CONNECTED THROUGH WORDS: Healthy Speech

 

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.  (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Honest and helpful speech will be healthy speech.  It promotes wholesome relationships.

Why do you think when you go to the doctor, he or she says, “Open your mouth, stick out your tongue, and say, ‘Ah’ ”?  The physician can tell a great deal about your physical health by simply looking at your tongue.  When you examine what comes out of your mouth, what does it disclose about the condition of your relationships?

Healthy relationships will, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.” (Eph.4:31).  Suppose you were diagnosed with cancer—an aggressive kind—that the surgeon says must be removed immediately.  When you awaken from the operation, the first question you are likely to ask your doctor is, “Did you get it all?”  You realize that with cancer, to leave any cells, is to see it attack your body again and kill you.  Paul, as a doctor of the soul, tells us that the spiritual malignancies of “bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”  These are lethal to a relationship and must be excised—all of it!

Yet, the removal of cancer, vital as that would be to living, does not insure we are healthy.  Positively, there would need to be the proper diet, exercise, and sleep, if physical conditioning is to be classified as being healthy.  I mean you might not have cancer, but die of a heart attack from gorging yourself and lying around like an old hog!  I’ve heard the term, “healthy as a horse,” but not “healthy as a hog”!  So, the Apostle says that healthy communication demands the diet of kindness, the exercise of tenderheartedness, and the rest of forgiveness.  The standard is to forgive as Christ has forgiven us.

Recall the story Jesus told about a king whose servant owed him a great sum.  When the bill came due, the servant had no means to pay such a sum.  In those days, a man could be cast into debtor’s prison, but when the fellow tearfully shared his bankruptcy, the wealthy master—who was also rich in kindness—forgave the debt.  He wrote every cent off the ledger and bore the loss himself.

But, there was more to the story.  The fellow who had experienced such generosity, had a fellow servant who owed him a small sum compared to the great amount he had owed.  He demanded payment, nonetheless.  The other servant couldn’t come up with even that amount.  Then, the lender grabs the borrower by the throat, slams him against the wall, and demanded that he pay or be put in prison—and that he did—throwing his fellow servant in jail.

Word gets back to the king—and he was ticked!  After he was so generous, and that man was so greedy!  Remember what happened?

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.  “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matthew 18:32-35)

When we don’t forgive we harm ourselves.  The iron bars of bitterness hold us captive.  We become tortured souls.  If we want forgiveness, we must be willing to offer it.

“They owe me!”

No doubt, but what do you owe God in comparison?  A debt that could not be fully paid if you were tormented for eternity?  Yet, Christ has forgiven you!  His blood has blotted out your debt toward heaven.  Should we not write off in kindness and tenderheartedness the sum others owe us?

Healthy relationships mean we sincerely say two words, “I’m sorry” and the response is three words, “I forgive you.”  Open your mouth, stick out your tongue—what does it reveal about your health?

CONNECTED THROUGH WORDS

 

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.  (Ephesians 4:29)

Communication breakdown—it is a problem that will destroy a marriage, degrade a business, defeat a team, and defile a church.  There is no connection to others without communication with them—and communication of the proper kind.  How can a couple sustain a relationship where there is not the communication of love?  Will a business be successful if the management and employees do not speak in a way that motivates the workers to produce and the customers to invest?  Can a team be a winner without the coaches and players communicating the game plan clearly and inspirationally with each other?  Is it possible for a church to accomplish her mission unless the shepherds speak the truth of God’s word in love and the members evangelize the sinners and edify the saints?  Where there is the proper communication, there will be a powerful connection.

Do you recall the Biblical story of the tower of Babel?  Sinful men, in rebellion against God’s decree to fill the earth instead gathered together and began to construct an idolatrous tower, reaching toward heaven.  God tore up their little playhouse.  All He had to do was to bring a communication breakdown by confusing their speech and the building project ceased.

Pentecost brought a reversal of Babel.  God’s Spirit came down and supernaturally gifted the followers of Christ with an ability to communicate with others, irrespective of their language.  It was a remarkable moment that led to nearly 3,000 new converts and would begin to build a bridge to carry the message of salvation to the ends of the earth.  This time the unified speech would not be to stubbornly resist God’s will, but to submissively respond to it.

