Consider Your Speech

James 1:26 "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless"

Titus 3:1-2 "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no on, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility to toward all men."

I was reading a well respected web site yesterday and found several book reviews on the site. One was discussing a modern theologian that I have had real disagreement with in the past few years, so it peaked my interest. The book review appeared academic at first, but then I found it was a bit sarcastic and mocking. Since I disagree with this theologian, I found myself laughing at the review and thinking it was great, at first. Then I went to the other book reviews and found a review of a book written by a good friend who is very faithful in the ministry. All of the sudden these reviews stopped being so funny. I thought about my responses for awhile yesterday and came to the conclusion that I am not as careful with my tongue as I should be.

The way we speak of others if very important to our souls and others. Even if we think we are just being funny, but are putting others down we have crossed a line. It would have been fine for the reviewer of these books to point out truth and error. It would have even been faithful. However, when we point out what we think to be error in a degrading way it is wrong. It puffs up and makes us feel self-righteous, while tearing apart the other. In the same manor I was not showing humility toward all men when I found his put downs funny. Peoples theological errors should not be laughing matters. Slander is very dangerous, we must all guard against enjoying it in any fashion.

We live in a day and age where speaking truth and error is not vogue, but to speak of opinions and emotions is the thing. Instead of examining if someone is right or wrong, we examine how they make us feel and whether we like them or not because of it. We often speak of peoples tones, rather than discussing the substance of what they have said. And we end up attacking people, instead of defending truth. I am learning the old lesson that I am better served to keep my opinions quiet, for it is the opinions of Scripture, truth, that matter.

4th Commandment

Exodus 20:8-11
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

I just completed a series of sermons on the Sabbath/Lord's Day and had a very interesting discussion with a man from Kentucky about the last sermon. He posed the question, "What do we expect to happen to us if we break the Sabbath? What should the church do to Sabbath breakers?" It was an interesting question. First, we really don't like the term Sabbath breaker, because it sounds like we have done something wrong. But wait, haven't we? The Sabbath day is part of the Moral Law, written on our hearts under the New Covenant. What would a church member expect to happen to them if they committed murder, adultery, or theft? How about if they were running around using the Lord's name in vain? Most of us would expect to be called out on our sin, or for those committing them to be approached concerning their open sin. So why don't we consider treating the Lord's Day in an unholy manner a problem for a Christian? Could it be because we do not expect Christians to be under the Lordship of Christ? To be Holy? Be a Christian, call the Law of God a delight. Be a Christian, obey God's commandments.

Holiness

Wayne Grudem: “God’s Holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor.” It is this idea of being separated or set apart that we need to understand, but we also need to understand what God is set apart. He is separated or set apart from sin. In Him is no sin. He knows no sin. What does all this mean to us? There are several important lessons. First, God cannot have anything to do with sin, but we are sinners. Second, if we are sinners and God is separate from sin then we are separated from God. Third, it shows how necessary Christ’s perfect, holy work is to man. Without it we can have nothing to do with God. There is another lesson for us though, and it is concerning what sin is. We often misunderstand our sin and the problem of it. What is sin? It is really the opposite of God and holiness. For God to be perfectly holy, that means that everything he does brings glory to himself, nothing he does falls short of the glory of God. And in Christ we see this played out. Everything Christ did, brought Glory to God. There was nothing neutral in Christ, everything brought glory to God. If he would have failed to glorify God in any, even the smallest area of his life or action then he would have sinned. Many times we thing of sin only has terrible acts, but many good acts can be sin if they fail to bring glory to God. This is where God’s holiness, exposes he depths of man’s sin and his desperate need of Christ. There are things I do every day that fall short of the glory of God! That is sin, and that separates us from God. But in Christ I can do all things. I can do all things to the glory of God. May we seek God's honor.