This is a brief snippet from one of Dr. R.C. Sproul’s most profound teachings. In listening to the clip, The Third Commandment comes to mind which impresses upon us the need to properly address God. When the Holy Spirit stirs our hearts and illuminates the truth in this commandment we ought to think twice before attributing holiness to anything but God. We all know the colloquialisms that have become commonplace but dismiss God’s Holiness. For example, attaching the word holiness to a dairy animal or excrement. Now, certainly if we would never consider honoring and worshiping these, then why attach the word ‘holiness’ to them?
Also, consider the times we thought we were encouraging someone by wishing them ‘good luck’ not realizing that we were undermining God’s complete sovereignty and His providential hand that works through all things especially for those called according to His purpose. Furthermore, the supposed ‘good luck’ encouragement points a person to idolatry and hope in randomness. As indicated, with God being a Sovereign Ruler who works providentially, He does not accomplish His will randomly for He holds all things together. As Christians, we should not hope in any sort of fictitious ‘luck’ but rather gaze upon our savior, Jesus whose death and resurrection accomplished our salvation freeing us from guilt and condemnation thus providing eternal security. The result is that we can be sure of what we hope for and can trust God for what we do not see. All the while, those who have Christ’s imputed righteousness, will walk by faith.
Aside from ascribing God’s attributes to Him for His glory, we must also honor our neighbor by our speech. Our neighbor is made in God’s image, was carefully knit in his/her mother’s womb, and was created beforehand to do works that God planned in advance for them to walk in. This should make us think clearly about how we approach those around us. Do we forgive them when they have done wrong against us and conversely ask for forgiveness when we have done wrong to them? Are we keeping their best interest in mind as the Good Samaritan demonstrated?
How about the speech we use when engaging with them? The tongue can provide great blessing but also great harm. Provers 15:4 tells us: “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” Furthermore, James also teaches the potential for harm and blessing with the tongue in his book found in verses 3:9-10, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
When we speak harshly and even hatefully to another brother and sister, that person’s spirit can be crushed, the words used can hinder a person’s inclination to seek God, and by Jesus’s application hurtful words are a form of murder and stem from hate and corruption in a person’s heart.
Even when we are by ourselves, a lack of trust in God and knowledge of peace we have with the Father through Jesus, and lack of contentment all manifest in poor language. When poor language is used, the person defames their own character and displays a disregard for God, especially when applying His name to a curse word. For me, hearing the words that are abbreviated as G and D bring a dagger to my heart. On the horizontal level, people sin by using choice words whether they are with others or by themselves while giving people around them little reason to believe they seek to Glorify God in their lives. From a vertical perspective, bringing His name from His Holy place to be aligned with a cussword is a direct assault against God and His holy kingdom.
With that said, here is the clip:
In His Image 