God’s plan is to clearly communicate His truth in love with His church and then through His church.  We may be sure that Satan seeks to bring communication breakdown as his counterattack to roll back the assault on his dark kingdom.  The Infernal One pushes back against truth by messengers who communicate error.  He stirs up hateful speech to fight loving words.

Our response determines the outcome.  Truth is always more powerful than lies and love will forever overcome hate—but, not if we are living according to the old fleshly way of responding, rather than the new spiritual way of behaving.

The choice we make in this is quickly disclosed.  Words reveal our thoughts.  The tongue is the bucket that draws out what flows in the well of our hearts.  Listen to what we say and how we say it and we will know whether there is a loving communication or a lost connection being made.

THE LEADER’S ACTIVITY

 

An effective leader doesn’t just say what others ought to do, but shows what leaders do.  Jesus shows us in Luke chapter four THE COURSE OF OUR SERVICE.  We do what Jesus did. 

 

As He embarks on His public ministry—three and one half years that changed the world—He was active as God’s spokesman and soldier.  He shared the Gospel and He stood His ground. 

 

Jesus COMMUNICATED THE WORD (Luke 4:18b-21).  We see the words, “preach” and “proclaim” (twice).  He had a Word to declare.

 

·         It would be a message of good news to the poor, “Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor.”  None are so low the Gospel cannot reach them.

·         It would be a message of healing for the grieving, “He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted.”   None are so brokenhearted that the Word cannot mend them.

 ·         It would be a message of liberty to those in bondage, “To proclaim liberty to the captives.”  None are so enslaved that the truth cannot free them. 

·         It would be a message that brought light to the blind, “And recovery of sight to the blind.”  None are so blind that God’s light cannot restore them.

 ·         It would be a message of deliverance to the oppressed, “To set at liberty those who are oppressed,” None are so burdened that God’s promises cannot lift them.

 

What Jesus said was in the context of the Jewish Year of Jubilee.

 

And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years.  Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.   And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.  That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine.  For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.

In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.  And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another.  According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you.  According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops.  Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.  (Leviticus 25:8-17)

Christ said His message was, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”  Jesus is our Jubilee—the fulfillment in His New Covenant what was prefigured under the Old Covenant.

What Christ communicated is the same message Christian leaders today need to declare.  Our message can inspire those we lead to rise above their circumstances and become all God means for them to be. 

 

But you will soon discover that plenty of people are opposed to the light.  They don’t want the Gospel for the poor, because in their pride they won’t admit their spiritual bankruptcy.   Rather than embracing the pain of a broken heart and seeking the Healer, they callus their heart to shut out the pain.  Such refuse to admit their slavery, proclaiming their liberation.  They hide from the light because they don’t want to see the dirt on their soul.  These reject the idea of needing help for their burdens asserting their independence.   Their mocking attitude was addressed by Jesus,

 

He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ”  Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  (Luke 4:23-24)

 

People seemed impressed as a first response, but then took a second look.

 

Jesus, in His leadership then not only communicated the Word, He COMBATED THE WICKED (Luke 4:22-30). 

 

·         Some of these wicked opponents were the skeptical, “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?’ ” (Luke 4:22).  There are always those who want to make Jesus only a good man.  We must fight that error.  It is when you say Jesus is the only Way and we must bow to Him that people will reject you.

·         There are also the hateful. 

But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way. (Luke 4:25-30) 

 They wanted to kill Him already!   Jesus illustrated from Scripture two instances where the Jews rejected God’s work and Gentiles instead received the miracle.  This was like throwing a lit match into a gas can!  Truth can be incendiary!

 

But a man is immortal until his lifework is done.  Jesus would die—not by being thrown down a hill, but raised up on one in crucifixion.  He would die according to the will of the Father and not the whims of men.  What a picture of Jesus—not some delicate, effeminate Christ of medieval portraits—but a muscular man pushing the mob aside as He marched threw their gauntlet of fury. 

Like Jesus we need men who will take a stand no matter the cost—men of courage and conviction.  We are following the footsteps of Jesus when this is the activity we conduct.  This is the course of our service.