Walking That Wise Walk…Talking That Salty Talk
To Grace Or Not To Grace, That Is The Question
Jennifer Mears May 9, 2007
Introduction:
God calls all of us to live lives of love amongst each other. To help our neighbors and to become a family, a community church of believers that help one another.
But what happens when someone hurts because of broken relationships and hurt feelings?
There is an old saying, “Forgive and Forget.” There is another old saying, “easier said than done.”
How can we do our best, In Christ Jesus, to prevent all of this?
Text: Colossians 4:5-6
(AMP)
5 Behave yourselves wisely [living prudently and with discretion] in your relations with those of the outside world (the non-Christians), making the very most of the time and seizing (buying up) the opportunity.
6 Let your speech at all times be gracious (pleasant and winsome), seasoned [as it were] with salt, [so that you may never be at a loss] to know how you ought to answer anyone [who puts a question to you].
(NIV)
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
We must strive to always “be holy for he is holy” and “do all as unto The Lord”
• Walk in wisdom toward them that are without
• Speak words of Grace, In Love
• We are the salt of the earth – without salt we will lose our savor (effectiveness)
I. Speak With Words That Are Full of Grace
• The phrase, gracious means ‘always with grace’ – ‘to be full of grace’ – overflowing with grace!
• It also has the idea of the Lord’s influence upon our hearts and its reflection in our life.
• We know the tongue has incredible power. (power of life and death)
For Good or Evil (book of James is full of these words about the tongue )
• A “kind” word can build you up…
o Think of a young boy with his first try at baseball
you speak words of encouragement like “way to go, slugger”
o Training a puppy – when they go outside to potty and not don’t do it in the floor – you give them a treat and say “atta boy”
Prov 10:20-21 "The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. 21 The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom."
Love to give compliments:
ie. Drive up window at Taco Bell... (mean) or (nice_loving)
A mean or hateful word can break your heart!
James 3 tells us that a tongue used wrongly
"is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
That is pretty powerful!
Today, I want to consider How To Speak With Grace…To speak with grace you need grace in your heart.
(Col 3:16) "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
A. Before your speech can be "always with grace," you need grace in your heart!
Why?
Luke 6:45 (amp) The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.
• A person who says kind things, has a kind heart.
• A person who says negative things, has a negative heart.
• A person who says mean things, has a mean heart.
What’s inside comes out!
B. What if you have grace in your heart?
Colossians 3:17 tells us what happens: "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."
Do ALL IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS!
This means with His approval! Do it His Way!
Would the Lord approve of your speech?
How do you speak?
To speak in the Name of Jesus, Grace must be in our hearts.
For His Grace to be dripping off of our tongues – His Grace MUST abound (well supplied, plentiful, thriving, to contain very large amounts of – to overflow with) within our hearts – which ‘it is from out of the abundance of the heart that a person speaks…’
Here again, Abundance means fullness, large amount, overflowing
No one who curses, swears, lies, gossips, runs others down... is letting the Word of Christ dwell in them richly!
We should strive to make this our goal, Gracious Speech
Whatever we say, say it in the name of the Lord!
** You’ll have a hard time yelling at another driver in Jesus’ name…
** Screaming at your kids, in Jesus’ name…
** Telling off the clerk at the check out line for taking too long…
or for charging the wrong price, in Jesus’ name
** Saying unkind things to your husband or wife, Jesus’ name ...
** Saying negative things in the positive Name of Jesus!
** Speaking death and destructive language in the resurrected, fully alive Name of Jesus!
Proverbs 12:18
There are those who speak rashly, like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 16:13
Right and just lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right
Proverbs 23:16
Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak right things.
We need God’s grace in our hearts!
HOW?
Step 1 - True Salvation!
Step 2 - Complete Submission!
II. Four Tests of Gracious Speech
1. Is it True??? “...
seasoned with salt ...”
Salt was used for preserving and purifying,
Seasoned speech is truthful
Eph 4:15…. tells us to Speak the truth in love ...
Before you repeat a statement, MAKE SURE IT IS TRUE!!!
Someone said” I believe half of what I see, and nothing of what I hear!”
Just because someone said it dosent make it true!
It is easy to jump to a wrong conclusion!
It’s like the dog ... There once was a dog named August, Who was always jumping at conclusions, one day he jumped at the conclusion of a mule, That was the last day of August!
Proverbs 14:25
A truthful witness saves lives, but a deceitful witness speaks lies [and endangers lives].
Before you Believe something, Before you Repeat something, Make sure it is True!!!!!
2. Is it Complete?
It is easy to get half of the Story What is said may be true, but it is not complete! Before you say something, make sure you get all the story!
3. Is it Necessary????
What you say may be true, it may be complete, but is it NECESSARY???
Eph 4:15, "Speaking the truth in LOVE"!!!
(1 Pet 4:8) "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."
Some of the most hurtful words I have ever heard have been preceded by the words,
“it’s the truth.”... or “for real”
Just because it is the truth, doesn’t make it necessary! There are times when silence truly is golden!
4. Is it Kind???
(Rom 12:10) "Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;"
(Eph 4:31-32) "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you."
III. Suggestions for speaking with Grace
1. Determine to control your tongue
2. Say only good things about others
3. Remember your accountability
(Mat 12:36) "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
4. Ask the Lord to Help you!
(Psa 141:3) "Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."
There are 5 points of instruction in Colossians 4:5-6.
I. BE WISE. (Proverbs 4:5,7; 9:10; 11:30; 14:27)
A. The principal thing is to get wisdom.
B. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.
C. Winning souls is a result of and an evidence of wisdom.
II. BE READY. (1 Peter 3:15-16)
A. A good heart.
B. A good conscience.
C. Good conduct.
III. BE KIND. (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
A. Be gentle.
B. Be patient.
C. Be humble.
IV. BE KNOWLEDGEABLE. (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:14-17)
A. Know your teachers.
B. Know the Scriptures.
C. Know the LORD.
V. BE RESPONSIVE. (2 Timothy 4:1-5; James 2:14-17; 5:13-16,19-20;
Mark 12:29-31; Galatians 6:10)
A. Preach the Word.
B. Fulfill your ministry.
C. Respond to needs.
Conclusion:
Your words… what you say tells so much about you!
VERBAL ADVANTAGE:
Every TIME YOU SPEAK, PEOPLE JUDGE YOU BY THE WORDS YOU USE...
Do your words,
* Build others up, or tear them down ?
* Show the love of Christ? or drive them away from our Lord.
We are naturally selfish and prideful. That is who we are. That doesn’t make it right. It means we have to learn to overcome it. Because the sad truth is people are going to hurt us and we are going to hurt people.
Someone is going to accidentally or on purpose hurt your feelings. It starts when we are young. Kids make fun of kids. Teenagers/adults form prejudgments of people. “Can you believe what she was wearing?” “Well I heard that he…” “I can’t believe they would come to church dressed like that.” “How can they live like that…?” “Oh let me tell you what they did. 5 years ago…” On and on.
You have to understand you will never get away from it. You can never escape it. But when you learn to become like Christ, to be holy as he is holy that is when you will overcome it.
We need to (Col 4:6) "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt!”
Proverbs 8:6
Hear, for I will speak excellent and princely things; and the opening of my lips shall be for right things.
Psalm 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
