“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV)
This was the apostle Paul speaking to the church in Corinth. And he set the example for us in how we are to be in our speech, especially with regard to what we share or teach about the gospel of our salvation or from the Scriptures, in general. We are not to be superfluous in the sense that we are not to add on to the Scriptures what the Scriptures do not teach, especially to try to sound superior or eloquent or haughty so as to lift up ourselves and/or to try to impress others with smooth talking and persuasive words.
First of all, we should be ourselves. We should be the same no matter who we are with. Now we may be a little bit different with close family members, in the sense that there would be more of an intimacy and closeness there, and shared experiences, but even there we should still maintain our true character and not try to blend in with our environment. We should never put on airs to try to impress other people or to try to make ourselves sound different or better than who we really are day in and day out.
Oftentimes, when I am making talk videos, I will tell my audience that my conversations with them are as though we are sitting across the living room from each other sharing what we are getting out of the Scriptures at that moment in time. I do very little preparation for these talk videos in advance, if any, and I try to just let the Holy Spirit lead me in what he wants me to share. So I am my natural self, and what you see is what you get. I don’t try to put on any kind of performance to impress anyone. Should be obvious.
I have a very specific memory of a pastor of a church congregation from many years ago. If you spoke with him in person, his speech was one way. But when he stood behind the pulpit to preach, he put on a “preacher voice” which was just not natural for him at all. Perhaps he was trained to do that in his seminary training. Some preachers do have particular styles they follow which appear to be along church denominational lines. Some tell jokes and tearjerker stories while others yell and stomp their feet, etc.
But we should all be natural, i.e. who we are no matter who we are with. None of us should put on a performance or airs to try to make ourselves appear better than we really are. And if we are sharing or teaching the Scriptures, we should pray and ask the Lord for guidance and wisdom in what to say, and we should not talk out of our own thinking and reasoning, especially if it does not align with the teachings of the Scriptures. But differing circumstances may require varied responses, like happy or sad.
And I am certainly not saying that, even if we do things the right way, in practice, that we will always say everything in the right way all the time. We are still human beings. And so our communications with one another are not always going to be perfect. And sometimes we may have to back up and reword what we intended to say, or we may have to stop and apologize for not being as sensitive as we should have been in how we said something. But we should be those who practice speaking the truth in love.
The main thing here is to be genuine, not fake. Don’t try to be someone you are not or to give a false impression of who you really are. And don’t be someone who teaches what you yourself are not living, especially don’t try to sound spiritual and righteous if you know that sin is what you practice and that righteousness and godly living and obedience to the Lord are not what you practice. Don’t preach to others what you are not living yourself, or at least be honest and admit that you are not living what you preach.
And, if we are going to be those who are teaching the Scriptures to others, we need to be in close fellowship with the Lord, walking in obedience to his commands, in holy living, no longer walking in sin, and we need to let the Holy Spirit be the one to direct us in what to say, and it not be of our own flesh nor of the teachings of other humans. And this makes us real and genuine, and then others’ faith will not rest on human wisdom, but in the power of God and of his word (taught in the correct context).
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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