Glory of Christ in Words

Just to settle the thoughts of all of our readers, the fanny pack from last week is not from my personal collection. Personally it might have been a little controversial to put anything up with the of the princesses. I probably should have simply picked 1.
The subject at hand however is words and their global purpose for the believer.

What should our words be focussed at? Christ's glory. Its amazing how what is being felt comes from inside and works its way out. When your happy, your words are more cheery. When your mad, anger tends to flow. When your thankful to God you praise Colossians 3:17, Psalm 63:5.
Obviously there are times you will be upset, there just isn't a case that I know of that should keep a follower of Jesus Christ fighting for the right to use vulgar terms as a freedom. “Lighter” cussing may not be offensive to pop culture anymore or even terms in texting that abbreviate the same four letter words. But to the believer we shouldn't be as anxious to try converting these words to everyday speech. Instead we should weigh the cost and make sure that the positive glorify aspects of speech far out weigh the negatives. We should be way more focused about correcting our hearts than if its ok to cuss or not. Once both sides hearts are right then we won't even have to worry about whats worse, not cursing or not feeding the hungry. Hopefully at that point we will have both down a little better.

Glory of Christ through words is fixing your heart and mind on things above and putting behind the old self. This will work itself into speech Colossians 5

Thoughts or comments?

What are words?

Part 1 of the series I am attempting to do was Just a little Babel and at the end I posed a question.
I hope at the end of this one we can get some dialogue because I would like the discussion to help shape part 3.

There are many questions that run through my curious mind about different things, but one in-particular thing lately has nagged at me a bit longer than usual. Where do words get their meaning? How does a culture go from have one very vulgar term one day to 20 years later it is a term flippantly used by children. At what point does the Christ follower have to shut down certain speech even though its widely accepted or un accepted?

Recently I listened to a sermon by Matt Chandler (warning if you are from Australia this next story could be considered offensive) where he spoke about his trip to Australia where he was doing some preaching. He was in the middle of talking at a conference and needed to use the word fanny pack to explain a nerdy type of guy. The crowd immediately gasped and he then was faced with trying to figure out what the problem was. In the process though he continued to say the word that was offending the crowd. So at what point does culture define a word, and yet we are to have Colossians 3:8 in mind.

This question came from a few years of hearing the argument “You can say what ever words you want. Words only have the meaning that you give to them”. This mixed with a Derek Webb song titled “what matters more”, where he cusses. Comments were made about the song such as “I thought with all the controversy that he would have said something a lot worse than that” and “he's trying to make a point and needs the shock value. These blended together with the Tower of Babel and James 3:3-12 in my study.

In James 3 we see that the tongue is a desirable thing to tame and control (I'm not there yet and according to James it itsn't looking great for the future either). This means that the words you speak come with meaning. Jesus unpacks this even further. In Mark 15:17-18 Jesus says that the words that come from our mouth are generated by our hearts. So regardless of the actual words you speak it might not be a bad idea to search the source first and hen the dictionary.

So where does the Christian draw the line? Is it with Derek Webb like soft cussing? Or is it ok to use cussing or foul speech if you don't mean it in anger? Is it ok to use it to get attention? Is it ok to use any words to express anger?

I ask these questions with Colossians 3:17 in mind. Not to hold fast to tradition or relevance. But simply to ask why do we hold so tightly to a “freedom” to use “any” words that we desire if the impact could be someone stumbling. I have seen even pastors fight for their right to use light cussing to be relevant rather than to use another term which has the same meaning (which brings up another point for some. Why is it ok to use one word and not another if they mean the same), and not to be bogged down by legalism. But for what cause do we do this.

I have a few rules for discussion: 1. No cursing, if you feel the need to use inappropriate words then hold off on comments or email me. 2. If you don't want to comment on the blog you can facebook me or twitter. 3. look through the lens of Colossians 3:17.

I pray discussion is productive and glorifying to Christ. Part 3 will be the unpacking of this topic and words for the Glory of Christ.

(This is lengthy, but some of it is song lyrics.)I have recently come across a song that strikes two emotions in me: anger and sorrow. The song: I'll make them good girls go bad. Just knowing the title makes me cringe, so i looked up the lyrics and sure enough this song is yet another look at the depraved human heart. Im not going to post the entire song, just one little snip-it later and i will also be using other examples. This is a post not solely addressing a song about good girls going bad, but rather a woman's call to modesty.

This topic of modesty is a big issue for women because many of us gals have a tendency to place worth in beauty and the attention we can get from boys which is wrong because our worth comes from God and God alone. Modesty is important for us because it falls into a pretty big category in the christian's life: not conforming to the world. " Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him ." 1 John 2:15. When we are modest not only in our dress and appearance, but also in our attitudes (which ill go into more detail later) we are showing the world that we don't place our value in people's attention and opinion of us.

On the surface modesty would appear to only go as far as makeup and clothes and the way those two are arranged, but it really is such a deeper...its a heart issue. Girls today are tempted to show a little skin to get a lingering look. So a sacrifice of purity is made just to get attention for a few seconds and inevitably lead someone to lust whether knowingly or not and regardless of if they care or not. This attention comes from a desire that is in all of us. Whether male or female all of us want to be wanted and loved and appreciated, it just takes different forms depending on whether your male or female. This desire isn't bad but when it becomes ultimate to the point where we sacrifice purity and living for the glory of God, then its a sin.

Here are some examples of a worldly mindset on modesty:

As promised, the formerly mentioned song:

I know your type
Yeah daddy's little girl
Just take a bite (one bite)
Let me shake up your world
Cause just one night couldn't be so wrong
I'm gonna make you lose control

I'll make them good girls go bad
(Ladies we need to be self controlled, and yes one night could be so wrong and so damaging)

And a blast from the past: These are cuts from two songs in the popular play/movie Grease:

(this is rizzo making fun of sandy)
Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee
Lousy with virginity
Won't go to bed 'til I'm legally wed
I can't; I'm Sandra Dee
(Trust me here ladies...waiting is so incredibly worth it)

(these are actually, sandy's words)
Look at me
there has to be
Something more than what they see
Wholesome and pure
Oh scared and unsure
A poor man's Sandra Dee
(Wholesome and pure...thats a great thing to be...stay that way for the glory of God)

I'm to young to understand
I don't need a boy , I need a man
look at me, look at me
The queen of virginity!
maybe it's wrong but I know it's right
just look I'm Sandra Dee
(maybe its wrong but i know its right, sounds like your giving into the world)

Sandy, you must start a new
Don't you know what you must do?
Hold your head high, take a deep breath and sigh
Good bye to Sandra Dee
(More like goodbye to purity)

Both of these, a modern song and an older musical, are examples of the temptation for young women to give up a piece of their purity,y a piece of their heart just to impress a boy who is less than worthy of their attention. Even all the way back in Biblical times this was an issue. 1 Timothy 2:9 says, " likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self control, not with braided hair and gold and pearls and costly attire." Even women of this day wanted to look like women of the world to get attention, they just had the wrong motives in mind. So what do we wear or what is the right mind set? its already answered in this very verse: respectable apparel (and yes it is possible to look cute and still be modest), modesty, and self control. If we're professing to belong to christ these are some ways we can best model him.