Speaking

Psalm 15:1-5

          Has what you said ever gotten you in trouble? Welcome to the human race! Unless you never say anything, either with body language or with the tone of your grunts, you will make mistakes in your communication. Wars have been started over words. Drawing a picture can get you killed. What you say in a BLOG can get your arrested. Can you wait a minute, there is someone pounding on my door.

          The focus of today’s text is verses two and three. We discovered that the qualification for entering the LORD’s presence is perfection, that none of us is qualified to enter. This is the overarching answer to David’s question of who will get to heaven. But then David lets us know that what we do matters. It is not simply what we have in our minds, our thoughts and intentions, but what we do with the rest of our body that make the difference.

          So David starts with the most rebellious part of our body, the tongue. There are four statements about what we say in these two verses, twice as many as the other examples of righteous and blameless living. Twice as many statements, twice as important. Or maybe twice as difficult to master.

          The first gets many people in trouble. We are to speak the truth from the heart. Some people take this to mean that we are brutally honest, with the emphasis on brutal. They say what they perceive as the truth with such directness that it injures those who are on the receiving end. That is not what this is talking about. When truth is spoken it must take into account the hearer. Truth must be spoken from the deepest part of who we are to the deepest part of who they are. If we speak it in such a way that it never reaches their heart, it wasn’t spoken from our heart. If we really want them to receive what we have to say, it must come from our heart. We might say it isn’t coming from their head. Speaking truth takes into account the hearer’s capacity to hear our message.

          The other side of this line of our text is that we are to be speaking truth, not our truth, but His truth. Not truth as we see it from our perspective. We need to make sure what we speak to another person’s heart is the truth. But often we shade the truth in a way that we benefit from its application. But truth is an equal opportunity offender. Truth steps on everyone’s toes.

          This ties into the next line dealing with slander, the use of our words to color someone else as the bad person. Remember, ninety percent of what we communicate is not what we say with our words. It is our body language and the tone of our voice that carry the lion’s share of communication. Our words can say that we trust the neighbor, but the roll of our eyes sends a stronger message of mistrust. You can say “trust him” as a question, a command, a sarcastic snipe, or a reassuring encouragement.

          The next two lines of verse three expand slander toward other people. Slander can end up doing harm to other people. When we don’t speak the truth from the heart we end up hurting others. It can be as destructive as if you stabbed them with a knife or hacked into their bank account and stole their money. What gets said in the press can ruin a business or a family.

          You see, we are responsible for not just what we say and how we say it, but also to some extend how it is received. We have a responsibility to know the hearer and their heart condition, and speak the truth to them in the best possible way so that they are able to hear the truth. And in the process we have the responsibility to protect others from what other people might hear about them as the truth is spoken. We don’t want our telling to injure them.

          Speaking the truth can be difficult, but we must learn to do it. But we need help. We must do this perfectly. We must be blameless. Lord, help us!

Caught in the Trap

Mark 6:26-29

      The words we speak can become a trap. So it is better to never speak again than be trapped? Of course not! But our words can get us in trouble. I notice this most when people are caught in a lie. I mean when they are really caught, evidence in hand, and then they lie. These are the worst webs of potential traps around. They are so complicated that it is impossible to keep all the lies straight. Most of the time the liars don’t even try. They just convince the other person that they must be crazy, that their memory is faulty, that they didn’t say or do this or that.

      The main character in our text today has been caught in his words. He made an impulsive promise in front of his important and influential guests, and now the words have come back to bite him. His scheming wife has finally gotten what she wanted. She has held a grudge and now she is getting what she wanted.

      I am sure there were many heated arguments when John the Baptist first went public with his condemnation of their marriage. He wanted him alive, and she couldn’t kill him fast enough. She lost those earlier rounds, but she got what she wanted in the end.

      The king’s pride trapped him. He gave his promise in front of his guests, and there was no backing down now without looking weak. And a ruler could not afford to look weak, then or now. Weakness means overthrow.

      So, even though the king regarded John as a holy man, and as someone to be protected, he follows through on his promise. He sends the executioner to behead John and return with his head on a platter. Can you imagine the kitchen help’s reaction when the request for the platter comes? They want a platter for what? I doubt there was a “head carrying” platter in the dining room dishes inventory. And when they got news of what was happening, you can bet the news pulsed through the whole palace staff in a flash. I can bet there were servants peaking from behind every possible vantage point when the head was returned to the dinner guests. They wanted to get a look. Disgusted though they might be, their morbid curiosity would have driven them to be in on the event.

      And the young girl carries the platter back to her mother. Can you imagine carrying a human ahead, fresh blood and all, back to your mother and handing it to her? I can picture her carrying it almost straight-armed in front of her, turning her face, trying not to breathe the smell. The servants along the way would have opened doors to speed her travel. And then to see her mother's reaction of joy when the head arrives, mother ignoring the pain and disgust of her daughter.

      Meanwhile John’s disciples also find out through the grapevine. Instead of morbid curiosity driving their movements, they are overcome with grief. Herod had been protecting John. What could have gone so wrong so fast? We talked with him just the other day. How could he be gone? So out of respect for him, they go and gather his body from the palace morgue, and they have a quiet burial. Probably no fanfare was involved, no stream of dignitaries, no finger foods, no entertainment. The prophet of God had been killed.

