Matthew 11:7–19Scripture
Everybody turn your Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 11. I'm going to do this a little different today. We're looking at 7-19. I want to read 12-9 first and then we'll go back and we'll read 7 through 11. So, I want to start at the end and I want to tell you what the end is all about.
We'll start at verse 12. Everybody there? All right. You should have your little deal and book mark in there and that by a year and a half in, right? I mean, it's like boom, you're there. All right.
Verse 12. From the day from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. From all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. And he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
But what shall I compare this generation? This is kind of what I want to focus on right now and then we'll go back. What do I want to compare this generation? And it is like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to their playmates. It's like children. What's this generation like? It's like children sitting in the marketplace calling to their playmates.
We played the flute for you, but you didn't dance for us. We sang a durge and you didn't mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking and they said he has a demon.
Introduction
He didn't dance for them the way that they wanted. And the son of man came eating and drinking. They said, "Look at him. He's a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He didn't mourn for them like they wanted." Did you catch it? You catch the connection there?
Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. So what we have here, and we'll go back and read 7 through 11. What we have here is a generation that wants John and Jesus to behave the way they want him to behave.
Have you ever been at a place in your life where God just isn't doing it the way you think you should?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 2:47
You with all your best intentions in your heart, you think there is a better way. One of the reasons why we attack the sufficiency of Scripture to accomplish what needs to be accomplished in the earth today is because we think there's another way. But he has said that his word is sufficient. To accomplish everything he intends it to accomplish in the heart of an individual.
But this generation is crying out for more. Jesus isn't enough. His word isn't enough.
The church isn't enough. There's another way. And God is not in the business of bending to that generation, nor is he in the business of bending to this generation and what we want. Because God has a plan. He has a will that's stronger than your will. And so then if we go back to verse 7, we see an individual that Jesus celebrates who seems to have a general understanding that there are two winds that are blowing in life at all times.
There's the wind of culture and there's the winds of the spirit. To which will you bend?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 4:16
As we take a look at this text, we see that John does not bend to the winds of culture. Let's look at that verse 7. And they as they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out in the wilderness to see, guys? You came out here to see a reed shaken by wind.
What then did you go to see, guys? A man dressed in soft clothing. Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But then what then did you go out to see? A prophet. Yes, I tell you, John is more than a prophet. That is he of whom it is written, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare the way before you. Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
That's that's a pretty that's a pretty good badge to wear. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he's what in the world is that talking about? He's the greatest, but he's not because he's in the kingdom, right? What does this mean? John is beckoning in a work. It is a work that Jesus will perform on the clo cross which will eliminate your sins, which will help God draw near in the level that he will dwell in you by his spirit. Isn't that good news?
But sin has to be dealt with. So Jesus is there. John is prophesying that Jesus will come. He will die. He will die for your sins and mine for all who believe. We will be cleansed of sin so that his presence, God's very presence, his spirit will come and dwell within you. This is the privilege of all privilege for kingdom people.
The least in this room,
John's greater than all of us, but the least in this room, post the cross and post being filled with the spirit, are privileged beyond measure, even more than John.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:34
We have greater privilege today because of what we have received through Jesus Christ. That's what it's talking about.
So we see in the life of John a particular way of living that Jesus demarcates as great. We have a lot to learn from that. But be encouraged today because you have walked into the house today with a tremendous amount of privilege. Because not only do we have salvation through Jesus Christ, not only do we have sin dealt with, but we have his spirit to help us live the kind of life that Jesus calls great.
We will live this life or we will bend to culture. I don't even know culture is calling you to do all sorts of things. Be behave all sorts of ways. Act the way it desires. I want to talk this morning about a man that Jesus was talking about too. I want to talk about a man the wind could not move and the winds of culture are strong today. How many of you know that to be true? Right? Give me a little hand if you think, "Yeah, it's strong, man.
Yeah, it's strong." It's amazing. About 20 years of funny sitcoms about how dumb dads are. Everyone thinks dads are dumb. And the winds of culture are strong.
