Will speaking to cultural issues harm my witness? How can I speak the truth in love with compassion and courage? In this video, David Platt discusses the importance of speaking to cultural issues with grace and truth as a means of being a gospel witness. Contrary to popular opinion among Christians, speaking out about cultural issues will not harm our witness. Rather, we must recognize the great offense the gospel poses to culture, expect to encounter resistance, and anticipate God’s blessing on the proclamation of the gospel. The more that Christians speak to cultural issues, the greater the gospel witness, bringing glory to God.
- Recognize the Gospel’s Offense
- Expect Resistance
- Anticipate God’s Blessing
Won’t Our Stance On Cultural Issues Hurt Our Witness?
I realize there are some who may think speaking out on different issues like this will actually hurt our witness in the culture around us. And it certainly could, if we don’t speak with grace and truth, and with the compassion of Christ. And not just in our voices, our hearts, but in our lives, backed up by our actions. So not just speaking about these issues, but actually doing something about them. But when we do that, I don’t in any way presume that we’ll be popular in the culture around us, but I don’t presume that from the very foundation of the gospel. Whenever we speak the gospel, so we’re not talking about abortion or so-called same-sex marriage or this issue or that issue. I mean, just speaking the gospel will never be popular in whatever culture we’re in.
The Gospel Will Always Meet Resistance
And this really hits at the core issue is the gospel. It is the greatest offense. That’s why in the beginning of the book, just start by saying this is the greatest offense in any culture. And so when we speak this gospel in any culture we live in, we can expect to meet resistance. At the same time, we can also expect God to bless proclamation of the gospel, sharing the gospel to lead people to know him. And so my hope is then taking that gospel and applying the gospel to social issues in our day, I’m trusting this will fuel witness.
And you think about an issue like marriage, the more we speak God’s truth about marriage and God’s design, God’s good, gracious design for marriage to be a reflection of his love for his people, Christ’s love for the church. And the more we live that out in our lives, our marriages, the more we speak about that in a culture which is increasingly confused about marriage, the clarity of what God has designed and the light that shines through God’s design for marriage, you apply that to different cultural issues.
I don’t expect in any way that I or other followers of Christ are going to just receive applause for proclaiming the gospel to social issues in our day. But I do trust that as we do that with compassion and courage, that God’s going to exalt himself and draw people to himself through the proclamation and application of the gospel.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
