Just How Plain Spoken Should We Be?

I'm an easy going guy. I like to laugh and joke and play. I stayed in trouble as a kid in school because my teachers often failed to appreciate my humor. My yearbooks all have notes where other students referred to me as "the class clown."

When it comes to teaching about God's grace, I think it's important to be known as a loving person. Religion makes people mean spirited but grace doesn't do that to us. Grace nurtures the heart of Jesus in our attitudes and actions.

The question arises though, "Is there ever a time to be harsh? To be so plain spoken to the point that we run the risk of being called unkind?" I think there is. If you were to see an old woman being beaten up by a thug, would you become angry? If you were to witness a child being abused by an adult, would you become angry? The fact is that there are times when it's inappropriate not to be angry and not to speak plainly.

If we're known for being angry and harsh all the time, that's an indicator that something's not right somewhere in our attitude and paradigm. But, conversely, if we don't ever rise up and speak boldly, something is wrong there too. When people are abused, love compels us to not only care but to be passionate in our response.

There is no greater spiritual abuse that exists than that of religious legalism. Modern day Pharisees are just as dangerous as they were in Jesus day. The word "Pharisee" means "those separated" (Abrahams, Studies in Pharisees and the Gospels) and refers to the sect in Jesus day who judged and condemned people because they didn't live up to the standards the Pharisees believed were expected by God. Pharisees were authoritarian, arrogant and autocratic in the way they deal with other people. Jesus encountered them many times.

Paul deal with the Judaizers in Galatia. They were similar to the Pharisees in numerous ways. Perhaps they were even more subtle and dangerous because they didn't openly oppose Jesus like the Pharisees did. To the contrary, they argued that if the Galatian Christians wanted to really be godly and grow spiritually there were things they must do to make spiritual progress. The starting point was that they should be circumcised, they told these Christians.

Both Jesus and Paul were outraged by these religious abusers and held back nothing in the way they spoke about them and to them. Here's what Jesus had to say to the Pharisees:

Matthew 23:15-17 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? (The Greek word translated "fools" in verse 17 is the word moros, from which we get the word "moron.")

Matthew 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. (NASV

Remember, these words were from Jesus, the One the Bible says came from God, "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14)

Then there was the Apostle Paul, arguably the most powerful Christian in the history of the church. Here's what he said to the Judaizers whose heavy handed ways threatened the message of grace among the Galatians:

Galatians 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! (NASV) The word “accursed” is the Greek word anathema and means "to be condemned to destruction; to be damned.”

Here's the way another translation says it:

Whoever tells you good news that is different from the Good News we gave you should be condemned to hell, even if he is one of us or an angel from heaven. (God’s Word Translation)

Speaking of the big emphasis on circumcision the Judaizers had, Paul wrote:

Galatians 5:12 I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. (NASV)

An older version says:

I would that they that unsettle you would even go beyond circumcision. (American Standard Version)

Get the point? I like the Old King James Version, which says that Paul wished they "were altogether cut off."

"You like cutting things off?" Paul asked. "Then keep cutting until there's nothing left to cut off!"

Another time he encountered these legalists, he called them "dogs." In Philippians 3:2, he wrote, Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. (NIV)

Okay, here's the point we must get: Grace doesn't mean that we have to act syrypy-sweet in how we relate to every person. There are times when we need to speak up and speak out. There's a time to be bold and plainspoken and when innocent people are being abused, that's the time! There are indeed still "dogs" and "morons" out there hurting God's children and there's nothing wrong with you pointing that out. In fact, love demands it.