About 20 years of and it's been more than that. 20 years of commercials about what women should wear and women wear it.
Men don't care. The only reason men wear clothes is because the women the closest to them buy them, right? So they don't care about the clothes. But we care about other stuff, men, don't we? We care about the position we hold at work. We care about what we do, our successes and our accomplishments. We wear those like badges of honor. And when we talk to other men, we start with that because that's our attire.
Respect me, value me, appreciate me. And culture will tell you that's what you should chase.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:06
It will tell you that's what you should prioritize. And the temptation today, no matter what age you are today, and this is one of the things that's going to be beneficial, no matter what age you are today, everyone in this house today, from 90 years old, and if you're older than 90, I'm sorry, 100 years, if you're older than 100, 120 years old all the way down to one years old.
We're tempted and we're pulled and we're swayed by the winds of culture. The temptation then today is to bend. If you would look at your life today, if you would consider your life and the things that you do and the choices that you make, you might see places in your life where you've bent to the winds of culture.
I want you to think about that today because many of us today, we want to belong to Christ. You didn't come here today because you're not even given a consideration of belonging to him. But we also want to be accepted by the world. We want to be biblically convicted, but we also don't want to look weird in our circles. We want to speak truth, but we don't want anyone to be uncomfortable with what we say when we speak it.
But John shows us another way. And in case you didn't know, Jesus stamps off on him as being greatest of all men. So I believe we have a lot to learn from him. He was not a reed. He was not dressed for the palace. He was not speaking for his own message. John belonged to God. And
Because John knew whom he belonged to, the culture around him could not determine who he would become.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 11:17
It was very common in that day. You would go out and you would see reeds that would be blown over by the wind.
That was common. A small gust of wind would make it bend over. But John stood resolute in the midst and in the face of all kinds of generational cultural winds.
Point 1His convictions were not shaken
I want to talk about three things that we noticed in John right out of the text. Number one, his convictions were not shaken. I think we can learn a lot from that. Now when we think of convictions, one of the things we think of just primarily is I have certain amount of convictions about stuff and we think and our minds a lot of times, not all the times, not all the time, but a lot of times go to convictions that are temporal.
I hold convictions about our money. God speaks about money. I hold convictions about this, that, and the other. And sometimes those convictions are shaped by the gospel, and sometimes they're shaped by your opinions. But these convictions I'm talking about this morning are convictions that are shaped by the spirit, by his word, by our Lord.
There is nothing greater in all the earth than to have your life shaped by the convictions of God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:53
It helps you stand firm when the winds of culture blow. Listen. Matthew 11:7. What did you go out in the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind? The wind of culture could blow against him, John. But they could not determine his convictions. I love that he didn't ask what was popular.
He did not ask what would offend the fewest people before he shared. He did not ask what would preserve his influence with his circle. Paul actually warns in Ephesians 4:14, let me read it to you, that believers must no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried off by every wind of doctrine. There's wind blowing in our culture and it's not a good wind. James warns about the double-minded man. He says he is unstable in all his ways.
There are some of you that walked in double-minded today. You're double-minded on Monday. You're double-minded on Tuesday. And you're steered by the winds of culture.
And to be honest, to kind of give you somewhat of a little bit of an excuse, immersion is the reason for that. The more you're immersed in something, the more you're shaped by it. And the reality is you're immersed, for some of you're immersed in Scripture for 45 minutes on Sunday and that's it.
But you doom scroll for 25 hours a week. And culture tells you what to think, how to live, how to talk, what to dress in.
That's life.
A reed asks which way the wind is blowing. But a man of God asked what the word of God has spoken.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:02
Which are you? Are you a man of God? Are you a woman of God? Are you a reed? They came out to see a reed. They wanted to play a flute for him and have him dance the way they wanted him to.
They wanted him to be a reed like on the shore that when they would blow he would bend. That's what they wanted. That's what they wanted. But John was no read. John was a man of God. Which are you? Which are you? And those cultural winds do not merely come after our theology. You know what the cultural winds today with their coming after? They come after everything. It's not enough to have something. They want everything.
