JRM Sison Chapter - Teachings - Beauty and the Beast

LANGUAGE FROM GOD:
     Human language originated from God. God created all things through spoken words. Through God’s words He named all things. God originated names. When He created Adam, God gave him language (not words) for them to communicate. Through that given language Adam was able to name all animals. Through language relationship was established between God and man.

     Though language connected God and man, language also became the tool of their separation. God’s given language was perverted by Satan and was used to deceived man and mar man’s relationship with God. Through language came life and through language came death.

     Today, there are so many dialects of man. Even the scriptures adjusted to extend the gospel to other countries. Though there are so many languages that sprouted, their effects are all the same. They have two general effects; to build and/or to destroy.

     Language is either beauty or beast (or both). If the effect of language is good then it is beautiful. If not then it is ugly as a beast.

     Language can either encourage or discourage; to hinder or to push; to obey or disobey; to bless or to curse. Through language come worship and/or blasphemy.

THE EFFECTS OF LANGUAGE:

I.The Beauty that is Worship
     Worship is the language of love for God. Since language is a gift from God, it is just normal to use language to glorify God (1 Cor 10:31).

     Language is breath. We use air to emit sound. We can talk well if we breathe normally. But we talked pathetically when we breathe with difficulty. Thus, without breath there would be no language; no breath, no life; no language, no life. Ps 150:6 states, Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.

     Language is to be coupled with worship. Through worship relationship strengthens because God strengthens. Through worship problems become easy because God provides. Through worship sickness are healed because God heals. Through worship in language, God intervenes and grace overflows in our lives.

     Let us study how to worship God in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 12:30.

                                                                LANGUAGE + WORSHIP = LOVE FOR GOD

A.     Language of the Heart - Word of God
     As we worship the Lord, it must be well-meant and heartfelt.
     Worship begins when God’s Word begin to fill our hearts. Thus, worship is understanding God’s Word (His language) so that worship will be complete.
     Read Mark 12:29

B.     Language of the Soul - Obedience by the Word of God
     One’s soul is one’s natural expression. It expresses one’s true self.
     As the saying goes, “Worship is the music of one’s soul.”
     Worshipping the Lord is an act of expressing one’s self through God’s Word that results in obedience.
     As we love God, we become more obedient to Him.
     We must know the importance of worship Sunday in our lives.

C.     Language of the Mind - Reverence through Obedience by the Word of God
     The mind is the deciding factor of one’s self. Reverence in worship is accomplished when there is a renewing of the mind (Rom 12:2).

D.Language of the Body - SHIP (Stable, Humble, Immediate and Passionate)
     The total expression of worship is through one’s wholeness.

II.The Beast that is Idle Speech
     The Greek word for idle is argos, which means inactive, useless, slow and barren. Thus, idle speech is an inactive and useless language that creates barrenness and slow growth to the speaker.

                                                       LANGUAGE + IDLENESS = WORLDLY LOVE

A.     Evil Treasure of the Heart (Matt 12:34-36)
     Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Sometimes idle words sprung forth from our mouth when we are startled, angry; where our emotion is at its peak. Idle words may be curses, declaration of hatred, and confession of defeat. All these are idle speeches that only bring disaster rather than enlightenment. That is why reading God’s Word as instructed by God to us is very important. (Joshua 1:8; Ps 1:2; Rev 19:13, 16 to name just a few) As we read His Word in a daily basis, our hearts are filled with wisdom, enlightenment and love. And any uttering that will come out of our mouth, even at the peak of our emotion, will be words of worship for God.

B.     Babbling words/speech (Soul)
     There is no finer example than Peter the Apostle when it comes to babbling. He was the babbler of his time. One time, when he was with Jesus (James and John were with him) and he saw (in a vision) the transfiguration of Jesus with Moses and Elijah with Him, he fired away mentioning to build three tabernacles. He just kept on talking. That was one of the qualities of Peter and a weakness in his case. But God has used that weakness as his strength (that will be another sermon). That was his natural language, the language of his soul which is babbling. Let us restore our soul (Ps 23:3) and bring worship out of our mouths rather than babbling speeches.

C.     Mindless Speech
     Nicodemus, in John 3, is a mindless speaker. Why mindless? He threw appreciation and recognition to the Lord that brought only correction on his part. He, instead of listening to Jesus, spoke not as a listener but as a speaker. Rather than speaking in context of the matter, he spoke in the context of his mind or learning. God wants us to use language to express our love for God and not for ourselves.

D.     Unwanted bodily expression
     The normal twitch of the body that responds to sound is what is meant for bodily expression. If the bodily expression brings malice and deceit then it is not for God. But if it is done through stability in faith, humility in character, immediate in response and passionate to the commands of the Lord then and only then will it be an expression of love for God.

Conclusion:
     What must be done to check one’s language? Mark 12:29-31 is our Lord’s instruction for us; an instruction to love. But in His instruction, He clearly defined the qualities of love. There are 5 qualities that lead to Proverbs 3:5-6; trusting the Lord with all our heart, leaning not on our own understanding. We can not trust someone who is a complete stranger to us. But it is easy to fall in love to a complete stranger, i.e. Early Marriage.

     Mark 12:29 describes that love must be to know God; to know the connection of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). And through knowing God, we start to trust God. And trusting God leads to loving God as described in verse 30. And through loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, it will be easy to love our neighbor as ourselves.

     To love is to express one’s feelings. We need language to express love. Thus, James was correct in his letter that our tongue (the source of language) is an unruly evil for out of it comes worship and cursing.

     Language can only have one effect; worship or cursing; positive or negative. What options do we have to have both? None; nothing whatsoever. If worship and cursing come from the same language or tongue, then it is a beastly tongue. Thus, we are instructed by the scriptures (the Language of God) to tame our tongues.

     Brethren, remember that God is love and love is God. Since language is a method of worship, our language must be filled with love. This is the only way to honor the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.