Members of the Unshakeable Kingdom

November 28, 2011 in Bible - NT - Hebrews, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Worship

Hebrews 12:25–29 (NKJV)
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
After the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Jewish kingdom with its bloody sacrifices, priestly rituals, and frail kings, was replaced by the Kingdom of God – a kingdom that Paul describes in our text today as unshakeable.
This picture of an unshakeable kingdom harkens back to the prophet Daniel. Hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, Nebuchadnezzar had seen the kingdoms of men as a great and impressive statue made of different metals. But as Nebuchadnezzar was admiring the statue, a rock made without hands struck the feet of the statue and caused those kingdoms to shake and totter and crumble. The rock itself became a huge mountain that filled the entire earth. It was unshakeable. And what was that rock? The kingdom of God.
In Paul’s day this rock had just struck the feet of the statue: Jesus had come and fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament: he was the long awaited king who would reign on earth, the lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, the rock that struck the feet of the statue. Through his earthly ministry he established the kingdom of God but the remnants of the old covenant system were still around. The Temple still stood; the priests still offered sacrifices; the feasts of the old covenant were still celebrated. But Paul knew that all this was going to change – the old covenant was ready to disappear, to be destroyed and in its place would stand the kingdom of Christ, the unshakeable kingdom. Paul’s prediction came to fruition as God destroyed the temple and the rest of the old covenant system; the kingdom of the Jews came to an end and the kingdom of the Messiah was begun.
It is this kingdom of which we are members; we have received the kingdom which cannot be shaken – we are members of Christ’s body, subjects of His sovereign rule. And so our responsibility, like our fathers before us, is to respond to this kingdom in a specific fashion. And the first thing that we are to do is listen and obey. Paul exhorts us,“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven…” In other words, if God took seriously the transgressions committed under the old covenant, the shakeable and temporary kingdom (and he did), then how much more seriously will he take the transgressions committed under the new covenant, the unshakeable and lasting kingdom.
Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the time of year that we call to mind the transition from the old covenant to the new, from the age of immaturity to the age of maturity, from the kingdom of the Jews to the kingdom of Christ, from the shakeable kingdom to the unshakeable. As we recall this transition, let us remember that the Lord who spoke to our fathers in the old covenant continues to speak to us in the new and that this means not less accountability but more. We are called upon to approach the Lord with reverence and awe – for our God is a consuming fire.
Reminded that the Lord has given us the great privilege of being members of the unshakeable kingdom and that there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared, let us kneel and confess that we have treated this privilge lightly. 

