15b) Be an Example - Speech
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Today we are going to continue looking at the encouragement that Paul gives Timothy about how he is to live his life as and example to the believers. He has been charged with addressing the false teaching that has found its way into the church community and is now causing the conduct of people in the church to turn away from righteousness and into sin.
If you will turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 we will read the entire passage and we see what God’s word reveals to us today.
Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. Don’t neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Due to Timothy's age as a younger man there seems to be an issue with either the older members of the church looking down on him with contempt or Timothy himself was having a hard time correcting the false teachers that were older men. It may have been a combination of both.
In order to deal with this situation Timothy is told to set an example for the believers. He is to live out the life that God has called of him to silence his critics and to benefit the church.
He is to pay close attention to his life and his teaching. His teaching is to be grounded solely on the word of God and his life is to be a demonstration of growing in that life.
Last week we saw that all believers, all Christians are to be imitators of God.
1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
Scriptures says we are to be holy as God is holy. Jesus came and took on flesh and lived the perfect example of a man living holy as God is holy. Being completely obedient to the law even though he experienced all temptations that are common to man yet without sin.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
Every believer is to have a life that lives in a way that shows Jesus’ life and is growing into the image of our creator.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.
All true believers are to be growing and changing day by day year by year into the image of Jesus. And in doing so is a growing example of a life lived for God. We are to put away the old and put on the new, being sanctified each day as we put up his word to implant it in our hearts and minds, as is reveals sin that must be repented of and shows us righteous behavior.
As we pray and speak to the living God with praises, thanksgivings, confessions, supplication, and intersessions.
As we gather together to worship him in the gathering of believers each week, magnifying the great God that is doing this work in us.
As individual believers devote our lives to the right things, we are become living examples of Jesus’ life.
Paul gives Timothy 5 specific area to be an example in; his speech, his conduct, his love, his faith, and his purity.
We look at that list and it can be easy for us to look at that and dismiss these as areas that Timothy is to be an example in. But as we have already concluded each and every believer is to also be an example in these areas.
So we read them and then we nod in agreement but we never stop to think of what Paul means by each of these areas. What does it look like to be an example of speech, or conduct? To slow down and see what Paul was calling Timothy too.
We are going to do just that. What does speech need to be in order to be an example of Jesus?
Paul emphasized speech by placing it first in the list. We would probably focus on conduct or behavior? We tend to look past what someone says and pay more attention to what someone does. But Paul starts his list with speech. With the message that comes from a person’s mouth.
Have you every though about how much we talk in a day or in our lives. Who here would say that they are talkers? You like to converse and you talk and send messages pretty much all day if possible. Who are the silent types? You like to sit and listen, you process in you r mind and speak when feel it is important.
Depending on what side you are on most people will speak 6,000 and 20,000 words in a day. The average adult knows 20-30k words and will speak hundred of million words in their lifetime.
Speech is such an integral part of our lives that many times we never stop to consider God’s will for the words that we say each day.
We use speech for teaching, for humor, sarcasm, exhortation, warning, praise, thanksgiving, encouragement. There is rhetoric, metaphors, characterizations, exaggeration, comparison.
We use it to command, to demand, to compliment, to complain, to tear down, to humiliate, to build up, to lie, to gossip, to stander, to reason, to convince, to train, and to discipline. Just to list a few.
So why does Paul list Speech as the first area of his life to set an example in. For a Pastor/Elder it is imperative that his words and his life are in alignment. The words used to teach, rebuke, comfort, encourage and everything else must be carefully weighed as they have consequences both good and bad on the flock of God.
Lets look at three areas that the bible teaches about a Christian’s Speech
Our Words Reveal What is in Our Hearts
God Commands Godly Speech
Godly Speech Brings Unity
Our Words Reveal What is in Our Hearts
Our Words Reveal What is in Our Hearts
The tongue is said to be very powerful and the speech it produces reveals what is in a person’s heart. James spoke about speech in every chapter of his letter. And in Chapter 3 he turned to the teachers of the church and instructed them about their speech.
1 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.
James gives a warning not for no one to teach because all believers are commanded to at least teach scripture to their own children, but he is telling them to understand the magnitude of what you are doing. You take the up the very words of God. All scripture is breathed out by God. Men wrote the words inspired by the work of the Holy Spirit.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Therefore who is man to change the word of God, or to neglect it, or to be flippant with it. When we speak what God says we should be careful with it. For there is a stricture judgement for those that are teachers.
There is much we can control in our lives but the tongue is said to be impossible to control without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. A controlled tongue is a sign of spiritual maturity.
2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is mature, able also to control the whole body.
Who hear has found that one of the hardest areas of our lives to control is our mouth. There are methods and safe guards that we can put in place to control our behavior. We can remove temptations or stay away from situations that we will act improperly but I don’t think anyone has found how to leave their mouth at home.
