Title: The Christian Life
Contents
♡♥♡ Christian life of language / Ephesians 5:1-7
***Introduction
Everyone, have you ever been frustrated because of ‘words’? Perhaps there is no one who is not without mistakes in speech. James 3:2 says, “For all of us make many mistakes, and anyone who does not make a mistake in what he says is a perfect man. I am able to bridle even my whole body.” He said, ‘If there are no mistakes in the words, then you are a perfect person.’
There are some words that you hear quickly and forget when you turn around, while others that you hear once and never erase. Not only that, but words come out of the mouth of one person, but go into the ears of a thousand, and eventually come back to you like a boomerang. A single word can pay off a thousand nyang debt, but it can also leave an indelible wound. It is said in the Simusimbogam, “A single flickering fire can burn a wide and wide forest, and half a word of wrong words destroys the virtues built up throughout one’s life.”
One day, the painter Leonard da Vinci was painting a very important picture. However, several young children who came to the studio were running around and ended up knocking over his paint bucket. Angry, Da Vinci shouted at the children, ‘Get out now.’ The children were so startled that they cried and ran out of the studio.
But Da Vinci picked up the brush again and tried to paint, but the picture was not drawn. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't lift the brush. After thinking about the cause, I realized the problem after a while. Da Vinci brought back the children who had run away crying. And he politely apologized to the children for his excessive words. The children's faces brightened, and da Vinci himself was said to be able to paint again.
In this way, not only do words have the same effect on themselves and their neighbors, but they are powerful. So, God is teaching a lot about words. Proverbs 14:3 says, “A fool is proud and asks for the rod with his mouth, but a wise man protects himself with his lips.” As you do, you receive.”
Going one step further, each word is very important because it is the object of God's judgment. Let's look at Matthew 12:36,37. Jesus said, “I tell you, whatever meaningless a man says, he will be judged for it on the day of judgment; by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned,” said Jesus.
The text teaches the proper way of life for believers while preparing for the lives of believers and unbelievers. Among them, the subject that we are going to examine in this time is ‘Christian language life’. We live by saying so many words that we will not be able to remember them all in a day unless we are dumb. Therefore, we must pay attention to the words that are the object of God's judgment.
1. There are words that must be thrown away.
Let's look at James 3:8-10. “No man can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With this we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the image of God; with one mouth come praise and curse. My brethren, this is not the case.”
Just as bitter water and sweet water cannot come out of one spring, so it is not worthy for praise and curse to come out of one mouth. Even though it's so obvious, it doesn't make me decide not to do it willingly. Because it's easy to say that it doesn't cost that much money. Even children learn bad or swear words faster than good ones. I'm not good at teaching words, but I'm good at cursing that I haven't taught. So, there are words that we must throw away from our Christian life.
Verse 3 says, “Fornication, and any uncleanness, or greediness, shall not even be called by name among you.” Let no unclean word come out of your mouth.”
Here, 'shabby', 'foolish words' and 'words of harassment' all refer to 'obscene rumors' and 'vulgar jokes'. ‘Fornication’ has an ethical and moral meaning, but it is also closely related to ‘idol worship’. ‘Dirty’ refers to ‘physical or moral uncleanness’, and ‘greed’ refers to ‘excessive greed’. These things are not called names.
Because words represent our thoughts, and God has promised to put into practice the words that come out of our lips. Let's look at Numbers 14:28. “Say to them, By my life, saith the LORD, I swear. As you have heard in my ears, I will do to you.” In our old saying, “Words become seeds.” Words have the power to attract people. When you say something over and over, it makes you feel like it is. Therefore, words that cause loss to the life of the saints must be thrown away.
When the Jews cried out for Jesus to be crucified, they shouted, 'Give the blood to us and to our children.' Have you not seen how terrifying the consequences of those words were? They were subjected to forced labor and execution by the Romans, and 6 million people were killed by forced labor and poison gas by the Nazis in Germany.
These days, 'talk shows' are popular in the media. It's just a silly joke. The performers are good at speaking. It is said that 'Comedy Water' is also on the rise in popularity in the film sector. Comedy is also a joke. Because the world is stuffy and pretense is rampant, people like to laugh and talk without any deep meaning.
But we can't waste our precious lives like that. Did you not see the short words left before death during the Twin Towers terrorist attack in the United States last year, or those short words of those who were about to die during the Daegu subway disaster yesterday? They had no time for jokes or useless remarks. "Sorry!" “I love you”, “Thank you so much”, etc. Isn't it full of beautiful words? Let's get rid of negative words too. Let's get rid of accusing, cursing, and cursing words. Let's get rid of meaningless chatter and jokes. And as in verse 6, let's be careful so that people do not deceive us with empty words.
2. I have something to say.
There are many things that a person ought to say. Among them, ‘thank you’ was selected in the main text. ‘Gratitude’ is the fundamental heart of man toward God. No service can ever be done without gratitude for what God has done for us. Serving without gratitude is just a 'pretense'. That is why Psalm 50 says, “He who worships with thanksgiving glorifies God.”
There was a grandfather who had good faith. He always said, “Thank you. Thank you.” So he got the nickname ‘Grateful Grandpa’.
One day, Gratitude Grandpa came home from a pound of meat from a butcher shop and tripped over a stone. A passing dog bit the meat out of the bag and ran away. Grandpa just sat up and watched the shape. The dog is gone.
Then the grandfather said, "Thank you." was to do. Just then, a young man passed by and saw his grandfather and said, “What is that thank you for?” That's when my grandfather said, "Oh man, I lost my meat, but my taste is still there," isn't it?
For Christians, gratitude is not based on conditions. It is to be thankful as I think of the grace that God has saved me, gives me eternal life, guides my life, and allows me to reach the kingdom of God.
How many times do you pray or say “thank you” in a day? The more you give thanks, the more things to be grateful for. Now, let's make our lives beautiful by distinguishing between what we should throw away and what we should say. Through this, I pray that God will be given greater glory, and a life of joy, gratitude, and satisfaction will be achieved for us.