“As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
I want to extract from this passage just one phrase today, and let’s focus entirely on what it is exhorting us to do. “…speaking the truth in love…”
It is one phrase in the middle of a sentence, but an understanding of it, I think, will help us better comprehend the rest of what Paul is saying in these verses.
First though, let me make a clarification that will be important to our grasp of this phrase.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in a sermon he preached sometime in the 1970’s, noted that this phrase, “speaking the truth in love” had, at that time, been ‘wrested out of context’, and ‘turned into a slogan’. Those who were advocating a World Church, and insisting that true Christianity was mimicking Christ and behaving well and that sound doctrinal teaching was out of place because the masses don‘t understand it and don‘t want to hear it, were using this one phrase entirely out of context, to assert that it is ‘speaking the truth in love’ to one another that establishes and fortifies unity in the body of Christ, and that wins the world for Him.
This philosophy goes contrary to the scriptural meaning of ‘unity’, and the inspired usage of the phrase as it is seen in its context.
So we’re going to be careful today, to avoid that snare; and the best way to do that is to keep the phrase in the context of the passage, reminding ourselves as we go that unity in the church is not maintained by turning ourselves into flower-children and always saying nice and kind and helpful things to one another, and being tolerant of everything, and being careful never to offend with our words.
Let’s talk first about
SPEAKING
Now I will not attempt to enter into a word study here, but there are a couple of things I should bring to your attention. There are 10 different Greek words in the New Testament, that we translate ‘speaking’. I didn’t even check other English forms of the word, such as ‘speak’ or ‘spoken’ and so forth. Just ‘speaking’. And the Greeks used a minimum of ten different words for it, depending on what type of ‘speaking’ was going on. They were very specific.
For example, I might simply say to an interrupting child, “I‘m speaking here…”. That would be one Greek word; but if we’re talking about someone giving a speech before a large gathering, that’s a different word, even though we might say, “He’s speaking at the lodge this evening”.
Sometimes I think there would be a lot less misunderstanding in our society, if our language was that verbose so as to be extremely specific. On the other hand, in our day and age it might only cause more confusion.
I ran across something a couple of weeks ago that tickled me. It’s called an “Instant Buzzword Generator”. It was developed to give you ‘an impressive lingo‘; is the way it was introduced. It goes like this. There are about 9 columns of words. You keep the list handy, or if you’re able, memorize it.
Then when preparing a speech, or getting ready for an interview or some other important meeting, you take a word from two or three columns, join them together, and even though you’ve created a phrase that means absolutely nothing, it sounds impressive.
Example: In column one we have ‘total’, ‘organizational’ and ‘flexibility’.
Way down in column 7 we have ‘synchronized’ ‘incremental’ and ‘projection’
In column 9 are the words, ‘balanced’ ‘policy’ and contingency’.
So you can pick any words from these columns, join them together as a phrase, and just toss them around to impress.
“Back at the home office we’ve implemented ‘total incremental contingency’.”
“We’re exercising a ‘synchronized organizational policy’.”
“We’re showing a ’balanced flexibility projection’.”
You get the idea. There’s a whole lot of speaking going on. Not long ago I heard someone quote some statistics. I don’t know where he got them, and I don’t really remember the numbers. I just heard it in passing on the radio while I was driving.
But the statistics said if the average person’s daily spoken words were put on paper, at the end of an average day his words would fill over 70 typewritten pages, and he’d complete about a book a week. Something like that. The speaker went on to talk about a year, and ten years, etc, but I don’t remember the numbers so I’ll drop it there. The point that he was making was that we might all be more than a little embarrassed and/or dismayed if we could look back at all our words in a library of books, and see how much in our life would have been better left unsaid, or at the very least, more thought given to our words before speaking.
Well, the very specific Greek word used in our text means to speak forth. To tell a truth. It evokes a picture of someone standing up for truth. Ready to declare it at any cost, simply because it is truth. That’s why Paul employed it in exhorting us to speak the truth in love. It’s the only time this particular Greek word is used, by the way…
…speaking forth the truth.
