What we Say and How we Say it is Important
Eph 4:29-32 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
The Unruly Tongue
September 11, 2001 will go down in history as a day when all innocence was lost. Safety became a thing of the past. Hatred and war prevailed. Not only were many lives lost in the Twin Towers on that day, many lives have been lost and many lives have been destroyed because of the wars that followed the attack on the United States. While we remember that tragedy and all the people it destroyed, I wonder if we realize that the unruly tongue has likely destroyed as many people as the weapons of war that are available to us. The tongue is used to criticize, backbite, rail, lie, and to flatter. It can start wars and it can destroy lives. James tells us that the the tongue cannot be tamed. He says: "See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so." (James 3:3-10)
The New Birth
The purpose of the new birth is to give us a new life, a new eternal destination, a new Father, and a new nature. We don’t have to do anything to be saved except to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The belief or faith that is needed to be saved is not just a casual assent to the truth. Saving faith requires us to deal with the issues that keep us from believing the truth. We won’t believe on the Lord Jesus until we quit telling Him how to save us and let Him tell us how to be saved. He will convict us of our sinnership by using the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. He will convince us that apart from faith in the death of Christ eternal judgment is certain. Then when we finally rest in the truth that simple faith in Christ satisfies God and justifies us, we should have a desire to more like the Lord Jesus and less like the people of the world who are being deceived by Satan. One of the evidences of the reality of the new birth in our lives is the desire to identify with the Lord in water baptism. Another of the evidences is to talk like him and not like the world. How did the Lord talk?
(Luke 4:22) So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph’s son?"
(John 8: 44-45) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
(Luke 4:32) And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.
I have to wonder if Christians realize that railing or reviling or backbiting is what people did to the Lord. It is not what we should do to anyone, particularly to other Christians. On going behavior of this nature is a sin equal to sexual immorality, covetousness, extortion, drunkenness and idolatry according to 1 Corinthians 5. When these sins are committed without any conscience the church is to remove these people from the fellowship. Railing or reviling is a serious offense. Many of us speak unadvisedly at times. However, the Christian will want to go to the person we have maligned and make it right. Obviously, we don’t want to act like our old Father the Devil. We should want to be Christ-like in our conversation.
Grieving the Holy Spirit
When corrupt words proceed out of our mouths, we distress the Holy Spirit. As Christians we lose our joy and lose our power. We can use our tongues for good or we can use our tongues for evil. The Lord says in Luke 6:45, " A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." There are times when criticism is justified, but it must be truthful and it must be carried out in a Scriputural manner where the offense is dealt with privately before it is dealt with publicly.
Question?
Would people see my Christian character by the words that I speak? Would they see that I try to be gracious, authoritative, truthful and that I try to build up and not tear down. Would they see me as one who acts like Christ or would they see me as one who is doing the bidding of Satan, the liar and murderer? Since we all justify our own actions, maybe we need to ask our friends how well the words we say represent the Lord.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of September 11, 2016