Words Can Save - Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. When you think of the tree of life, where do you see that in Scripture?

Genesis, Eden, a tree of life, as good as it gets. He said a soothing tongue is a tree of life. Somebody who can say the right words to you in the right circumstances to you is a tree of life to you. Boy, when you find yourself in total disarray and somebody can give you peace, somebody can give you comfort, somebody can give you hope on the basis of what they say. He said that's a tree of life. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Naval Officer G.R. Tweed had been hiding on the island of Guam for nearly three years.

Ever since the Japanese took the island in 1941, survival for G.R. Tweed was nearly impossible. But when he waited against the idea of internment in a POW camp, he continued to hide. Late in the day on July the 10th, 1944, Tweed spotted an American ship on the horizon. And so he scurried up a hill and he positioned himself on the cliff. And then he reached into his backpack and he pulled out a small mirror. And he began to try to signal the ship. Three shorts, three longs, three shorts. He tried over and over, dot, dot, dot, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot, dot.

SOS. Finally, after several attempts, the signal caught the eye of a sailor on the USS McCall. A rescue party when a motorized dinghy slipped into the cove and Tweed was rescued. When interviewed, he said he was very thankful for three things. One, he said, I was thankful that I had a mirror. Two, he said, I was thankful that I knew how to use the mirror. And three, and surprisingly, he said, and I'm really glad and thankful that the mirror cooperated.

What if it hadn't? What if the mirror decided, no, I'm not going to cooperate. I'm not coming out of the backpack.

He never needed me up till now. I'm not doing it. Or say the mirror was real insecure. You know, if I get out of the backpack, I'm going to have to do something.

I might not be able to do it. It might not work and then I'm going to get blamed for this. Or maybe the mirror just had self-pity. You see, it's a good thing that G.R. Tweed's mirror didn't have a mind of its own. But unfortunately, God's mirrors do. You see, you and I are God's mirrors.

And sometimes we cooperate, but often we don't. Open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Now I want to establish the premise that we are the mirrors of God in a verse that may not look that way at first. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18. We are in a series, in fact, the final message in a series, the weight of our words. We started out in the book of James and James says, look, we have to be very careful to control our tongue.

He gave us six reasons why we had to be careful. One is we will be judged on the basis of what we say. Jesus himself said you will be judged for every careless word you speak.

That's a sobering thought. Also that our words and our speech reveal our spiritual maturity and we'll see more of that today. He said that our tongue wants to control us. And not only that, our tongue wants to corrupt us. And he said it's impossible for us on our own to control our tongue.

It's untamable. And he said our tongue has a tremendous capacity for hypocrisy and for compromise. And so we then set out on things we shouldn't be doing. We needed to stop lying, stop gossiping, stop bragging, and last time stop complaining.

But this time I want to deal with something else. I want to deal with how wonderful your words can be, how powerful your speech is, how important it is that you speak to reflect the glory of the Lord that you serve. Now in verse 18, the apostle Paul right into the church of Corinth says something. He says, but we all with unveiled face, he's referring earlier to Moses. He said, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the Spirit. And so that NASB or the numeric and standard translation sort of gives you the idea of contemplation, that we're looking into the mirror. That's why beholding as in a mirror. When I've read that in the past, I've often wondered now we're looking at the Lord in the mirror, but when I look in the mirror, who do I see?

I see me. So I was never really super comfortable with that particular way of looking at it. But there's another way to translate and often is. The Jerusalem Bible says reflecting like mirrors and the NIV says that we all reflect the Lord's glory. This implies, in a sense, a much different way of doing it.

It all comes down, by the way, that simply that one compound word when we say beholding as in a mirror, it's the word kada patrizo and kada patrizo means literally to reflect as a mirror. And in this case, and now this gets the exciting part for you. This is in the middle voice.

Okay, and you loved English grammar, you love Greek grammar. It's in the middle voice. And the middle voice means you're the one that does the reflecting. And so literally, if you were going to translate that verse literally, it would be to reflect as a mirror. And if you read it that way, but we all with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord.

You see our being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. And so I think that's exactly what Paul is saying that we all reflect as a mirror each and every one of us. And we all are doing it to different degrees of reflection.

Some of us are very mature. Some of us reflect a lot of the Lord. Some of us reflect very little of the Lord. Some of us don't want to reflect the Lord at all.

But he said that's what we are. We are the mirrors of God and we are to reflect his glory. In what ways would we do that? Well, one would clearly be that we would reflect this glory in our behavior. So he's our role model and the way that he would have acted is the way we should act.

What would Jesus do as a matter of fact? Then there's another way we could do it in our attitudes. Do we have the same attitudes that Jesus had?

But what I want to talk about is a third way in which we can do it. And that is do we reflect Jesus? Do we reflect our Lord with the way we speak? Do we reflect the Lord in the way in which we talk?

You see our tongue doesn't send out SOS appeals. But according to the Apostle Peter in his epistle, we are to give an account, that's with our tongue, with our speech and with our words for the hope that's in our heart. We are to give an account. We are to use our speech to reflect our heart.

It's extremely important for us to understand this. Go with me now to Proverbs chapter 15. Now I want you to see the power of your tongue, of your speech, of your words. Proverbs chapter 15. Just the first four verses. The first verse is a principle, by the way, one that you probably are lousy at. It says this, Solomon writes, A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Which part of that verse are you? Somebody gives you the business. Somebody gets after you. Somebody insults you. Somebody judges you. Somebody criticizes you. Someone condemns you. How do you respond?

Notice what he says. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Boy, if you could just incorporate this verse in a marriage, how much better would your marriage be? You see, because what happens in the context of close relationships, whenever somebody gives us something that's hurtful to us, what do we do?