Now I want to talk about this truth that we are to be speaking.
TRUTH
First of all, we would all agree that there are many truths in general. There is a willow tree in my yard. That is a truth. But Paul is not exhorting us simply to be honest and always tell the truth here in Ephesians 4:15. So we have to look closer.
Keeping the entire phrase in the context of the passage, Paul would have to be referring to the truth that opposes the winds of doctrine that change and rise and fall and destabilize the babe, and the deliberate charlatans he accused of craftiness and deceitful scheming.
From its foundation, the church of Jesus Christ has been plagued by heretics seeking to introduce error. The early fathers saw very clearly that she needed to be protected against these minions of Satan, or she would be destroyed.
That is where the various creeds came from, that, unfortunately, are so little known to today’s Christians. But for many, many years, even up to the middle of the last century, these creeds were widely published and even publicly recited in the worship service; which they still are in some denominations, but not in all. Not in enough. They are read to keep them before the minds of the people, so they too can guard their hearts and minds against error.
I have included in my sermon today, the Athanasian Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Apostle’s Creed. I will offer a brief explanation of the origin of each, then I want to actually read them to you before going on. I’ve provided each of you with a copy so you can look on as I read, and so that you may take it home with you.
Now I’m going to tell you that I found these creeds and their explanations on a website, but I could not find anyone’s name or title there to credit. I think it’s a Lutheran site. But the site did say that these things were copied there by permission. So I have sort of second generation permission to put them here.
I should also make clear here, that the word ‘catholic’ as used in these creeds does not refer to the denomination of the Roman Catholic church. The word catholic means ‘universal’ or ‘general’. It is a reference to the church in general, Christ’s body of believers, with no reference to denominational distinctive.
First, the Athanasian Creed:
This creed is of uncertain origin. It was supposedly prepared in the time of Athanasius, the great theologian of the fourth century, although it seems more likely that it dates from the fifth or sixth centuries and is Western in character. It assists the Church in combating two errors that undermined Bible teaching: the denial that God’s Son and the Holy Spirit are of one being with the Father; the other a denial that Jesus Christ is true God and true man in one person. It declares that whoever rejects the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ is without the saving faith. Traditionally it is considered the "Trinitarian Creed" and read aloud in corporate worship in some denominations, on Trinity Sunday.
Athanasian Creed
Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic faith.
Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.
But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.
What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.
Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit.
The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite.
Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit:
And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal;
as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited.
Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit:
And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.
Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God:
And yet there are not three gods, but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord:
And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.
As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.
The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten;
the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father;
the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.
And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other;
but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.
Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity.
It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.
For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both God and man.
He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother --
existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body;
equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity.
Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ.
He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity.
He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures.
For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man.
He suffered death for our salvation.
He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds.
Those who have done good will enter eternal life,
those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.
This is the catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.
Next, the Nicene Creed:
When the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) rejected the teaching of Arius, it expressed its position by adopting one of the current Eastern symbols and inserting into it some anti-Arian phrases, resulting in this creed. At the Council of Constantinople (381) some minor changes were made, and it was reaffirmed at the Council of Chalcedon (451). Historically it has been used especially at Holy Communion on Sundays and major feasts in some denominations (except when the Apostles’ Creed is used as the Baptismal Creed).
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.*
(signifying forgiveness of sins, my parenthesis)
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
And finally, the Apostle’s Creed. I remember reciting this every Sunday as a congregation, growing up in the Methodist church.
The Apostles’ Creed as we now have it dates from the eighth century. However, it is a revision of the so-called Old Roman Creed, which was used in the West by the third century. Behind the Old Roman Creed, in turn, were variations which had roots in the New Testament itself. While this creed does not come from the apostles, its roots are apostolic. It serves as a Baptismal symbol -- that is, it describes the faith into which we are baptized and is used in the rites of Baptism and Affirmation of Baptism, in some denominations.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Now I took us through all that today, because I want to impress upon you that Paul has, by the Holy Spirit, admonished us to speak the truth, for the sake of countering the changing winds of false doctrine, but also so that in holding to the fundamental truths of our faith and standing strong in them we might continue to grow and mature in Christ.