Have you ever felt like your tongue controls you? How often to you wonder how those words came out of my mouth. Why did I say that?
The tongue has a great ability to control the whole body.
3 Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we direct their whole bodies. 4 And consider ships: Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
Like bits in the mouths of horses or rudders on a ship they are very small compared to what they are attached to but they can direct the larger body in what ever direction the rider or the captain of the ship want to go. So the tongue has the ability to direct the whole body.
It also has a propensity to create much damage in its wake.
5 So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest. 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
That one little careless and unwise came out and the spark was lit. We all know very well how consuming a fire can be. One little spark and as long as there is fuel and oxygen it will continue to consume and destroy. I know when I look back on my life there are things I wish never left my mouth. Never expecting the damage that would come from a careless or thoughtless word.
Without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives it will never be tamed.
7 Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
It is amazing to see large animals that have been tamed by man but the tongue is different it will continue to run wild. Restlessly waiting to poison and commit evil.
James speaking in warning to teachers says check what is coming out of your mouth. You bless and you curse with the same mouth.
9 With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness. 10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
For men to stand up and bless God with their mouth and then turn and curse his creation of men and women who are made in his likeness. This should not be. And what it reveals the heart of a person.
11 Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.
These are rhetorical statements that are obviously false. A spring cannot produce fresh and salt water at the same time and of course a grapevine cannot produce figs.
Our Lord spoke this about false prophets.
15 “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. 16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.
And when he rebuked the Pharisees
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit will be good, or make the tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
What comes from out of the mouth is a product of what is within. Our words either come from the good work of the Holy Spirit or the evil work of the flesh.
A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. Back to Jesus’ rebuke in Matthew
35 A good person produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil person produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. 36 I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
What a warning. On the day of judgement people will have to give an account for every careless word they speak. God knows why we say what we say two people can say the same words but they can some from two different places in the core of a person. Our words will be evidence of the faith we have or do not have.
It would behoove us to be a people that are slow to speak and quick to listen. Our words should be something we take very seriously in our lives. We should look are our words and ask ourselves where did my words come from today. Did they originate in the overflow of my selfish sinful flesh or did they overflow from the new heart that was given to believers.
Maybe it is time for God’s people to look at their speech the way that David did,
1 I said, “I will guard my ways so that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence.”
David was purposeful in guarding his mouth so that he would not sin. But he also asks God to do the same for him.
3 Lord, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.
As we look at the Psalms we see an man that speaks from an overflow of his hearts. Over and over again, whether it is in praise and thanksgiving, repenting and asking for forgiveness, lamenting, pleading to be rescued. We see overflow of a man after God’s own heart.
The reality is that God commands our speech to be holy as he is holy. Our speech is to be godly.
God Commands Godly Speech
God Commands Godly Speech
Timothy is to be training in godliness and is to set an example in his speech. Believers are to imitate Christ in all areas of their lives and as Jesus is the exact expression of the father.
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
As the exact expression of God’s nature what does God speak.
Paul writes in the greeting to Titus
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
A God that cannot lie is by definition a God of truth. There is either truth or deception and lies.
17 Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.
God will never say anything that is untrue. All lies and false information comes from the enemy.
1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.
The enemy uses men and women to perpetuate the lies that started at the temptation of Adam and Eve and continue today. God is a God of true and in the 10 commandments we read.
11 “Do not steal. Do not act deceptively or lie to one another. 12 Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God; I am the Lord.
Do not lie and do not swear falsely. The 10 commandments speaks of the truth that is to be in the mouths of God’s people
And if Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature and never sinned then he also is a man of truth only.
More directly
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
All believers are to put away any lies that they may speak about God, others, or even themselves.
25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.
But instead we are to
15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.
Timothy it to be an example of a man who is putting away all lies and is an example of a truth speaker. A man who is diligent to not have careless and flippant words. He is not only to be an example but he is to excel i them.
7 Now as you excel in everything—in faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us—excel also in this act of grace.
We are to be a people who speak words that align with God’s words. Truth comes from the overflow of the truth in our hearts. The overflow of God in our hearts. We must also know the truth so that it is clear when there are those who would be raised up in the church that will distort the truth.
30 Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.
There will be men and women who will decide from the flesh of their own hearts to distort and to move away from the truth of God. There are many reasons that can be listed greed, power, pride but in the end it is really just an overflow of their own hearts.
Godly Speech Brings Unity
Godly Speech Brings Unity
In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes to this same church years earlier, and he write about unity and disunity of the church the body of Christ. He calls them to walk worth of what God has called them to be as his children.
