I was 25 and had moved to work with a church that had had a very gifted strong-voiced preacher for the last 18 years. His voice was like a human boom box! In my first month there I got a cold to add to my already rather bland vocal inabilities. I remember Gene walking up to me one Sunday after the service saying: “Speak up, son; nobody can hear you.”
And, yes, I did. But I’ve learned in the years that have passed that sometimes you can speak up without even raising your voice. I’ve seen irate, angry, screaming parents counting loudly in attempting to discipline their children who casually ignore their threats, and I’ve seen parents who can “bring their child back in line” with nothing more than a look. I learned while directing a week of over 350 children ages 9-17 that I could not out-yell them, but if I made an announcement quietly I didn’t even need a microphone.
Speak up, church; nobody can hear you!
Speak up with your lives.
It’s quite possible no one is hearing us because our tongue doesn’t match our teaching. The most dramatic proof of the power of the Gospel is the impact of a life lived under and affected by His guidance. Can people tell you have “been with Jesus”? (Acts 4:13). Sadly I have known some who would shout loudly that we be true to the Word of the Lord while forgetting the Spirit of the Lord. Do your words match up with your teachings? Do your actions match up with your acknowledgments? Do your convictions match up with your confessions (Luke 6:46)? A twist on the original quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson says: “What you are thunders so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” It may be that what we say is not being heard because we have lost our credibility by not living that the words of the One whose name we wear (James 1:22-25; Matthew 7:24-27).
Speak up with your message.
Some people say the Gospel doesn’t get the reception it should because our culture has become increasingly anti-Christian. Or said differently: “They don’t want what we are selling.” I might remind you that our world is much less corrupt that the first century world. That they had many fewer resources than we do. That “ease of travel” nor speed of travel did not exist. That our technologies trump theirs exponentially (side bar: could you imagine showing the apostle Paul a modern computer and telling him he could talk to anyone in the world by just pressing a button? That he could write to anyone in the world and send it with the tap of a key?). Might we do well to stop complaining and start proclaiming? Might our focus be more exact if we’d get out of the judging business and into the saving business? Might our efforts have more effect if we’d move past 1950s models and into the new millennium? Franklin Camp wrote of putting “old truths in new robes.” Jesus fed the masses before He taught them knowing that many were following because of the food (John 6:25). Do not compromise His message or your convictions, but most of us would do well to evaluate our approach to a lost world that we want to see saved. Sometimes we are accused of not being relevant. If that has any truth to it, it is not because our Savior or our Scriptures are irrelevant – so what is it?
Speak up with your reputation of helping others.
Acts 5 reveals what happens when we do not speak up by our lives, but Acts 6 shows what happens when we do! As a result of their compassionate generosity (against the backdrop of the greed of Ananias and Sapphira) “… the Word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7, ESV). I find the “great company” of priests being obedient of significant interest and wonder why then, why here? Remember this was the result of compassion shown to widows. Part of the responsibility of Jewish priests was to “oversee” the daily, weekly, and monthly distributions of food and other items to widows. History reveals that the corruption among priests with this task was rampant, and Malachi and Christ seem to agree that it was. Perhaps these priests seeing this manner handled with Christian generosity and integrity (part of the qualifications of the seven selected) so impressed these that it opened the door for them to give Christianity a serious study. Regardless we have seen firsthand how many doors are opened when we response to helping those in need. Some have spent far too long debating the how, the who, and the why of benevolence and need to get to the business of practicing pure and undefiled religion (James 1:27). Might I suggest in light of
James 1:22 (in context) we study this for more than debate purposes, but that it might be a statement of social concern and spiritual interest toward any who are hurting. Hearts and doors are opened when we care for the hurting. Our brotherhood has developed a positively refreshing reputation for being there when disaster strikes both in a local or global sense.
Speak up with your knowledge of the Word of God.
We can bemoan that there is less Bible knowledge, or we can set about to try and identify why and possible remedies. We have allowed the Word to be reduced in our culture. And we have busied ourselves with replacements for it. TV, computer, games, entertainment all vie for our personal eyes. Let us tend to our own minds and fill them with the lovely truths of God’s riches. When we redevelop the reputation of answering from God’s Word our commitment to the Word will speak volumes into the lives of individuals at their time of need or question.
Speak up with your use of your influence.
I purposely saved this for the end because it is powerful. The most powerful thing you have at your disposal as a faithful Christian (is there really any other kind?) is your influence properly maintained and correctly aimed. We do not develop reputation for our own glorification but to make the name of the Lord great in our day. You have influence––the challenge is to leverage that influence for the right things. Pray fervently for opportunities to influence others for God and then use the voice of that influence for His cause. If we do not, we are no more than good Scouts or civilians, more humanistic than Christian. We are only “do-gooders” and fail for the Master. Remember Paul’s words to Timothy: “… make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). We must become a positive light for Christ in our sphere of influence. John Wesley was spot on for our day in his classic lines written in the 1700s: A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify, a never-dying soul to save, and fit it for the sky; To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill: O may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will!” (emp. added).
Speak up, church––the world needs your influence and the Lord needs your voice!
By Dale Jenkins
This article first appeared in the May 2014 issue of Think magazine.