“Speak the Truth in love” is a concept that is much used and abused by the Christian community. This doesn’t mean speak out the Truth (“All homosexuals will burn in Hell”) and then say “But God loves you!” Instead, look at how Yeshua handled such issues. He engaged the woman at the well in a conversation and allowed her to speak her point of view. He then responded to her statements, calmly and with compassion. In doing so, He revealed His heart for her and so won her over. Finally, she truly began to listen to Him, and ran to get all her friends to “Come, see a man who told me everything I have ever done!”
I believe we must earn the right to speak the Truth by first demonstrating our Love. Someone once said “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That is certainly true when bringing the message of repentance to those trapped in a lifestyle of sin. It is much easier to take words of correction, conviction and rebuke from someone with whom you have built up a relationship of trust.
Blessings in Messiah
I truly believe when a Christian speaks to those who do not know the Lord about turning from their sinful behavior is speaking with compassion and love. Why else would they bother to speak to them in the first place? You know when you work for the Lord, its not about us, we our His Vessels, we do this for the Lord not ourselves. Like John the baptist said…WE need to decrease for the Lord to increase in us.
If I wasn’t saved and I was living in sin and a Christian told me my lifestyle of living is going to cause me to go to Hell when I die. I’d be scared. Who the heck wants to go to Hell?? I would listen up to what they had to say. There is nothing wrong with speaking the truth. How else will people know the truth if one doesn’t speak it. I have a cousin who is gay. I love him so much. We are great loving friends. We love each other so much. He knows I’m into the Lord and all. I told him his lifestyle is against the Lord, He told me Well, I guess when I die I’ll find out when I get there what will happen to me. Obviously it will be too late for him if he doesn’t change his ways now while he is still living.
Lets face it, folks love their sin more then they love the Lord.
Jesus spoke to different folks about THE TRUTH in different ways. Some ways came across very, very harsh and other ways very, very loving.
Look how He tore apart the paradises, he called them hypocrites.
I believe we need to stop judging brothers and sisters in Christ who evangelize. The Lord guides each of His sheep the way He wants to. With love and compassion and some with boldness like Paul and John the baptist. Do not fear man, fear the Lord.
Lord continue to use us for your glory, for your kingdom.
TY Lord.
well said Mike!
“With love and compassion and some with boldness like Paul and John the baptist.”
I think you are missing the point, with all respect. For Paul, all of his action had to be coupled with love and compassion. You are creating a dichotomy that does not nor should not exist. When Paul and John spoke with boldness, they spoke out of a love for their God and for their fellow Jews and to Gentiles. When one separates love from boldness, one focuses on winning a debate instead of presenting the Gospel.
Look to the example of the Messiah when talking with the rich young man : “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mark 10:21, ESV). Jesus spoke out of love all the while speaking a bold statement that radically upset the one man’s worldview and theology.
Indeed the call for love and compassion is the root of boldness and evangelism. Love is what brings us sadness over the destructive road of others. For example in Jewish evangelism, love means we do not say “but oh well” but weep when we think about how close and yet so distant they are from their God. It means we feel agony of soul over those lost and not callously saying Jesus will “burn…all the people” who do not accept Him as Lord. I do not say this because I do not believe in the reality in hell, I say it because I do.
It is about us caring, not about others scaring. Our focus should be on the outreached hand of God to save from hell; too many believers present a gospel of hell and, oh, by the way, God has a way out. We ignore the salvation, peace, completeness, and freedom that God grants to us through the Messiah in this life and the next, and instead present a “fire insurance gospel.”
Why do some mean Christians like to argue???? Yes Jacob I am talking to you. The Lord gives folks a gift of boldness. Does that offend you? Witnessing to folks about Christ with boldness has nothing to do with being right or wrong. Unless that is how you feel in your heart. Sad to say. Boldness means not being afraid to speak. Understand that.
Telling folks about the Lord is not scaring people. How funny is that notion. Why is telling folks about the Lord scaring them???
Lord help me please. This is why I try to stay away from posting on Christian forums. I tell my kids to stay away from doing it too. Because people sadly like to argue and put others down.
I love you Lord with all my heart soul and being. I am going to ignore the ones who like to argue and judge others. Lord only you know our heart.
Debbie, I said it with all respect and with love as a fellow member of the Body. The purpose of this forum is for discussion and I bring up things that are on my heart. If this forum is to agree with whoever posted first then I apologize, but I assume that its purpose is for dialogue. I also will use this forum for correction:
1. I never put anyone down. I never called anyone “mean”. I never put down anyone else’s point of view. I never judged the heart of anyone. Indeed, I now feel judged because I simply presented another view point. I also find it hurtful that you would use language that could possibly ensue that I do not love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and being and that He is fighting against me. I simply replied to something with which I disagreed with proper language.
