BP 193
Do you know what nuance is? How would you define it? I don’t think it’s an easy concept to explain to someone who doesn’t know what it is. Is it really that important in daily life?
Let’s begin by looking at a few definitions of nuance. My online dictionary defines nuance as “a subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound, e.g., the nuances of facial expression and body language.”
Merriam-Webster defines nuance as “sensibility to, awareness of, or ability to express delicate shadings (as of meaning, feeling, or value).
“Additionally, nuance is sometimes used in a specific musical sense, designating a subtle, expressive variation in a musical performance (such as in tempo, dynamic intensity, or timbre) that is not indicated in the score” (italics added by me).
Apparently, there are those who faithfully follow the score of the music and then there are those who have an innate ability to express the music in creative ways that transcend the score. This creative transcendence might be called nuance.
A final definition for nuance is “a quality of something that is not easy to notice but may be important.”
In this post, I will be applying nuance to the Christian faith, specifically to how preachers, teachers, and even the common layperson communicate the gospel to believers but especially to non-believers.
Maybe nuance is not the perfect term, but I’m going to attempt to use it correctly in the context of delivering the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are nuanced in our evangelism, we will have an awareness of sharing the good news in ways that capture its rich depth and that might vary from person to person depending on the guardedness of their hearts.
Said another way, there are those Christians who might mechanically present the gospel in the same way to everyone and then there are those who possess the ability to tailor-make it so it speaks to different individuals in a way that they can hear it. Here is an example of nuance.
Nuance does not mean that we “soften” the power of the good news, but it clearly has to do with how we deliver it. I like the comment above that in music nuance has to do with “subtle, expressive variation that is not indicated in the score.”
How does this musical application of nuance apply to the way we communicate the gospel? I think there are many gifted preachers and teachers in the Christian world, but not all of them possess the trait of nuance. Sometimes this lack of nuance pertains to the content of what they share. Other times, it refers to how they communicate the word of God.
For example, twenty years ago I heard a seasoned preacher (I respect him deeply) say that Christians just need to be “nice.” The word “nice” may sound fine at first blush, but “nice” can be a very nuanced word.
For me in the world of psychology, “nice” often refers to an ingenuine person, someone who attempts to avoid anger or conflict, someone who is not being honest with her emotions or opinions but deferring to others. Finally, “nice” people often hide parts of themselves to look good to those around them.
In other words, “nice” can mean being dishonest and not transparent. It can mean being compliant and chameleon-like. Certainly, Jesus wants us to be honest and transparent and to avoid hiding and becoming who we think others want us to be. Said strongly, “nice” appears to be almost an immoral way for us to present ourselves to others.
Most notably, Jesus never called us to be nice to one another or to speak to each other nicely. He told us to love one another and to speak the truth in love. Love can be tough, direct, even hurtful. Remember what Jesus lovingly said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan.”
In short, encouraging Christians to be nice may sound good and even moral, but it is not biblical truth. So, we must be sensible, aware, and possess the ability to notice “shadings” of meaning and be aware when certain words or convictions may sound good but are not, in the end, true or representative of God’s word. We must understand through nuance when to use certain words or statements, knowing fully what they mean.
A second example of lack of nuance is seen in how a person presents the gospel or communicates the word of God. Some men (possibly ex-military or from a farm upbringing or who grew up with an authoritarian fathers) will emphasize dos and don’ts, the rules, and have almost a rigid, black and white approach to Scripture. Every mystery must be understood and expounded upon in a tome.
Now let me make one thing clear out of the gate: I am one hundred percent committed to embracing and understanding all the truth God reveals to us. I’m all in on knowing God’s word and preaching His truth with power and conviction. What I’m saying is that some men (it is usually a male thing) are so dogmatic and certain (arrogant and controlling in some situations) about God’s truth that they feel like theological strait jackets—all head and no heart.
In the presence of these preachers and teachers, some people can feel judged, condemned, and shameful—and I don’t believe these sensations are necessarily coming from the Spirit of God. These ministers of the gospel seem to induce a feeling of badness in their hearers that the hearers then carry with them the rest of the week. Conviction of sin is one thing. Triggering ungodly shame in listeners is a completely different thing. See the nuance here or the lack thereof?
Sin is often the main topic for these messengers of the gospel. God’s wrath is usually weighted much more heavily than His steadfast love. Even the messenger’s voice sounds angry and critical. God’s glory is presented in such a way that God sounds almost narcissistic, i.e., if you don’t give Him the glory He deserves, He will be offended like a fragile earthly father who is wounded if his children don’t value him enough.
This version of God portrayed in such an unnuanced message of the gospel does not appeal to me. I believe many listeners are put off by how the gospel is being presented in these situations. They may feel “bad and unworthy of God” but I think it is an unhealthy version of Acts 2:37ff where it says, “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
“Cut to the heart” and experiencing the “Godly sorrow” that “brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10) is what happens in our souls when we receive the gospel in a spirit of truth and love. Feeling bad and ashamed and sensing a “worldly sorrow” that “brings death” is what often occurs when we communicate the gospel message from a spirit of accusation instead of grace, love, and mercy.
Nuance is an essential ingredient when we share the good news.
