Chan Willis – C.P.C.

                                                                                                                                                                June 20, 2010

“Response-ability:  Pep Talk”

Luke 16:10a; Ephesians 4:29-32

            This week we continue to give thought to our ‘response-ability’ as Christians.  Various ways that our Heavenly Father has given us to ‘respond’ to the greatest gift ever given… Love made flesh in the person of in Jesus Christ.  The core Bible verse we are focusing on, which reminds us of the importance of responding to God’s love… rather than simply reposing with it… is Luke 16:10:  “Whoever can be trusted with very little can be trusted with much.”  Would you repeat that with me? 

In our consideration of what it means to show we can be trusted with what God expects of us, we first looked at how we take care of God’s created world.  With the ‘tide’ of crude oil escalating its attack on our coastlines every day, this subject of being good stewards of ‘heaven and earth’ is one that weighs most heavily on our minds and hearts.

            Last week we considered the responsibility of using the gifts and talents that God gives us.  You may recall we focused on the well-know parable of the talents, and of the servant who buried the one he was given out of fear of his master.  Interesting, isn’t it, that because of his anxiety of not making good use of what he was given, he decided not to use it at all!  And for this servant’s neglect of his master’s gifts to him, what he had was taken away.  For me, this IR-responsibility was a result of the servant not truly knowing his master’s heart.  A relationship built more on fear than in doing what was in the master’s best interest.  This is a reminder that to be a follower of our Lord and “Master”, Jesus Christ, it requires more than a fear of what will happen to us… but rather, a desire to know God’s heart and His will for our lives.

            Let me add here that this week I had the pleasure and privilege to watch one of our own C.P.C. young people respond to a gift given to her to be a better follower of Jesus Christ.  Yu Min Jeon, daughter of Shil and Jae Eun Jeon, was given the opportunity to attend “Triennium,” a national Presbyterian youth conference only held once every three years, drawing thousands of young people from around the country.  Yu Min, and some 8-10 other youth from our Presbytery, were commissioned at Tuesday’s Presbytery mtg.  It was a proud moment for me, and I know for this church… not to mention, her parents.  For Yu Min is certainly one young lady who has a number of ‘talents,’ and is using them… not ‘burying’ them.  I believe that she is striving in her life to better know her Master’s heart, and to serve Him with all of hers.

            Today we move in a little different direction with regards to our ‘response-ability.’  You may not really believe that you can have much of an impact on God’s creation of heaven and earth.  (Even though in your own way, you really CAN!)  You may not think you have many ‘talents’ with which to serve God.  (Even though each one of you has many gifts from God to use for Him!)  But there should be little doubt that each and every one of us can greatly affect another person by the way in which we SPEAK to them! Our words can readily build someone up… and just as quickly tear them down.  The French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre said that “words are loaded pistols”… and many people are far too quick to ‘shoot their mouth off’! 

            Proverbs 12:18 reminds us that “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”  It could have been these ‘wise words’ that Paul was reading just before he wrote his letter to the church at Ephesus, and the passage we heard earlier:  “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful in building others up…”   We know the expression, “Talk is cheap”… but it can also be very ‘costly.’  Costly in terms of the damage that can be done to our relationships, one with another.

Friday I was listening to the TV and heard a minister refer to a marriage counselor who said that he could listen to a couple for 15 minutes and determine if their marriage would last or not.  There were four aspects of watching their interaction that were clear indications of whether or not theirs was a healthy relationship.  If all the wife could do would be to criticize her husband… if the man continually responded to her comments with rolling eyes and facial expressions of contempt… if the husband was always on the defensive… if the woman chose to remain painfully silent… these were all indications of an unhealthy relationship.    How we speak to others says much more about our character than it does about the other person.  In the words of one German philosopher (Johann W. von Goethe), “If you want to know the mind of man, listen to his words.”

            No matter what the relationship is, though… husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child, friend-to-friend… we must always be sensitive to the impact of what we are saying.  How many times do we realize the negative effect of something we’ve said, and say to the injured party (or, at least, to ourselves), “I just wasn’t thinking.”  Shakespeare had a line for this error of omission:  “Words without thoughts never go to heaven.”