1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
To walk in this way is to act and behave in a way that comes from the work of Christ in each persons life. And when a body of believers is walking in this way there will be a unity that is seen. In God’s providence he has appointed men to equip the church and to build up and to grow the church.
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
Paul tells them that the goal is that the body of Christ would be mature and unified in faith. But as we have gone through the book of Timothy this has not happened. The church is divided and there are false teachers creating havoc in the church. They did not mature but remained weak and fell into the trap of lies.
14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.
The church is now the example of little children blown around by these new teachings that are rooted in deceit and and lies. They were to speak truth to each other and in so doing so would grow in every way into Christ.
They were to no longer live in the flesh in the ways of the Gentiles but they were to put on their new life to live in that reality and in the newness of the saving work of God
20 But that is not how you came to know Christ, 21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
This new self is in God’s likeness. The old is to be taken off and the new is to be put on. This isn’t a covering that goes over the other. It is to take off the old, throw it away, remove it, leave it behind. It is full of corruption. And in so doing they were to change there behavior and their speech. In the next verse he says.
25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.
Put away lying and speak the truth. Lies divide and destroy unity. It takes just one lie to remove all trust. Who hear as ever been lied too? Who has ever lied? Have those lies ever brought you closer together? I have never met a person who say that what they look for in a good friend or a spouse is someone who is deceitful and has a reputation as a great lier.
We are to speak the true to each other. We are to speak the truth to those that we are interact in life with. Paul say put it away.
In verse 29 he says
29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.
Let know corrupt, unsound or worthless talk come out of your mouth. But only what is good for building up. Do your word tears down or build up? Do they have worth and value?
When I was teaching youth for a couple of weeks I asked the students what topics they wanted to know what the bible said about them. We talked about all sorts of topics but one week a student raised is hand and said “I want to know about sarcasm. My mom tells me that my sarcasm is not appropriate but I don’t know why. The next week I brought in a ton of scriptures about language, speech, and much of this sermon. I had a whiteboard and had the students write what they learned on one of two sides. What God wants and what he does not. After about a half an hour we has this board completely filled with God’s truth. I said look at the board, what side of the board does your sarcasm fall on. He kind of lowers his head and say the not good side.
We should be looking to God’s word and asking if our words are appropriate. Are you like this student, sarcastic in a way that does not honor God. Does your sarcasm build up or tear down?
Are your jokes laced with digs and jabs at the expense of others? Do you follow those with “Just kidding” you know I am joking. Well did your words build up or tear down.
4 Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks.
Do you provide criticism, critique, or correction absent of love? Are you so critical that when people leave you they feel like this small? Do you correct in a way that provokes others?
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Do those that you are leading and teaching believe that it is good for them to follow your correction. We find all sorts of ways to justify our harsh words. Many times passing on what we have experienced ourselves.
We have all experienced words that do not build us up. They stick with us but they are not to define us. We have a loving father who has saved us from our sin and has given us a new life, a new identity as adopted sons and daughters. He has brought us together to this place in this time and has called us to unity. That means that we must guard our mouths and pray that God will as well.
For there is no place in the body of believers for this type of speech.
31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
When we are bitter, angry and filled with wrath, what comes out of our mouths is not godly. We are to remove shouting, slander, and malice. This would also include, gossip, shame, arguments, hypocrisy, envy, and any other form of speech that was never seen in Jesus’ life.
Instead,
1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Timothy would have recieved this letter and he was told like we are to be imitators of God. Walking in love as Christ loved each and every one of us. He was the sacrifice that paid the ransom that we deserved. He stood in our place. We are to live a life that imitates Him and our speech is a central part of that life.
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
These two can only happen in unison. A person cannot confess with their mouth what is not in their heart. After that moment of confession he is our Lord, we follow his commands and instructions. We devote ourselves to walk in the light and to grow in our imitation of our Lord.
The world will see Jesus through our lives and our words. In so doing so we are to be an example to those around us.
We should all carefully examine what is coming out of our mouths. What are they revealing about our hearts. Where do we need to grow in maturity in our lives so that the overflow of our hearts will be pleasing to God.
Maybe you have had a mirror raised today and you need to change some things. Or maybe you have used your words to tear down and not build up. Repent of those turn away from them. You may need to ask for forgiveness from the ones that you tore down instead of built up. humiliated instead of ridiculed.
Maybe you are the one who has been hurt. This may be hard but you need to prepare your heart to forgive.
14 “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
Maybe you are in a place and you need help. Be bold and reach out. Look to the other examples in the church. There are wonderful saints here full of word that build up and that you can learn from.
Are you here and you you want to be saved, you want to be made new. You are tired of the stuff that spews forth out of your mouth and you actions. and you want to be saved from that life of sin. You too be bold and come and we can talk about the God that saves and the perfect son that died to save sinners.
That our words thank him for his words today.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.