Words

Sermon manuscript for Green Lake Church of Seventh-day Adventists

Sabbath, February 13, 2016

Eighteen-year-old Shea Glover set out to do a photography project in Chicago. She took pictures of people. When they asked why she wanted to take their picture, she told them, “because you're beautiful.” Their faces lit up. As she continued her project she created an entire portfolio of paired images: A portrait of the person as she first saw them and a portrait of the person after they heard her words, “because you're beautiful.”

The transforming effect of her words is stunning. Yes, the “before” pictures show the magic of the human face. The people are beautiful. But after they heard Glover's words, “you're beautiful” their faces are positively radiant.

See pictures here: 

https://fstoppers.com/documentary/photographer-captures-peoples-reactions-when-told-they-are-beautiful-102444

This is the power of words.

The photographer spoke and it was done.

Which reminds me of the Bible's description of the creative words of God.

The very first story in the Bible pictures the world as a dark, chaotic place. Then God steps close and speaks. “Let there be light.” And light appeared!

As Creation week unfolds, the various acts of creation are pictured as the product of the words of God. “Let there be light.” “Let dry land appear above the restless ocean.” “Let fish swim in the sea.” “Let birds fly in the sky.” “Let critters roam the earth.”

And it was so.

The Psalm we heard in our Old Testament reading echoed this idea:

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth

NLT: He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.

For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. NIV.

What does God sound like? I googled “voice of God in movies” and found this in Wikipedia:

“In biblical epics and similar movies, God's voice is generally cast to provide a sense of authority. It is deep, resonant, and masculine, and usually the American English of Southern California (sometimes with a touch of British English)”

The article also mentioned Morgan Freeman in the movie Bruce Almighty. And I laughed.

When you imagine the voice of God, what do you hear?

I'm not posing this as a theoretical question. And the answer I'm looking for is not the name of an actor.

The question, what does God sound like, takes us straight to the heart of Christian ethics. We are to mirror God. God's voice is to become the model for our voice.

God's word is creative, healing. It makes beauty. It gives life.

That's also the way our words are supposed to work.

In our New Testament reading, we heard the stern challenge from Jesus:

Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the religious experts, you are not part of the kingdom of heaven.

What does this mean? What is this exalted righteousness Jesus is mandating?

You know the ancient law: Do not kill. If you kill you will face the judgment.

But I tell you, even if you are merely angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!

You don't have to get to murder. God is watching. Our lives are under scrutiny. Allowing yourself to get ticked off puts you in a danger zone. If you are ticked off, the video camera is activated. You are on film. What are you going to do next? Well, you're probably not going to kill anyone. Most likely, you're going to say something. And if the person you're angry at is not your boss, you're likely to say something. If the person you're angry at is your brother or sister or your child, the words that come out are likely to be sharp and cutting. “You idiot!” Which just happens to be the word Jesus speaks about next:

If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the heavenly court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

Words matter. Spouting harsh words is a damnable offense. Jesus is so emphatic about this, he actually forbids us to engage in any religious practice if we have used damaging words. Coming to church is worthless if during the week our words are ripping and tearing.

So if you are at the temple preparing to offer a sacrifice and there you remember someone has something against you. Stop. Leave your gift there at the altar. God be reconciled with that person. Then come back and complete your religious service.

Exalted righteousness means good words. A righteous person refrains from calling other people names. The speech of a righteous person is life-giving and healing. It has rich creative power like the voice of God in creation.

Let us practice sounding like God.

This is especially crucial if we are parents. The natural reality is that children create God in the image of their parents. The voice of God in our children's head will sound like the voice of mom and dad. So what does God sound like to our kids? Is God full of sharp condemnation? Does God call them stupid or lazy or perverse? Does God frequently sound like he would be happier if the universe did not include your kids?

Does God challenge our kids to pursue excellence? Does God encourage and offer wisdom? Is God's voice sweet? Children doing the crazy things that kids can do is no reason for you to sound like the devil. Cultivate gracious, courteous speech. Of course, there are times when you must speak forcefully and unambiguously. Still, even on those occasions, let us aim to make our words supportive of life.

Our words have enormous impact on how the voice of God sounds in the minds of our kids.

Teenagers, your words matter also. There is some interesting research that shows siblings have enormous impact on each other. The way I talk to my brothers and sisters will have a life-long effect.

The old King James version of the Bible translated our passage: Do not say to your brother, “You fool.” So for generations kids have been forbidden to say the word “fool” to their siblings. When I was a kid the word, “fool,” was essentially taboo. It could not be used. So we called each other “stupid idiots.”

The New Living Translation, captures this disparaging language and forbids it. The rule is “do not disparage another human being. Don't demean each other.” The children of God are challenged to follow the character of their father and use words as agents of creation and healing.

In this political season, we cannot avoid the public implications of the moral dimension of speech. It is immoral to use language that is dismissive and scornful. Political disagreements do not justify reckless speech. Most of us can think of some politician we disagree with who has used language we find offensive. This is true across the political spectrum. But when a particular politician or talk show host becomes famous for reckless speech, we ought to stand boldly against that speech. That kind of language is simply incompatible with life in the kingdom of heaven.

This is not an issue of right versus left or liberal versus conservative. Scornful, dismissive speech is forbidden to Christians. No matter what our political ideology.

In Matthew 12, Jesus returns to the theme of words—good words and bad words.

A good tree bears good fruit. A bad tree bears bad fruit. It's the same with persons: If foul speech comes from your mouth, you have a foul heart. If good speech comes from your mouth, you have a good heart.

This is so certain that in the judgment, God could make a reliable separation by simply sorting people according to their words. You would be saved or damned based on your speech.

Jesus is not creating some arbitrary rule. This is not fine print buried deep in a contract to catch the unsuspecting. Speech comes from the core of our being. Speech reveals the core of our being. When we work on making our speech sweeter, richer, more truthful, more helpful, we are working on real goodness, goodness that will shape the core of our being.

As our words become more kind, more gracious, we are bending our lives in direction of the character of God. We are becoming more competent as partners with God.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Imagine the creative and destructive power respectively of the phrases, “I love you.” “I hate you.”

“I love you” creates life and joy. These words make the universe more beautiful. “I hate you” withers, twists, and kills. These words disorder our world.

I have been talking about spiritual disciplines, habits we can deliberately cultivate that will nourish our soul and help catalyze our participation in the kingdom of heaven. Carefulness with our words is one of those life-giving habits.

Last week at the funeral, someone said to me, “You are supposed to give flowers before people are dead. So I'm going to give you a rose.” Then the person said something kind to me. It made my day. Made my week.

With Valentines upon us, I invite you to think of some of the people who have touched your life with kindness and tell them so. Give them the roses of sweet words, words of appreciation, words of affirmation. Then as we move through the year, deliberately cultivate the habit of speaking sweetly, of speaking encouragement, of speaking the truth, of showing respect even when you disagree.

Let's practice holy words. Let's model our speech after the life-giving, creative words of God.