- WE SPEAK TO SHARE MEANING
BACKGROUND: A preacher faced backlash for making heretical statements. In his defense, he claims that he is responsible for what he said and not how people understand it.
QUESTION: Are we indeed only responsible for what we say and not how people understand us?
No one sets out preaching without a meaning in mind. The Communication process is that the sender encodes his meaning into a message and delivers it through a medium unto the receiver. The receiver then decodes the message. This is the simple one-way process of communication.
However, Communication experts have identified two critical peripheries to this process. We must acknowledge this two if we will be great communicators. That is, there is what they call “Noise” throughout the process. Noise refers to anything that distorts successful communications. The implication is that a message may not and will not always be communicated as intended. Therefore, a speaker (the sender of the message) must be sure his or her message was delivered and understood as intended. There must be feedback and s/he must look out for positive cues. These experts know the importance of communication. The backward loop makes communication a dialogue. Taking this approach indicates how serious you are with your message. You want to be sure that your signal was received. What does the Bible say?
“And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.” (1 Corinthians 14:7-11, KJV)
After speaking against the abuse of tongues-speaking (without interpretation) and making the point that meaningful communication is important for the edification/profiting of congregants, Paul the Apostle turns to lifeless instruments to make his point. “Even things without life” must make meaning when they’re used in human communication. He goes on to generalize from the global perspective that unless a voice is understood, its signification will be lost on those who hear it. “Ye shall be speaking into the air.”
Without shared meaning, language is insignificant. Codes exist for communication. The Bible again uses this illustration. How does a book convey a message if it is sealed? How does a book bless someone who cannot read it? (Isaiah 29:10-12) God uses this to illustrate His judgment against the people for attempting to outsmart Him with lip-service. (Isaiah 29:13-16) Even with that judgment comes a promise of the unsealing of this symbolic book and the clear teaching of doctrine, especially or particularly for the humble. Isn’t God merciful?
“Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest? IN THAT DAY THE DEAF SHALL HEAR THE WORDS OF THE BOOK, AND THE EYES OF THE BLIND SHALL SEE OUT OF OBSCURITY AND OUT OF DARKNESS. The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nothing, The scornful one is consumed, And all who watch for iniquity are cut off— Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words. Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, Nor shall his face now grow pale; But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel. THESE ALSO WHO ERRED IN SPIRIT WILL COME TO UNDERSTANDING, AND THOSE WHO COMPLAINED WILL LEARN DOCTRINE.” (Isaiah 29:17-24, NKJV)
Jesus alluded to the latter prophecy when he prayed and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.” (Matthew 11:25-26) God’s judgment of a sealed book is like a chicken-egg situation: for they cannot read because He has judged them but He has judged them because they handled His light dubiously. What they have is taken from them because they did not take care of it. (Luke 8:18)
Those who despise God’s communication will be despised by Him. However, the general rule seems to be that God speaks to be understood. He has given us the gift of men ”for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:12-16, NKJV)
It’s a long one, but 2 Timothy 3:16-17 summarizes it thus; “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” God equips us through clear exposition of Scripture by men. The equipping of the saints will bring us to “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” so that we are not tossed to and fro by just any doctrine. In short, the equipping happens through an explanation of the Scriptures. The fivefold ministry is for the edification of the body of Christ. And according to the Spirit’s rationale, edification abounds through an understanding of what is being said. You must therefore make sense to those God has sent you to bless. This is what God told Ezekiel.
“For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.” (Ezekiel 3:5-7, NKJV)
Despite the impudence of men which counts for noise in our communication process, God sends us to people who can understand us. God speaks to the minds of people. Even if He does so through stammering tongues, understanding is the goal of God’s favored communication. This is why even His judgmental writing on the wall had to be interpreted. (Daniel 5) When God speaks, He wants to be heard. And even if the vision is sealed (especially in prophetic and apocalyptic cases), it is only temporary and will speak at an appointed time. (Hab. 2:3, Daniel 12:4, compare to Revelations 22:10) But no teacher of the word stands up to seal instead of unseal God’s clear meaningful word. The teacher’s work is to help people “hear and understand” (Matthew 15:10) as the great Rabbi himself demonstrated. A constant criterion for selecting church leaders is that they must be able to teach, not to confuse. Teachers must necessary want to be understood. Isn’t it?
The principle is what I want us to glean specifically through all of this. That, when it comes to communicating with people, the blessing is in their understanding of what we say. The significance of language is meaning. If what we say does not convey a distinct meaning, we will not get a response. “Ye will be speaking into the air.” (Speaking into the air connotes madness, and is inconsistent with the sound mind God gives us.)
Paul uses the example of a response to battle. A call to battle was trumpeted in those days. They were unleashed at the blast of the trumpet. And if the trumpet made an uncertain sound, it could be catastrophic. Don’t you think so? It would cause a murderous confusion. “Should we move? Is it a mistake? What is that sound? Is it wartime? No, that’s not how it sounds. Let me wait and see what the others do. Arrows. Swords. Blood. Fire. Chaos. Capture. Defeat! The adversaries close up. The city is invaded. Women are raped and forcefully taken. Children are ensalved. A city dies, with her men. Their king is killed, his kingdom too. But… That sound? It didn’t sound like war. Oh!”
This is not an exaggeration. Communication is so important in ordinary matters, much more in spiritual matters. Poor communication, especially in matters of life and death, must be outlawed. That is why there are markings and road signs on our streets. In a serious country, they must be clear.
Those who communicate on God’s behalf (from His word) cannot afford to make indistinct and uncertain sounds. Because, people are saved through preaching (communication). People must hear to be saved and they hear through a preacher. (Romans 10:14) Because we speak to share meaning, a speaker cannot reasonably be unconcerned about how their words are understood. That would be a reckless speaker, a bad messenger, who cannot be trusted to do the good work of communicating their message effectively and looking on for positive feedback.
Shalom!
< Previous: #responsibilitesincommunication1
Next: #responsibilitiesincommunication3
