Speaking The Truth In Love

By Ronny E. Hinds

Having and knowing the truth on any issue is not sufficient. We must speak the truth out of a disposition of love for the one being taught. Every elder, preacher, teacher and member must understand and be warned by this.

Why? Because the Scriptures teach it. Paul’s God-inspired statement to the Christians in Ephesus is, “but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head – Christ” (4:15).

This text is interesting because it is found amid warnings of being “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, in cunning craftiness” (4:14) and yet we are to speak the truth in love. It would be so easy under those circumstances to lash back, to use their corrupt, ungodly tactics. But that is the way children act and “we should no longer be children” (4:14).

Instead we are to grow up. We are to allow Christ to rule our lives as brethren. He is our head “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (4:16).

The Lord’s servant is instructed not to “quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil” (2 Tim. 2:24-26).

Teaching the truth to people caught in sin is not easy. No one likes to be informed that the life he is living is wrong. Frequently anger is displayed toward the one doing the teaching. Often his friends and weak Christians do not understand why you are saying those things. They get angry at you. Once, Jesus’ disciples reported to him that his words had offended people. Jesus answered, “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind” (Matt. 15:12-14).

As long as we are teaching the truth and manifesting a disposition of love and care for the one lost in sin, then we are doing what we are supposed to do. If others detract then, “let them alone,” that is, “let it go, pay no attention to their detractions, ignore them.” For the Lord’s servant is not looking for a quarrel, but with patience and humility is seeking to bring about correction in the life of the one who is sinning. The Lord’s servant is not to become involved in a war of words, a battle over who is right, but is always to be seeking lost souls. Vindication of self or “our side” is not the issue – saving of souls is! We must carefully and honestly search our hearts to make sure our motives are right and pure. Without this, we condemn ourselves no matter how right we are.

The essence of this biblical teaching is well expressed in the saying, “truth without love is brutality, but love without truth is hypocrisy.” Truth and love go together. One without the other is a perversion of God’s will. Yet we are often guilty of such. We often cloth our failure to speak the truth to those who need it by saying we love them, we don’t want to hurt them. Such is hypocrisy. It is not real love. If we loved them, truly loved them, we would lovingly speak the truth that would correct the sin in their lives. No, it is not easy. Yes, they and others may misunderstand, accuse us of meddling, being self-righteous, and all the other things people often say. But the Lord knows our heart and his advice would be “let them alone.”

Long ago the wise man Solomon made this inspired observation. “Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Prov. 27:5-6). Think about those words. Pray about them. Pray for wisdom that you can make them a part of your life. Let us encourage one another to be the friends we ought to be and not be deceitful!

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 9, pp. 257, 279
May 3, 1990

Humility and Understanding

By Larry Ray Hafley

A false piety often emerges when men speak of the mysteries of God in hushed tones. They plumb the depths of a doctrine and, finding no bottom, they declare that it is an enigma, a mystery, one of God’s secret things (Deut. 29:29). Now, these people have a doctrine, an opinion, which they can expound in murky jargon (great swelling words), but if one questions or probes their reasoning, they resort to the “deep mysteries,” which, they aver, are ultimately known “only to God Himself.” This feigned humility of God’s absolute knowledge and one’s own finite understanding is a convenient rock to crawl under when one espouses a view which will not survive the scrutiny of study.

God’s ways and thoughts are higher than man’s (Isa. 40:14; 55:8,9). There are some things which are “hard to be understood” (2 Pet. 3:16), and “great is the mystery of godliness” (1 Cor. 2:9; 1 Tim. 3:16). However, it is no virtue that obscures revelation and hobbles the understanding under the cloak and guise of “deep reverence for the infinite God.” Men, even humble men, may use a pretense of humbled understanding in order to maintain control of other men’s minds, faith and consciences. Genuine humility does not despise or disparage human reasoning and intellect in searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:11).

When men find their positions untenable, they may begin to decry “intellectual pride” and to declaim the “folly of human reasoning” in knowing “the great things of God.” If patriotism is “the last refuge of a scoundrel,” a foggy mysticism is the last refuge of scoundrels whose arguments are weak.

If we say God has revealed a doctrine, we must be willing to prove it (1 Pet. 4:11). Beware of those who have an opinion or a doctrine which they promote, but who, when challenged, hide under the shoals of “mysteries,” on the shores of mysticism and in the depths of the “Infinite.” A “point of faith” can be believed only as it is understood. The head of understanding must not be severed from the heart of faith (Acts 8:34-37; Rom. 6:17,18).

