From Love to Fear with Truth

So we are called to love one another — but how do we do that?

According to Ephesians 4, the local church matures by its love for another, which happens through our speaking the truth in love. 

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ … [which] makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15–16)

What does it mean to speak the truth in love?

Truth, Love, Encouragement

Well, it hinges on the meaning of “truth” and “love.”

The truth is the truth of God, gospel truth. And love for others means intending their ultimate good in Christ. If we put that together it means that our speaking the truth in love is our speaking the realities of the gospel to others for their ultimate good in Christ. 

That is essentially what encouragement does. 

I think one-word description of what Paul describes in Ephesians 4:15 is biblical encouragement. Biblical encouragement is something I want to distinguish from our typical, common use. Oftentimes we think of encouragement as simply saying nice things to others. It could be any kind of little boost, a go-get-em tiger, or perhaps just straight flattery. And it tends to be utilitarian, an easy means to winning friends and gaining approval. 

Biblical Encouragement

But biblical encouragement is different. Helped by the book, Encouragement, by Larry Crabb and Dan Allender, I think a sticky explanation of New Testament encouragement goes like this: it’s to speak from our love to others’ fears in order to move them forward in their walk with Jesus.  

Let me explain:

First, our speaking must come from love. Love. Love as in not generic niceness, which is a thing in Minnesota, right? This love is our genuine desire for the other to grow mature in Christ. We want their joy in God, for them to know God’s love for them, for them to love God, and for them to love others for God’s sake. We long for that, and it’s out of that longing that we venture to speak.

And to speak to what, exactly?

The others’ fear. Which, I hope, seems broad. I consider fear to be any kind of disquietude that struggles to hear clearly the promises of the gospel. Fear is any kind of unsettledness that loosens our grip of God’s truth, and the stronger the fear, the looser the grip, the quicker the spiral. 

Fear is always hanging around our mental doorsteps, even if it’s subconscious to us, and so there’s never a time it can’t be confronted.

So we always need, and can be helped by, somebody who loves us who speaks from that love to our fear. And if we’re talking next-level, we need someone who not only loves us, but who knows us well enough to anticipate our inclinations to be fearful. 

Those are the unsolicited conversations that start, “Hey, how are you doing?” … and it’s an absolute leading question.

The Speaking

And then somewhere in conversations like that, if New Testament encouragement happens, the encourager will address the other’s fear with truth. From love to fear with truth. The encourager reminds the other about God’s love, about the resources he’s given them — “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). The encourager identifies an evidence of grace on the other and draws a straight line to God and his care.

And can you imagine if all the members of the body are doing this for one another?

This is how the body builds itself up in love. This is the kind of encouragement I dream about being in the air at Cities Church. 

And there’s still more to say here, so stay tuned.