Pastor’s Corner: “Hate Speech or Love Speech?”
Ephesians 4:14-15 (NLT) – 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
False Teaching: It has been around since Genesis chapter 3. The devil is the originator of fake news. He is crafty and deceitful. He wants to get us to believe his lies so that we miss out on the wonders of God’s truth. Throughout the Old and New Testament, the main job of prophets, priests, apostles, and pastors has always been to speak the truth of the Lord with a heart of love and compassion. Truth and love are critically needed and inseparably linked together. Truth without love is brutality; and love without truth is not love at all. Proverbs 16:6 (NASB) – 6 By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for…… Both are indispensable for sin to be forgiven.
OUR WORLD TODAY: Speaking the truth of God’s word which is meant to save and bless people is becoming more and more offensive to those in the world, even being labeled hate speech. The Bible says that an unbelieving and unrepentant world is the object of God’s wrath, because they “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). That is exactly what is happening on a massive scale, as our world moves further and further away from God and hates righteousness and truth. In Paul’s final letter before martyrdom, he exhorted young Timothy to preach the truth of the word of God. Paul knew that in the last days—the days in which we are living—the multitudes would abandon the truth of God for the myths of man. They would welcome the lies and discard the truth.
In the biblical story of Sodom there are three reasons why God rained fire and brimstone on that city and the surrounding cities of the plain (see Ezekiel 16:49-50). Sodom was guilty of three abhorrent sins: pride, impurity, and perversion. Peter said that the smoking ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah stand as an example and frightful warning “to those who would live ungodly thereafter” (2 Peter 2:6). Some would say this is hate speech and would be deeply offended, citing this as intolerant. But they would miss something incredibly important. GOD DOES NOT WANT TO JUDGE, HE WANTS TO SAVE. If He had found ten righteous people in Sodom, He would have spared the whole city (1000+)! If any in Sodom had turned from sin and received the Savior, they would have been forgiven and set free.
Our culture heartily approves a plethora of sinful activities, attitudes, and actions. We need to remember that our culture is not king, God is. And the King will judge everyone in His righteousness. Reminding people of this critical fact is not “hate speech,” as some would assert. It is “love speech.” It is loving people enough to tell them the truth. Sadly, truth is hate to those who hate the truth. We may hate the evil and wickedness in the world, but we should love the people in the world. We do not speak truth to that which we hate, but rather to those that we love.
How to “Speak the Truth in Love”: In our very polarized world, we will frequently find ourselves in disagreement with people we know and care about. The Bible instructs us to confront a brother or sister whenever we believe them to be sinning (2 Timothy 4:2), but too often our response is akin to bludgeoning others into submission, then we justify our actions as, “speaking the truth in love”. What does a loving reproof actually look like? We can observe the methods of Paul and Timothy. Paul’s chief advice when confronting others was not to attack them, but rather expose the affects sin was having on their life. Then, he would gently call them to repentance by appealing to God’s higher purpose. After all, people tend to respond poorly to someone who demeans and abuses them. Most importantly, true rebuke should be encouraging. Hard news and rebuke should always be brought with appropriate sobriety (awareness or our own sin), humility, and never with arrogance and harshness.
Speaking the truth in love is RISKY. But as followers of Christ, this is exactly what we are called to do. We must be willing to risk rejection because we love people. We must be willing to absorb the initial anger of a loving confrontation because we love that person. It takes enormous courage to speak truth and love. That is exactly what Jesus did for us. Are we willing to follow Jesus all the way to the cross?
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton