all Point graduates, he does have a minor in biblical studies to go along with his business degree and benefited as well from his experiences at CCV. 

I could tell you about a counseling graduate who is doing campus ministry with Globalscope today. Or lots of teachers in public school systems who not only excel as teachers, but take the light of the world into their classrooms every day. I could tell you of another counseling major who is in India doing ministry right now and several students in law school because they believe that our justice system is in dire need of help.

None of that discounts the importance of preaching majors – but it does remind us of how important the “stand-along-side-of” nature of ministry really is. To not recognize that and think that “only preaching students matter” is to revert to a kind of clergy system that the Reformation – 500 years old this month – pushed back.

But . . . let me tell you about three of our preaching major students. 

For the second year, Point was privileged to host a local gathering of Q Union – a part of the Q Ideas group. Led by Gabe Lyons, Q is helping the church  honestly address and talk about important, but often difficult issues.

The theme for last night’s Q Union was “Healing Our Divided Nation.”  Through a video feed, our students were able to hear David Brooks, a conservative columnist for the New York Times, talk about “Cultivating Virtue.” They heard Kara Powell, executive director of Fuller Seminary’s youth initiative, talk about “Addiction to Technology.” They heard Christian rap artist Propaganda talk about our “Critical Moment” as a culture and nation.

But they also were privileged to hear three Point students speak. Isaiah Ross, a senior football player, spoke on the theme “Unlikely Neighbors.” Abbigail Contreras, a senior cross-country runner, spoke on the idea of “Restoring Human Dignity.” Colby Freeman. a senior doing youth ministry in the area, spoke on “The Color of Kingdom.”

All three are graduating either in December or May with degrees in biblical studies and preaching. At Point, that is a pretty academically challenging degree, and all three have exceled in this program. At least one of these students will do the residency program at CCV next fall, but I have no doubt that all three are kingdom impact kind of people.

Two things stood out to me last night as I listened to them speak. First, they are really good preachers. Their abilities in communicating truth are impressive. Second, each one of them had something to say – reflecting the idea that a Point graduate in preaching is prepared not only to stand up in front of a crowd and say something – but to actually have something important to say. Third, they are living in a world of the past where so many pretended that the real issues weren't real. Their “nine minute talks” – a Q requirement – reflected four years of good education, a life-time of thinking about the kingdom, and a passion to make the world a better place. 

As the person who was responsible for the Q Union event, I had to pick three students to speak. The challenge was not “can I find three who will do a good job?” but “how do I pick three and not a lot of others?” And I had the same challenge last year when we hosted Q Union – “which three among many do I pick?”

I’m going to stick with my answer above: “not enough.” There really aren’t enough students like Abby, Isaiah, and Colby – and countless others like them at Point. But the simple truth is that if it weren’t for Point, there might not be an Abby, Isaiah, and Colby – and countless other students who are determined to make a kingdom impact on the world.

If you want to check me out and see if I’m telling the truth, you can check Point’s website and social media sites and listen to the sermons. But, a word of caution – don’t do that unless you are willing for three very fine young adults to push the Jesus story upfront and challenge you!