How to Communicate Hard Topics

This week I have been thinking about something very essential for Christians. How do we communicate the complicated topics in the Bible? This question is something that I believe gives every Christian a hard time. So I'm hoping this blog post can be a starting point for people struggling with this question after studying a little bit and talking with different people about it. I came up with these three main ideas.

1. It's Not About You.

Too often, as Christians, we think it's all about me and that I'm the one that brings people to Christ. Even worse, some Christians preach the Prosperity Gospel and demand people to give them money. If you do this, I am telling you to STOP doing it. If you are in full-time ministry and you get paid for it. I am not saying that's a bad thing. I am saying to preach what the Bible says and don't make it say something that it doesn't say. In other words, Context before Content. It is also important to give God the glory and not take the credit for yourself. We need to point people to Christ and not ourselves.

2. How We Communicate and Act.

This is just as important as realizing that it is not about you. Part of a Christian's job is to persuade people to follow Christ. Not in the sense of selling Jesus like a used car. But to influence people to develop a mature relationship with Jesus. Three ways help us bring people to Christ are: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

Ethos is the audience's perception that you are professionally, morally, ethically, academically, and spiritually qualified to speak on the text.

Logos is the artistic argument you make.

Pathos is the perception in the audience that you deeply care about them.

In short, how you speak and act can make or break someone's faith in God. So it is important to be spiritually mature. I am not saying not to have fun. But we need to grow continually and mature. For example, if I am a forty-year-old that acts like I'm in high school, that is NOT okay. Especially if you are a Christian in full-time ministry, you should also grow and mature in your faith as you grow older. Especially in the church, how you act around other people will influence their perception of you. It may even get to the point to where that person does not want to learn anything from you.

3. Know Your Audience.

I heard a preacher once say that if it's in the Bible, we need to teach it while that is important, and every Christian should do that. It is also important to gauge that person's spiritual maturity. If you preach or tell someone a message they are not ready to hear, it will do more harm than good. We need to make people feel uncomfortable in the right way by convicting them to make a change. Not by making them uncomfortable in the wrong way. We make people uncomfortable in the wrong way by being hypocritical or by not being a good friend. For example, if I am a Christian, I should not start diving into profound theology with someone who is not ready for it. I should start simple then gradually dive deeper. In one of my college classes last year, I was going to dive into some profound theology with a simple concept. When I talked to my friend about it, she told me that I plummeted to deep and overcomplicated the simple concept. She also said that if I wanted to make an impact, I should use simple ideas to get my point across.

Many Christians also talk about how we should cause Havoc for the Lord. If you look in the Bible, there are plenty of havoc raiser. I mean, Jesus himself challenged the current ideas of the time. But he raised Havoc in the right way and not the wrong way. Another excellent example of someone who caused Havoc was Paul. But both Paul and Jesus raised Havoc the right way. Both men did not break any Civil Roman Laws. Both men even said to pay taxes—Paul in Romans 13 and Jesus in Matthew 22. Plus, most of the taxes that went to Rome were used to kill Christians. Paul even goes so far as to say in Romans 13 to respect the authority over you. Paul also acknowledged that all authority comes from God. So, in short, we need to obey the people over us rather if it's our boss, our teachers, or whoever we put ourselves under. It is essential to follow them unless if it goes against the Bible. But even then, we need to pray and meditate on God's word before jumping into action.

Disclaimer

If you disagree with something that I said in this post, it is okay, but this is what the Holy Spirit is convicting me to say. I know that the ideas presented in this blog post are challenging, but I think this is essential for every Christian to hear.