Pastor Jared highlights the importance of speaking the truth with love as a sign of spiritual maturity, referencing Ephesians 4:15. He discusses how truth should be delivered lovingly to foster growth in Christ and effectively minister to others. An example is given of evangelist Cliff Konectle, who debates atheists calmly and lovingly. Jared emphasizes that truth telling is essential but should be approached with humility and gentleness to be well-received. Finally, he encourages living a life of transparency and frequent confession within the Christian community, underscoring the significance of God’s forgiveness and the ability to live openly without shame.
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Pastor Jared Hacking
Excerpt from “Truth Telling”
Video Transcript:
Ephesians 4, 15 says this, Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head and to Christ. Speaking the truth in love. Yeah, we need to speak the truth.
It’s essential, but we need to do it in love. And why? Well, that passage says, so that we can grow up in Christ. Literally knowing how to speak the truth in love, Paul says, is a sign of maturity that you’ve grown up into the head which is Christ. That we would not just be known as people who are flippant with our words and say, Yeah, sorry.
That’s the truth. But that we would understand the skill and the spiritual practice of what it looks like to speak the truth in love. Truth telling has to be a crucial part of being a Christian. But how we speak that truth has to be weighed heavily. I don’t know if you guys have seen this guy. His name’s, Cliff Konectle, I think.
Or Konectle, or, or, I don’t really know how to say his last name. Anybody seen this guy? Yeah, he’s like if you’re on like any type of social media, you’ve probably seen him. He goes to college campuses. He’s an older guy. He goes to college campuses around the country, and he does lectures, right? He’ll do a 10 to 15 minute lecture, like in their, in their open space outside, and then, and basically he’s a, he’s a evangelist.
He’s a pastor, but he’s an evangelist as well. So kind of give a defense. For his belief, his belief in God, his belief in salvation, his belief in one God, the true God, the creator God, and then he opens it up And sometimes these, these question and answer times go for hours on end. And I mean, if you’ve ever been on a college campus, you know, people have like found a little bit of knowledge and they want to take that and they want to like go after it, right?
Or like, Oh no, I know exactly how to dismantle this argument. So he gets some crazy, angry, frustrated people, right? Angry atheists that kind of just go at him. And it’s incredible. To see, I haven’t seen every one of his videos, but I’ve seen a lot of them, and how he handles it is beautifully, right? Because a lot of times he’s, he’s getting yelled at, he’s, they’re, he’s, they’re calling him all different types of names, and he kind of, he’s just sitting there with a smile, and not only, he doesn’t just sit there and take and say, Okay, and that’s your opinion.
No, he speaks the truth, right? He’s there to actually debate, to actually enter into conversation, right? To actually enter into discourse, And try to prove the existence of God, and not only the existence of God, but why they should give their life to God. And it’s incredible to see him do this, when people come to him angry, that he can go speak lovingly the truth.
And it’s amazing what that does to these individuals who come angry or frustrated. They almost are ready to respond again, like they’re expecting someone to come back in bitterness or hatred or anger. And then you kind of see him just stop, they’re like, I never thought about that, you know. And, and they actually come to a place where they’re able to receive the truth.
Because the issue is, how we speak truth is really contingent on how people will receive it. Right, if you want to just, just blabber at someone and yell at someone, you’re like, well this is the truth, they need to hear that. They’re probably not going to receive it with an open heart. But if you come to someone lovingly, maybe it’s someone you love, you care about, And you’ve seen kind of a pattern of sin in their life or, or you’ve had a disagreement or a conflict and you say, Hey, I’m just coming to you.
I’m just coming as a brother in Christ, you know. Firstly admitting that I got a hundred different flaws and if you see any, would you be kind enough to point them out? But I’ve just noticed this in you. And I just, I just want to say this to you because I love you, because I care about you, and also because I hope if you would see something similar in me that you would be willing and brave enough to say that and speak truth to my life in love.
That conversation would go a lot different if you said, well you’re just not being Christ like. And you just throw a bunch of scriptures at them and do this or do that. Say, it’s your issue, you gotta figure it out. But if you come humbly and gently and in love, they might have an open heart to receive that.
We must be truth tellers. But we must do it in love. Question five, last question here. How do we live a life of truthfulness? You might be here this morning, and you’re just living in the dark, and you’re just hiding. Maybe you’re scared to share your struggle, your sin, your doubts, your anxiety. Living a life of truthfulness might seem impossible to you.
Maybe there’s something you’re struggling with this morning. Maybe it’s a sin struggle. Maybe it’s pornography. Maybe it’s anger, and you just, you just feel angry all the time. And you just feel like you’re always on edge and you’re always impatient and you’re always just speaking words of death instead of words of life.
Maybe you’re just in a spot with the Lord and you just feel like it’s a dry season and you’re having doubts and, and you’re doubting His goodness and, but you just feel like you, you can’t open up about that. You can’t share it. I know it’s easy to walk into these doors this morning and just kind of pretend like you’re on cloud nine with the Lord.
That’s probably not the case for all of us. I want to remind you this morning that the debt and shame of your sin has already been paid for on the cross. Because of God’s forgiveness and mercy we can live a open and truthful life even in the midst of struggle. Paul Tripp uses, says this quote about Christian community.
I love it. And I, I, I think about it often. He says this, I write convinced that we, the community of believers, can be the most honest community on earth, because there is nothing that could be known, revealed, or exposed about us that hasn’t been covered by Christ’s atoning work. I like to say it this way, there’s nothing that we can uncover that hasn’t already been covered.
Right? There’s nothing that we can uncover about ourselves that hasn’t already been covered by the precious blood of God. We as a church need reminding of God’s forgiveness over our lives. We should be known as people who confess often and apologize frequently. We should be known as people who extend forgiveness and grace and love to the people who confess and apologize to us.
Reminding them that there’s nothing that can be uncovered. That hasn’t already been covered. I love James 5, 16, A, the beginning part of it says, Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. I don’t think he’s talking about like, a symbolic, like, healing there.
Like, I don’t think he’s talking about like, like, I, I think there’s like, real heart healing that happens when we confess to one another. And, like, this is just, like, completely foreign to the rest of the world, right? Can you even imagine those of you, like, who work, like, your boss coming in your office and just, like, confessing to you, and just like, hey, man, I really messed this up, and I’m sorry, and, and, and in the time being, I got angry, and I sinned against you.
And I just want, I just want you to forgive me for that. Can you, that is probably so out of this world for you. But this is what we’re supposed to be known as, as the community of believers, as members of Christ’s body. That we would be people who confess regularly to one another. And on the flip side, that we would receive confession and remind our brothers and sisters of their healing, of God’s love for them, His perfect forgiveness and grace.
And as we enter into communion this morning, I want to invite you into a life of truthfulness. And, and a life of truthfulness involves confession, right? As we enter the Lord’s Supper, I want to ask God, I want you to just ask God, right? We’re gonna, we’re gonna pass the elements soon. I just want you to sit with the Lord and ask Him.
Just ask Him, Lord, is there anything you need me to confess? Is there any hidden way? You might, you might already know right now. Like the Lord might be laying it on your heart right now and you’re like, Oh, it’s that right there. And I would just encourage you that this passage, living the life of truthfulness, is an invitation for the Lord to readily receive His grace, readily receive His grace and come into confession.