Words of Life

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, again, church. It is so good to have all of our kids in here with us this morning. I know some of you parents are thinking right now, “Yeah…you’re not the one trying to wrangle them.” It’s absolutely ok. You think the early church had childcare?

For the month of June, we have been in a mini-sermon series called “Words of Life.” We’ve been looking at what the books of Proverbs and James say about the power of our words. We’ve seen…

•       The HEART of our words

•       The HURTING POWER of our words

•       The HEALING POWER of our words

•       The HARNESSING POWER of our words

Our theme verse for this month/series has been…

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

This morning, as we land the plane on this series, I want us to take a closer look at Proverbs 18:21 and see how it is, literally, the gospel.

Before we unpack Proverbs 18:21I just want to say how much I love Sundays like this. Every Sunday is special but today is kind of extra special, isn’t it? We have witnessed and celebrated Believer’s Baptism—the picture of Anne Alan’s passing from death to life—baptized into Christ and into the Body of Christ. That’s just beautiful.

In a few minutes, we are going to participate in the Lord’s Supper—a picture of death & life. Our symbolic partaking of the body and the blood of Jesus.

At the end of the service, we’re going to commission our Kenya mission team—our participation in the Great Commission of taking the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

Y’all, this kind of day just gets my blood pumping. We are doing what the church has been doing for 2,000 years.

So, let’s go back for a second to Proverbs 18:21—“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

I said a few moments ago that this verse is literally gospel—“death,” “life,” and…then…at the end…the eating of fruits.

To understand the gospel of this verse, we’ve got to start in Genesis chapter 3. You can turn there if you want but these verses will be on the screens.

At the very beginning of human history—the very beginning of our story—there are two fruit-bearing trees that represent LIFE & DEATH.

God gave Adam & Eve very clear instructions—you can freely eat the fruit of any tree in the garden of Eden (especially the fruit from the tree of life) but you are NOT to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because, God said, when you do you will die. The fruit of life and the fruit of death.  

Genesis 3:1–7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Satan—the Father of Lies—completely contradicts the Word and commands of God…completely deceives Eve into thinking that his words will give her the life she thinks she’s missing out on. So, believing the lies of Satan…pay attention to this…verse 6—she took of its fruit and she ate…and she gave it to her husband and he ate.

And, because of their sin and disobedience, God places all of humanity and creation under a curse…but even worse…

Genesis 3:22–24 “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

POINT: Satan speaks, Adam & Eve eat (of the fruit), DEATH enters the world.

And, it was this moment that started it all. Everything changed. Everything that follows this—murder, genocide, rape, theft…etc…

We have been eating the fruit of death ever since. Our sin is taking the fruit offered by the Father of Lies…that promises freedom, that promises the life we think we want but that leads to death. That’s why Paul says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is DEATH. It’s separation from God and the eternal life that we can only have in Him.

“Death is in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

Fast forward 4,000 years. It’s the night that Jesus is going to be arrested—the day before his crucifixion—and he has gathered his disciples together for one last meal—which just so happens to be the Passover meal. The commemoration of the Exodus story when death swept through Egypt and passed over the homes of those who covered their doors in the blood of a sacrificed lamb…again…DEATH & LIFE.

Matthew 26:26–29 “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.””

Now, for the disciples around the table that night, this is not new language. Jesus’s body as bread? His blood as wine? John records for us, in John chapter 6, that, sometime before this Passover meal, Jesus said…

John 6:51–58 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.””

In response, in vs. 68, Peter says, “Lord, you have the words of eternal life.”

POINT: Jesus speaks (take, eat//take, drink), disciples eat (of the fruit), and they have LIFE.

Jesus’s death is our life.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION