WORD AND COMMUNITY

WORD AND COMMUNITY Malachi 3:16 and Colossians 3:16 January 4, 2009 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction I could hardly believe it as I found myself the other day thinking back to my high school freshman first-year French class, that it was 45 years ago! That’s four and a half decades! Aside from the disturbing distraction about my age, I was actually thinking about my teacher in that French class. The very first day of class she told us something I had never heard a teacher say before up to that point in my illustrious 13 years of academia. She told us that we were allowed to speak to our neighbors during class! Provided we spoke quietly . . . and in French. Right away we dove into learning meaningful phrases we could say to one another, just for the sheer pleasure of talking during class. Oh, she was a smart one, that Mrs. Rogers! By the end of the second semester we were actually carrying on full conversations, speaking in a quasi-intelligible French tongue—and enjoying it! God is also interested in our conversations. In the pages of scripture He directs us to speak with one another all the time, with just a couple of provisos: He commands us to speak in a manner such that everyone who hears us conversing will be edified. You’ll find that instruction, for example, in Eph. 4:29 – Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Secondly, He wants us to fill our conversations with the good things He has revealed to us in His Word, and the new things we are learning from the truths of the Bible. One such passage is Ephesians 5:18-19 – Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s actually a twin passage to the our text in Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. In other words, our conversations with one another will be pleasing to the Lord when we are edifying one another through conversational Word. Colossians 3:16 Of course, that passage ought to sound familiar to most as we dealt with it last week in our introductory message on the current series on the Word of God. My mission in this series is to convince you, or at least remind you of the extreme value of the truth of God’s Word in our lives as Christ-followers. There is simply no way to overstate that value. Through the apostle Paul the Spirit commands believers (it’s not a mere suggestion, and it is more than an exhortation; it’s a command). See to it that the Word of Christ takes deep root in your heart and mind—let it dwell in you richly. I had the privilege years ago of spending a couple of afternoons with a man named Don DeWelt—a Christian author and evangelist who had much of God’s Word committed to memory. That is interesting enough, but I tell you, this man didn’t just have the Word memorized in his head. It was deep in his heart. So much so that when you talked with him you first noticed that his phraseology was sometimes a little awkward and his sentences started and stopped in funny fashion. But soon after your talk with him you realize what was going on. The Word of God so permeated Don’s heart and mind—he being so familiar with it and immersed in its truths, that you realize all that he said was laced with scripture. Get the Word deeply into us His whole person was awash in the Word and when he talked he just spouted scripture. And this wasn’t sermonizing or teaching in any formal sense, he was just carrying on a conversation with you. That’s what Colossians 3:16 is all about. We are told to do two basic things, as I read this verse: first, we are to get the Word deeply into us, so that its truths have made their home in our hearts and minds, and so that we are fairly filled up to over-flowing with them. So full that when we carry on conversations, we “leak” – leak God’s Word, and other spiritual comments that come from His wisdom. How do we do that well? There are no short cuts. Basically, you have to READ your Bible, regularly, often, even obsessively. If you want to spout God’s Word in Colossians 3:16, Don DeWelt-fashion, you must read, read, read it. More than that, you must give yourself to STUDY of that Word. That plain fact is that if you are reading your Bible regularly and with any care at all, you cannot help but want to study some parts of it more deeply. Any more, I can’t read two pages of scripture without finding at least a dozen phrases or words that I want to study more deeply. Let me go a step further and strongly encourage you to MEMORIZE portions of the Word. Don’t tell me you can’t memorize—everybody uses that excuse—and it’s just not true. Even if you were really dumb, you can still memorize—if you want to. Take just a few seconds right now and consider what your favorite song is. Can you recite the lyrics (please don’t sing)? Or, maybe a few lines from a poem you love, or a couple quotes from famous people you admire. You CAN memorize. And speaking of songs, here’s a great way to get portions of God’s Word dwelling richly in you: sing them. Sure, they’re the lyrics in hundreds of worship songs! Or maybe you should just write a couple songs yourself! Singing is a wonderful way to remember and rehearse the truths of scripture. Oh, look! That’s the very next thing Paul says in Colossians 3:16– sing! Overflow His Truth in your conversation Well, I mentioned there were two things we need to hear in this text. One of them is how we need to get the Word deeply into us. Secondly we are called to overflow with God’s truth whenever we talk. How easy that will be when you have filled yourself up with His Word. You can’t help but burp truth once you have drunk deeply of it. It’ll come out your pores; you’ll smell like truth; you’ll look more like truth and integrity; when you talk you will naturally teach and admonish others with all kinds of wisdom. Brothers and sisters, make it your ambition to get filled up with His Word, which alone is truth, and keep on being filled. Then spend your life walking around others leaking into their lives the depth, the wonder and the glory of God’s Truth. While you’re at it, let some of the enthusiasm and spiritual vitality you have come out also in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs