Speaking Truth Podcast

About Speaking Truth Podcast

A podcast where I share about the biblical truth I'm learning and how to apply it practically to our lives. speakingtruth.substack.com (https://speakingtruth.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Leah Bechtold

Category

religion & spirituality · religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

22 Aug 2022

Latest episode

7 Jul 2025

Latest episodes

46 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Jul 2025

   Christ's Bride & Body

   Ephesians 5:29“After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church.” Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I am a month behind in my typical writing schedule. Many things in life have been happening at once, which has thrown a wrench in my usual newsletter routine. With that said, today I’ll be picking back up on the topic of why Christians need the Church. After this series, I plan to take a break from my bi-weekly posting schedule. I hope to continue writing on an irregular basis as I seek to prioritize other parts of life in this current season I’m in. I pray that the rest of this series will continue to be an encouragement to you as it has been for me, and I pray that God would be glorified as we study His Word together on this topic. So far, I’ve talked about how the church isn’t perfect and about how God describes the Church—all believers—as a family. In today’s post I want to cover two other depictions of the Church from Scripture which reinforce the truth that Christians need biblical community. I’ll be discussing the Church as Christ’s bride and as His body. The passage I want to start with is where the opening verse for today’s post comes from, Ephesians 5:22-33. Usually this passage is referenced when dealing with the topic of marriage. However, it beautifully connects the ideas found elsewhere in the New Testament that Jesus views the Church as both His bride AND His body: Ephesians 5:22-33Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Rightly so, we often use these verses to explain the biblical roles of the husband and wife in a marriage relationship. But Paul makes it abundantly clear that this analogy is really depicting our Savior’s view of His redeemed people, the Church. First, we see the description as Christ being “the head of the church, his body” in the instructions of how wives should submit to their husbands. Then we see even more key descriptions of Jesus’ relationship with His people in the lengthy commands for the husband. We see Jesus’ love being compared to that of how a husband should love his wife: “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” and “husbands out to love their wives as their own bodies…After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body.” Finally, when quoting Genesis 2 on how a husband and wife “become one flesh,” Paul explicitly explains that this is a mystery “about Christ and the church.” So what does this imagery have to do with the argument that Christians need the Church? This Ephesians passage emphasizes the connection between Jesus Christ our Savior and His people. It’s not saying that Jesus is personally like a husband to each individual believer. It’s not saying that each Christian represents Christ’s body on his or her own. Paul’s purpose in writing is to describe how valuable the collective, universal Church is to Jesus Christ. These truths show us how important the Church is to God, which point us to how important the Church should be to those of us who’ve been saved into it. Where else do we see in Scripture these images of the Church being Christ’s bride and body? One passage from the book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John, helps reiterate the imagery of the Church being Christ’s bride: Revelation 19:6-8Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) That passage comes from the vision that Jesus gave John about what it will be like when God comes to dwell once again and forever with His people in heaven. I love this picture of “a great multitude” praising the Lord together, all celebrating the wedding of Christ the Lamb and His bride the church. That day will be a celebration for all who have called on the Name of the Lord and have been saved. We should rejoice now that we are not and have never been alone in our faith—we are part of the bride waiting for her Groom, and we have the hope and promise of one day truly being united with Him and with each other for eternity. The last passage I want us to read today is 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul gives us a much more in-depth description of what it means to be Christ’s body. I know it’s a longer one, but I think it’s so important in expressing why we need other believers. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. …in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. What I love about this passage is that it is such an easy to understand metaphor. I’m such a practical person, and truths that are just plainly spelled out for us to understand are a real blessing to me. God created each individual believer unique and for a special purpose in His kingdom. Yet God also created each believer to be a part of the whole, to live in unity and love with the rest of His people. When we as Christians participate in a local church, we are more able to live out our unique roles that God designed for us. When we are a part of the Body, we experience more of the blessings God purposed for His Church. So many things about our culture push us to focus on self, and isolation is even glorified at times. Yet this is not what we were saved into! We get to represent the beautiful bride of our Savior when we participate in a local church. We get to experience the fullness of being a part of Christ’s body. Blessings flow from acknowledging that God’s design for us is best for us. Living in biblical community enables us to come alongside others to recognize and fight sin, to encourage and pursue righteous living together, and to humbly walk in the realization that we can do nothing on our own. Praise God for all the passages of the Bible that demonstrate what being His people means! In my next and last post of this series, I will be writing about a pretty popular topic: church hurt. I want to tie in the biblical reasons for why biblical community is worth it as we look to God’s Word to wrestle against our hurts and problems with the Church. Until then, thanks again for joining me in this series and for following Speaking Truth! Thanks for reading Speaking Truth! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and episodes. Get full access to Speaking Truth at speakingtruth.substack.com/subscribe (https://speakingtruth.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   24 May 2025

