{"id":567,"date":"2016-05-01T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=567"},"modified":"2016-04-30T23:37:03","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T04:37:03","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-measured-words-and-the-saint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2016\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-measured-words-and-the-saint\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about measured words and the saint?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWalk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.\u201d Colossians\u00a04:5\u20136<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The speech of a Christian is one of the telltale signs that his heart has been redeemed. Just as the eyes are the window to the health of the body, the tongue is a window to the health of the soul. The first evidence that the soul has been converted is the words that flow from the forgiven sinner. As he grows, his words explain the meaning of his redeemed life\u2019s good works. Along his new life\u2019s path, God has sown wisdom that he might glean as he perseveres in his pilgrimage. Each morsel of wisdom provides more than enough to satisfy his soul and there is provision to share with his fellow travelers. These are the wise words every saint is called to glean and to share.<\/p>\n

Proverbs\u00a022:11 gives us this intriguing thought, \u201cHe who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.\u201d Certainly, Solomon was expressing the fact that he treasured counselors who were honest and were true in their words. But on a grander scale it is unavoidable to see that the King of the Heavens treasures these qualities among His saints. No wonder Solomon\u2019s next verse reads, \u201cThe eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, but He overthrows the words of the faithless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with words is that even the best of men are men at best, as Spurgeon used to say. We can fail with one ill-timed, easily turned, poorly conceived word. Our Lord warns us in Matthew\u00a012:35ff, \u201cI say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.\u201d James puts it this way, in 1:26, \u201cIf anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one\u2019s religion is useless.\u201d Words mean things, not just in the dictionary sense, but the eternal sense.<\/p>\n

The Lord Jesus Himself lived by these words. 1\u00a0Peter\u00a02:22 reveals this about Him, \u201cwho committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.\u201d Isaiah had predicted that the Messiah would be characterized by wise words in 53:7. All of our Lord\u2019s words were true to reality and precise, without the slightest exaggeration or understatement. They were dead-on accurate truth. Sometimes the thought creeps in to our consciousness that a speaker is not being completely honest with his recounting of an event. It may be for no other reason than that people are often given to exaggeration and making themselves look good either at the moment of the tale or at the moment of the retelling. Such was never the case of our Lord.<\/p>\n

Since believers are in the \u201cbusiness\u201d of being witnesses to the truth found only in Christ, we must be doubly careful that in all our speech we are believably accurate or we belie the impeccable Gospel. The reason for God\u2019s choice of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses in Revelation\u00a014:5 is stated to be \u201cIn their mouth was found no deceit\u2026\u201d God prizes witnesses who are faithful in all their words so they may be fitting witnesses of the truth in Christ. The community of the saints in every church is to be an assembly of redeemed hearts and wise speech. Romans 15:6 reads, \u201cThat you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d Harmony in doctrine leads to harmony in spirit and harmony in speech, and then harmony becomes the testimony of that local church.<\/p>\n

Proverbs\u00a010:11 tells us that \u201cthe mouth of the righteous is a well of life.\u201d Psalm\u00a037:30f says, \u201cThe mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.\u201d Psalm\u00a0145:10f identifies the general gist of believer\u2019s words, \u201cAll Your works shall praise You, O LORD, and Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the majesty of Your kingship and talk of Your power.\u201d Such topics are the substance of church worship as Ephesians 5:19f says: \u201cSpeaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things\u2026\u201d Similarly, Malachi 3:16f reflects, \u201cThen those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name. \u2018They shall be Mine,\u2019 says the LORD of hosts, \u2018on the day that I make them My jewels. And I shall spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Let us study to employ our lives and our words just as our Lord was prophesied to do in Isaiah\u00a050:4: \u201cThe Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary\u2026\u201d because \u201cThe words of the wise are like goads, and words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd\u201d (Ecclesiastes\u00a012:11). Titus\u00a02:7f admonishes, \u201cIn all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.\u201d Learn to measure your words for the sake of Christ. Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWalk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.\u201d Colossians\u00a04:5\u20136 The speech of a Christian is one of the telltale signs that his heart has been redeemed. Just as the eyes are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}