            That great crafter of words reminds us of the Divine nature of ‘thought-ful’ human language.  Words are power.  But we must always remember where REAL power comes from.  German theologian Meister Eckhart wrote that “Words derive their power from the original word.”   The ‘original word’… perhaps what the opening lines of John’s Gospel speaks of: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Now, this “Word”, or “logos”, refers to Jesus Christ.  But there is no coincidence that the most powerful man to ever walk the face of the earth, our Lord Jesus, is associated with words.  In the creation of our planet by Almighty God, God spoke, and they were created.  Words are power, because they come to us from the source of all power in the universe.  As this ability to speak…which of course sets us apart from the rest of God’s creation… was given to us by God… in whose image we were made… we must be good stewards of that gift.  Just as we are to ‘make wise choices’ in the care of our planet… and of our personal talents… so too must we be ‘wise’ in using our words.  “To not let any unwholesome talk to come out of our mouth, but only what is useful in building others up.” 

            In speaking of ‘building others up,’ as we all know, today is Father’s Day.  So, I will take the personal privilege of addressing the “fathers” in the congregation… and maybe some grand-fathers as well.   Just a chapter later in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (6:4)  My brothers, there is NO greater responsibility that you have on this earth than to bring up your children “in the training and instruction of the Lord.” 

To ‘train’ and ‘instruct’ those children does not simply mean to bring them to Cross Country or Rock On.  As an old saying goes (and this one I do NOT have an author of!) children learn much more from what is ‘caught’ than ‘taught.’  Your kids probably don’t expect you to be able to quote ‘chapter and verse’ from the Bible (believe me, mine sure aren’t very impressed)… what they WILL know, however, is if you are ‘walking the walk’ and ‘talking the talk.’  They look to see if you demonstrate the type of Christian faith that you want them to have.

            That is one of the reasons that the leadership of this church went with a change in the Sunday morning schedule.  So that your young people could SEE that worship is important to you.  So that they could HEAR you pray, and affirm your faith, and sing praises to that big God ‘who loves us no matter what.’  So that when they see you go to your Sunday School class, they KNOW that studying the Bible is just as important for you as it is for them.

            But as important as it is for our children to have a good example at church, where the ‘rubber meets the road’ is ON the road.  When you’re driving with them in the car.  When you’re with them at home.  When you are at the ball field watching their game.  It’s probably pretty easy to watch what you say at church.  It may be a little different when you leave this place.  But God, and your children, are still watching… still listening.  And you must be careful to use language that will lift up, not put down; words that will elevate… not exasperate.

            With it being Father’s Day and all, I think a sports analogy might be in order. J  Some of you may be familiar with an umpire whose incorrect call robbed a pitcher of a “perfect game” – no hits, no walks, no baserunners.   To put the significance of such an accomplishment in perspective, in the 100+ years of major league baseball, there have only been 20 ‘perfect games’ pitched.  This would have been number 21.

            The replays clearly showed that umpire Jim Joyce had missed the call… the runner at 1^st base should have been called out.  After the game, Mr. Joyce openly admitted his error, and publicly apologized for having cost young pitcher Armando Galaragga a place in baseball history.  In his time with the press, Galaragga showed similar humility, remarking on the umpire being human, and that things like that just ‘happen.’  As syndicated columnist Thomas Sowell noted, they both exhibited “grace” in how they handled the situation… and, in his words,

“How long has it been since anyone has done anything (in sport, and otherwise) that called for the word ‘grace’?” 

            In their ‘grace-full’ behavior, these two men lived up to the standards set out by Paul in Ephesians.  They let no ‘unwholesome talk’ come out of their mouths, but ‘only what was helpful in building others up.’  In what could have been a very painful situation, these two ‘gentle-men’ made ‘wise choices’ of their words.

            Finally, the Psalm-writer David was certainly no stranger to the pains he caused himself, and others, by not making ‘wise choices’… of words, and actions.  And so, in closing, I would leave you with words of his that are often used to open the study of a Bible passage.  In Psalm 19:24, David’s petition to God is that “…the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing in your sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.”  Jesus IS our ‘Rock.’…let us stand firm on Him.  Jesus DOES ‘redeem’ our lives from the pit… even the ‘pit’ of our own tongues.  As long as “the words of our mouths” are pleasing to Him, we will surely “build others up.”  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN!

CHARGE

On this day in which I have made great use of the ‘wise words’ of others, I would leave you with two more quotes.  First, from Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher and scientist:  “Kind words don’t cost much, yet they accomplish much.”   And finally, from Mother Theresa:  “Words that do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”   May we all bear in mind the great value of kind words.  And, the responsibility we ALL have to bear the “light of Christ” to those who dwell in darkness.  As you go out from this place to be Jesus’ ‘light-bearers’, know that you do not go alone.  That the Spirit of the Living God is above you to watch over you, behind you to support  you, beside you to be your friend, before  you to show you the way, and dwells deep within you, to give you peace.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, all God’s people said… Amen!