   We Are a Family

   1 John 3:1“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” Most people would agree that families are not perfect. While ideally families should be safe places full of love and care for one another, that is not many people’s experiences. Families come full of conflict, disappointment, and even abuse. Some families know what it means to trust one another, while others have never earned it. Whether your experience with family has been mostly positive or mostly negative, I think you’d still agree with me that your family isn’t perfect. That fact is what makes this post a great transition from my last one, which acknowledged the imperfection of God’s people. While our families in this life may be imperfect, many of us still agree that family is important. This is even truer for the family of God. In my first post on this topic of why Christians need the Church (see "Church Is Worth It (https://speakingtruth.substack.com/p/church-is-worth-it)”), I walked through Scriptural evidence pointing to God’s design for a people. Today I want to build on that idea by focusing on some of the New Testament passages that refer to believers as God’s children and heirs, meaning His redeemed people, the family of God. Believers need to view the Church as their family, otherwise we will miss understanding the importance of why we need to be a part of a local church. First, I wanted to point to how Jesus describes His disciples, His followers, as His true family: Matthew 12:49-50Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” In a parallel passage in Mark 3:34-35, Jesus goes beyond calling just His immediate disciples family. In verse 35 He says, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Those who are saved, and therefore doing God’s will by living for Him, are considered siblings of our Lord Jesus Christ—part of God’s family. Paul in Romans 8 talks about how God not only foreknew who His family would be, but He also predestined us to be conformed to the image of Christ as His brothers and sisters: Romans 8:29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Paul also, when writing to his friend and brother in the faith Titus, rehearsed the truth that those who are saved through Christ’s sacrifice also become heirs of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Being an heir means receiving an inheritance, and that only happens if you are part of the family or have been adopted into it. Ephesians 1:4-5For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Romans 8:14-17For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. We are Christ’s brothers and sisters. We are co-heirs with Christ of eternal blessing from God. We are God’s family, His redeemed people. He planned for us, and He paid for our sins. We are His Church, and we are important to Him and to each other. We looked at a lot of passages today making statements about who we now are in God through Christ. But what does that all mean? Well, as we seek to view ourselves as part of God’s family, part of those He has chosen to love and know Him, it should help us see the Church as important. We can’t ignore our brothers and sisters. We can’t ignore that the inheritance doesn’t go all to us. Part of the blessing of being saved into God’s family is getting to be a part of a family. And while here on earth Christians are still imperfect, one day we will be fully made into the likeness of Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. We all. Not just me or you. As believers we must think of our identity in Christ as intricately linked to the family of God because it is. We are not saved to live out our life of faith alone. Being a part of the Church is not an optional part of being a Christian. Our families here on earth will never be perfect, but because of our eternal inheritance in Christ, one day the Church Family will be made perfect in His image. What beautiful hope that is! For me, I’m thankful for how God has used both my earthly, physical family to teach and grow me. I’m thankful for a family who cares for me. But for 9 years now, I’ve lived far away from that family, yet I’ve never felt alone. God has blessed me with an incredible church family here in Indiana, and I can’t imagine my life without it. These are the people who know my struggles and come alongside me in them. They are the ones who challenge me and point me back to the Cross. They are the ones I get to do daily life in and out with. We’re family not because we were born into it, but because we’ve been saved into it. I hope this has been an encouraging picture of what the Church is meant to be. But that’s only one way God describes His people in the Bible! Next time, I plan to look at some other descriptions of the Church found in Scripture, to help us continue to see the great value of being a part of local churches and being with other believers. Until then, thank you for listening or reading to Speaking Truth! Thanks for reading Speaking Truth! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and episodes. Get full access to Speaking Truth at speakingtruth.substack.com/subscribe (https://speakingtruth.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   10 May 2025

