Who’s familiar with the saying, “Actions speak louder than words”? All of us. Good. It’s a common enough saying, and we understand what it means really well. We understand that what it means is that your actions better back up your words. If you say you’re a kind person, you better actually be kind to people, because you can say you’re a kind person all you want, but if you don’t actually show it, no one is going to believe you!
This is actually has a basis in the Bible, too. 1 John 3:18 says, “Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” (NASB) In other words, don’t just say you love people, show it, or no one will believe you!
And you might be familiar with James 1:22, which says, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.” (NASB) Which doesn’t say anything about words at all, but instead says that you should do what you hear from the Bible. So actions are clearly the emphasized response to the gospel here.
Titus 1:6 also gives this stern warning about those whose deeds do not line up with their words, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” (NASB)
So, yes, actions speak louder than words, and we must know that if our deeds do not line up with what we say, there is an issue with that. But, there’s another aspect to consider here. So often we put such an emphasis on deeds, to be doers of the Word, to show with our life-style that we are Christians to others. There’s nothing wrong with this, and as we can plainly see from Scripture, if our actions don’t profess our faith, there’s something wrong. But, does that mean that words aren’t important at all?
Join me in Galatians 1:13-24 this morning. Again, Paul wrote this to urge the Galatian church not to walk away from the gospel of Christ, and through his letter, we see the importance that words have for the Christian.
“For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when He who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him for fifteen days. But I did not see another one of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which are in Christ; but they only kept hearing, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me.” (NASB)
Paul talks about his conversion experience in these verses, and starts with what the Galatians would have heard and known about Paul’s way of life before he became a Christ-follower. He says he used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul says that he was the worst of sinners, and it doesn’t take much digging into Paul’s life to discover that his statement is true.
Paul was known as Saul before he experienced an encounter with Jesus. As Saul, we’re told that he was known for two things, for his adherence to Jewish law, and for his intense persecution of the church. Because of his adherence to Jewish law, it wasn’t enough for Saul to just speak out against the new Christians. He didn’t just despise them. He didn’t just tell others that they were wrong and blasphemers. He took his case against Christians to the temple priests and had them draft a letter that Saul could take with him around the country that gave him the authority to seek out Christians and bring them to the temple authorities to face charges! Not only did he seek out Christians and bring them to face charges, but we have on record that he participated at least in some way in the death of at least one Christian: Stephen.
Because of this persecution, Paul, after his conversion, figured that he was the worst of sinners because his sins resulted in the death of those who followed Christ, yet Christ extended Paul mercy and forgiveness.
So, was Paul really the worst of sinners? Not really, but Paul felt this way because his sins were directed against what Jesus was doing in the world to grow His church. I think too, that Paul’s thinking that he was the worst of sinners may have also come from an understanding that he came to after his conversion, when he realized how much sin grieves the Lord. In that way, don’t we all sort of feel like this at some point after our conversion? When we realize how much our sin saddens God, we understand how devastating sin really is, and we do kind of feel like we are the worst of sinners.
But, that’s not what Paul dwells on here. He goes on to say that despite how horrible his actions, his deeds, were, God had set him apart, even from his mother’s womb. He said that God was pleased to reveal Himself to Paul. And God says the same about each and every one of us. God wants to set each us apart for Him. He is please to reveal Himself to us. That is His desire, to show us who He is and set us apart from the world for Him.
What Paul dwells on is why God called Him. Let’s look at the verses again, “But when He who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,” (NASB) The reason God revealed Himself to Paul, the reason He saved Paul, wasn’t so Paul would be saved and life a nice life. God revealed Himself to Paul and saved him so that others could be saved through Paul’s ministry. That’s exactly what Paul says, that God set him apart and was pleased to reveal Himself so that Paul might preach Christ to others. Paul was saved to preach the gospel to others.
He set out to do that work right away, and took boldness and confidence in doing that because he knew that was why Christ had revealed Himself and saved Paul. And as he did that, even churches that he had never been to starting saying and hearing, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me.” (Gal. 1:23-24, NASB)
There was a lot of action and deeds on Paul’s part. You can read about his three missionary trips in the book of Acts and in many places throughout his letters you’ll read about the deeds he did in efforts to spread the gospel. In many places throughout his letters, Paul talks about the importance of living a life worthy of the calling you receive from Christ. Life a life worthy of your calling; this command speaks about deeds and actions that we do. Remember, actions speak louder than words!