2. As another caller said on the LOF broadcast, with which I agreed, believers will win a debate and not allow God to win a soul. As someone who participated in hundreds of hours of intercollegiate debates, I understand the difference between presenting a message persuasively and trying to win an argument. When we say to the world “you’re going to burn burn burn” with an attitude of haughtiness, we may be right, but at what cost?
3. My entire post actually upheld the need for boldness, but it must be done with a spirit of love and compassion. I pulled out your quotation that God causes some to be bold, and others to love. I simply said you cannot separate the two. I said we must be bold, but with an attitude of love and concern for a dying world. Paul did not have a spirit of boldness that was not based in love. John loved His people enough to be a voice until the end of his life. I would hope you would agree with me, but I cannot assume that based on your quotation per my first post.
4. My point on scaring others is this. Too often we present a gospel based on the negative. The point of the gospel is not that God sends people to hell (which I believe is true with godly fear and trembling), but that God provided a way to escape conflict, brokenness, emptiness, and separation in both the present world and in the world to come.
In summary, my whole purpose is we must have love as the basis for all things. It is because I do believe in eternal separation of God that I weep over lost souls. All I ask is for all to speak the gift of righteousness with broken and loving hearts.
Peace to you Jacob. I would like to believe all Christians who witness is because they love the Lord. When I speak of boldness I speak of my own experience. I would on occasions say to people that “Jesus loves you”. Later I would tell a friend of mind I did that and she’d commented… I can never do that. That is what I was referring to as “boldness”. Some Christians are afraid to talk to strangers about the Lord.
I am truly sorry if I misunderstood your intentions on your post to me. Forgive me.
I did not intend for my 1st post to be interpreted as boldness as being…. rude or self righteous or as a scared tactic. I personally am not like that. I felt like that was how you were discerning my post to be.
With that said. I can now tell you are a kind, nice and loving person.
Again sorry for any miscommunication. May the Lord Bless you and show favor upon you.
I agree Debbie, the Body is in need for boldness which includes even the simple words of Jesus’ love. And I agree, love is the root of our witness no doubt. I knew you weren’t saying we should be rude, etc. as well. I just wanted to make sure it was understood that love and boldness can never be separated, and I can joyfully see we agree.
I am glad the communication is made clear. God bless you as well.
Hine ma tov u’manayim Shevet akh-im gam ya-chad How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity
“Speak the Truth in love” is a concept that is much used and abused by the Christian community. This doesn’t mean speak out the Truth (“All homosexuals will burn in Hell”) and then say “But God loves you!” Instead, look at how Yeshua handled such issues. He engaged the woman at the well in a conversation and allowed her to speak her point of view. He then responded to her statements, calmly and with compassion. In doing so, He revealed His heart for her and so won her over. Finally, she truly began to listen to Him, and ran to get all her friends to “Come, see a man who told me everything I have ever done!”
I believe we must earn the right to speak the Truth by first demonstrating our Love. Someone once said “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That is certainly true when bringing the message of repentance to those trapped in a lifestyle of sin. It is much easier to take words of correction, conviction and rebuke from someone with whom you have built up a relationship of trust.
Blessings in Messiah
I truly believe when a Christian speaks to those who do not know the Lord about turning from their sinful behavior is speaking with compassion and love. Why else would they bother to speak to them in the first place? You know when you work for the Lord, its not about us, we our His Vessels, we do this for the Lord not ourselves. Like John the baptist said…WE need to decrease for the Lord to increase in us.
If I wasn’t saved and I was living in sin and a Christian told me my lifestyle of living is going to cause me to go to Hell when I die. I’d be scared. Who the heck wants to go to Hell?? I would listen up to what they had to say. There is nothing wrong with speaking the truth. How else will people know the truth if one doesn’t speak it.
I have a cousin who is gay. I love him so much. We are great loving friends. We love each other so much. He knows I’m into the Lord and all. I told him his lifestyle is against the Lord, He told me Well, I guess when I die I’ll find out when I get there what will happen to me. Obviously it will be too late for him if he doesn’t change his ways now while he is still living.
Lets face it, folks love their sin more then they love the Lord.
Jesus spoke to different folks about THE TRUTH in different ways. Some ways came across very, very harsh and other ways very, very loving.
Look how He tore apart the paradises, he called them hypocrites.
I believe we need to stop judging brothers and sisters in Christ who evangelize. The Lord guides each of His sheep the way He wants to. With love and compassion and some with boldness like Paul and John the baptist. Do not fear man, fear the Lord.
Lord continue to use us for your glory, for your kingdom.
TY Lord.
well said Mike!
“With love and compassion and some with boldness like Paul and John the baptist.”
