Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace
By Grant Gaines
Have you noticed how “user friendly” our society has become? Just think about it. We have electric toothbrushes and razors because those tasks were becoming far too demanding to complete manually. We have engine-starting key chains so our car will already be at the perfect temperature before we even open the door. We even have email on our phones because, heaven forbid, we have to go through the backbreaking process of checking emails on our iPads! Today, everything in our society invites us to kick up our feet and relax.
But would you believe me if I told you that this tendency has seeped into the belief system of mainstream Christianity? We are so fascinated and drawn to what is “user friendly” that many Christians today choose to believe that the burden of their evangelistic efforts can rest solely on their good deeds. This belief can be summed up in the popular quote by St. Francis of Assisi which says, “Preach the Gospel always, if necessary, use words.”
At its heart, this quote is urging us to follow the command of Philippians 1:27 (NIV) which says, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ…” Everywhere we go and everything we do should all be leading others to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is absolutely, 100% spot on what God desires for us. However, it is the second part of this quote that feeds our desire to choose that which is the most user friendly over that which is most effective and fruitful. You see, the majority of the quote is great, but the “if necessary” part must be deleted for this assertion to be Biblically accurate. There is no getting around the fact that we must use our words if we want someone to actually understand the Gospel.
To prove this point, consider the following fact: Every major religion in the world encourages their followers to do good works and to live good lives. So what will make someone look at a “good Samaritan” and see that they are a Christian and not, say, a Mormon? Doesn’t it require us to verbally proclaim the Gospel for others to confidently make this distinction between the religions?
And by using our words to make the Gospel known, we are accurately following the examples laid out for us in the Bible. How did the Old Testament prophets relay God’s message to His people. Did they donate their two horsepower chariot to charity and help their neighbor during the harvest? No, they preached God’s Word boldly.
For example, after being ridiculed for publically speaking the Word of God, the prophet Jeremiah was prepared to take the user friendly route by allowing his actions to do all the talking for him. However, just as he was ready to throw in the towel, Jeremiah had a watershed moment which resulted in him writing Jeremiah 20:9 (NLT), “But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD or speak in his name, His Word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!” He literally could not keep from speaking God’s Word!
And we have many more examples of popular Bible characters boldly speaking the Word of God rather than merely allowing their example to do the talking for them. We could look at how Peter and the apostles continued to teach about Jesus after being beaten, flogged, and commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus any more in Acts 5. We could look at God spurring Paul on to continue preaching the Gospel in Acts 18:9. In fact, we could find many more examples in the Bible of characters who were unashamed to let the truth of Jesus Christ be known through their words, but why look any further than the example Jesus Himself gave us?
Certainly we remember Jesus for His works such as washing the disciples’ feet (John 13:1-17), feeding the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21), and calming the storm (Luke 8:22-25). But if Jesus only did good deeds and never told us the exclusive truth of the Gospel, which states that He is, “…the Way and the Truth and the Life. [And] No one comes to the Father except through [Him]” (John 14:6, NIV), then Jesus would only be remembered in an old, dusty history book somewhere in your city’s library as a good man. Instead, Jesus is not just remembered as a good man, but lives on (both literally and metaphorically) as the most well-known figure in history because He boldly proclaimed the Gospel of truth.
Undoubtedly, we must have our actions align with the Gospel in a way that sets us apart from the unbelieving world (1 Peter 2:9, Matt 5:16, 1 Peter 2:12). But our actions should not be our primary source of witnessing. Instead, as displayed in the Bible, an effective presentation of the Gospel involves both actions and words.
Are you living by the “user friendly” ideology described in St. Francis’s quote? As we have just learned, this is not the way God intended for us to witness to others. Instead, make it your goal to adopt the mindset of the apostles from Acts 4:20 (NIV) when they said of the work Jesus had done in their lives, “…we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013