Christian, the spirit of this world would convince you if possible, and has convinced many, that speaking the truth in love means putting away any notion of absolutes; or of insisting that the Christian faith is the only faith with the whole truth, and that the only way to Heaven is by adhering in faith and practice to the doctrines of the Christian faith.
That is intolerant, they would say. It is closed-minded, pig-headed, self-righteous, old-fashioned, unenlightened, divisive. It is not for today’s thinking, enlightened person.
We must be accepting of others and considerate of their rights, and respectful in our speech, toward their belief systems.
Well I agree that we should be gentle as doves. After all, Paul said “in love”, and this is part of what he meant. But we are also to be wise as serpents. And in this marriage of wisdom and gentility, we are to hold firm to the truth, which alone can see us through successfully and victoriously in our daily Christian walk, and which alone can save the repentant from his sins.
I want to spend the last few minutes of our time today talking about just those two things:
TRUTH AND OUR DAILY WALK,
And TRUTH THAT SAVES
I want you to make a special mental note that when Paul says, “…we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ”, he is telling us that this growing up is dependant upon, hinges upon, our adherence to the truth.
Now if we are to adhere to truth, we must first know the truth, and be convinced of it.
So I impress upon you one more time today, that you must know the scriptures, Christian. It is not enough to have a family bible collecting dust on your coffee table, or even a good study bible, if it is gathering dust on your shelf.
There are only two ways to know the truth pertaining to God and salvation. His written Word, and the revelation of His truth by the Holy Spirit to the human spirit and heart.
You must study to know these fundamental doctrines. They are not dry and boring. They only seem dry and boring to the unlearned. As you learn them and understand them, if you have the Holy Spirit in you, they can only excite you to the point of shouting ‘GLORY!’ as you comprehend what they mean for you and for all who believe.
The doctrines of our faith must be held up and made clear, they must be learned, and I mean learned to a life-changing degree. Because Christian, when the dice-rollers come, when the charlatans come, when the spirit of error comes, only sound biblical doctrine will keep you on your feet.
Not flower-power, not tolerance and peaceful co-existence, not political correctness and general acceptance and a ‘hands across the water’ philosophy; but truth. Specifically, truth that pertains to who Christ is, what He has done, what alone He can give through the victory He won on the cross and over the grave.
Finally, a word about TRUTH THAT SAVES.
We must know the truth to grow and mature, to stand strong and counteract the wiles of the devil in his deception; but we must never forget that to neglect speaking the truth in love in the sense that Paul means it here, is to deny the unsaved world around us the opportunity to be saved.
I have been seeing a man standing at the corner of Townsend and Niagara Road on Saturday mornings, holding up a small wooden cross he has made, and smiling and pointing upwards.
Now I’m not going to disparage that man. Perish forbid that I should malign him as a kook and then get to Heaven and find out he was perfectly following God’s leading for God’s own purpose.
But I have to tell you people, that ‘speaking the truth in love’ is not a command fulfilled by “Jesus Loves You” bumper stickers, or WWJD t-shirts, or “Have a Nice Day” buttons with a cross for an exclamation point.
I don’t care if you dress like a monk, I don’t care if you say ‘God bless’ to everyone you meet, I don’t care if you use paper machete to make your VW Beetle look like Golgotha, and put a cross on top and drive down the road…
…the only thing that saves is the truth of who Jesus is, what He has done, what alone He can give through the victory He won on the cross and over the grave.
If we hold that message back through indifference, or keep quiet about it through fear, or lose it ourselves by following after the changing winds of false doctrine, then those without hope are without hope indeed.
They may hate the church, they may mock the church, they may wish the church would go away. But if there is any hope at all for them to be saved, that hope lies in the diligence of born again believers in Christ, to know the truth, and to speak the truth in love. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the body language that, if spoken in its purity, will tell the world the one and only way to get to Heaven; it is the body language that, if spoken in love among us, and held to without variance or wavering, will grow us up in all aspects into Him; Christ, our Head.
