sermon 8 of 10 on Ten Commandments 8/9/09
Sermon 8 of 10 on Ten Commandments
8/9/09
James 3:9-10
Title: Speak Well of Others
An ancient Latin proverb says of the careless, thoughtless talker: "Had he remained silent he would have remained a philosopher." Sometimes people open their mouths to talk about something only to reveal how little they really know about it. But giving wordy evidence of our ignorance is the least of the problems involved in careless talk. More serious is the loveless kind of talk that hurts other people or damages their reputations. It is that kind of loveless talk from which God seeks to protect us and our neighbors with his Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Sometimes careless talk about others just reveals a person's own basic insecurity. He shares juicy gossip to get attention or he puffs himself up in his own eyes by belittling others. But there are also times when unloving talk is the evidence of bitterness and spite eating at a person's heart, leading him to run down someone out of a desire for revenge for some wrong he feels he has suffered.
Talk that hurts or defames reveals a lot about the talker. But its most serious effect is the damage to the reputation of the person slandered. Let the news include an item mistakenly suggesting that a public figure is dishonest or immoral and no matter how many retractions are printed the individual's reputation has suffered a damaging blow. In some political campaigns, unfortunately, leaking unsubstantiated negative rumors about an opponent has become part of the strategy. But it's not just a problem for people who are well known and in the public eye. Every-day, garden-variety people like you and me can also have our lives saddened, our health and welfare damaged, our value to others diminished, by slanderous gossip.
The damage done is usually impossible to undo. Here is a little story to illustrate what I mean. Two Christians were talking together and one confessed difficulty with keeping his tongue from saying cutting and hurtful things to and about other people. His friend reached down and picked up a dandelion seed puff. Blowing against the fluffy ball he made the seeds scatter in the air, and they floated with the breeze all over the yard. "Help me pick them up," he asked. "Pick them up?" the man replied, "Why, we'll never be able to get all of them back." "Yes," said his friend. "Remember that when you are tempted to speak evil of your neighbor. You can never call back your words."
"Talk is cheap," it is said. But the price paid by the one who is the object of ridicule is never a cheap one. Nor, for that matter, is the price paid by the person slandering another person. Slander is a two-edged sword. It cuts up the one who is being slandered and destroys his good name, but it also injures the one doing the slandering by further deadening his capacity to love his neighbor. Jesus pointed to the ultimate cause and the ultimate results of stealing our neighbor's good reputation. He said to the Pharisees who had slandered him: "You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of what is stored in the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the Day of Judgment men will render account of every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
If careless words out of our sinful hearts are that important that they will echo to condemn us on the day of judgment, how much more important it becomes that we hear the Good Words that free us from condemnation. The Good News of Jesus Christ assures us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He came to bear witness to the truth. As one of us, our Savior and substitute before God, no evil speech crossed his lips; no unkind thought arose in his heart; no unloving words were spoken by his tongue. Yet he suffered and died because of mankind's falsehood. He faced slander and backbiting and false witness with quiet acceptance as it took him to the cross to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. There on the cross, so we may stand under God's forgiving love, Jesus endured the consequences for us also of our sinful use our tongues to curse or to slander.
If our words are that important that they contributed to the death of our Savior, then James is right when he says to us who trust Jesus and are committed to his way: "It should not be that your tongues, which now praise God for his love in Christ, be used to curse and hurt other people." And it is entirely right for us this morning – having used our tongues to praise our Lord again – to look to his word for guidance in the matter of learning to use our tongues in ways that will bless our neighbors. And when we do that we find that also this Commandment that speaks about the use of our tongues is one of God's Ten Words for a Happy Christian Life.
It's no easy task that we set for ourselves when we determine to use our tongues only in blessing. James wrote, "The tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." No human being can tame his own tongue but God can. We make a serious mistake if we try to control our speech just by our own human determination, but we make the right move when we look to God for help. Power to overcome this restless evil, the tongue, must come from God. And that is exactly what we seek today, and that is what God assures us he wants to give us, the renewing power of his Holy Spirit.
When we dig into the principles of this Commandment as amplified in other parts of the Word we find that Martin Luther was right in his Catechism. We need to go beyond just trying to stop bad speech habits to replacing them with good ones. He explained: "We are to fear and love God so we do not betray, slander, or lie about our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain his actions in the kindest way." If we, in the power of the Spirit of Jesus, will make it a point to defend our neighbor's good reputation, to speak well of him, and to explain his actions in the kindest way, it will go a long way in helping us overcome our tendency to judge appearances in the harshest way, our tendency to rejoice when a brother or sister stumbles and falls, our tendency to want to share that juicy bit of gossip, or get back at them.