   Church Isn't Perfect

   Matthew 9:12-13“…Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick… For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” In today’s post, I want to acknowledge something that is common knowledge to all people who’ve ever been in, around, or who’ve known a church: churches are not perfect. I believe it’s important for us to study this fact when considering why Christians need the Church, since many believers choose not to be a part of the Body of Christ because of the people in it. I started this series last time by sharing two reasons from Scripture about why the Church is important. However, even after reflecting on biblical truths like that, it can sometimes be hard to reconcile those truths with our personal experiences. People often hurt or disappoint us, and for the believer it’s too often those who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters in Christ. Praise God, though, that there are many passages in the Bible that help us wrestle with this concept—passages that confirm the truths of the current imperfection of the Church and that we are still called to be a part of it. This post will dive into just a few of the places in Scripture that discuss the imperfection of the Church. So let’s start by looking at the context around the opening verses from Matthew 9. I love this passage because it is Jesus, our Lord and Savior who loves His Church, discussing the people He came to save into it. Matthew 9:10-13While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Is the Church made up of perfectly righteous and holy people? No! Jesus explains here how He came not to save those who are already “healthy,” or righteous by the world’s standards, but to save the “sick,” the sinners. Jesus never gave the impression that those who follow Him will be perfect. They—we—are all sinners! We need His righteousness in order to have a relationship with God and to grow to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). As I discussed in my last post, one of the beautiful means that God gives us for growing in Christ-like righteousness is through other believers in His Church. A great passage for us to consider today is Matthew 18, where once again we see Jesus acknowledging that His Church will not be perfect. Matthew 18:15-17“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Not only did Jesus explain how His followers would not be perfect, He also told us that we as believers are given the responsibility to help others fight and deal with sin. Those verses in Matthew 18 are often used to instruct on how church discipline should occur when there is sin amongst a group of believers. We can also take these verses as a personal call to care about others and realize one of our purposes is to lovingly confront sin and imperfections. But without being a part of the Church, you are not able to benefit from this aspect of our sanctification journey—you won’t have the gift of others intentionally pursuing you, and you won’t have the privilege of getting to come alongside others in their struggles and victories. Other New Testament writers build on Christ’s teaching about our role in helping others fight sin and to grow spiritually. Paul writes in Galatians 6:1-2, Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Jesus knew His Church wouldn’t be full of perfect people, and the early Church fathers like Paul experienced that. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul is having to combat false teachings through loving confrontation and pointing them back to the Gospel. Paul could have given up or let them deal with the consequences of following wrong doctrine on their own. But he didn’t—instead, he sought to restore them and help carry their burdens. Paul followed Christ’s example in loving sinful, imperfect people by choosing to step into their mess, rather than avoid it. In a later post I plan to talk about a struggle that many people I know who are not actively involved in a local church bring up: church hurt. But before we get there, I want to continue painting the picture of who and what the Church is called to be, so that we realize more and more how much we need it. My goal today was to start laying a foundation of thinking through how the Church can be imperfect, and the following posts will dive more into the simultaneous truth that every believer is still called to be a part of it. I look forward to continuing this study of the Church with you, and I want to thank you again for choosing to read or listen to Speaking Truth! Thanks for reading Speaking Truth! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and episodes. Get full access to Speaking Truth at speakingtruth.substack.com/subscribe (https://speakingtruth.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)