They tell us what success looks like and what beauty looks like. They tell us what masculinity and femininity looks like. I can't hardly say that word. Feminimity. Eminity.
They tell us what those things look like. They tell us what possessions prove that we matter. They tell us what we must affirm in order to belong.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:22
They tell us where we should go, what we should do, and what we should say.
I before we came here and planted a church, we were in youth ministry for quite some time. But I will never forget being in Hot Springs, Arkansas, ministering to some students. I recently posted on my facebook page as proof and evidence that I used to have hair that I posted a picture of me hugging a young lady with hair. Matter of fact, frosted tipped hair.
If you haven't seen it yet, you should go see it. It's a glorious sight to behold. I dream of the day when I get to heaven and God just erupts golden tipped hair right out of my head. I just can't wait for the day. And if he makes me bald, we're going to have words, right? He We're going to have words if I stay bald in heaven. I just want to have a g matter of fact, I want dreadlocks. That's what I want in heaven. I want him to be so long. I want him to be so long and glorious and I just Anyway, but there was a young lady you see in the picture, if you go back on Facebook and you would look at the picture, her name was Haley Casterson.
And when we got there, we were there for probably about a year and a half and we the youth group kind of exploded. I we had over a hundred kids coming. It was kind of crazy. And part of the who came was Haley. Right off the beginning, she began coming. Haley Casterson was a bundle of joy. We trusted her with her kids. She would babysit. She was our resident babysitter. Haley Kerson, always smiling, always giggling, always hugging, always sweet. Kind of like Brooke. Maybe that's why I liked her so much. She was just a sweet gal. She was on the cheerleading squad.
And for some reason in the community, and this isn't the south, this is in the south. Arkansas is legitimately in the south. We're we're in the Bermuda Triangle here in the middle.
We're we're neither north nor we're south. We're just kind of out here in the Midwest. And we're just we're us. We're a unique breed, too. I' I'm probably more Midwestern at this point than I ever was anything else because I've lived here quite a little while now. But I'll tell you this, in the South, you it would not be a safe decision to interrupt church.
Yet, the cheerleading coach decided that she would plan cheerleading practice during youth group on Wednesday night. I was astounded because I grew up in the South. That's just something you don't do, right? So, we pray at our football games. We do all that kind of stuff and they're still doing it today and it's a big deal. And so you don't interrupt church. You don't plan stuff that's secular during church.
You don't do that. But this coach did. Then she began to hand out demerits to Haley for not coming because she would choose the winds of culture were blowing.
She would choose Christ. She would choose community.
She would choose fellowship with other believers. She would choose to come hear the word over cheering a game.
Some of you are going, "Sean, well, what's the big deal? What's the big deal? I mean, we could come on Sunday, right? I mean, she can read her word at home, right? Yeah, the wind blew for Haley. It was amazing and pretty inspirational to see a young lady and realize that they expected her to be a read, but she was a woman of God and Demeritz could not scare her. It was fascinating because she began inviting every single person from her cheerleading squad to youth group.
It's like the it was like the counterattack, man. I don't know if it was malicious and I don't know if it was calculated. I don't know. She laid at home at night on her bed with all the notebook paper spread out in her trapper keeper trying to figure out how to win this little fight. She's like, "if I bring this person and this person will outnumber her." And I don't I think she just loved the Lord and she wanted her friends to know the Lord.
She brought all her friends and all her friends began to get demerits and there wasn't enough people to cheer at the games and it was either kick everyone off the cheerleading squad because they all came to youth group and they all made a stand that they would just get demerits and get kicked off the team. They would make a stand for Christ.
Amazing. Because it was a weird It's always strange when you see a reed not bending to culture. Oh, that stands out. That becomes the witness of all witnesses until the coach just reversed it and it's like just fine. We'll do another day. We'll plan cheerleading practice on another day. When was the last time you made a stand in the face of opposition for the things of God?