Christian love does require that in certain circumstances that we speak frankly and directly to a fellow Christian about his or her improper behavior. Jesus said, "If your brother sins, rebuke him. Tell him his fault just between the two of you." He also said, "If he repents, forgive him. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." You see, that is always to be the loving purpose behind such personal rebukes: gaining the brother, leading him to repent.
When you speak to a fellow Christian in love, not to get back at them or to prove that your right and their wrong you avoid the sinful pitfalls of betraying, slandering, or lying that are involved when, instead, you talk about that person's problem to others. Bill Gothard, in his Institute in Christian Life Principles, says we create three problems if we tell anyone else about an offending brother before talking to him. First, we prove to God and the ones we tell that we really don't love the person even if we so we do. Second, we tempt the person we are talking to, to join us in condemning him or her. Third, we destroy the sincerity of our approach and hinder the potential of restoring him or her. He adds, "Perhaps the most important reason to go to the offender first is to check out the facts. When we hear gossip and share it with others it is almost impossible to be fully accurate in our words and in the inflection of our voices."
Gothard points to the improved spiritual health of a Christian community whose members are committed to defending each other, speaking well of each other, and explaining the actions of each other in the kindest way. In such a community the listener becomes part of the solution to this deadening problem of a slanderous tongue. Instead of being eager to hear the juicy gossip about someone he will ask, "Have you gone to him first? Are you telling me so I can go to him with you?" In such a setting, Gothard says that gossip and slander will cease, Christian brothers and sisters will edify each other in love, a strong sense of security and unity will grow, and the world will be ready to believe that God really did send his Son to be the Savior and that Christians really are his disciples.
You hear people say, "If I can't say something good about other people I don't say anything." That is a good rule for all of us to put into practice. It goes along with the principle of loving your neighbor that is basic to God's Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
When you open your mouth to speak, don't give wordy evidence of your ignorance of God's Word or of your unloving carelessness with the reputations of Christian brothers and sisters. Instead, apply the truth of God's Word for a Happy Christian Life. Make it your purpose to use your mouth to speak kindly and in love about their faults and failings only to them, after you have made sure you are not guilty of the same sin. And in your conversations with others about another person defend them, speak well of them, and explain their actions in the kindest way. In this way you will bless them, you will bless yourself, and you will be a blessing in our life together as a Christian congregation whose great purpose in life is to praise and glorify our God and Savior. Amen
8/9/09
James 3:9-10
Title: Speak Well of Others
An ancient Latin proverb says of the careless, thoughtless talker: "Had he remained silent he would have remained a philosopher." Sometimes people open their mouths to talk about something only to reveal how little they really know about it. But giving wordy evidence of our ignorance is the least of the problems involved in careless talk. More serious is the loveless kind of talk that hurts other people or damages their reputations. It is that kind of loveless talk from which God seeks to protect us and our neighbors with his Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Sometimes careless talk about others just reveals a person's own basic insecurity. He shares juicy gossip to get attention or he puffs himself up in his own eyes by belittling others. But there are also times when unloving talk is the evidence of bitterness and spite eating at a person's heart, leading him to run down someone out of a desire for revenge for some wrong he feels he has suffered.
Talk that hurts or defames reveals a lot about the talker. But its most serious effect is the damage to the reputation of the person slandered. Let the news include an item mistakenly suggesting that a public figure is dishonest or immoral and no matter how many retractions are printed the individual's reputation has suffered a damaging blow. In some political campaigns, unfortunately, leaking unsubstantiated negative rumors about an opponent has become part of the strategy. But it's not just a problem for people who are well known and in the public eye. Every-day, garden-variety people like you and me can also have our lives saddened, our health and welfare damaged, our value to others diminished, by slanderous gossip.
The damage done is usually impossible to undo. Here is a little story to illustrate what I mean. Two Christians were talking together and one confessed difficulty with keeping his tongue from saying cutting and hurtful things to and about other people. His friend reached down and picked up a dandelion seed puff. Blowing against the fluffy ball he made the seeds scatter in the air, and they floated with the breeze all over the yard. "Help me pick them up," he asked. "Pick them up?" the man replied, "Why, we'll never be able to get all of them back." "Yes," said his friend. "Remember that when you are tempted to speak evil of your neighbor. You can never call back your words."