Called as Homemakers

November 21, 2011 in Bible - NT - Titus, Ecclesiology, Meditations

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that … the older women … be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.(Tit 2:1-5)
Last week we considered once again Paul’s admonitions to the younger women in the congregation at Crete. We found that Paul expects them – along with all other Christians – to orient their lives around the Triune God. They are to be discreet, chaste, and good – all traits which point to the Triune God and urge us to put Him and His Word at the center. Rather than orienting our lives around what Eugene Peterson calls the modern Unholy Trinity of our Holy Needs, Holy Wants, and Holy Feelings, Paul urges younger women to orient their lives around the Holy Trinity.
Today we consider the orientation that Paul expects from younger women. He commands that younger women be instructed “to love their husbands, to love their children, to be…homemakers, obedient to their own husbands.” Notice that each of Paul’s admonitions orients the life of younger women around the home. Paul admonition assumes, of course, that these younger women are married and that they likely have children. So let us make a few observations from this text for those of you women who are married and/or have children at home.
In the beginning, when God created them male and female, he created the woman to be a help to the man in his calling. God had given the man and the woman together an immense task – to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. In short we were to exercise dominion over the earth. Both the man and the woman were designed to fulfill this task but were designed to fulfill the task differently. By design, the man was oriented to various tasks and the woman was oriented to helping her man fulfill those tasks.
This is the understanding that Paul reflects in his admonition that the older women teach the younger women to be “homemakers.” Literally the word is home-energizers, women who are busy working at home doing all that they can do to bless their household and assist their husbands to fulfill the divine commission that has been given to both of them.
This design difference between men and women leads Paul to deliver specific admonitions to the married women and the women with children in the congregation. Notice Paul’s commands: first, to married women. If you are married, then Paul’s admonition to you is that you love your husband – be devoted to him, committed to his well-being, and manifesting the same type of love for your husband that the church is called upon to manifest for Christ. You are to be your husband’s suitable helper and – though feminists rage and foam – be obedient to your own husbands. By fulfilling these mandates you will be blessed and, what’s more important, the Word of God will be adorned with glory rather than blasphemed.
Second, Paul gives commands to women with children. If you have children at home, then Paul’s admonition to you is that you love your children – care for them instruct them, cherish them, serve them. Your calling is not to care for them alongsidevarious other tasks that you view as more important. Your calling is to care for them preeminently.
Notice, therefore, that Paul insists that your husband and your children are to get your best thoughts, your most intense care, your most ardent devotion – for this is how God has designed you.
And husbands, your responsibility is to make sure that your wives can fulfill these tasks. Guard them, protect them, provide for them so that they in turn can love and cherish laboring at home.
Reminded that God has designed men and women differently and that our calling as human beings is to go with the grain, let us kneel and confess that we often rebel again his design.

The Unholy Trinity

November 14, 2011 in Bible - NT - Titus, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Trinity

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that … the older women … be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.(Tit 2:1-5)
Today we approach the last of two exhortations on the lessons that women are to teach us as the people of God. As we consider Paul’s admonitions to the younger women we see two primary concerns expressed. First, Paul is concerned that younger women be oriented in a specific direction. Second, Paul is concerned that younger women possess a certain character.
So let us take the second concern first. Paul wants younger women to possess a certain type of character. Whether you are single or married, young or old, the character qualifications that Paul places before us help us to see what it means to be a real woman. Our modern culture has made a full frontal assault on femininity and so women are terribly confused. And this frontal assault has been aided and abetted by abdicating men who would like nothing better than to shun responsibility for the women in their lives.
Paul commands younger women to be discreet, chaste, and good. He wants them to live lives grounded in and oriented around the Triune God. So God is the Creator of all; therefore, Christian women are to be discreet – to order their lives in a way that reflects how God designed the world. God is Holy and therefore Christian women are to be chaste – distinct from the scandalous behavior of the women around them. Cretan women were the ancient equivalent of skanky Hollywood actresses and Paul wants the Christian women to be separate. Finally, God is goodness itself and so Christian women are to be good – embodying the character of Jesus in their own lives by the power of God’s grace.
Each of Paul’s admonitions puts the Triune God at the center of our life and consciousness. In order to be discreet, chaste, and good, Christian women must know who God is and what He is like. Your minds and hearts must be engaged and attune to God Himself. And this necessitates that Christian women know and understand the Word of God for this is where the Triune God has revealed Himself.
Contrast this mindset with what Eugene Peterson calls the Replacement Trinity of modern culture, a Replacement Trinity that women in particular are greatly tempted to worship and obey:
…the three personal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is replaced by a very individualized personal Trinity of my Holy Wants, my Holy Needs, and my Holy Feelings… The time and intelligence that our ancestors spent on understanding the sovereignty revealed in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are directed by our contemporaries in affirming and validating the sovereignty of our needs, wants, and feelings….
          It is clear that we live in an age in which the authority of Scripture in our lives has been replaced by the authority of the self: we are encouraged on all sides to take charge of our lives and use our own experience [our own needs, wants, and feelings] as the authoritative text by which to live.
         The alarming thing is how extensively this spirit has invaded the church. I more or less expect the unbaptized world to attempt to live autonomously. But not those of us who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. I am not the only one to notice that we are in the odd and embarrassing position of being a church in which many among us believe ardently in the authority of the Bible but, instead of submitting to it, use it, apply it, take charge of it endlessly, using our own experience as the authority for how and where and when we will [submit to] it.
         One of the most urgent tasks facing the Christian community today is to counter this self-sovereignty by reasserting what it means to live these Holy Scriptures from the inside out, instead of using them for our sincere and devout but still self-sovereign purposes [serving our Holy Wants, Holy Needs, and Holy Feelings].(Eat This Book, 31,32,59)
So how are you orienting your life? Are you orienting it around the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Or are you orienting it around the Unholy Trinity of your Holy Wants, Needs, and Feelings? Paul challenges you to put the Triune God at the Center – to be discreet, chaste, and good.
Reminded that this is our calling, let us kneel and confess that we have often fallen short.