But again, I ask the question, does that mean that words aren’t important at all? Did Paul just show the gospel through his actions? No. He shared the gospel through deeds and WORDS. He preached it. He used his words to tell others about Jesus. Obviously, Paul’s actions lined up with his words and the conversion experience he was saying he had. He stopped persecuting Christians, stopped trying to hunt them down and have them killed for their crimes of religion. His actions certainly lined up with what he was saying about his new faith in Christ. But the point I’m trying to make this morning, is that Paul didn’t rely only on his actions to spread the gospel, he also used his words.
We put such an emphasis on our actions though, and lining up our actions with what we say, that we forget that we have to say something, too! After all, our deeds can’t speak about things we’ve never said with our mouths. We must be in the practice and habit of speaking about our faith as well as practicing it in deed. We need words and deeds to work together to tell others about the truth.
Now, Paul certainly had the gift of preaching. You can plainly see that in his letters. We had a gift for using words to persuade people of the truth of the gospel. But that doesn’t mean that we’re excused from talking about the gospel and Christ Jesus just because you might not have the gift of preaching.
Matthew 28:19-20 tells all of us to be about the business of making disciples, baptizing them, and then TEACHING them to obey all that Jesus commanded. Of course, our actions, deeds, are part of this process, but in order to teach someone something, words are going to have to be used in some way! Especially if you’re going to teach them something as detailed as all the commands Jesus gave. Words are necessary.
There’s a fairly popular saying that says that we should “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.” But, the examples we have throughout the Bible show us that words are always necessary. Deeds must back up words, but words must be a part of preaching the gospel, too.
Hear Romans 10:13-17 about the importance of words in the process of leading others to Christ, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? But how are they to preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (NASB)
How will they hear about Christ? Someone has to tell them! If not you, then who? Me? I’m happy to, but I don’t know the people you know. Words play a great importance in people coming to Christ.
The book of Acts is full of great deeds the people of the early church did that led people to faith: miracles of healing, raising people from the dead, compassionate acts of love, sacrificially giving to the poor, the list goes on and on. But in the midst of the great deeds, we also have things like Acts 2:14-41 that starts, “But Peter, taking his stand with the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them:” and then he goes on to give his well-known sermon about the history of God’s people leading up to Christ, and it was that sermon the Holy Spirit used to bring over 3,000 people to faith that day. And then the church did the great deeds, after the words had been said.
In Acts 3:11-26 we have another account of Peter standing and speaking and calling people to repent.
Again in Acts 4, Peter and John had been arrested for preaching with their words, and from prison they prayed that God would give them more opportunities to speak His word with confidence and then when they were released, we’re told that they were filled with the Spirit and went and began to speak the word of God with boldness. (v. 29 & 31).
Even Stephen, whose death involved Paul in some way, was arrested and put to death for preaching the gospel, and in fact, on his “death bed” just before his was stoned to death, he was preaching the gospel of Christ for the forgiveness of sins to those who repent!
Words are just as important as deeds when it comes to sharing the gospel of Jesus. Words must be backed up by deeds, and deeds must affirm words that are spoken.
But if this is the case, why do we so often neglect the importance of words? Well, maybe it’s not intentional. But maybe it’s because we deep down know that if we just say we’re living a good, God honoring life, it will excuse us from the scary responsibility of having to speak about our faith as well as live it. Seeing as how statistically, only 5% of Christians in the United States will ever verbally talk about your faith, I think this is the more likely reason why we don’t place an importance on words. Because if words are as necessary and important as actions in sharing our faith, then only 5% of us are sharing our faith the way the Bible tells us to. So we say that words don’t mean as much because we’re hoping to excuse ourselves from having to talk about Jesus.
What do we do? It’s easy. Step 1 is to repent of not obeying Jesus’ command to you to teach others about Him. Step 2 is to start talking about Jesus with others like He commanded you to and understand that you have authority to share it because He told you to, and you can find boldness to share your faith because it is God-sent, not man-made.
1. Have you ever shared your faith with a pre-Christian with your words? If not, why not? Do you need to repent of not obeying Jesus’ command to teach others about Him?
2. Step 2 of sharing the gospel in word and deed is to start talking about Jesus with others. Take some time this week to write down the names of three people you could talk to about your faith.