Walking That Wise Walk…talking That Salty Talk

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