"Talk is cheap," it is said. But the price paid by the one who is the object of ridicule is never a cheap one. Nor, for that matter, is the price paid by the person slandering another person. Slander is a two-edged sword. It cuts up the one who is being slandered and destroys his good name, but it also injures the one doing the slandering by further deadening his capacity to love his neighbor. Jesus pointed to the ultimate cause and the ultimate results of stealing our neighbor's good reputation. He said to the Pharisees who had slandered him: "You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of what is stored in the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the Day of Judgment men will render account of every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
If careless words out of our sinful hearts are that important that they will echo to condemn us on the day of judgment, how much more important it becomes that we hear the Good Words that free us from condemnation. The Good News of Jesus Christ assures us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He came to bear witness to the truth. As one of us, our Savior and substitute before God, no evil speech crossed his lips; no unkind thought arose in his heart; no unloving words were spoken by his tongue. Yet he suffered and died because of mankind's falsehood. He faced slander and backbiting and false witness with quiet acceptance as it took him to the cross to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. There on the cross, so we may stand under God's forgiving love, Jesus endured the consequences for us also of our sinful use our tongues to curse or to slander.
If our words are that important that they contributed to the death of our Savior, then James is right when he says to us who trust Jesus and are committed to his way: "It should not be that your tongues, which now praise God for his love in Christ, be used to curse and hurt other people." And it is entirely right for us this morning – having used our tongues to praise our Lord again – to look to his word for guidance in the matter of learning to use our tongues in ways that will bless our neighbors. And when we do that we find that also this Commandment that speaks about the use of our tongues is one of God's Ten Words for a Happy Christian Life.
It's no easy task that we set for ourselves when we determine to use our tongues only in blessing. James wrote, "The tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." No human being can tame his own tongue but God can. We make a serious mistake if we try to control our speech just by our own human determination, but we make the right move when we look to God for help. Power to overcome this restless evil, the tongue, must come from God. And that is exactly what we seek today, and that is what God assures us he wants to give us, the renewing power of his Holy Spirit.
When we dig into the principles of this Commandment as amplified in other parts of the Word we find that Martin Luther was right in his Catechism. We need to go beyond just trying to stop bad speech habits to replacing them with good ones. He explained: "We are to fear and love God so we do not betray, slander, or lie about our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain his actions in the kindest way." If we, in the power of the Spirit of Jesus, will make it a point to defend our neighbor's good reputation, to speak well of him, and to explain his actions in the kindest way, it will go a long way in helping us overcome our tendency to judge appearances in the harshest way, our tendency to rejoice when a brother or sister stumbles and falls, our tendency to want to share that juicy bit of gossip, or get back at them.
Christian love does require that in certain circumstances that we speak frankly and directly to a fellow Christian about his or her improper behavior. Jesus said, "If your brother sins, rebuke him. Tell him his fault just between the two of you." He also said, "If he repents, forgive him. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." You see, that is always to be the loving purpose behind such personal rebukes: gaining the brother, leading him to repent.
When you speak to a fellow Christian in love, not to get back at them or to prove that your right and their wrong you avoid the sinful pitfalls of betraying, slandering, or lying that are involved when, instead, you talk about that person's problem to others. Bill Gothard, in his Institute in Christian Life Principles, says we create three problems if we tell anyone else about an offending brother before talking to him. First, we prove to God and the ones we tell that we really don't love the person even if we so we do. Second, we tempt the person we are talking to, to join us in condemning him or her. Third, we destroy the sincerity of our approach and hinder the potential of restoring him or her. He adds, "Perhaps the most important reason to go to the offender first is to check out the facts. When we hear gossip and share it with others it is almost impossible to be fully accurate in our words and in the inflection of our voices."
Gothard points to the improved spiritual health of a Christian community whose members are committed to defending each other, speaking well of each other, and explaining the actions of each other in the kindest way. In such a community the listener becomes part of the solution to this deadening problem of a slanderous tongue. Instead of being eager to hear the juicy gossip about someone he will ask, "Have you gone to him first? Are you telling me so I can go to him with you?" In such a setting, Gothard says that gossip and slander will cease, Christian brothers and sisters will edify each other in love, a strong sense of security and unity will grow, and the world will be ready to believe that God really did send his Son to be the Savior and that Christians really are his disciples.
You hear people say, "If I can't say something good about other people I don't say anything." That is a good rule for all of us to put into practice. It goes along with the principle of loving your neighbor that is basic to God's Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
When you open your mouth to speak, don't give wordy evidence of your ignorance of God's Word or of your unloving carelessness with the reputations of Christian brothers and sisters. Instead, apply the truth of God's Word for a Happy Christian Life. Make it your purpose to use your mouth to speak kindly and in love about their faults and failings only to them, after you have made sure you are not guilty of the same sin. And in your conversations with others about another person defend them, speak well of them, and explain their actions in the kindest way. In this way you will bless them, you will bless yourself, and you will be a blessing in our life together as a Christian congregation whose great purpose in life is to praise and glorify our God and Savior. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:02 PM
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