Sunday Rewind 11.16.08

Yesterday, we completed “Zip It”, a series of sermons designed to help us consider not only the words we speak, but also the underlying causes that produce our words. Our theme was, "Grounding Gossip".

Gossip is everywhere; television, the internet, our homes, the hardware store. Sadly, one of the richest hotbeds of gossip is the church. We’ve all been touched by it. We've all been charred by it and we've all been guilty of it.

What does God’s word say about the power of the tongue? There’s a lot of positive things. You can give life to people…encourage… help people…put marriages back together again…list goes on and on. But it also talks about the dark side of the tongue. And when it does, the language is interesting. Biblical authors pair it with violent scenarios…words like daggers, swords, poison tipped arrows.

Check out Psalm 57:4 and James 3:5-6. Those are strong words. But I got to thinking. What if the biblical authors were writing today? How would they phrase it? Maybe like this...The tongue is like a suicide bomber walking into a mall full of thousands of people and innocent children. Suddenly, deep emotions surge. If we used imagery like that, I’ll bet we’d think differently about the destructive path that our tongue leaves behind.

So let me ask a tough question. Who is in your path of destruction? Who are the people who have been hurt by your words?

Now another question. How do we move on from here? How do we change things. How 'bout like this: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs." (Ephesians 4:29.)

Don’t miss that last phrase, “according to their needs”. When you speak to someone, ask, “What does this person need?” "What’s going on in their life?" "What’s the pain?…What’s the joy?…What’s the passion?" "What happened this morning before they got here?"

Once we know and understand what people need, then we can speak intentionally, using words that build people up instead of tearing down. Essentially, here’s what God is saying…let’s stop talking about people and start talking to people.