Parents, when was the last time that you encouraged your children to make a stand? As for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. Unless it might possibly affect your scholarship.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:14
Oh, everybody might wear a put a banner over the door as far as our house will serve the Lord. Except this. What is the dot under your banner of your house?
Oh, it's encouraging to see that Haley, at least in this regard, didn't have one. She was convicted. She had conviction.
Point 2His dress was not shaken
Number two, John. His dress was not shaken. Oh man. Here we go.
What then did you go out to see, folks? A man dressed in soft clothing. Huh? Behold, those who wear soft clothing, they live in king's houses. There's two kings that's being talked about here. The Lord, who is the king of kings or Herod? Kings of this earth or king of the world. Who do you dress for? I love this.
Jesus moves from John's conviction to his clothing. Now, this seems weird. Why are we talking about this on Sunday? Talk about this in youth group to all the youth. Don't talk about this in here. That's weird, man. Jesus moves from John's convictions to his clothing. That's fascinating to me. Why talk about what John wore? Why talk about that?
Because clothing communicates something. Your convictions, you know what it does? It communicates something. Your clothing communicates something.
Clothing has always said something about identity, belonging, position, values, and allegiance.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:49
A soldier wears a uniform. A police officer wears a uniform. A nurse wears scrubs. A player wears the colors of his team. When the Kansas City Chiefs run out on the field, we know what team they're on, right? By the colors they wear.
We know what team. We're not running around. We're not looking and going, "Which one is that one on? I don't know. They're identified. What they are wearing identifies them." We understand this everywhere else in life in culture. We acquies to the expectation. We understand that what we wear communicates something about who we are. We understand this. In our life, in our school, in our workplace, in our home. We understand this. We get this. We bend to this.
What you wear communicates who you represent. And when John walked out of the wilderness wearing camel's hair, nobody confused him with men living in Herod's palace. The scribes of the day, did you know that they began dressing up like Herod so that they could get access to the palace?
Because you had to look like his men to get there. Let me ask you a question. Where do you want access? We can most clearly see that by what you wear. What you wear shows us what access you want. John refused to wear what the culture said he should wear just so he could get access to what he wanted access to. He had another king.
Jesus says this, "Those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses." John could have attempted to gain access to Herod. He could have dressed like Herod's crowd. He could have spoken like Herod's crowd. He could have learned how to fit into Herod's crowd and his world.
But
John was not looking for a palace in the king's house because John served another king.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:38
Did you know that clothing can reveal something deeper than Oh, man. Just clothing.
Brooke and I had the opportunity this weekend to go to hang out at the Art Walk festival First Friday on Friday night and that was fun. Just a side note just for kicks. It's fun watching Brooke. You know how mosquitoes will see a light and they will fly to light until they're even just fried in the light. That's Brooke with music.
I've learned that wherever music is a bumping and a thumping, Brooke is like, and that's how we made our way through the first Friday night from one jazz band to another to one latin DJ. I mean, she kept trying to get me to dance. Brother, don't dance. I don't dance. I don't do it.
And we had fun at the art walk and we made our way. There was no rhyme or rhythm how we got there. We simply heard the music and just made our way from song to song. It was fascinating. What was that? That said that was a side note, right? It was a side note. But anyway, so then the next day we went to do one of my favorite things to go walking at the mall.
I'm old school, man. I'm back from the day when the mall was cool and you walked around. You really didn't have to buy anything. It was just fun to watch people be weird.
Just fun to watch them be weird to look at all the sites and see all the candy and the window and all the different clothes and all the different things. And I had I really wanted to get some jeans, right? So, I wanted some jeans. So, I my go-to place to get some jeans is American Eagle. So, we were doing some shopping at the mall and I went into American Eagle and you know I started over on Brook's side cuz here's how I look at my stuff. Nope, they don't got it. Okay, where are we going? Where are we going? Brooke, don't do that. Take Brooke to Hallmark, you'll be there for five years.
