Vince Deagler

i hope the title of this blog doesn’t disappoint.  if you were thinking i was about to go off on one of my vince like rants, you will probably be disappointed.  we can do the rant some other time.  the ways things are going in our bailout crazed society, its just a matter of time. 

anyway, here’s what i was thinking about.  as we have been going through ephesians, we have come to the practical section (ch. 4-6).  in this section paul is focusing on the lifestyle that should characterize a follower of jesus.  well, in our study last week paul challenged us believers to no longer live as the gentiles (4:17-24).  we developed what that means and how it is achieved within our worship service.  that is not really what i want to focus on at the moment.  you see after issuing that challenge, paul began to look at several very specific areas where we can as followers of jesus live out a distinctive life that is representative of the kind of life jesus modeled.  he touches on anger v.26-27, the ethics of work v.28, interpersonal communication v.29-30, and a whole laundry list of qualities we are to either reject or embrace in an effort to be like jesus v.31-32.  but the subject i want to focus on is found in v.25 where paul writes

therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

now here is what’s on my mind.  paul seems to make a serious connection between truth and body life.  but just how important is truth in our perception of christianity?  and how serious are we about truth within our circles?  experience tells me we know how to talk the talk, but don’t do so well when it comes to walking the walk.  it may be that the old jack nicholson line is too true of us…we can’t handle the truth, or at very least we choose not to.

now, you may be wondering why i just said that.  let me explain.  i have been a christian since january 2, 1975.  i have been in vocational ministry since january 1, 1980.  i have served as a youth pastor in 1 church, and as the lead pastor in 4 churches.  i would describe my ministry experience from 1975-1993 as taking place largely within a framework of “rigid legalism”.  now, please don’t see this as a complaint or criticism.  i am simply trying to convey my perception of the environment where i was serving within that period of time.  i very much appreciate the education, mentoring, experiences, and friendships that are rooted in that period of my life.  i see them as foundational, i see how god used them to prepare me for the present realities of the rest of my life, without them i would not be the person i am today.  so they are important years in my spiritual development.  from 1993-2000, i would describe my experiences as transitional.  i was moving away from the safe confines a rigid environment affords and discovering a great big universe of grace.  from 2000 to the present i have been trying to soak up what it means to not only be saved by grace, but to live in grace.  because of that broad experience, i have noticed some things that may be helpful in our pursuit of the lifestyle god intends for us to live. 

remember, paul has made a serious connection between truth and body life.  in fact, one of my favorite passages in ephesians is 4:15 where paul describes a growth environment as an environment where we speak the truth in love.  if this is true, and it is if you believe scripture, why do we struggle with “handling the truth”?  and don’t even try to deny, that we struggle with this.  i have way too much first hand experience in a broad spectrum of applications.  i have seen christain couples who couldn’t handle truth…or at least wouldn’t.  sure when things were going well and they agreed, their relationship was fine.  but the hard truths…the real issues they needed to overcome to grow relationally, that was a different story.  i have been on the rigid side of christianity and did my fair share of labeling those with whom i disagreed as “compromisers” and other creative labels.  and i have been on the grace side of the discussion and noticed the same tendency, but they use different labels.  i have seen churches ripped apart by trivial disagreements where neither side could tolerate the idea that there may be other points of view that are equally valid.

recently, my brother-in-law, a pastor in a somewhat rigid environment, has taken some heat for inviting someone to speak in his church who comes from a slightly different christan affiliation.  i don’t know all the details, i don’t want to know, i don’t need to know.  i do know about jesus.  i know he dialogued with Sadducee’s, pharisees, secularists, and those considered immoral in his day.  he spoke.  when he spoke he spoke truthfully.  he did so in love.  and because he did our world has never been, nor will it ever be the same.  since i know this to be true, i know the dialogue between different affiliations within christianity can be mutually beneficial.  or as 4:15 says, when we speak the truth in love, we are doing what is needed to grow.  we need to do more of it.  and we need to do it “in all things”.  silence and the mutually agreed upon ignoring of each other is the breeding ground of false teaching (v.4:14). 

i do not believe i have a perfect understanding of truth.  i don’t believe anyone does.  i work hard at interpreting the scripture (truth) as best i am able, but am very much in touch with my humanness.  i am limited in my intellect, in the information i have available to me, and in my objectivity.  so are you, so is everyone.  so why not get together, do some speaking the truth in love, and as a result grow to be a little more like jesus.  i am not calling for a process that so waters down the truth as to make it pointless.  the truth doesn’t belong to me to do something like that.  but on the other hand i am tired of a christianity that is unwilling to work through the difficult issues that divide us…in reality defeat us.  christ said i will build my church and the gates of hell will not be able to stand up to her.  yet because the church has been so divided, it is as if we are impotent. we have all seen this impotence.  it is in every divorce.  it is in every church division.  it is in every denominational divide.  the answer we have been given to address this, at least in part is to speak the truth in love with each other.

but that means we actually have to speak with people with whom we disagree, whoever they may be, irregardless of the subject matter.  as we do this, we must put away falsehood and speak truthfully to one another.  imagine a dialogue free of exaggeration, free from a distorted truth designed to make us look better, or the people with whom we disagree worse, where we share our true feelings and perceptions, and that sharing doesn’t lead to an explosion of defensiveness, retaliation, or name calling.  instead it leads to an ongoing dialogue where motivated by love, we seek to find and protect the unity of the spirit with the bond of peace (4:3).  satan has had a hey day dividing us.  whether it is in our families, churches, associations/denominations, let’s give him a taste of defeat, and each other a taste of god.  this may just be a big part of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.  you remember that one don’t you?  it is only one of the greatest commands we have received from jesus, and it is how the world will be able to recognize we are his followers.  just a thought.