of gratitude to the Lord. There simply isn’t any way to live a more pleasing life to the Lord. Malachi 3:16-18 Isn’t it just fascinating that God is so interested in our conversations? Let’s look at another “3:16” for just a little more insight into this matter. Turn in your Bible to Malachi 3. This is a fascinating passage of scripture where we find God listening in to the conversations of people who are hanging around church (or, Temple, to be more precise). Verse 13 reads, “You have said harsh things against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ (Not only had they blithely and thoughtlessly spoken against God, they didn’t even recognize their own blasphemy!) “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’” Wow! It’s one thing to think you secretly spoke your cynical feelings about devotion to God, but then you realize that God heard every word! Please catch this, though: God is listening to their conversations to hear what they are saying to one another! Don’t overlook the truth that God knew their hearts all along—what they were thinking—their deepening doubts, their sardonic sneers and their feckless fussing. But when they gave VOICE to that secret scorn, when they talked it up among the other saints, as if to drag them down, too! When they turned the sacred activity of conversation among brothers into a cesspool of sarcasm! Let’s just say, that got God’s goat! Don’t miss this: God is very concerned with our conversation among one another. Dour discussions and discouraging dialogue do not edify the people in our circles of influence—believers and unbelievers alike. They diminish and drag down and destroy others. And God whose Son warned us about “every idle word” spoken and who calls us to edify with our speech and not to desecrate, is never honored in negativity and nay-saying. I’m not saying, nor is God’s Word saying, that it is sinful to have bad feelings or misgivings or discouragement or depression. But taking those feelings before the Lord in prayer for healing is a far different thing than the conspiracy of complaining that brewed among these divisive whiners. It is a good thing to take our hurts and doubts to a couple of close brothers and ask fro their loving intercession. It is quite another to gather in a clique of fussy, murmuring miscreants and slander God. God is very interested in how we do our conversations! But there is another group of religious folks there in Jerusalem who are not at all like the negative crowd. Look what God says about them: Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. In the days when Malachi was written it was common among Persian kings to honor their faithful and loyal soldiers and servants in a special way. They would call for a new piece of parchment, basically a new “page” in their book of remembrance, and they would make an official entry about the faithful service of the person. Then that parchment was put with all the other certificates of loyal service in a place of honor. God uses this very contemporary imagery to illustrate the way He honors the positive conversation of the faithful. Then He says, “They will be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “ in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serve him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” Then in chapter four He goes on to further castigate the arrogant, but bless the faithful. Look at verse 2: But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves release from the stall… What a picture! Remember the nagging doubts and troublesome feelings of despair and depression the righteous refused to dwell on? The Lord says He will deliver the righteous from all those things that have haunted them! Before we move into a some closing thoughts, we should be impressed by two quick observations: first, God distinguishes two categories of people (and only two) here: There is the first group, who failed Him, in that they did not honor Him properly. In verse 16 He acknowledges the second group, describing them as those who feared the Lord and honored his name. Second, He judges on the basis of conversation. When He listens in to your conversations, will you be distinguished among those who fear Him or fail Him? Principles Concerning Conversations I believe we are well-served to pay strict attention to the principles in this passage, especially as they are repeated and hammered out in very specific commands in the New Testament. In closing, may I suggest three such principles… First, how we converse betrays our spiritual vitality I have a recommendation for us who sincerely desire to live our lives in a way that honors God, and who want our lives to testify to God’s righteousness & faithfulness. During your conversations with others and quietly ask yourself, “Is what I am saying right now something I am glad God is listening in on? Or are my words testifying against me that I am no longer fearing him in my speech, but failing Him?” Do I notice, and do others notice, the wisdom of God’s Word coming through my speech? Do I edify, admonish and teach effectively when I talk in casual settings? Second, how we converse will either build up the family of faith or will tear it down The words and the manner we use in our conversations can either hurt or heal. I have another practical suggestion. Make an appointment with a brother or sister in Christ with whom you have a good, mutually trustworthy relationship and ask that person a question or two along these lines. “Knowing me pretty well, and spending time around me when I am with others, how is my conversation? Have you noticed things I’ve said that do not edify those who hear me? Would you help me become more of a Colossians 3:16 and Malachi 3:16 conversationalist? Lastly, how we converse directly influences the degree of God’s blessing on my life The question is, very simply, this: do I want to honor God so that He is able to bless my life? Do I want more than anything else for God to make me His treasured possession, and to spare me in His mercy and compassion? His blessings are given to His followers in proportion to their faithfulness and honor of Him.     [Back to Top]