Five years and she'll be on shelf two. Shelf two. I went to the bathroom. Could have had a pretzel. Could have done everything. Came back. She was still on shelf one. I'm like, and she looked at me and went, I'm stuck in Hallmark, you know? I don't know. What are you looking at? There's nothing here on this shelf. Anyway, but we were in American Eagle and just kind of hanging out and Brooke was kind of looking at stuff and I just kept walking by skirts that were that short. You think I'm joking? I'm not even sure how you get it all in there. I don't know how you do it. Is I don't even know how it's possible. And shorts.
This short cute shirts. I'd go up to a shirt and be like, "Broo, look at the Oh my. Oh. Oh. Oh, never mind. I don't even want the shirt no more. Weird. But Brooke goes away." And whenever Brooke goes away, anything could happen. Anything could happen. And so I'm standing out there by the dressing room and I see another shirt and I'm looking at the shirt and I'm thinking I'm going to take this to Brooke. And I kept looking back to see if she'd come out yet and looking back and about this time a woman comes and mosies on up beside me. And I was like, "this shirt's cute, right?" I'm trying to She goes, "Why do you keep looking over there?" I said, "Well, my wife's going to come out and I'm going to try to show her this shirt." And then I looked down below the shirt and there were underweares trying to pass as pants.
So I have an internal dialogue and most of the time there is a shut off valve that stops the things from coming out of my mouth.
But I look at her and I said, "who would let their daughter wear this with this? What is this? About this time, her daughter walks out of the dressing room with that shirt and her whatever you want to call those pants. And I went, "have a nice day." And I left. I just left the building.
Who do you represent? This generation or God? Well, Bashan, you know, you'll have no clothes to wear if you don't just wear whatever's in the store.
Is that right? Is that right? John could have attempted to get access and so can you. What are you trying to access by what you wear? Parents, what are you dressing your kids in?
We don't want to hurt their hearts, make them feel shame, hurt them, whatever. You don't care about doing that when they don't empty the dishwasher, right? You're like, hurt their hearts. You didn't do the dishwasher right. I'm going to I will hurt you. Don't care when they roll their eyes at you and show you disrespect. They can dress promiscuous.
Just don't roll your eyes at me. As far as our house, we'll serve the Lord except for the way we dress. What team are you on? John was not looking for a place in the king's house because John served another king. Clothing can reveal something deeper than clothing. I remember thinking when I left American Eagle how powerful the wind culture really is.
A young woman walks into a store and the culture has already made 100 decisions for her. This is what's attractive. This is what's fashionable. This is how much skin should be shown. This is what everyone else is wearing. This is what you need to wear if you want to fit in.
And
Suddenly, we're not merely talking about fabric anymore. We're talking about allegiance.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:52
But we must be careful not to reduce this point to women's clothing and just modesty. The cultural wind blows on all of us today.
The question is larger. What are you arrayed with? What are you using to tell everyone around you who you are? Maybe it's clothing. Maybe you believe you have the right brand printed on your chest. Maybe it's that. Maybe the logo matters because the logo communicates status.
Who you belong to, who's purchased you. Maybe your shoes have to have a cert be a certain brand. Maybe your purse has to have the right name. Maybe your truck has to look a certain way. Come on, men in Pleasant Hill specifically. Maybe your golf clubs have to carry the right name. Maybe your phone has to have be the newest model. Maybe your house has to look like the house you see on social media. Maybe your children have to participate in every activity because everyone else's children do it.
That's what you array yourself with. Busyiness. Maybe you have to vacation in the places that will look best on your story. Maybe your body has to look a certain way. Maybe your career title has to become the uniform you wear. Men. Maybe your social media account has become the clothing you put around your life so everyone sees the version you're trying to get them to see.
Maybe you have to know the latest show, the most recent music. Maybe you have to speak in a language of whatever cultural group you desperately want to be accepted by. There are thousand uniforms this culture is trying to get you to wear.
