I
said to myself, "I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold
my tongue when the ungodly are around me." -- Psalm 39: 1 (NLT)
One little verse from Psalms with so
much good theology for us today as believers. It all starts with -- "I said to
myself." Let's be honest with ourselves, we often times need reminders about
what we are supposed to be doing as children of the most high God. We sometimes
lose our focus and start behaving with
the world, or heaven forbid, like the world. We see things that might outrage
our worldly flesh and lose sight of the fact that we are no longer of this
world. That we are in fact merely passing through"
Beloved, I beg you as
sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having
your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as
evildoers, they may, by your
good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. -- 1Peter
2: 11-12 (NKJV)
We are merely going through this
world beloved, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ before H comes back. But
sometimes it gets hard because while we are not of the world, we are in it
every day and sometimes it is easy to forget that we are supposed to be
sojourners. Sometimes as the Psalmist suggests, we need to "say to ourselves"
what sayeth the Lord.
The next declaration in this verse
is that we need to watch what we do. Our actions matter to the lost world. They
matter greatly. I have seen too many Christians who speak about Jesus but treat
people like hell. What message do our actions send to the lost? Are we salt and
light to a dying world? I have said it before but YOU might be the only chance
someone has of seeing Christ. Instead however we still act like we have a right
to be just as mean or uppity as we receive. As if reciprocation is what Jesus
taught us.
"You
have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: "An eye for
an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say, do not resist an evil person! If
someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and
your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that
you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to
borrow. -- Matthew 5: 38-42 (NLT)
Truth be told we find it very difficult to
live up to this standard in this world. I understand that but we need to at
least strive for it! At a bare minimum we need to stop living by the same eye
for an eye; reciprocal tenets the world lives by. Otherwise, of what difference
are we? Because we claim the mantle of Christ but treat people like everyone
else does?
Next in the key verse is something we do not
consider enough as Christians and that is that we can sin, merely by what we
say! I think sometimes we view sin as an action as opposed to a statement and
that can lead us to think that what we say does not matter as much. It does
matter to God what we say and how we represent Him in this world. In this age
of advanced communications and social media it is even more important. I have
seen the worst things on Facebook posted by self-avowed Christians. Off color
jokes, profanity, espousing worldly ways of thinking, and outright hate -- all
for the entire world to see. Oh, and wrapping our hate up in the name of Christ
does not make it any less hateful -- it only makes it more reprehensible. God's
ways of thinking are as far above ours as the stars are above the sky so we
should not think for a second that we know anything other than what Scripture
says. The Bible says that God is not a respecter of persons. He is not an
American. He is not a Republican. He is not a liberal. He is not defined by any
human measurement we might like to use to make us feel more superior in our
opinions. He is not on your side. The only question is if you are on His side.
This is why it is important that we hold our
tongue when the ungodly are around us -- the final point from the verse today.
There is only one thing that matters beloved and that is the eternal condition
of the souls of men. This life is but a vapor compared to eternity. If you
believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and have that relationship with Him
today then you are assured of your salvation. But there are a lot of people out
there who are not -- inside the church and out. There are a lot of people in our
families. There are a lot of our friends and co-workers. There are all those
people who walk right by us and next to us every day in this life. Tomorrow is
promised to no one. The devil is really good at getting Christians hung up on
minutia. Hung up on things that have no eternal value so we are distracted from
the one thing Christ commissioned us to do -- spread the Gospel! Are the hot-button
social issues within this culture important? Absolutely; but not as important
as spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Are politics and the upcoming
elections important? Absolutely; but not as important as spreading the Gospel
of Jesus Christ! We were not charged with saving this culture. We were not
charged with saving this world. It is like rearranging the deck chairs on the
Titanic. It still is going down. We need to try less to save this world and
more to save people from it.
But I know and understand how hard it is. This world pulls and lures. It defiles and entices. That is why the Psalmist says that we must remind ourselves what God has told us to do. We must watch our actions carefully because if they do not match up with what we profess then the world will view us as hypocrites -- which is the number one reason given why people do not join churches! Beyond actions however we need to start viewing what we say -- either verbally or electronically -- with much more care than we have in the past. Think about the awesome connectivity we have today. You might have 200 Facebook friends who combined could have 40,000 and if those 40,000 have 200 then we are up to 8 million people -- all seeing what you post. Even if only 10% actually see it, that is still 800,000 people. Even if only 1% see it -- that is 80,000 people! What are they seeing beloved? Are they seeing 50 shades of grey jokes or are they seeing Scripture? Are they seeing Farmville or Jesus? Are they seeing the hate of the world or the love of Christ? It seems that sometimes Christians would prefer to send political emails to the four corners of the earth before they spread the Gospel! I am not saying you cannot have fun. I am just saying what Scripture says -- I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me. I might be their only chance to see Christ in this lost and dying world. Amen.
Rev. Anthony