Teachers of Good Things

November 7, 2011 in Bible - NT - Titus, Ecclesiology, Meditations

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that … the older women … be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.(Tit 2:1-5)
After taking a hiatus for several weeks, this morning I would like to return to our text in Titus and Paul’s description of the lessons that we as the people of God are to learn from the women in our midst. After all, the reason that Paul gives these specific admonitions to older women and younger women is that he desires them both to be models of Christian character for the entire congregation. So what do we learn today?
Paul urges older women to be “teachers of good things” and to use their age and maturity to instruct the younger women. Paul then goes on to specify what these “good things” are – loving husbands, loving children, etc. For the moment let us reflect on the fact that Paul calls all these things good.
Historically, Christians have been concerned to uphold the three great virtues of truth, goodness, and beauty. Truth points us to that which corresponds with the way the world actually is. Jesus came, we learn in the Gospel of John, to testify to the truth, to point us to what is really real, ultimately pointing us God’s revelation of Himself in His Word and in His Son. Goodness points us to that which is right and virtuous, reflecting the character of God Himself, which is, again, revealed both in the pages of Scripture and in the life of our Lord Jesus. God is goodness itself – and the law and Jesus’ life point us toward this goal. Beauty expresses those things that have a sense of proportion, order, and glory. The garments of the priests in Israel were made “for glory and for beauty” indicating that beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder but a reflection of the character of God. God is Beauty itself and has woven it into creation to point us to Him.
In labeling these things “good”, therefore, Paul is directing older women to the Word of God written in the law and incarnate in Christ. He is urging these Cretan women to be models of biblical living, models that reveal the wonder of God’s work in redeeming the most mundane duties of life. Increasingly we are surrounded and seduced by alternative definitions of the “good”, definitions that have little to do with the character of God and much to do with our own selfish drives and impulses. Increasingly, therefore, we meet men and women and children suffering the ravages of evil choices.
And so Paul wants the Christian community, and Christian women in particular, to be a haven of peace and righteousness and stability in the face of such suffering. Therefore, the challenge that Paul issues to us, issues to you, is this: are you so attached to what is good, so fond of it and experienced in its application in daily life, that you are able to model it to others. You older women, in particular, have you embraced the good and fulfilled your God-given calling to pass that good down as a heritage to the next generation?
Our God is the fount and source of all goodness and He has revaled that goodness in His law and in His Son – so how passionate have we been in pursuing both? How eager are we to read and understand and feast upon the Word of God? How zealously do we present ourselves before the Son of God and seek from Him an abundant supply of goodness?
Reminded that this is our calling – a calling that older women are to embody and that the rest of the congregation is to learn – let us kneel and confess that we have often fallen short.

