Mastering Our Words in Service of Our Narrative

From Philemon – 4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. 8 therefore, though I may be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting…

On the television show Madam Secretary, the Secretary of State's husband has recently been asked to serve as an ethical advisor to the President of United States. In this role, he confronts the President's Chief of Staff for an unwillingness to convey ethical concerns to their mutual boss with full force. When the Chief of Staff assures him that the President is getting the message and takes offense, the ethical advisor redefines. "It's not WHAT you say, but how you say it. Tone is substantive."

The truth of that leaps from the TV screen into the real world. Dutch activist Boyan Slat, whose passion is the amount of plastic debris in the oceans, sees reason for urgency. One study showed that 94% of US tapwater samples contain tiny bits of plastic. Yet his personal response is not to ramp up the rhetoric. I've got to tell a better story, he says.

If these men serve their schema with an awareness that they must choose from a range of words in order to be heard, how much more are Paul's inspired words to Philemon a model for us? He has in order we would see as an easy one. Philemon, free your slave. But instead of emphasizing the injustice of Philemon's own authority over his slave, or the justice of Paul's own authority as a spiritual leader, Paul points to Truth which transcends any earthly hierarchy.

That is, Paul points both to his and to Philemon's security and gratitude toward Christ. In the one-chapter book's sixth verse, he traces out the virtues he wants to see emboldened in Philemon, and attributes them to what is in him in Christ. Paul then brings himself to the request from the same strength, Christ's. We have the same Source, he is saying. We have the same ultimate accountability. Let me help you, Philemon, is Paul's plea, glorify Christ in a countercultural way.

This is the better story, the BEST story. Tonw is substantive indeed when we use it and our illustrations to point to more than victory in a particular argument over a particular issue. When we engage our momentary adversary and point him or her back to Christ's authority at Creation, and to His prerogative to judge everyone at every level for use of the advantages enjoyed, we have a different conversation.

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