I think you are missing the point, with all respect. For Paul, all of his action had to be coupled with love and compassion. You are creating a dichotomy that does not nor should not exist. When Paul and John spoke with boldness, they spoke out of a love for their God and for their fellow Jews and to Gentiles. When one separates love from boldness, one focuses on winning a debate instead of presenting the Gospel.
Look to the example of the Messiah when talking with the rich young man : “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mark 10:21, ESV). Jesus spoke out of love all the while speaking a bold statement that radically upset the one man’s worldview and theology.
Indeed the call for love and compassion is the root of boldness and evangelism. Love is what brings us sadness over the destructive road of others. For example in Jewish evangelism, love means we do not say “but oh well” but weep when we think about how close and yet so distant they are from their God. It means we feel agony of soul over those lost and not callously saying Jesus will “burn…all the people” who do not accept Him as Lord. I do not say this because I do not believe in the reality in hell, I say it because I do.
It is about us caring, not about others scaring. Our focus should be on the outreached hand of God to save from hell; too many believers present a gospel of hell and, oh, by the way, God has a way out. We ignore the salvation, peace, completeness, and freedom that God grants to us through the Messiah in this life and the next, and instead present a “fire insurance gospel.”
Why do some mean Christians like to argue???? Yes Jacob I am talking to you. The Lord gives folks a gift of boldness. Does that offend you? Witnessing to folks about Christ with boldness has nothing to do with being right or wrong. Unless that is how you feel in your heart. Sad to say. Boldness means not being afraid to speak. Understand that.
Telling folks about the Lord is not scaring people. How funny is that notion. Why is telling folks about the Lord scaring them???
Lord help me please. This is why I try to stay away from posting on Christian forums. I tell my kids to stay away from doing it too. Because people sadly like to argue and put others down.
I love you Lord with all my heart soul and being. I am going to ignore the ones who like to argue and judge others. Lord only you know our heart.
Debbie, I said it with all respect and with love as a fellow member of the Body. The purpose of this forum is for discussion and I bring up things that are on my heart. If this forum is to agree with whoever posted first then I apologize, but I assume that its purpose is for dialogue. I also will use this forum for correction:
1. I never put anyone down. I never called anyone “mean”. I never put down anyone else’s point of view. I never judged the heart of anyone. Indeed, I now feel judged because I simply presented another view point. I also find it hurtful that you would use language that could possibly ensue that I do not love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and being and that He is fighting against me. I simply replied to something with which I disagreed with proper language.
2. As another caller said on the LOF broadcast, with which I agreed, believers will win a debate and not allow God to win a soul. As someone who participated in hundreds of hours of intercollegiate debates, I understand the difference between presenting a message persuasively and trying to win an argument. When we say to the world “you’re going to burn burn burn” with an attitude of haughtiness, we may be right, but at what cost?
3. My entire post actually upheld the need for boldness, but it must be done with a spirit of love and compassion. I pulled out your quotation that God causes some to be bold, and others to love. I simply said you cannot separate the two. I said we must be bold, but with an attitude of love and concern for a dying world. Paul did not have a spirit of boldness that was not based in love. John loved His people enough to be a voice until the end of his life. I would hope you would agree with me, but I cannot assume that based on your quotation per my first post.
4. My point on scaring others is this. Too often we present a gospel based on the negative. The point of the gospel is not that God sends people to hell (which I believe is true with godly fear and trembling), but that God provided a way to escape conflict, brokenness, emptiness, and separation in both the present world and in the world to come.
In summary, my whole purpose is we must have love as the basis for all things. It is because I do believe in eternal separation of God that I weep over lost souls. All I ask is for all to speak the gift of righteousness with broken and loving hearts.
Peace to you Jacob. I would like to believe all Christians who witness is because they love the Lord. When I speak of boldness I speak of my own experience. I would on occasions say to people that “Jesus loves you”. Later I would tell a friend of mind I did that and she’d commented… I can never do that. That is what I was referring to as “boldness”. Some Christians are afraid to talk to strangers about the Lord.
I am truly sorry if I misunderstood your intentions on your post to me. Forgive me.
I did not intend for my 1st post to be interpreted as boldness as being…. rude or self righteous or as a scared tactic. I personally am not like that. I felt like that was how you were discerning my post to be.
With that said. I can now tell you are a kind, nice and loving person.
Again sorry for any miscommunication.
May the Lord Bless you and show favor upon you.
I agree Debbie, the Body is in need for boldness which includes even the simple words of Jesus’ love. And I agree, love is the root of our witness no doubt. I knew you weren’t saying we should be rude, etc. as well. I just wanted to make sure it was understood that love and boldness can never be separated, and I can joyfully see we agree.
I am glad the communication is made clear. God bless you as well.
Hine ma tov u’manayim Shevet akh-im gam ya-chad
How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity