Let There Be Thanksgiving
A Sermon by CH(CPT) Keith J. Andrews
All Scriptures marked ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Ephesians 5:4 reads;
4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. (Eph 5:4, ESV).
Everyday, we see messages that tell us to use this product instead of another product.
You go into the latrine it says; “Non Potable: Do not drink the water”—we understand that to mean that we must drink the bottled water instead.
The guard at the back of the DFAC says to go to the front door and wash your hands instead.
The sign on the copier says “110 only” which means that we should use a 220 converter instead of blowing up the copier.
We are continually faced with those “instead of” messages.
They are there for a specific purpose, many times this instead of message is meant to help you, or to protect you.
This is the message that Paul is bringing to the Ephesians and to us is…
4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. (Eph 5:4, ESV).
So this morning, we are going to look at the language that we use. Is it crude or is it filled with thanksgiving.
Let us first consider…
1. Filthy and Foolish Talk
The first part of the verse says;
4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, (Eph 5:4a, ESV).
From the original Greek there are three verbs represented in this portion of the verse—translated literally they are shamefulness, foolish words, and coarse joking.
These are the words we hear regularly—maybe hourly, maybe more than that. Sometimes it is said because it has become a habit, or it for some reason has become appealing.
We have a sexually charged culture. We deal with the immaturity of young men and the stress of war. As a culture, we have equated vulgarity with toughness; and rawness to express reality.
This is not new for Soldiers.
A note from George Washington to the Continental Army of the United States reads;
Head Quarters, New York, August 3rd 1776.
Parole Uxbridge. Countersign Virginia
The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing (a Vice heretofore little known in an American Army) is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavour to check it, and that both they, and the men will reflect, that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our Arms, if we insult it by our impiety, and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense, and character, detests and despises it.
http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/revolution/profanity_1.html
As you would imagine, I hear the words, “Sorry Chaplain” on a reoccurring basis. I hear the offense more, but have grown to choose ignoring it.
Why do I do that? Why do I ignore a problem that is so prevalent among our Soldiers that it is not even considered, as in George Washington’s day wicked? I do not ignore the problem, hence today’s sermon, but choose to ignore and accept the offence and the offender.
But the reason for the disregarding of the practice is that the issue is not about the words that are being said but the heart. You see, you don’t change the heart by changing the mouth; you change the heart to change the mouth.
This is not a Soldier issue, it is a Christian issue. It is an issue of whether or not you are going to exhibit a Christian example to the world. It is an issue of whether or not; you are going to choose between right and wrong. It is an issue of discipline.
One can not expect a none-Christian to habitually do Christian things. Language represents what is in the heart.
The biggest problem with the language, when used by a Christian is that it is
2. Out of Place
4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, (Eph 5:4a, ESV).
Filthy, foolish, and crude talk is simply out of place for a Christian. It doesn’t fit.
Occasionally, I will hear of Chaplain’s that used filthy talk in a sermon or in a conversation. It will be received with mixed results. But, the point is, that it catches the ear of those around, because it is so out of place. Cursing and vulgarity is simply out of place.
Greenville SC has a teenager problem. Some of you may also have a teenager problem at home. But, Greenville has a beautiful downtown area that is full of life on the weekends. So the problem is when it is over run with teenagers on Friday nights.
So the city recently took action. They made it a place where teenagers are out of place. First of all, the city put up curfew type sign—basically saying “go away.”
But, the stroke of genius was to only play “music not popular with young people.”
(Teen problem “solved,” police chief says, http://www.greenvilleonline.com)
To disperse the younger crowd, the leadership in the community decided to play music that was out of place for the teenagers.
The same is true for the Christian in public. The easiest way to undermine your leadership and your credibility is to use profanity—because is confuses the people around you. You can not be taken seriously, if you discuss your faith one day, and a found to be rattling off the latest filthy joke the next. It simply doesn’t fit.
Listen to words of James 3--
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. (Jas 3:7-10, ESV).
It is clear that there can not be the two—cursing and blessing leaving the same mouth. We, as Christians, need to tame our tongue. No human being can do it—this is from God. But, as Christians, we are new creatures. The old has been passed away. This is one area that should become new.
So, if these things ought not to be so, what should there be.
The Bible says,
3. But instead let there be Thanksgiving
Peterson’s translation of the Bible, “The Message” writes the passages this way;
Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style.
Thanksgiving is our dialect.
(Peterson, E. H. (2002). The Message : The Bible in contemporary language (Eph 5:4). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.)
As Christian, because we understand what it means to be saved from the pit of hell—because we understand what it means to have a personal relationship from God—because we understand what it means to be forgiven—we should be the first to understand that we have a life of thanksgiving to lead.
But beyond that, we know that God is the giver of t life. We should be thankful that we are able to experience the very basic element of being alive.
We should make thanksgiving a part of who we are. We have the life that God has given us. It is the dialect that we should speak.
Have you ever been thankful just to be alive? Brad Bishop is an assistant football coach at Perth Amboy High School, his alma mater. Last year, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor
Months before having surgery, the hearing in his left ear began to diminish. The cause was diagnosed as impacted wisdom teeth. Following oral surgery, however, a serious infection developed. This turned out to be a blessing.
A “CT” scan confirmed an infection in the lymph node, but more importantly revealed a mass on his brain.
Before the nine hour surgery, Bishop knew that he could come out of surgery a lot worse than he came in. Or not come out at all.
"When I woke up, I have to say that was one of the worst nights ever. I was in pain, but they had to keep me responsive so they couldn’t give me any heavy drugs. They had to make sure I was breathing properly and everything. Still, I was saying out loud, "Thank God I’m alive.’ I prayed, and prayed and prayed and prayed."
(A year after surgery, Bishop is back, Paul Franklin, August 5, 2008, http://www.mycentraljersey.com )
We need to learn to be thankful to simply be alive, to take everyday as a blessing to live each day in thankfulness before God.
And being thankful, we need to be the one to be living our lives giving thanks—speaking in terms of gratefulness, rather than filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking.
So what is the bottom line, how does your coarse talk affect your prayer life?
In his book, “When God Answers Prayer”, Bob Russell makes this statement;
Federal Aviation inspectors say that when they listen to the final words of airline pilots just before a crash, they frequently hear profanity. The very last words recorded on tape and preserved in the black box often are not prayers but curses. (When God Answers Prayer. Bob Russell. p 113. Howard Publishing Company, INC. Louisiana. 2003)
The bottom line is who do you want to become. Do you want to be a man or woman of filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking? Or, do you want to be a man or woman known for your thanksgiving?
Bob Russell continues this thought for a couple other pages but ends his discussion with this thought;
When you are going to God daily for strength and wisdom, you will more naturally turn to him when tragedy strikes. (When God Answers Prayer. Bob Russell. p 115. Howard Publishing Company, INC. Louisiana. 2003)
And the same applies with thanksgiving. If you are habitually going to live you life with vulgarity, then when it counts, when there is a time of tragedy, then you will return to the same practiced and engrained behavior, to lead with profanity and, therefore, hypocrisy.
The relationship to your prayer life is clear, if you are not living your life in gratefulness and in thanksgiving, how you going to ever demonstrate this in your prayer life? You can’t. Because the two are incongruent—they don’t match, they are out of place.
If you want to grow in your prayer life, you must change the words that you habitually use toward others. If you want to demonstrated thankfulness in your prayer life, you must demonstrate it in the other areas of your life as well. You need to live a life of thankfulness, not just a verbal one on Sunday morning.
This morning, I want to ask you a question that only you can answer.
Is your language full of thankfulness?
If not why?
It could be that you are living your life in rebellion against God. You say to yourself, I have to say this, so I will be accepted, so I will look the part of a warrior, and you choose to continue with the foul mouth bravado that is confusing to those around you.
It could also be that you honestly are not thankful. You feel that you have nothing to be thankful about.
But, this morning you can find hope, healing, and blessing through Jesus Christ.
You can begin a relationship with him this morning and accept the payment that Christ paid through his death on a cross.
All of us are sinners. We have done things, said things, and thought things that make God unhappy and the Bible says that those things lead to the punishment of death and hell. Christ paid this penalty for you through his death on that cross.
He offers it as a free gift to you this morning. You can accept it right were you sit and you could come discussed it with me after the service.
But, through his death we have something precious to be thankful for, a he bridged the gap between a holy God and sinful man.