The Blessing of Church Officers

October 30, 2011 in Bible - NT - Ephesians, Ecclesiology, Meditations

Ephesians 4:11–12 (NKJV)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
The final thing that I would like to share with you publicly about my trip to presbytery in Minneapolis is the privilege that I had to serve on the examination committee for Kenton Spratt. Kenton is the pastor of our sister congregation in Colville, Washington. It was an incredible privilege to get to hear him preach, to read some of his writing, and then to examine him at presbytery.
But not only was it an incredible privilege to examine Kenton, it was also an incredible privilege to work in concert with other elders in the CREC during this process. The examination committee is typically composed of five CREC elders – some pastors, some teaching elders, some ruling elders. Our task is to examine the candidate’s fitness to serve as a minister of the Gospel.
 The privilege of joining in this work reminded me that one of our callings as the people of God – both officers and congregants – is to thank God for the gift he has given us in apostles, prophets, evangelists, and even pastors and teachers. God in His grace and mercy has gifted us with men to teach and articulate the Word of God – and it was my privilege to recognize Kenton as one of those men.
So how are you doing? First, have you been thanking God for the leaders, past and present, in the church? Thanking God that He has given us those equipped to read and understand and teach His Word? And not only thanking God for them, but continuing to pray for those living that they would fulfill their tasks with joy and integrity?
Second, have you reckoned with your calling to support ministers of the Gospel with your tithes and offerings? Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that those who minister the holy things [in the OT] eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel” (1 Cor 9:13-14). And so we are called upon as the people of God to express our gratitude for those who labor in Word and Sacraments by providing for their physical needs by giving to the work of the church.
Third, have you shown your appreciation for these men by listening to what they are telling you? The way we show respect and honor is not by nodding our heads and saying how much we appreciate them, but by doing what they urge us to do when it is consistent with the Word of God. God has given them that we all might be equipped for ministry, Paul says – and so our calling is to make use of their teaching by ministering, by implementing the principles they give.
Reminded of the many ways in which we take leaders for granted, let us kneel and confess our sin to God.

The Tragedy of Division in the Church

October 23, 2011 in Bible - NT - Acts, Ecclesiology, Meditations

Acts 15:36-40
Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.
At Presbytery learned not only of great deliverances but also of troubles in some churches. That which has sat most on my heart is one of the original congregations in the CREC whose elders – all godly men – have found it impossible to labor side by side any longer. Their difference of vision has become so entrenched that they have decided, for the sake of long term peace, to part ways and plant a new church in the same community while endeavoring to preserve fraternal relationships with one another through joint meetings, psalm sings, etc.
Their story reminded me of the event in the life of Barnabas and Paul that we read in Acts. They simply could not agree on what to do with John Mark. Barnabas was willing to give John Mark another chance; Paul felt that to bring him along would compromise their very important mission. Luke comments on their disagreement that “the contention become so sharp that they parted from one another.” They could not agree on the course forward.
Here’s the question: was the division between Barnabas and Paul a result of sin? No doubt. Not only had John Mark’s sin provided the original cause for the dispute but our general condition as fallen human beings means that both Paul and Barnabas were sinners as well and no doubt their particular weaknesses contributed to the conflict. But here’s another question: does Luke make an attempt to sort this situation out and ascribe blame? Not at all. These were godly men, they had a difference of vision, and so they parted ways because they simply could not agree on a course forward.
Isn’t that humbling? We imagine in our idealism that we Christians should be able to work all these problems out. We’ve got to preserve the unity of the Spirit – didn’t Paul himself write that?! But the story is put here to remind us of the stark reality of our current human condition – we are finite and sinful and stand in desperate need of the grace of God? Here are two godly men who couldn’t agree and had to separate from one another for a time. Here in the CREC are godly men who cannot agree and are separating from one another while endeavoring to maintain fellowship. How this ought to humble us, to cause us to cry out to God for mercy, to beseech him to keep us united and give us a common vision.
Job tells us, “Man is prone to trouble, as sparks fly upward.” Knowing how prone we are to such trouble, our calling is to be gracious to one another, to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and to cry out to God to unite us in love. Unfortunately we often fail to do so. We bicker and complain; we seek our own good rather than the good of others.
And so reminded of our need to be humble, to seek the face of God, to treat one another with kindness and mercy, let us kneel and confess our sins to the Lord.

