Be Careful with your Words!

Good evening. Tonight I'd like to speak about words, how some people have used words, how we should use words, and how we should not use words. I like words. Words are powerful. Words can communicate. Words can be uplifting, or words can be tearing people and things down.

There's been all kinds of ways that people have put words together. I kind of like short, snappy poems that tell us a lesson. I like limericks. Limericks are usually fun. There was an old man from Pawtucket, or Nantucket, that kept all his cash in a bucket.

His daughter named Nan ran away with the man, and as for the bucket, they tuck it.

Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote a poem that, the way he wrote it, you can just imagine how it goes. It's called "The Swing." How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing that every child can do. Feel that? See that thing swinging?

Up in the air and over the wall, till I can see so wide. Rivers and trees and country and all, over the countryside. Till I look down on the garden green, down on the roof so brown. Up in the air it goes swinging again, up in the air and down.

One of my favorite Christmas hymns, which I have no idea why, but it's very difficult to find it in any of the hymn books, and it's the Song of the Wise Men. And the tempo of it, you can just imagine the camels going humpity, humpity, humpity, humpity, hump.

It's just great.

Let's see, what's her name? Liz Dredge has a song about the wheel, and the words and the tune, you can just see the wheel just turning and turning and turning. Words are great.

So this evening, we want to encourage us about words, and also give some warning about words. In Matthew 5, the sermon on the mount, Jesus had these words to say.

Matthew chapter 5, starting at verse 33 to 37.

Again, the law of Moses says, "You shall not break your vows to God, but must fulfill them all." But I say, don't make any vows. And even to say, "By heavens," is a sacred vow to God, for the heavens are God's throne. And if you say, "By the earth," it is a sacred vow, for the earth is God's footstool. And don't swear by Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the capital of the great King. Don't even swear by my head, for you can't turn one hair white or black. Just say simple, "Yes, I will," or, "No, I won't." Your word is enough. To strengthen your promise with a vow shows that something is wrong.

Now, I realize that he was talking about swearing of oaths, but that applies to, I think, a broad way of life. We had a neighbor years ago that, whenever he was talking to my father, he would say, "No, to be honest, David," and then he would say what he had to say.

And as soon as you hear that, a red flag goes up, because how often is he not honest? Is he really telling the truth? "To be honest, David," and we didn't really we were just cautious around that man, because you just didn't know quite if he was telling the truth or if he wasn't.

There are some words that you should always say. There are some words you should never say. And two of them that you want to be careful. Is always a never.

You can say, "My children would never act like that." Oh, yes, they would.

And you know why I can confidently say that? Because they inherit the Adamic nature, and they are little sinners. And if they're not trained, they will grow up to be big sinners. Now, what I mean by that is that not that they do little sins now and don't have bigger sins later, which would be true, but if we are not transformed by the Holy Spirit, we and our children are capable of all kinds of wickedness.

We are.

In God's word, in Psalms, I believe it is, it says that you should speak to yourself in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And there's a couple of reasons for that. One is that it will bring you closer to God. And another one is that whenever we dwell on good songs, that that becomes a part of us. And whenever we awaken in the night hours, those songs will be on our lips, and we'll be praising God, and we'll be thanking God. Now, the opposite is also true. If we dwell on songs that are not godly, they stick in our heads.

There's one that I have a problem with that wants to come to the forefront. "We all live in a yellow submarine." Where did that come from? Why is that sticking in my head?

There's nothing bad. You can't say anything bad about that song, but it's a goofy song that doesn't shouldn't be in there.

But it is, and it comes out every once in a while.

So look at chapter 3 of James. "Dear brothers, don't be too eager to tell others their faults, for we all make many mistakes. And when we teachers of religion, who should know better, do wrong, our punishment will be greater than it would be for others. If anyone can control his tongue, it proves that he has perfect control over himself in every other way.

We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want to by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a tiny rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot wants it to go, even though the winds are strong. So also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do.

A great forest can be set on fire by one tiny spark, and the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness and poisons every part of the body. And the tongue is set on fire by hell itself and can turn our whole lives into a blazing flame of destruction and disaster."

