Declare If You Know Series

Declare if you know. Declare. Interesting word, “Declare”. It

suggests that when we communicate, there are a variety of

levels at which we can speak. There are different intensities

we can use when we want to say something.

Some folks merely suggest. They offer timid little ideas and

almost apologize for having dared to offer a creative thought.

One person I know offers ideas, but they are so hedged

around with, “Maybe this isn’t necessary” or “You’ve probably

already tried this” that I hardly even notice that it. A

suggestion, a timid little thought.

Other folks go beyond suggestion, and propose. They think

about some issue and come up with a way to make it work.

They call or they write, they offer to partner in making things

happen. They are not so timid that you cannot hear them,

nor are they so strident that you will not hear them. They do

not merely suggest, they propose. May their tribe increase!

They can be heard.

But then there are others who neither suggest nor propose,

but who announce. There are some folks who do not believe

they need to consult with anyone, but who just announce

what they are going to do, take it or leave it, thank you very

much. Sometimes that works. Years ago, in the old Soviet

Union, they thought that everything should be done by

consensus, and so the Moscow Symphony Orchestra

attempted to play without a conductor. The result was a

musical disaster. Sometimes somebody just has to

announce and lead.

But communication styles do not stop there. While there are

some who suggest, timidly; and while there are some who

propose, lifting up ideas for discussion; and while there are

still others who announce what they are going to do, there is

another level yet. There are those who declare. There are

those who with the force of personality, the authority of

office, the dignity of language, and the power of the moment,

declare. That is the most vigorous form of communication.

To declare. “By the power vested in me, I do now declare

that you are husband and wife”. I like doing that! “In the

name of the Lord, I do declare that you are now in full

fellowship with this congregation.” I like doing that too.

Declare! It communicates confidence, boldness, authority.

So Job says to his friends, after listening to their rhetoric,

“Declare! Declare if you know.” If you know.

I

You see, I think Job is aware that just because we say

something, that does not mean that we know anything. Just

because we are loud, that does not mean we know what we

are shouting about. It was said of one politician that he was

in love with the sound of his own voice. He just kept on

talking, whether he was saying anything or not, because it

sounded so good. A South African humorist, Roy Campbell,

described himself that way:

“Of all the clever people round me here

I most delight in me –

Mine is the only voice I care to hear,

And mine the only face I like to see.”

Job felt that his friends just talked to hear themselves talk.

They approached things not with an open mind, but with an

open mouth. Their declarations were empty, because they

really had not experienced what they were telling him. So

Job challenged them. Declare – if you know.

On Palm Sunday, don’t you get the feeling that maybe the

crowd was declaring what they did NOT know? If it is true

that the shouts of “Hosanna” turned in only a few days to the

cries of “Crucify”, then you have to wonder. Is it possible

that all this exuberance, all this energy, is only a front, and

nothing lies behind it? Like Job’s friends, who said what they

said with such emphasis, but who had never really

experienced life the way Job had, with all its pain and loss

and anguish – like Job’s friends, is it possible that now the

crowd, that day in Jerusalem, is just “sound and fury,

signifying nothing”?

II

Declare if you know. It’s worth pausing to admit that

sometimes we declare ourselves precisely because we do

not know. Sometimes we make pronouncements to cover

over the truth that we have no idea what we are talking

about. A seminary friend of mine said that he didn’t prepare

his sermons ahead of time because he didn’t know what he

thought until it came out of his mouth! Imagine declaring,

what you have not reflected on, but you just opened your

mouth and let whatever come out. Don’t laugh. Many of us

do it. Some of the best funeral sermons I’ve preached were

for people I didn’t really know, and so I could be very clear,