I don’t know about you, but I am much more attracted to the nuanced message of John 3: 16ff that says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
In this passage, we see that God was motivated by love, that He sent His Son not to condemn His listeners but to save them since all sinners are born separated from God and are already under condemnation. Yes, they need to hear that they have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that their only hope is the great exchange where Jesus takes our sin on Himself and gives us His righteousness. What grace!
Even fiery Paul shows nuance (sensitive awareness coupled with truth) when he writes in 2 Timothy 2:22ff, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.”
How good that Paul commands Timothy to run away from sin and rather run toward the attributes of Jesus. How amazing that he exhorts his spiritual son to teach and correct evil but to do it gently–with patience and kindness. “Patiently enduring evil” sounds almost blasphemous, but we know that Paul is not watering down the truth. Not for a second. Rather, he is communicating that how one delivers the message and with what attitude one delivers it is critical to the listener.
Doesn’t it say somewhere in Scripture that we are to be the aroma of Christ (instead of the effluvium)?
Some Christian preachers and teachers have a good grasp on the truth but are not so developed in the heart of Christ. They can correct and rebuke but seem to have missed the part about patience and gentleness.
I suppose we could say there is a continuum here. On one extreme is an insensitive, unnuanced, or angry delivery of biblical truth that is quite unattractive to the listener (except for those who experience the wrathful delivery as an echo of their internal shame and possibly of the obsessive self-judgment implanted by an insecure and angry father).
The best example to represent this harsher extreme in Jesus’ time would be the prideful Pharisees who were so quick to see the sin in others and who despised the “people of the land,” the common folk who were not educated in the Torah or the Talmud.
I am not saying that all Christian preachers and teachers today who lack nuance are equivalent to the Pharisees. Again, many of these messengers today are communicating truth (good content for the most part) but lack a kind, patient, nuanced delivery. Once more, kind and patient do not mean diluted or progressive. Nuance does not mean pleasing to the ear because the theology is “softened.” No, the nuanced gospel delivery is easier to hear because it is spoken in loving kindness instead of anger and shame.
On the other extreme are individuals who, in the name of nuance and mystery, soften the message of the gospel and equate nuance with softness and the ease of receptivity in the listener.
We see these extreme individuals in the writings of Paul: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” ~ 2 Timothy 4:1-4.
We do not want to be people who, sold out to our passions, disembowel the gospel of God’s truth, and replace it with human desire.
Jesus was a person of nuance. He could call out the blind Pharisees with pointed words and he could be gentle with the adulteress and the tax collector, Zacchaeus. He could communicate the authoritative truth of the Creator of the universe while sitting at table with sinners.
Isaiah 57:15 is a wonderful passage that presents God as a Being who is transcendent but who also lovingly condescends to be Immanuel for men and women who need a divine physician: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
This passage may not primarily be about nuance, but it does show that God is both the transcendent King of the universe as well as the life-giving shepherd-savior of all who are repentant. He is with humble people in a way that draws them to Himself instead of driving them away. He comes and is kindly present for those who were already under severe internal condemnation (but can also speak truth in a forceful way to those who need a ballpeen hammer strike right between the eyes, so to speak).
What better example of the loving immanence of Christ do we have but what we see in Hebrews 4:15f, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
I suppose one could say that Jesus was the most nuance-aware person in the universe since He was fully God and fully man. His holy character hates sin and will one day reward or punish everyone justly. He is also the Mediator between God and man who wore our skin and knows what it is like for us to be tempted and to suffer. He is judge, priest, shepherd, king, prophet all contained in one Being.
I have rambled today—sorry. Let me end with several final thoughts.
The gospel truth is to be communicated in a nuanced balance. We are called to speak truth and we are called to do it in love, patience, and kindness. Some people are very good at expounding the truth but lack love and an awareness of the human heart. They can be like the proverbial bull in the China shop.
Be careful that only the message of the gospel offends people.
So, yes, be nuanced. Know the truth and speak it to both non-believers and believers. Develop love and kindness and gentleness so you will present a gospel that is framed with God’s compassion for sinners. Remember, if your content is true to Scripture but packaged in severity of tone, a judging attitude, subtle authoritarianism, or an abuse of authority that Jesus will dislike in you as much as He did in the Pharisees, look inside, and grow.
You may be the only Bible that many around you will ever read. So, love. Be kind. Feel around the rim of everyone’s soul and know the tailored message that they need to hear.
Yes, some will need to be firmly challenged to see their sin and repent. So, speak rock-solid truth that is faithful to God’s inspired word. Others will need to know that the God of the gospel is trustworthy and safe for their abused heart. So, speak truth with gentleness. Others will confuse God with their raging father and need to see that the heavenly Father is approachable and predictable and not angry with them. So preach and speak kindly even though your passion may be intense. People will look for God’s face in your face and for God’s voice in your voice and for God’s love in your love.
So, communicate the word of truth but also radiate the compassion and mercy of Christ. Be passionate. Don’t be angry.
You will meet spiritually and psychologically blind people, tax collectors, women at the well, prostitutes, people lost in false sexual identities, and people hardened by the abuses of life. It will be easier to be black and white with these people. Dogmatic. Rigid. Judgmental. Wrathful. Don’t go there. Pharisees live there.
Be nuanced. Be true to the word and to the hearts of your listeners. Love truth and love people. Can you do both?
Be Jesus.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” ~ Ephesians 4:15-16
“And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” . . . One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