The tongue no man can tame. But you know what? The good news is that God can. God can control our tongues if we let Him. Do we? Do we let Him?

I have a friend that I said that there's some words you should never use.

I have a friend that I have heard him say on different occasions that he thinks he's pretty clever. And he has said that, "My wife treats me like a god. She gives me three burnt offerings a day."

That is not funny.

And husbands, don't say that about your wives. Even if she does and if you want to talk like that and think that's funny, you just might get someday three burnt offerings.

You need to build up your wives. And another one, you don't say, "My mother never did it like that."

Just remember, she's not your mother.

She's not your mother.

There's words that we should say. "You've done a good job." "I love the way you do that." "That was really nice." "I love you." Those words build up. Husbands and wives both need to say those kinds of things.

Now, "Well, I'm not married." "Okay." "Well, there's no you need to thank your mother for what she does for you.

You need to thank your father for just being the steady lighthouse in your lives." We can build up each other really well, and we can also tear down. Now, there's some words we shouldn't say, and that is, "You dumb idiot."

And even just the "duh" implies, "What a dolt you are." We shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do that.

I have a friend that I work with that he and I have discussed lots of different things. And one day, for I don't know what reason, he said, "When I grow up," and he's about my age, "When I grow up, I want to be just like Ben, except" I said, "Uh-oh. Uh-oh. What's coming? "Except that he has bow legs." I said, "I do not like. I don't like texting on our phones. Now, I'm not here to say you shouldn't, and I'm not here to say that I never do. In fact, I'm doing it more as I get familiar with it. But here's the reason why I don't like texting.

One word, really.

Really? Really.

It depends on the tone of your voice what you're conveying. And you can't get that in texting. It's just, as Mirella Cuthbert would say, "balled facts." It's letters in texting. But the tone of voice, "Really?" meaning, "Give me some more information. Explain yourself." Or if you say, "Really?" meaning, "Well, I never thought about that before."

Or you could use the tone and say, "Really?" meaning, "I'm a little skeptical as to what you're saying." Or you could say, "Really?" meaning, "I don't believe a word of it."

Do you see the point? You want to be careful how you use words.

Years ago, before there's social media and instant communication with telephones or texting, there was a diamond dealer in New York City that found out about a certain diamond that was going to be sold in London. So he sent his representative to go over there and check it out.

And so he did, and he telegramed back to his employer the price of it, "Should I buy it?" And this is what the diamond dealer sent a message back.

"No price too high."

"Clear instructions."

"Did his representative buy it?" "Did he buy the diamond?" "No, he didn't buy the diamond." "Did he buy the diamond?" "Yes, he bought the diamond."

With telegrams, it was very expensive to send a message. And so there was no such thing as punctuation. And you used as few words as possible to get your message across. And so he sent what he considered was clear instructions. Now, how can one person say, "Yes," and the other say, "No way"?

What did he say? Did he say this?

"No, the price is too high." Or did he say

"There is no price too high"?

He bought the diamond, and his employer was most unhappy.

See, the one man paid the bill. The other man saw an opportunity.

So we want to be careful with our words. We want to communicate clearly what we mean.

And you know what? We are able to do that. We don't have to communicate with grunts or barks or hand signals, most of the time. Now, we have to if you're deaf, but.

So let's be careful how we communicate, because it is possible to communicate clearly.

Back to short, snappy poems.

"If you your lips would keep from slips, five things observe with care. Of whom you speak, to whom you speak, and how, and when, and where."

The next verse says, "If you your ears would save from jeers, these things you must keep hid. I, and me, and my, and mine, and all I do and did."

Now, if you get those 10 things accomplished, I believe that nearly everybody would say there's a person that's above reproach. Now, I understand we don't always get that done, but we do need to have a goal set before us, a standard set before us that we are attempting to reach.

So let's build each other up. Let's not tear each other down.

And one last word. Be careful of the words you say. Make sure they're soft and sweet, for you never know which ones you'll.