Wise Words

If I asked you this morning, how would you measure your spiritual life? How would you gauge how much progress you had made in the last year in the things of the Lord? What would be the areas of focus? I would imagine for many of us it might be ‘quiet times’, how much, how regular, how fruitful. Maybe for some it would be church involvement, how engaged are we, how faithful in meeting with brothers and sisters, how faithful in praying? Or maybe it would be service, what am I doing for God, how am I serving Him?

All of those things are important, they’re areas that we really want to be faithful in and grow in! But it’s interesting that as we read Scripture, the areas that we might set up as the litmus test of faith, are maybe not as high up the list that God reveals!

Last week we spoke about money, and how our use of money reveals the real desires of our hearts. It’s a great area to look at and ask am I growing in godliness in how I use my money. But another area that we may often neglect, but which takes center stage in Proverbs, is our words!

God cares deeply about our words! Our words are the expression of our hearts! They’re like paint brushes that spring from within us and create pictures that reveal who we really are. Jesus said ‘...For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’

So how can we learn wisdom when it comes to our words? What does God have to teach us through Proverbs?

The Power of Words

‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit’ ()

There are few things that you have at your disposal more powerful than the words that come out of you mouth!

With them you can do great good, you can build up, encourage, strengthen, correct, reveal, comfort, you can speak life to people! Or you can bring down, destroy, mask, discourage, divide, you can bring death!

I’m sure for every person here this morning you can think of times when words have been used in your life in both ways! Someone speaks foolishly and suddenly something that they say finds a place within you that just causes the life to drain from you! You want to run away, you fear the next conversation, you can’t deal with the next bleep of a text message!

Or maybe you’ve been struggling, and someone comes near and speaks words to you that just bring life! It’s as though a weight has been lifted, a light has just come on! You feel all of a sudden that you can take on the world! You literally feel the courage entering you (‘encourage’)!

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. ()

Words are powerful! They have the potential to do great good, or great harm!

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,

but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

but the tongue of the wise brings healing.()

()

Thankfully I’ve never been thrust through with a sword, but I can imagine it would hurt a lot! And it wouldn’t just hurt at the moment. You could take the sword out, but the wound would still exist, the damage would still be done! So it is with our words. Once they’re said, they’re said, they’re out, the wound has been made! You can take the sword out, you can regret saying it, try to take it back, but rash words cut!

‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’. What a lie! Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names, words, can do serious damage, they can hurt us so deeply!

On the other hand though, the tongue of the wise brings healing. Your words can also act like medicine, like a soothing ointment that you put on a wound. They can be used of God to start to bring healing to an area that was once so damaged! The reality is, when hurt occurs through words, time isn’t a great healer, words are!!

A beautiful example of this is in 1 Sam. 23:15-18...

Do you realise this morning the power of your words?! What way do we use them here in Moira Baptist? Are we those people that speak life, or do we speak death? What would others say if they were asked about you and your words?

On the other hand though, the tongue of the wise brings healing. Your words can also act like medicine, like a soothing ointment that you put on a wound. They can be used of God to start to bring healing to an area that was once so damaged!

If we want to be wise with our words then we must firstly see that they are powerful! We have to recognise the potential that they have!

The Practice of Words

So words are powerful, but after we come to see and believe that, is there any guidance as to how we should then use them? Is there any help that God gives to make us wise with this powerful weapon? Thankfully yes, God shows us in His Word how we should practice our words!

Always Speak the Truth

‘Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment’ ()

‘A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin’ ()

‘Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you’ (Prv.4:24)

One of the wisest lessons we can learn when it comes to our words, is to always speak the truth! Now that seems like an obvious thing. We all know that lying is wrong, that we are commanded not to bear false witness. But we live in a world where the very air we breath seems to be polluted with falsehood! From General elections, to NHS strikes, from major news outlets to twitter feeds. It seems like falsehood is never far away! It seems so difficult to get to the truth of a matter!

According to a survey carried out in the UK in 2010, the average man tells about 3 lies each day, and the average woman 2 lies each day. Out of the 3,000 people surveyed, the number one lie for women was ‘Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine’. And for men it was ‘I didn’t have too much to drink’.

Lying has become just a normal accepted part of life. Many think there is nothing wrong with it unless it’s in a really serious situation! ‘Little white lies’ are fine, they’re just part and parcel of day to day life. You have to lie, everyone lies!

But how about within the church? Are Christians any better? Or do we fall into the same trap of using crooked speech? Not speaking straight with one another. Maybe few of us will blatantly tell an outright lie, but what about those ‘half truths’, those words that deceive or mislead?

Let me ask a few questions for us to think on…?

I remember a young guy that used to do some preaching, and he wasn’t really gifted to do that. But people kept flattering him, telling him how he had a gift, that he was in the wrong job. And it wrecked him, he was on the verge of giving up his job to go into ministry, until loving elders sat him down and told him the truth. He had many gifts, but preaching wasn’t one of them!

Another way with Christian circles that we can really not speak truthfully is when we fail to deal with issues we have with brothers and sisters. When we have a genuine problem with someone else, and instead of speaking truthfully and constructively, we say ‘I’m fine, things are fine, I’ve no issue’.

But when we speak falsely, it will always catch up with us. A lying tongue is but for a moment. It won’t last, God will bring truth to bear because He hates falsehood! But truthful lips endure forever. We need not fear if we’ll be faithful to speak the truth, we can walk securely if we walk in integrity.

Q. Do we flatter with our words?

Sometimes we fear man so much more than we fear God, and the result is we speak words of flattery. We’re afraid to tell the truth. We touched on this when we spoke about friendship. Do you try to just keep people happy and have an easy life, or do you speak the truth when opportunity arises?

