Sermons
Leading With Grace
LEADING WITH GRACE
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / November 26, 2017
Several weeks ago Jeannie came home from work someone animated. She had heard someone
on the radio talking about the importance of “leading with grace and following with truth.”
I want to explore this important concept in this morning’s sermon.
I think it is a message that we all need to hear and heed.
In Col.4:6, the apostle Paul writes these words of admonition - - Let your speech always be with grace,
seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how to respond to each person.
LET YOUR SPEECH ALWAYS BE WITH GRACE…
Certainly the topic of GRACE is one that ought to pre-occupy our minds and hearts.
But in this text Paul is not saying, Let you speech always be ABOUT grace.
Our speech is to be WITH grace.
In this particular usage grace can mean the following:
1) Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.
2) A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.
3) Skill at avoiding the inept or clumsy course; a sense of fitness or propriety.
4) A disposition to be generous or helpful; good will.
Paul goes on to add, seasoned, as it were, with salt.
Since ancient times the usage of salt has been a staple in our medicine cabinets.
Like vinegar, salt has been found to offer a wide-range of medicinal benefits:
we gargle with it … it soothes body aches / we soak our feet in it … it helps with digestion …
it serves as an antiseptic for insect bites … and helps to relieve sinusitis … it prolongs the life of food products.
But more to the point of this verse of Scripture, salt also enhances flavor.
Having been born in the south, Jeannie & I have grown up on grits.
Frequently, I’ve had Yankee friends tell me that “grits are tastelessly horrible”, or something to that affect.
Like boiled peanuts, grits might be an acquired taste.
But, it makes a world of difference in taste when you add some salt while you’re cooking them.
It’s similar to adding sugar to tea while it’s steeping, instead of adding a packet of sugar at the table.
Speaking with grace is the equivalent of speaking words that are well-flavored.
TRUTH is vitally important, but so is the way we present truth.
And this gets right to the point that Paul is making.
Concerning the incarnation of Jesus, John’s gospel states (Jn.1:14) - - The Word became flesh, and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of GRACE and TRUTH.
The order here is worth noting - - grace first and then truth.
I am thankful that our fellowship has been taught the importance of teaching truth.
Whether it be from a pulpit or a lawn chair, the proclamation of TRUTH for us is a priority.
While I would never want to diminish this emphasis, I would like to add - - so is the manner in which truth is presented.
In both regards, we all have some work to do.
Some of us really need to bone up on the truth.
And most all of us need to refine our skills in presenting the truth.
I once heard a story about a man who attended church habitually, but he never responded to the gospel.
One day another preacher came for a gospel meeting and he responded and was baptized into Christ.
When he was asked what finally “moved” him, his response was something like this:
Many have told me that I was lost and going to hell and they seemed to delight in telling me so.
This preacher told me I was lost, but it seemed to break his heart in doing so.
This story may be a fabricated one, but I doubt it.
We’ve all seen this scenario play out in the lives of our local churches and our homes.
We suspect that this happens far too often.
And this strikes as the very heart of what Paul’s text addresses.
People don’t care how much you know until they first know how much you care.
This may well be one of the chief ingredients (and most neglected) in the sharing the gospel.
While in the process of trying to share the truth many of us have failed quite miserably at speaking with grace.
Some have taken an in-your-face approach to speaking truth.
Others seem to enjoy letting others have it with both barrels.
Perhaps unwittingly, both categories of teachers come across as arrogant know-it-alls.
Such an approach turns people off to the truth rather than turning them on to the gospel of Christ.
Mt.10:16 notes words spoken by Jesus to His apostles before He sent them out to preach.
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves.
Of these two metaphors, we seem to grasp the image of being “innocent as doves” more readily.
But what did Jesus mean in telling His disciples to be “shrewd as serpents”.
Neither of these words - - shrewd or serpent seem to us to express redeeming qualities.
We normally think of shrewdness as being cunning. And that word cunning usually connotes a measure of deception.
Secondly, who wants to be like a serpent?
I’m convinced that Jesus was not reflecting on Satan the serpent as depicted in the garden of Eden (Gen.3:1).
At the time that Jesus spoke, a serpent was recognized as a creature with keen eyesight.
Additionally, they were adept as avoiding their enemies and catching their prey.
After we moved north when I was about ten years old, I constantly played in the woods behind our house in Ashtabula.
One had to work at catching a snake. They tended to slither away. They weren’t eager for a controntation.
We used to prod them to latch onto our finger with their fangs and dangle there while we showed others our catch.
My point is snakes are not generally combative.
Even on survival shows, the survivalists often take the approach - - don’t bother them and they won’t bother you.
Jesus was sending his apostles out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
His instruction was essentially this, “don’t go out looking to pick a fight”, but rather, be cautious and crafty and smart.
Paul’s words in this immediate context (Col.4:5) echo Jesus’ sentiment - -
Conduct yourselves with WISDOM toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.
In sharing the gospel with others in whatever arena of life, there is simply no place for harshness or rudeness.
Being abrasive and belligerent is not a good way to win friends and it especially doesn’t work well at trying to save souls.
Neither is evangelism a place for speaking inflammatory and/or accusatory words.
Instead of being combative and caustic let us aim to be charitable and considerate.
Let us choose our words carefully. Let us aim to speak the right words at the right place at the right time.
Doing so will make a huge difference in how we are able to touch those we long to reach.
Like apples of gold in settings of sliver is a word spoken in right circumstances (Prov.25:11).
In sharing the gospel, truth is imperative, but so is tact and diplomacy.
Possessing discernment is part of being shrewd as serpents.
Our assignment is not just to speak the truth, but to SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE (Eph.4:15).
Two brief illustrations and then we will close in prayer.
First, from the preaching ministry of the apostle Paul.
Acts 17 tells of an occasion when Paul visited in Athens. In Acts 17:16, Luke records that
while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he was beholding a city full of idols.
Vss.18-19 notes that some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers invited him to the Areopagus (Mars Hill - - Hill of Ares).
It was to provide the setting whereby they would give Paul a hearing while he preached the gospel of Christ to them.
Notice how Paul begins his message (Acts 17:22).
He is neither insulting nor incendiary. He does not go on a rant. He doesn’t come across as holier-than-thou.
He does not quote from Deut.5:7-8 - - you shall have no other gods before Me … you shall not make for yourself an idol.
Paul’s spirit was provoked within him, but it did not manifest itself in a mean-spirited way. Not in the least.
Rather, he begins with a compliment (Acts 17:22): Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
And then, very politely and astutely (shrewdly we could say) he continues by saying (Acts 17:23) - -
While I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription,
‘To an unknown God’. What therefore you worship without knowledge (in ignorance), this I proclaim to you.
Secondly, from the teaching ministry of Jesus.
In the story of the prodigal son (Lk.15:11ff), we catch a glimpse (actually it is a deep insight) of the heart of God.
Vs.20 records: (the prodigal son) got up and came to his Father. But while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.
The son begins expressing his waywardness and sorrow.
Vs.22 / But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring
on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry.
What’s really noteworthy here is what the Father didn’t say.
Sometimes speaking with grace can express itself in “what we don’t say”.
This story should speak strongly to our hearts about a better way of dealing with domestic strife and waywardness.
Our aim ought never be to make a family member (or friend) wallow in guilt or grovel in remorse, but rather the desire of our heart is to rejoice in the restoration and salvation of anyone and everyone.