A Passion for the Lost

October 16, 2011 in Bible - NT - 2 Peter, Evangelism, Meditations

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

During my time at presbytery I had the opportunity to hear reports from the various churches in our region – hearing of God’s faithfulness, of challenging trials, and of remarkable deliverances. I promised that I would share some of these things with you and so permit me this morning to share one of the stories I heard – a story that both encouraged and challenged me.

We learn from our passage today that the reason God delays the coming of the Day of the Lord is to secure the salvation of all His people. He is not slack concerning His promise but is patient toward us, not will that any should perish. The Lord is determined to rescue his people. Through the preaching of the Word, the witness of believers to Christ, and the work of the Spirit, He is in the process of bringing men, women, and children into His kingdom – and He will not fail to save any of His people.

This was brought home to me through one of the stories shared at presbytery. A member of this congregation, a brother by the name of Dale, has worked for about 20 years as a postal carrier. He has endeavored to do his job faithfully and well, self-consciously endeavoring to bear witness to Jesus through his labor. For many of those years, Dale first worked alongside and later worked under his current supervisor. They have not always seen eye to eye.

About a month ago Dale’s supervisor had a dream. He was at work and it was a rotten day. Everything seemed to be going wrong. The employees were complaining, he was frustrated, the air was tense – except for Dale. Dale was sorting his mail, singing and whistling, doing his work with joy. The mail carriers went out to deliver and the day continued going poorly. Some mail didn’t get delivered; as carriers returned they were asked to carry this new mail out. And you can imagine the response: anger, frustration, railing on the supervisor – from everyone except Dale. He went and did his work with a smile.

Then, in his dream, the supervisor finally got to go home bringing to an end a long, miserable day at work. But wouldn’t you know it, his troubles weren’t over. When he got home soon he and his wife were arguing and fighting – over what, the dream didn’t make clear. But in the midst of their arguing, they heard a knock on the door. Dale’s supervisor went to the door, opened it, and was surprised to see Dale on his doorstep. “Can I help you?” he asked. And the dream ended.

The next day Dale’s supervisor related his dream to the office before Dale arrived and, when Dale arrived, called him into his office. “We need to talk,” he said. And so began a number of conversations between Dale and his supervisor over the Gospel – the next Sunday Dale’s supervisor showed up at church with his wife – though neither of them had darkened the doorway of a church since their childhood; within the next week Dale’s supervisor professed faith in Christ; and in the last several weeks he has continued to grow in the Lord.

As I said I found myself both encouraged and challenged by the story: encouraged because the story reveals that we serve the Living God, a God who moves and acts in the lives of men and women and children to draw them to Himself and give them life. He is not willing that any of His people perish.

But I also found myself challenged: is my life, my conversation, my demeanor – so let me ask you: is your life, your conversation, your demeanor – something that God can put to use in a dream to draw others to Him? Or have you been a poor witness, more the stuff of nightmares? God’s design is to reveal Himself to all the nations of the earth, to cause every knee to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus. And the way he intends to do this is through our witness – so how are we doing? Are we bearing faithful witness to our Lord Jesus?

Reminded of this call and no doubt convicted that we have fallen short of our calling, let us kneel and confess our sins to the Lord.