Predictable Pattern

Mark 4:26-29

      I want you to imagine stepping into a time machine and travelling back in time about a hundred years. The world is at the beginning of World War II, and Ford Motor Co is cranking out cars. Scheduled flights for passengers have begun. The building of the Lincoln Memorial in DC has begun. Charlie Chaplin is the biggest movie actor. Babe Ruth starts pitching for the Boston Red Sox. A phone like is made across the United States.  The Panama Canal opens for business with its first cargo passing through.

      Now reach down and grab your smart phone. How would you describe your smart phone to someone in 1914? Stop and think about it for a minute. There is a whole world of experiences that inform our understanding of your smart phone which they have never experienced. They don’t know about computers, or cell towers, or texting. Your description might begin like this. A smart phone is like a magical book that…. It is very hard to adequately explain it without having to explain all the other technologies and experiences that accompany the smart phone.

      The Kingdom of God is like…. Jesus often started His parables like this when words just couldn’t capture the reality He wanted to express. Sometimes words just fail. I am sure Jesus could have explained it in human words, but our human experiences fall so short of the reality that any explanation He could give would only lead to limited understanding on our side of the conversation. Human words fail to capture Heaven’s full reality.

      Jesus likens spiritual growth to the growth of a seed. There are things about the growth of a seed that we still don’t fully understand, even today. Even with all our wonderful science and research some parts remain unknown to us humans. How much less we know about spiritual growth! One thing we do know, both grow according do predictable patterns. Both seeds and spiritual growth move toward the goal of producing more of itself, more seed to eat and plant and more spiritual seed that gets sown in other’s lives so that it will also produce spiritual fruit in them.

      The growth happens even though we don’t know how. Yes, the sun gives energy to the photosynthesis process, and the plant draws water and nutrients from the ground, but how it all happens is still an unseen process. We do know the order of things. The seed germinates, it sends out its first leaves and roots with the energy stored in the seed itself. It continues growing gathering energy from the environment. Eventually it produces seed and the process can start all over again.

      A person hears God’s Word and they respond. God causes an internal eternal change in the heart. A desire grows for more of God’s Word. Growth happens in proportion to the nutrients ingested. Eventually God’s Word is shared and another person is awakened by God.

Honeycomb

Proverbs 16:24

      Some people you just like to be around. Have you noticed that? They speak and their words are soothing, healing even. You want to just spend time with them, listening, talking, absorbing.

      And then there are people whose words are like chalkboard fingernails. Every word they speak seems to cut to the core. You can’t wait to get away. If they are your boss, you have your resume’ all ready to send at a moment’s notice.

      For me, when someone is always negative, always degrading others, always making excuses, I can’t wait to leave. When I know they are lying, I tune out. When they lie habitually, forget it. “If you like your _____, you can keep it.” Get me out of earshot.

      Our proverb tells us that speech that is filled with grace is the kind of speech we all desire, all need, all want. No judgments, just pouring out what we have received into another human being. I want to be that kind of person. I want my conversation to be filled with grace. I am beginning to understand the depths the LORD had to go to rescue me, so I want to return the favor and be willing to extend grace to the ends of the earth, or even across the street.

      I love honeycomb. God sure knew what He was doing when He designed honeybees. Dripping sweetness. The way it hangs off a spoon. And then it hits your tongue, wow. That is the way grace-filled words touch us. They reach to the deepest part of us and bring healing. They soothe.

      Too many times in my life my words have not been like this. How about you?

Miley on the Mind

Proverbs 15:26

      We often separate our thoughts from our words, excusing our thoughts. Our thoughts do matter. I am not talking about the quick, momentary thought that crosses our mind. Until our mind is washed by the Word, we can’t do much about those. I am talking about the thoughts that get rolled over in our heads. We chew on a thought, and let it ruminate. If we chew enough on the thought, it will end up coming out of our months, often at the wrong time.

      The reason I raise this issue is because of our Proverb today. Notice that the thoughts of the wicked are contrasted with the grace-filled words of another person. Which would you rather hear, the thoughts of a wicked person or the pleasant words coming from a grace-filled person? Not many people who love the LORD would want to listen in on the thoughts of a wicked person. Sometimes I don’t even want to listen in on my own thoughts, let alone those of a wicked

person!

      So why do so many of us revel in the dirt of the World? We listen to gossip, watch the gossip channels, get sucked in by the latest scandal or unbelievably crude behavior. The news cycle is based on bad news. And the raunchier the more it sells. Just take Miley Cyrus as an example. Do you think anyone actually stopped listening to her music because of her recent behavior? Actually stopped? Permanently stopped? Her brand may have suffered a temporary setback, but in the long run, people will soon become numb to the behavior and accept it, returning to purchase more of her music.

      Look at the words of our leading politicians. Some are the vilest personal words spoken to a political opponent and some attack a policy. Can you imagine the thoughts behind the vile words? If the words are this vicious, can you imagine the wickedness of the thoughts? I know that political speech is planned with a purpose, so it does not necessarily reflect the thoughts, but listen to the atmosphere it creates. Words like “terrorist” used against a political opponent are shameful. They reflect a degradation in character by those using such words.

      When was the last time you spoke something that was not grace-filled? Or you allowed your thoughts to run wild?