What's our default? What is it we cry out immediately? We give harsh words and we want to hurt back. Then Solomon says this, The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly. In other words, almost everything you speak comes out in two categories, according to Solomon. You either speak wisdom or you speak folly, one or the other. You're either wise or you're a fool, according to Solomon.

He says the eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good. And then here's the principle. A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit. Wow. There it is.

The parallelism here is these are opposites. Very typical of Hebrew poetry. A soothing tongue is a tree of life. When you think of the tree of life, where do you see that in Scripture?

Genesis, Eden, a tree of life. As good as it gets, he said a soothing tongue is a tree of life. Somebody who can say the right words to you in the right circumstances to you is a tree of life to you. Boy, when you find yourself in total disarray and somebody can give you peace, somebody can give you comfort, somebody can give you hope on the basis of what they say.

He said that's a tree of life. On the other hand, he says, perversion in it crushes the spirit. Words hurt. You can have your spirit crushed.

There have been people that have had crushed spirits for almost their whole life because of the way their parents spoke to them when they were small. Now, I want to move to Proverbs 25. Proverbs 25 verses 11 and 12. Here he sort of gives you the idea of how precious the words are that we speak. He said, like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in the right circumstances. Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear. He's using jewelry. Now, a lot of them in their world didn't have much. So, he said this would be just like having, he said, an apple of gold in settings of silver.

It's got a lot of bling. In other words, he said that's the way it is in a word spoken in the right circumstances. See, there's two things about your tongue or your speech or your language. One is what you say and two is when you say it. Timing is almost everything when it comes to speaking to someone, especially someone who is having a difficult time.

The circumstances are important. And he says that's how precious it is to be able to speak the right words. I want to illustrate that by now at the end of the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 31. And Proverbs 31 is about the excellent wife.

This is the best a woman can be. In fact, by the way, you never see this about a husband. I don't know why it's not in the scripture, but you never see it once. Here's an excellent husband, what he looks like.

I'm not sure there are any that might be the important issue. Notice what he says in verse 10. An excellent wife who can find for her worth is far above jewels. You know how rare it is to find an excellent wife. He says the heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. And this is an amazing woman starting in verse 13 and starts talking about what she does.

And it's astounding. She sacrifices everything for her family. She takes care of her kids. She has a business on the side. Everything about this woman is sacrificial and wonderful. But I want to look at just verse 26 when he describes the excellent wife. He says she opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

Wow. How does she speak? He said she's wise. But how does she convey her wisdom? He says she's kind.

See, what a wonderful role model for all of us. How precious these words are. The words in which you and I speak. The reflection, the reflection that we have of the Lord through us and the way in which we speak.

Not only is for the Lord's glory and not only is for our good, but it's for the good and benefit of so many other people. Let me ask you something. What does your tongue reflect? Day in and day out.

Just take yesterday. What does your tongue reflect? Your conversations that you've had. You see, the book of Proverbs says that, for example, if you speak with angry words, Solomon says you stir up strife. We know from last time when they sent the spies in that if you speak fearful words, you'll stir up fear.

That's what the 10 spies did. They spent 40 years not going in because of those words. You see, if you speak negative words, you're very pessimistic. Then you put fear and negativism in the people around you. The power of your words is immense for each and every one of us. But the point is this. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you have a personal relationship with him, then the way you speak should always reflect him.

Always. It should be a reflection of him. And it should not be a continuation of the way you used to speak before you came to Christ. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5. And I'm going to start in verse 14.

Paul's going to put this together in an interesting way. He says, for the love of Christ controls us. Now, he could have added the love of Christ should control us. And if the love of Christ is controlling us, it controls our behaviors, it controls our attitudes, and in this case, it also controls our speech.

It controls the way you and I speak. The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all so that they who might live no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. He says, that's what we do. Once I am a born-again Christian, once I put my trust and faith in Christ and his finished work, my job description, if you were going to make it as short as possible, is to reflect his glory.

And so is yours. Your job is to simply reflect the glory of Christ. So then he says in verse 17, therefore, if anyone he said is in Christ, he's a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. You see, I can't go back to the default and say, but you have to understand that's just always the way I've been. I mean, I've always been pessimistic. I've always been negative. I've always been vulgar. You know, I've always been cynical. I've always been sarcastic. That's just the way I was.

Fine. But the Word of God said it's time to stop. You see, you're a new creature in Christ.

You're to reflect someone else. So notice what he says in the next verse. He says, now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. You see, how do I get into this relationship with God?

How can I now reflect my Lord in my speech, my behavior, my attitudes? He says, you've been reconciled. You've been reconciled to God. God did it in Christ. That's how a sinful creature and a holy God come together, the reconciling work of Jesus Christ. He says, but that's not only what happened to us.

He says he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That means you and I are to be part of reconciling people to God. If you think about that for a moment, that's the most important thing we do. I've said this over all the years, but you do realize that every single thing that you experience as a Christian, you will do much, much better in heaven, everything. I mean, worship in heaven will beat this. I mean, you see, everything in heaven, fellowship in heaven beats this. Everything in heaven beats this. But you know what you can't do in heaven? You can't reconcile lost people to God.

You just can't. That's why he calls it the Great Commission. He said that's why you have to reflect in your behaviors and in your attitudes, in your words, my glory. He said that's our ministry.

He repeats it then. He says in verse 19, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. You see, that's the word of reconciliation.

That's what we're committed to. Peter said we're to give an account for the hope that's in us. Jesus said, go and make disciples. You see, we are to be witnesses for Christ.

Luke writes in the Book of Acts. That's what we do. And by the way, you have to speak these words. Your behavior is important.

Your attitudes are great. All that's important. But somehow you have to speak the ministry of reconciliation. You have to talk to people about who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for them.

And then he says this. Therefore, his conclusion, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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