The question is not whether Christians may own nice things. The question is whether those things own you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 37:07
The issue is your heart. Why do I need this?
Do I need it because it's useful? Or do I need this because I need people to know something about me? We can become clothed in the approval of the world. Paul uses clothing language spiritually. He says this in Colossians 3:12, "Put on then as God choose as God chosen holy one as God's chosen ones Holy and beloved compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience." Has ever have you ever been at a time where what you wear is louder than what you should be wearing? Things like patience, kindness, humility, and meekness. Which is louder?
Did you know that I think it's possible to wear kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, but nobody can hear what you're supposed to be arrayed with because you wore booty shorts? Because you wore a title.
Because you're known more by your truck than you are his fruits. See what I did there?
I don't want people to know me by the truck I drive. I want people to know me by the fruit I'm a raid in.
What you put on may tell people something about you, but what you cannot live without tells you something about your heart.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:50
I'm just going to move on to point three. I'm out of time. Well, I'm not, but I'm going to be.
Point 3His speech was not shaken
His speech was not shaken. Number three and a final point. You're like, "Thank goodness for getting off the clothing." Matthew 11:9-10. What then did you go out to see? A prophet. Yes, I tell you, he's even more than a prophet. What does a prophet do? What's the point of this, Sean? His speech was not shaken. I'm so thankful in Scripture that whenever we see a prophet, that prophet is speaking only what God said and he's not speaking what the culture wants him to say.
Because the moment a prophet begins speaking what the culture wants him to say, he's no longer speaking truth that can change lives. Most prophets were calling people to repent from the very thing culture is telling them to embrace. Fascinating, right? This may be the most important part of all. John was a prophet. That means John was
A messenger of God. A messenger does not create the message.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:06
A messenger receives the message and delivers it faithfully. John did not wake up every morning decided what he wanted to talk about. God had given John a message. John opened his mouth and he spoke about it. John understood that his mouth belonged to God. Who does your mouth belong to? I'm not talking about conversations on Sunday. Who does your mouth belong to at work?
When you're in the car by yourself, when you're with your most trusted companions.
John understood that his mouth belonged to God. That is radically different from the way our culture thinks about speech here.
Here's what culture thinks. It's my mouth. I can say whatever I want. Scripture says your mouth is not yours.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 41:18
It belongs to Christ. Your tongue belongs to Christ. Your words belong to Christ. Your conversation belongs to Christ.
Your social media belongs to Christ. Well, I don't get as many likes as when I post. I don't they don't like it. They don't like it. Whose likes do you live for?
Can I say this? This is the question. Does Christ want this coming out of my mouth? Does he want it coming out of the mouth of someone who belongs to him? Paul writes this. Let no corrupt talk, none.
I ripped that one out of my Bible about 10 years ago because I ain't doing that. As far as my house, we will serve the Lord except for my tongue.
Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth. That's hard enough. Can I get an amen up in here? But only such a thing that is good for building up.
You're like, are we talking about four-letter words here? Can you break down what's what is no corrupt talk? You cannot use a four-letter word and still be corrupted.
Your language can be corrupted. I could say a bunch of things that aren't four-letter words and it not be good and it definitely not be building up.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:06
Amen. And then it goes on, the two the first two are hard enough. Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth. Only speak about things that build up and then comma as fits the occasion comma that it may give grace to the hearer.
Well, I have Houston, we have a problem. That's the call. Oh, this culture will say that's doesn't matter. Notice the absolute nature of this command. Let no corrupt come out of the mouth. Our speech is not a small issue to God. Jesus actually said this in Matthew 12:34. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Your mouth is revealing your heart. Listen to so you can talk about your heart all day long and how awesome it is, but you just have a mouth problem. Scripture don't allow that. Scripture says, "No, you have a heart problem.
You don't have a mouth problem. You have a heart problem."
Pastor Shawn Gray · 44:42
I know you want to try to get the problem as far away from you as possible, but Scripture don't allow that anywhere. In Scripture, in all of Scripture, he doesn't allow it.