Flattering words may seem at times kinder than the truth, but A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.

I know of lives that have been greatly damaged by well meaning people flattering instead of telling the truth. People making decisions that have had huge consequences based on the comments of people who just didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings so bent the truth.

Q. Do you write the truth on Social media?

So many of our words now are shared with the world? We tweet, we post, we send. But how often do we read words, and maybe write words that we just know bend the truth, deceive, paint a picture that just isn’t quite what it should be! How often do we exaggerate with our words to make us come across in a certain way!

Q. Do you speak the truth to your children?

For some reason, it seems to many that lying to our children is not really lying! It doesn’t count, they’re different!

‘You can’t have anymore biscuits, they’re all done’, You can’t watch more T.V. because it’s not working’. ‘If you don’t stop making that face it’ll get stuck like that’. ‘If you don’t be good...’

We’re to Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you’. In every context, with every person, even our kids!

Use Words Sparingly

‘When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent’ ()

‘Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin’ ()

According to a study in a University of Arizona, the average person speaks around 16,000 words each day! Now imagine that, that’s a lot of words!! I know in our house, there are at least 2 people that I think would easily double that in a day!!

Typically we like to talk, we enjoy being heard, we feel the need to have our opinions voiced. And when you actually think about it, so often we talk not because we’ve something to say, we talk because it’s just something we do!

But the truth is, when words are many, transgression is not lacking…We can so often say such unnecessary things. How often have you come away from a conversation and just felt bad knowing you’d said too much? How many times have we passed comment, made an off the cuff remark, and just known it was unnecessary!

Sometimes we fall into the trap of believing that if we’ve something on our mind, then it needs to come out our mouth, and most of the time it doesn’t! I’ll never forget last year speaking here at a funeral and after a visitor to the church coming over to me and saying, ‘Can I speak with you? I should have said no! ‘Your beard doesn’t suit your face. And because of the colour of the wall behind you, it makes your face to long because you’ve a big forehead’.

A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating’ (Prv.18:6)

Oh to be people who restrain our lips, who guard our mouths! Who are careful with what we say! The picture of a guard is helpful here. It’s like someone standing watch at the doorway of your mouth, like a security officer! And before words come out they’re checked, searched, to make sure they’re safe! That’s what we need! And so often, it’s those who restrain their lips that demonstrate a real trust in God. They don’t need to be heard, they know God will vindicate!

Be Careful what you Listen to!

‘An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to mischievous tongue’ ()

‘The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body…’ ()

If we want to be wise in our practice of words then it doesn’t just end with what we say, but it includes what we listen to!

What words do we allow to take residence in our hearts? What words do we allow to go down into the inner parts of the body? So often the words of a whisperer, the gossip, the slander, the juicy information (only passed on of course so you’ll pray), is like a delicious morsel! It’s so appealing, so attractive! And yet it’s deadly!

There’s probably nothing that damages a church more than gossip! The sowing of discord, the listening to others’ grumbling!

What do you do when someone comes to share mischievous words with you? Are you all ears? Or do you stop then in their tracks? Do you seek to be wise not only in how you speak words, but in how you listen!

There’s much more we could say on the practice of words. But let’s finish by taking time to consider...

The Person of The Word

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth’. ()

When we think about the power of words, and how like we said at the beginning, they are the most fundamental and profound way in which we can express ourselves! They’re like paint brushes that paint a picture of who we really are! Imagine then the magnitude of what we remember at Christmas time!

Almighty God expresses Himself, not just by speaking His words through more prophets (as mind blowing as that alone is!!), but by sending The Word, His Son, the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact imprint of his nature...

God communicating to the World, this is who I am, this is what I’m like, this is what I do! Look at my Son!! He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn (ruler, supreme) of all creation!

And He comes to dwell among us! ...though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ()

Through this Word, through this revelation of God, we see His glory, His grace and truth!

He always speaks the truth, no matter what the audience, what the threat, how great the danger...

... the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. ()

He didn’t speak for the sake of it, but used His words sparingly...

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. ()

He trusted His Father to vindicate!

He didn’t idly listen to damaging speech, but was courageous to challenge...

And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” ()

Is it any wonder people marveled and said, No one ever spoke like this man!

But this person of the Word was much more than an example for us to follow, He was much more than the perfect demonstration of wise speech! He was, He is, the culmination of all of God’s words and revelation! He is the place in which it all finds it’s focal point. And He is the place in which foolish people like us can find true wisdom! In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Our biggest issue of foolishness in speech, in thought, in deed is the fact that we do it apart from God! We act as if He didn’t exist, we think as if He doesn’t know, we speak as if He can’t hear! And we need to be rescued! We need that Word who became flesh, who lived for us, who died for us to take the punishment for all our foolishness!! Without Him, there is no hope for wisdom, and with Him, we have the very wisdom of God!!

He is the One who is strong enough, mighty enough, gracious enough, to change our hearts! To transform that very place from which every word, thought and deed spring, and make it wise in the sight of a holy God!

So how will we be wise with our words? We must see the power of our words! We must be careful with the practice of our words! But it will be all in vain if we don’t firstly come to and trust in the Person of The Word!!

Without this great act of rescue, we would be forever lost in our foolishness! Because as we heard already, it’s from the heart that the mouth speaks! And no matter how hard we try, not one of us can change our hearts! The very source of all our foolishness, in speech and in deed, is beyond our power to change!

But that why Jesus came! That’s why He died, that’s why He rose again in glory!! So that God’s people might now be given new hearts, that there sin might be dealt with, and their hearts changed to