If we douse the intellect and quench reason, we will be as wildly scattered as any current of emotion can convey us. No pagan or Pentecostal superstition can exceed in frenzy or enthusiasm the pious soul which is cut off from his mind (cf. Acts 17; Col. 2). Faith, James said, if it hath not works, is dead. Faith, if it hath not understanding, based on revelation, is blind, raging, a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Such a faith is the core of sectarian denominationalism.

A doctrine, whether baptism or any other, may escape one’s comprehension due to a variety of causes which are not germane to our discussion. For example, consider the Ethiopian eunuch. The central object, the chief protagonist of Isaiah 53, eluded him. When the evangelist inquired, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” his reply was, “How can I except some man should guide me?” This was not the place to initiate a humility that said, “God’s ways are past finding out. It cannot be known.” Or worse, suppose the eunuch had a prejudice against Jesus. When Jesus was shown to be the answer to his query, he could have slid into his “human intellect” garment and assumed his pious and pretentious mask of humility and declared that “the true understanding of Isaiah 53’s character is forever obscured in the recesses of God’s infinite wisdom.”

If the subject or topic is beyond understanding, why expend energy to bolster a blind faith in that which is forever uncertain, nebulous and enigmatic? If, on the other hand, the subject (baptism, the millennium, marriage, music) is a matter of reason and revelation, why not expend the necessary effort to understand what God has said? Study is better than throwing dust and muddying the water (2 Tim. 2:15). If one’s views are hesitant or cloudy, he gains nothing by arguing that mere fact (i.e., his hesitance and dim understanding). Perhaps he should scoot over in his chariot and allow someone else to guide him in the way of truth more perfectly.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 8, p. 239
April 19, 1990

Students in the Classroom of Jesus

By Jeff May

Ephesians 4:17-24 makes for good reading. In only eight verses, the Christian receives a wealth of information on how to conduct his life. A very clear distinction is made here between the world and those who have been taught by Christ. In fact, you could take a pencil and draw a line between verses 19 and 20 and have the dividing line between those in sin and those who are righteous.

In verses 17-19 Paul refers to the common walk of life among the Gentiles. These people pursued vain interests. They removed themselves from the source of eternal life, hardened their hearts so they could feel no regret and then gave themselves over to unbridled lust and uncleanness.

Next, in reference to Christians, Paul says, “But you have not so learned Christ.” He has drawn a dividing line and the message is simple. He is telling these Christians that they did not learn Christ to be of that sort! Those who have been taught by Christ and have heard him and know his truth surely know that he is the opposite of all that.

I believe that Christians still need to learn this vital lesson. We cannot live after the manner of the world. While we must live among sinners, we must stand out as being different. Another preacher once wrote, “Jesus could mix with publicans and sinners but he was never mistaken for one of them.” If we, as Christians, think that we can live like the world, then we have not learned Christ! True disciples realize this world is not our home. We are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” and we are seeking a “heavenly country” (Heb. 11:13-16).

Since reading Ephesians 4:20-21, I have been impressed with its message. The true Christian has learned Christ because he has been taught by him. Someone once said, “Christianity is not bought, caught, or fought but it is taught.” You cannot be a Christian without learning Christ and his doctrine. Students of Christ are sticklers for remaining in his teaching (2 Jn. 9-11; Jn. 8:31-32).

Since Jesus is my Teacher, I am to be like him. Luke 6:40 says, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher” (NKJV). My desire is that when people see my ways, they will know my Teacher. If they can’t see my Teacher, then I am not perfectly trained! People could easily see who was the source of motivation to the apostles. Notice what is said of Peter and John as they stood before the Sanhedrin council! “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Did you catch my point? Among these scholarly Jews, Peter and John were regarded as uneducated and untrained but they had no problem at all knowing whose classroom they had been in! They had been taught by Jesus and were very much like their Teacher!

Since Jesus is my Teacher and I have obeyed him, I wear his name. The Scriptures say that the “disciples were called Christians” (Acts 11:26). It is a great honor to wear the name of Christ. It is not something to be looked upon lightly because we were bought with the precious blood of Jesus, God’s Lamb. The name “Christian” is already losing its meaning in our world. People who are not Christians call themselves Christians. It is also used as an adjective to describe a “good” person. Just the other day someone told me about a man and described him as a “Christian person.” This simply meant he was a good man. Cornelius was a good person before he was converted but he wasn’t a Christian (Acts 10).