We're our greatest enemy. Your mouth is revealing your heart. And Jesus continues in verse 36, I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak.
Every careless word. Oh, help me, Lord. That should sober you. Here's quick thoughts. We'll close. Our speech should be pure. Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth." Well, what about sexual jokes? That's corrupt talk. What about crude humor? That's corrupt talk. What about vulgar language? That's corrupt talk. What about filthy convers? That's corrupt talk.
What about things we would never say if Jesus was physically sitting beside us? That's funny because it talks about that for that occasion. Fitting for that occasion. Amazing. Because
People will defend corrupt talk until you move them to Jesus being in the room.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 46:18
And now all of a sudden what was acceptable is now probably something we should contemplate.
Where can you move from being away from the eyes of God? That's the occasion you live in. Ephesians 5:4, "Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place." Christians speech should sound different because Christians belong to a different king than Herod. Number two, our speech should be should build rather than destroy. How many of you know how many of you wrote so far, "we need help with this."
All of it. All of it. Everything I'm talking about, it ain't like a them young girls and they're dressing. No, we I moved it to the men. I moved it to the trucks. I moved it to titles. I moved it. We dress oursel to belong. Our speech should build rather than destroy. Ephesians 4:29. But only what is good for building up. Some people can walk into a room and tear someone down in 30 seconds. Sarcasm. Jokes.
Jokes. But I'm funny, Sean. People laugh jokes at the expense of others.
So, enough with that your bald joke. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just I'm just That's a joke. That was not Sorry. Sorry. That's joke, Sean. Jokes. I've actually been in relationship with people and I'm like be, you know,
Be careful with them jokes because jokes are funny till they're not.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 48:05
You ever had a friend and jokes were like fair game and all of a sudden you cut them on the wrong day. You know what you get in that response? The truth about what they have felt about your jokes for years. Jokes at the expense of others, sarcasm, mockery, insults, constant criticism about every human being on the earth.
That's that's that's that's mine, man. I'm I'm I'm a criticizing citizen.
Lord, help my heart. Gossip, backbiting, slander, passive aggressiveness.
A Christian ought to ask, did my words leave a person stronger or weaker than when I came in the room?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 49:08
Number three, our speech should give grace. Paul says, give grace to those who hear. Imagine that people should encounter grace in the way Christians speak. Oh, that my car would be a place filled with God's grace. Oh, that my conversations would be a place that would foster the grace of God.
Oh, that my dinner table would be an environment where the grace of God would land like a warm blanket in my home.
It does not mean avoid hard truths. John certainly didn't do that. Grace and truth are not enemies. Sometimes the gracious thing is to tell someone a truth they desperately need to hear, even when they don't want to hear it. But
There is a tremendous difference between speaking truth because you love someone and using truth as a weapon because you want to wound them.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 50:17
Number four, two more. Our speech should be gracious and wise. Colossians 4:6 says, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you know, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer every person. Notice the word always. Not just at church.
Not merely around Christians. Not merely when we're in a good mood. Always. Always. Alway. Not always. Except for when you're stressed out. Always. When you are talking to your spouse, when you're talking to your children, when the waitress gets the order wrong, when an employee frustrates you, when you disagree with someone online, when someone attacks your beliefs, let your speech always be gracious. Last one, our speech should be controlled.
But James says, 'if anyone thinks he's religious, that same person does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart. This person's religion is worthless.
James 1:26. That's an astonishing statement. James connects spiritual maturity to the ability to control one's tongue.
Later he writes in John in James 3:6, "the tongue is fire, a world of unrighteousness."
Something so small can destroy so much. Your tongue matters.
Your tongue matters. What we learned from John? We learned that his convictions were not shaken, his dress was not shaken, and his speech was not shaken.
Let me ask you a question and I'll leave you with this. What are you today?
Are you a reed that is shaken or are you a child of the one true king?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 53:07
We see which one you are by noticing your convictions, your dress, and your speech, just like Jesus identified it in John.
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