its simple... love God, love people.

“…speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” Eph 4:15-16 (NLT)


Talking. We all do it. As leaders it is part of our ministry, as people it is how we relate and fellowship. We usually have no problem accomplishing the first part of this verse, “speak[ing] the truth.” We all love to speak truth, to dispense our wisdom and knowledge on each other. But its amazing how easy it is to lose sight of what truly matters when the carrot of wisdom and knowledge is dangled out in front of us on the stick of pride instead of the stick of love. Don’t mistake what I am saying. Wisdom and knowledge are not bad. As the writer of proverbs reminds us, wisdom enters our hearts and saves us from a multitude of things that Satan would desire us to be ensnared by and knowledge, which comes from God, fills us with joy. (Proverbs 2) But we often forget the qualifier that Paul mentions, “speak the truth in love.” Wanting to boost our image of ourselves, our pride takes control of our tongue and instead of being a community of people who are focused on loving each other, growing each other, being healthy and full of love, we simply stop at speaking the truth, dispensing knowledge and wisdom on each other. While the Truth is an indispensably foundation in what we do, it must be done in love or it will be done in hate, jealousy, greed, envy… pride. In your conversations with people, in your conversations with your friends and family, in your conversations with other believers are you speaking the truth in love with the goal and intent of all of us (the body) becoming more and more like Christ? Or do you speak the truth to make yourself look smart and righteous? The church should be a place where the truth is spoken in love. The question is, ‘how does this happen?”


The first part of speaking the truth in love is a commitment to Christ-centeredness. A pastor by the name of John Piper put it this way: Is our goal and aim to see the glory of God through Christ proclaimed to this world? Often times we are willing to be Christ-centered as long as he is willing to be man-centered. A litmus test to offer: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the recreational activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there? The implications of any answer but a hugely resounding “NO” is directly connected to our commitment to a Christ-centered mentality. ("God is the Gospel" p. 47)

If Christ is not the center of our lives and motives, then when we speak the truth, it will not be with love, but a self-centered pride from which we speak. If we offer wisdom and knowledge without a Christ-centered motive, we offer it with a prideful, self-centered aim.

The second part of speaking the truth in love is a commitment to community. Paul reminds us that it is Christ who fits the whole body together “perfectly.” It is not lacking, it is not wanting, when it is functioning together. And yet our individualistic mindset would rather believe that we can and should do it alone, without any help. Our pride prevents us from seeking assistance for fear of admitting a weakness or insufficiency. But love says we can and should ask for help and when help is requested, we should extended it without keeping record of favors or assistance you have provided. Even more, when we are working together as one body, we help each other grow which results in the entire body being healthy, growing and full of love. Yet it takes community. It takes a commitment to build relationships. It takes a willingness to call and see how someone is doing, or if you pass another Christian on a Wednesday night or Sunday morning and notice that things are not quite right, stopping and asking them, genuinely, “how are you doing?” Community involves taking time outside of normal meeting times to get together, fellowship, pray, lift each other up and support each other. Community involves being willing to step outside your comfort zone and welcome in new members into our circle. The extent to which community is healthy and present among us as leaders is the extent to which this ministry will be healthy and growing. There is a direct connection. Community is vital.


Christ-centeredness and community. When these two things take place, the body works as it should, we love each other, we help each other, we grow, we are healthy. And as this happens, we become more and more like Christ. And this is our aim and goal, for in our likeness to Christ, the world might see Christ. That is what we are about. Displaying and declaring Him to this world in need of Savior. So will you do this? Will you commit yourself with me to being God-centered; to setting aside personal ambitions, dreams and hopes in exchange for the ambitions, dreams and hopes of Christ. Will you teach the people in such a way that their desire is first for Christ instead of all his blessings to the point that if heaven were void of everything except Christ, we would be content and satisfied? Will you intentionally pursue community with other leaders? Will you seek out and build relationships with other Chrisitans you don’t know. Will you open your hearts to each other, love each other, grow each other? Speak the truth to each other in love. Don’t allow your church to be a place where you simply come, serve and leave. Allow it to be a place where genuine fellowship happens, where hearts are opened, where truth, wrapped in love, is spoken openly and freely.


Christ-centeredness and community.

Love God, love people.