Women and Wine

October 9, 2011 in Bible - NT - Titus, Ecclesiology, Meditations

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that … the older women … be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.(Tit 2:1-5)
In our text today, Paul continues his admonitions to older women and his admonition is that older women “not be given to much wine.” What does Paul’s admonition reveal to us?
It is a perennial tendency of sinful men to identify the cause of our problem as human beings as something outside ourselves, something external to our nature. Rather than correctly understand that our fundamental problem is a problem of the heart – that we are indeed corrupt and twisted, inclined to evil rather than to good – we begin to imagine that we are basically good people and that the problem is all these corrupting influences that surround us.
The fruit of this thinking is the moralistic crusade – in order to secure salvation we must abolish whatever it is that is corrupting us. And so some have insisted that that which corrupts us is sexual pleasure – the solution? Develop man made rules restricting sexual enjoyment. Others have insisted that that which corrupts us is certain foods – the solution? Develop a list of those foods which are acceptable and those which are forbidden. Still others have insisted that it is ignorance which corrupts us – the solution? Develop schools, pay teachers larger salaries, save our kids.
But among the items which have been said to be the source of our corruption, none has been more fiercely condemned in the last 100 years than the demon liquor. The prohibitionist movement in America and the continuing antipathy toward alcohol of any sort in many conservative Christian quarters is evidence of the hold this notion has had and continues to have upon the Christian conscience.
But here’s what I’d like you to notice in our text today – Paul does not say that older women are not to drink wine, he says that older women are not to be drunkards, not to be given to much wine. Despite much conservative Christian thought to the contrary, alcohol is not in itself sinful. What is sinful is the abuse of alcohol – drunkenness is a sin. And what this means is that the fundamental problem is not with the alcohol, the fundamental problem is with us. As sinners we continually abuse the good gifts that God has given us, using them not for the glory of God but in sinful ways.
You see the same Bible which condemns drunkenness in the most emphatic terms, also tells us that God gave wine to gladden the heart of men. The problem is not the wine – the problem is us. We take a gift from God and corrupt it. And so Paul insists that older women are not to be drunkards, not to be given to much wine. And if women aren’t to be drunkards then neither are the rest of us.
Reminded that the primary problem in the world is our sinfulness and not the objects in the world, let us kneel and confess our misuse and abuse of His gifts.

Women and Slander

October 2, 2011 in Bible - NT - Titus, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Tongue

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that … the older women … be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.(Tit 2:1-5)

Some weeks ago we began a series of exhortations for the women in the congregation. What would God teach us through them and what are the particular sins which women need beware of? Last time we considered Paul’s admonition that the older women are to be reverent in behavior; this week we consider his admonition that the older women are not to be slanderers.

Characteristically sins of the tongue seem to tempt women far more than they do men. Fittingly, therefore, the Word of God does not shy away from exhorting women in this specific area. One of the key signs of godliness is the way we use our tongue. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks – and therefore that which comes out of the mouth reveals that which is in the heart, reveals that which we treasure and love and esteem.

So what do you love? What do you treasure and esteem? Well answer me this – what is coming out of your mouth? For what is coming out reveals what is inside. We have this strange notion that the way someone acts and speaks doesn’t really reveal what they treasure. But Jesus insists that that’s just not true. So let me ask you – what is coming out of your mouth? Is it thanksgivings to God, the wisdom of God’s Word, words and remarks that refresh the soul and build up those with whom you are speaking, gracious words that always put the best interpretation on others’ actions? Or is it fretting and whining, complaints and grumblings, gossip and slander?

It is this last sin that Paul particularly focuses upon in our text – the sin of slander. Slander is closely related to gossip. Gossip becomes slander when the rumors we circulate are clearly false and intended to destroy. Slander has a much clearer sinister element to it – intending as it does to harm the one about whom the tale is told. While those who gossip sometimes delude themselves into thinking that they are really helping the other person or at least not harming anyone, the slanderer intentionally sets out to harm another by spreading falsehoods. She is using her tongue to destroy.

So whom have you slandered? Whom have you maligned and mistreated with your speech? Your husband? Your father? Other women? Your elders? Beware the sin of slander.

Warnings against this sin are replete in the Scriptures. David complained, “For I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me, They scheme to take away my life.” His son Solomon notes in Proverbs 10:18, “Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool.” And Paul, in the other testament, notes that in the latter days men will be “unloving, unforgiving, slanderers.”

Because of the insidious nature of slander, severe curses are called down upon the one who practices the same. The psalmist prays in Psalm 140:11, “Let not a slanderer be established in the earth; Let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.” And God Himself announces in Psalm 101:5, “Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy.” God takes slander seriously.


And so reminded that the words we speak reveal what we treasure and love, let us turn to God and confess that we have loved wickedness and deceit. Let us kneel as we confess together.