Saddest of all in our world is when people live any way they wish and still do not hesitate to call themselves Christians. We crucify Christ all over again when we do that! A story has been told about Alexander the Great and one of his soldiers. According to the story, Alexander the Great learned of a young soldier who was not conducting himself properly. The soldier’s name coincidentally was also Alexander. The young soldier was ordered to appear before Alexander the Great who very plainly told him something like this, “Young man, you will either have to change your conduct or change your name. You will not wear my name and act as you are acting.” We can take that story and make application to us. If we intend to live in the ways of sin ‘ then we should never tell anyone that we are Christians. It only hurts the cause of Christ.

Those who have been taught by Christ are controlled by his message and put their trust in Christ and his truth (Eph. 1:13). They are mastered by the word of God. A Christian’s delight “is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night” (Psa. 1:2). He will study his textbook (Bible) daily and desire to come to a full knowledge of the truth and his Teacher. On the other hand, those who have not learned Christ will perish because they did not love the truth (2 Thess. 2:9-12).

In Ephesians 4:22-24, we see the results of being taught by Jesus. Having enrolled ourselves in his class, we do not walk as others walk in life. A transformation occurs when we learn his message. In these verses, the Christian is told to “put off, concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.”

As we ponder the role of baptism, we see all of the above things happening in that act. We crucify and put off the old man of sin (Rom. 6:6), are buried with Christ (Rom. 6:4), and we put on the new man who is free of sin. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). We become like our Teacher. It’s a new life for us now. Having been set free from sin we become slaves of righteousness.

While in college, I observed many people who needed to go back and enroll in high school to learn the basics. They needed to be taught again. I perceive that many who call themselves Christians are in a similar situation. They need to repent for having failed to learn what Jesus taught them and enroll themselves again in the course of eternal life taught by the Master. Once they learned the message they should then go and be like their Teacher. Are you like your Teacher?

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 8, pp. 243-244
April 19, 1990

Proverbs 30:8: “Give Me Not Riches or Poverty”

By William C. Sexton

Here are two sides of a problem. However, one side may never be recognized as a problem – that of riches. The common response, jokingly of course, is: “I’d like to have that kind of a problem for awhile.” Yet, seriously, if one has riches, he is responsible for the proper use of them. The other side, poverty, is not desirable either. One is likely to misbehave on either side, in either case.

First, if one has riches, he is tempted to be satisfied and see no real need for God. Yet, one has the need for God’s guidance, protection, and strength to be fair, just, and caring. The Scriptures warn against such:

1. In the Old Testament. To the children of Israel, Moses exhorted, when you come into the land and have “houses full of all good things, . . . wells digged, . . . vineyards and olive trees, . . .; then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Dent. 6:10-12). The key word here is “forget.”

2. In the New Testament. 1 Timothy 6:17, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all thing to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” The key word here is “trust.”

3. The rich young man (Mk. 10:17-27; Matt. 19:16-22) seemingly wanted to serve God – However, when it came to a test of who or what came first, he chose money and went away sorrowful, “for he had great possessions.”

4. The “love of money” is the downfall of many a person. 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Secondly, if one is feeling the pain of being in poverty, he is tempted to be so dissatisfied that he fails to depend on God and truth him. All his time and effort is spent thinking about how unjustly he is treated, etc. Perhaps, he develops bitterness in his mind which eats away at him and manifests itself toward others in such a way that he harms himself and others, too.

Thus we see that neither riches nor poverty is the ideal state to be in. Responsibility is associated with each. The state of being in either, however, is not necessarily destructive. There is danger associated with each.

If one finds himself in poverty, then let them search for the reason and the key for getting out of that state with integrity, maintaining one’s relationship with God and his Son. If one finds himself with riches, instead of being puffed up, proud, uncaring, and self-sufficient, let him ask how he can use these riches to help others and benefit God’s people.

Beloved, we cannot escape the fact that we are responsible individuals, regardless of the state we are in, relative to riches and socio-economic status. We are responsible for using whatever goods that we are permitted to possess in this life.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 9, pp. 259, 280
May 3, 1990