Thursday, March 3, 2016
Taking every thought captive for obedience to Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 10.3-5)

Speaking Truth in Love
The Christian’s witness for Jesus Christ begins in our way of life. We are called to be witnesses first of all, and the Lord has given us His Spirit to teach and transform us increasingly into His image and likeness (Acts 1.8; 2 Cor. 3.12-18; Gal. 5.22, 23).

But while our witness for Christ begins in the way we live, it must at some point come to expression in words. Our transformed lives alone are not enough to fulfill our calling as witnesses for the Lord. They may provoke people to wonder about why we are the way we are, and how we can be so different, so full of hope, when all around most folks live lives of quiet desperation (1 Pet. 3.15). But unless we can articulate a reason for the hope that is within us, our witness for Christ will always fall short of what the Lord intends.

And yet it is precisely at the point of speaking for Christ that many Christians stumble, fumble, and fall silent. And that silence becomes habitual, and causes us to compromise our calling as witnesses for the Lord. We may be able to learn something to help us here from those who deal with the fear of speaking as part of their Kingdom calling.

One of the challenges common to teachers of public speaking is helping students overcome communication anxiety – popularly known as “stage fright.” The typical way of addressing this potential obstacle to effective public speaking is to emphasize mastering and employing various speaking techniques – eye contact, pace, choice of words, etc. But this can result in speeches that are not quite alive, not sufficiently sincere, authentic, or personal to be persuasive. Those who depend upon technique to make their points may be able to get through their material, but it comes across as hollow and lifeless.

Bethany Keeley-Jonker and Craig Mattson suggest that Christian teachers take a more theological approach to developing effective public speakers (“Stop Talking that Way! An Affective Approach to Uncanny Speech in the Christian College Classroom,” Christian Scholar’s Review, Winter 2016). Students must learn to regard their speech as a gift, and themselves as indwelled by Christ, communicating Him to their particular audience. By learning to speak from their knowledge and experience of Christ, they will become more effective in speaking to particular audiences and topics, and can avoid the kind of speaking at people that lacks genuineness and love.

Rooted and grounded in Christ, His Word and Spirit lively and thriving within us, students will use their speech as a gift of the Lord to serve Him in manifesting and declaring His love (Col. 3.16, 4.6).

This is good advice not only for those for whom public speaking is part of their calling in the Kingdom, but for every believer, as we are all charged with speaking God’s truth in love (Eph. 4.15). When it comes to giving a reason for the hope that is within us, technique and method are not as important as genuineness. The previous generation saw the use of a wide variety of tools and techniques designed to promote effective Gospel communication on the part of believers. Millions were led to Christ by those who employed these tools (myself included), and scores of thousands of pastors and church leaders taught the use of such tools to millions more (again, myself among them).

But rather than establishing a legacy of bold, outspoken, articulate, and effective Gospel communicators, we have created instead an aversion to “canned” communications methods, and a generation of believers reticent in spiritual matters and trapped in what German sociologist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann refers to as a “spiral of silence” (The Spiral of Silence). Fearful we might not say the right thing, or say it in the right way, Christian witnesses simply remain silent, and the longer they do so, the more that growing weight of silence drags them down and keeps them from sharing freely and confidently their experience of Jesus Christ.

The authors are correct, I believe, in calling for Christian speech – in all settings – to flow from our relationship with Christ for the purpose of communicating His love. Only when we are truly rooted and growing in His love will we be able to speak from that experience, words that grace others with the refreshing and perhaps surprising, if not disquieting, reality of His presence and power. 

For reflection

1.      Does your time with the Lord Jesus, in His Word and prayer, typically create an “overflow” of spiritual life and witness (Jn. 7.37-39)?

2.      Suppose you were asked to give a reason for the hope others see in you (1 Pet. 3.15). What would you say?

3.      How can believers encourage one another to break out of “the spiral of silence” where the Gospel is concerned?

T. M. Moore

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The Week features insights from a wide range of topics and issues, with a view to equipping the followers of Christ to take every thought captive for Jesus. For more help in developing a clearer vision of Christ and His Kingdom, order the books Be Thou My Vision, 28 days of devotional readings and meditations, by clicking here, and The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here.