I Rest in Christ, Part 5: Idle Words

If we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, then our “old man is gone, and the new man has come” (2Corinthians 5:17).  We have accepted the identity of Jesus as our identity.  The Holy Spirit dwells within us.  This is accepted almost universally by believers as being true.  Certainly, all believers would define murder as ungodly and sinful.  Most believers would say the same about abortion.  Believers don’t do these things and generally pat themselves on their back and call themselves God-fearing.  Yet there is one area of the old-man which Jesus strongly rebukes that nearly every believer fails in.

This is the area of “idle” (NKJV) or “careless” (NIV) words.  Webster’s Dictionary defines idle as lacking worth or basis and so idle words are words that don’t benefit anyone.  Almost anyone would recognize gossip and grumbling or griping as being idle words.  They don’t edify people and in the case of gossip actively denigrate people.  Yet anyone who has spent any time around the office water cooler or coffee pot would understand that this is an area frequently abused in our modern society.  Most of us believers have heard that a person who thinks evil is as guilty of it as one who actually does evil, so a person who actually considers murder is as guilty as one who has done it.  But Jesus goes even further.  In Matthew 12:35-37 he says,

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.  But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.

And James addresses the same issue in chapter 3, verses 9-10 when he says.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

And Paul writing to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 5:3-4) when he says,

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

So apparently our Lord God considers what we say to be just as important as what we do.  I think we all can recognize that gossip, slander, and grumbling are bad.  But many of us would also say, “That’s just the way human beings are.  We are all guilty of that sometimes; can’t we just repent of it and move on?”  Well yes,  if we repent of any sin we are forgiven, but I want to look at the bigger picture here.  Many studies have shown there to be extraordinarily little difference between worldly people and believing people in many areas.  Divorce rates are about the same for instance.  What does that say about our devotion to God?  And this is not a new problem.  Consider these words from the book of Isaiah (58:1-5) written some 700 years before Christ,

Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.  ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

The point here is there must be consistency in our lives.  It is not consistent to praise God and also condemn men.  It is not consistent to name the Name and engage in gossip or slander.  If the Son of God came to this planet to offer salvation to each of us and nothing else, then we could die just after being saved and get on with eternity.  No, he came so everyone could be saved.  That means His Kingdom has to be advanced through the sharing of the Gospel by us to others.  So our lives have to reflect Jesus in what we do (the way we live), in what we proclaim (speaking and teaching about the Gospel), and in our ordinary conversation.  Otherwise the Gospel could often be rejected because our inconsistency could be seen as hypocrisy.   Here is an example:  I was having coffee today with a pastor friend and we were having a good time, yakking it up as we usually do when out of the blue I mentioned that his mind and my mind were a couple of muddled messes.  He laughed, I laughed, no feelings were hurt, but there was no edification either.  In only slightly different circumstances he could have been really hurt by that remark.  Would that have reflected Jesus’ light?  No.

Here is something else to consider.  Our society is obsessed with individual rights and fairness and not at all interested in following God’s standards of holiness.  It used to be that tolerant meant that one could disagree with another’s actions, but to allow the existence of that behavior.  Now, in cultural terms at least, tolerant means to accept all behavior as equally as one’s own.  How can society, or even believers, be tolerant of abortion, the sex industry, and unacceptable sexual behavior, all of which are in violation of God’s Word?  Our actions and speech are judged by a fixed standard of righteousness as revealed by the Word of God, so we are accountable as believers for every word we speak.

The things we say ultimately reveal what we are really like on the inside.  We can cover up who we are inside by carefully controlling our actions, but in unguarded moments our words expose the true state of our heart.  So let’s truly work on the condition of our heart by actually loving as Jesus loved.  Paul says in Ephesians 4:29-32

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.