Christian Living

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One of the most remarkable portions of the gospels is in my opinion found late in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus is standing before the high priest getting beaten and spit on after declaring that He is the Son of God. Outside in the courtyard, another explosive scene is taking place with one of His most beloved disciples, Simon Peter. Peter is questioned about his association with Jesus by a young servant girl and he staunchly denies it. After leaving the courtyard he is confronted again by another girl who questions him about his ties with Jesus. A second time Peter denies he has anything to do with Christ, this time swearing by it. A little later he is challenged yet again by group of bystanders, but this time they narrow in on one of the chief characteristics that exposed Peter as a follower of our Lord: “Surely you are also one of them, for your speech betrays you”. As much as Peter tried to distance himself from public association with Jesus that day, he really couldn’t fool anyone, and it was his speech that gave him away.

As believers, it is near impossible for us to not assort in some fashion with unbelievers. We work with them, we do business with them, we are related to them, and we witness to them. We are instructed to be in the world but not of the world (1 Corinthians 5:10). As we present our living witness of Christ to them, one of the very first things an unbeliever notices about us is our speech. If the unbeliever knows we’re a Christian, you can be certain that our words are something they’re going to pay attention to very carefully. With Peter there was no question–they knew he followed the Lord as soon as he opened he mouth.

Our speech can either be a fantastic witness for Christ to the unbeliever, or it can be a terrible one. This depends on how sanctified our tongues really are. The tone and language of a Christian ought to be very different from that of the unbeliever. What is characteristic of an unbelieving tongue is profanity, impulsive anger, rudeness, unrestraint, gossip, backbiting, strife, complaining, and hatred. The characteristics of a Christian tongue are purity, gentleness, self-control, patience, peacefulness, kindness, joy, and love. As Christians are called to be different in actions, so too are they to visibly stand out in word as well, and when we don’t, the unbelieving world takes notice of it almost immediately.

Take for example the crew that comprises the “Westboro Baptist Church”. The non-Christian knows instantly the minute these people open their mouths that they’re not true believers. Such anger, hatred, and conflict that pours forth from the lips of the Phelps gang is a beacon for false Christianity in the eyes of the unconverted. Worse though, is that some falsely assume that the incontinent rancor they hear these people spewing is representative of all Christians. Westboro however, aren’t the only ones guilty of defacing the character of Christ with their words. Verbally trashing the Christian witness is often accomplished more subtlety.

When the president of the United States, the world’s most powerful man professes he is a committed Christian, and then in the same breath declares that he is pro-abortion, that more than all of Westboro’s nonsense demeans the name of Jesus Christ. Too many people believe him to be genuine Christian, and while I have never hopped on the Obama-bashing bandwagon, it is clear from the numerous statements he has made that his words defy his profession of faith.

Then there are the health and wealth gospel people–the name it claim it, blab it grab it folks who claim that our attaining perfect health and abundant wealth is the reason Christ hung on that cross. These are the people on television telling everybody that God needs money from them, and that they’ll see to it he gets it of course. The non-Christian world turns on their television sets and hear things like “ send a hundred dollars for this miracle spring water will bring you financial windfalls”, or “send fifty bucks for this green prayer cloth” or “ mail in your “seed faith” offering of 300 dollars and watch God replenish your bank account 10 times over”, and concludes rather quickly that these people are bonafide crooks..
So if our speech contains hatred, hypocrisy, and greed then it is no different from those belonging to the secular world, and moreover, it should cause us to ask ourselves if it is more then just our speech that is a mite too much like the non-Christian. James tells us in the second chapter of his epistle that it does us no good, nor does it commend us to God, to praise God during Sunday services, and then turn around and verbally abuse people, speak hypocrisy, or tell lies (James 2:9-10). “Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?”, asks James.

Never in the history of humankind was a person’s speech so beautiful, yet so penetrating and authoritative than that of Jesus Christ. Christianity’s most excellent witness of Christ was Christ himself. One of my favorite examples of this is found in the 8th chapter of John. A woman caught in adultery is brought before him while her accusers cry for blood. After demonstrating to them their own hypocrisy, He is left standing alone with her. He could have said a lot of things; He could have read her the riot act or given her a stern lecture or a frightening speech on sin and hell. Instead He utters these words; “ Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”. He condenses compassion, mercy, repentance, and authority into a short response that lets this woman know that He neither condemns her sin or condones it. He simply affords her his grace, yet exercises His authority in saying “go and sin no more”. His message to her is in fact the entire gospel in short; that Christ seeks not to condemn the sinner, but that the sinner by turning from their sin might be saved.

Peter had some flaws in his character that were quite detrimental to his spiritual walk. But even at his lowest; even during the most shameful event of his life, he was still identified unmistakably as one of the Lord’s. Keeping a godly tongue before the world is not, like anything else, something that is accomplished with perfection because as Jesus states in Matthew 26 “the spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak”. In some instances, a person is pegged as Christian without really saying much of anything significant, but there’s something metaphysical that informs the observer–whether in their tone, or delivery, or demeanor--that this person truly knows the Lord. Peter renounced Jesus yet he still couldn’t fool his accusers. If we truly desire to reach a lost world, one principle we need to apply is found in Colossians 4: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt”.

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