NO MORE ROTTEN WORDS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on July 9, 2023 under 2023 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message; July 9, 2023 from Ephesians 4:29-30

Theme: In Christ, we must ‘put away’ all corrupt speech, and ‘put on’ speaking what is good.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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For a lot of us, there’s a particular task that we hesitate to perform. And it has to do with that long-avoided plastic container that is deep within the refrigerator that contains something that … well … if we’re honest about it, we really can’t even remember what it was that we put in it. Something from Thanksgiving … we think. The time comes when we can’t avoid it any longer. We have to take it out, open it up, and dump whatever might be inside. When that happens—when you finally take it to the garbage disposal and prepare to open it up—don’t you take a deep breath of fresh air first?

Well; in the original language of the Bible, the adjective that we use to describe the condition of whatever is inside that container is what we find in our Scripture passage this morning. It’s an adjective that almost sounds like what it means. It’s the Greek word sapros. It refers to that which is putrid or rotten—something that is no good, worthless, corrupt, and revolting. And in this morning’s passage, it’s an adjective that’s applied to ‘words’.

In Ephesians 4:29-30, the apostle Paul wrote to his believing friends and said;

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:29-30).

It may be that some of us have never allowed that nasty container full of rotten food to sit in our refrigerator. But absolutely all of us have let sapros words come out of our mouths. And in this passage, we’re being told that—as followers of Jesus Christ—we must cease doing so.

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Think for a moment, dear brothers and sisters, of our Lord Jesus. Think of how He spoke when He walked upon this earth. His words were never corrupt or rotten—never sapros. He was sinless in the way He spoke.

Do you remember the story of how He once came to visit His hometown of Nazareth? He was invited to read the Scriptures in the synagogue. Luke tells us that He read from a portion of the Book of Isaiah that spoke of the promises of the coming Messiah;

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:20-22).

What He said was controversial. He was claiming to be fulfilling Old Testament promises about the Messiah. Many took offense at Him because of this. But there was one thing they couldn’t deny; and that was the marvelous and gracious words He spoke in saying it. Everyone bore witness to it.

There was also a time when He was teaching in the temple. He was drawing so many people to Himself that the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to go and arrest Him. But it seems that the officers who went to arrest Him started to listen to Him—and ended up forgetting to do their job. John 7:45-46 tells us;

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (John 7:45-46).

That’s not, of course, to say that all of Jesus’ words were pleasant to hear. In fact, many people took great offense at His righteous and rightly-spoken words. But His words were never “rotten” or “useless” or “corrupt”. They were always words of grace and truth. The apostle Peter once said to Him, “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

And as His followers, dear brothers and sisters, we must grow to be increasingly like Him in the way that we speak. We must no longer allow rotten, corrupt, putrid speech to come out of our mouths. As these two verses show us, we who are ‘in Christ’ must ‘put away’ all corrupt speech, and ‘put on’ speaking what is good. We must speak as Jesus spoke.

For us, there must be no more rotten words!

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Now; let’s take a moment to remember the context of these two verses. The apostle Paul had been teaching his readers about real, practical life-transformation in Christ. He was reminding them that, by faith in what Jesus had done for them, they had died with Him in His crucifixion, and had been raised with Him to new life in His resurrection. God had placed them ‘in Christ’; so that all that happened to Jesus had now happened to them. They were now brand new creations in the sight of God through faith in Jesus.

And this meant that—as brand new creations in Christ—the old ways of living must be “put off”; and completely new ways of living must be “put on”. As Paul put it in Ephesians 4:22-24, it’s …

that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

This is meant for us too. It’s not just that we’re to try to ‘turn over a new leaf’ and reform our way of living in our own power. Instead, we’re to consider that those old ways of behaving to be no longer appropriate to who we now are. We have died to them. Just like changing our wardrobe, we’re to ‘put off’ the old sinful practices that used to characterize us, allow the word of God to transform our thinking, and ‘put on’ the new habits and practices that characterize the Lord Jesus.

Paul went on in verses 25-32 to give us five examples of what this is to look like in actual practice. And one of those examples is the one before us in these two verses. “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth”—which is the ‘old garment’ that we’re to ‘put off’; and instead we’re to speak “what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers”—which is the ‘new garment’ that we’re to ‘put on’. And when it comes to the renewing of our minds, Paul writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We’re to remember our ultimate destiny in Christ—remember who that holy and divine Person is that lives in us to seal us for that destiny—and then speak carefully and reverently as a result.

The way that the apostle Paul puts all of this, in the original language, presents it as an ongoing habit of life. We will continually need to put off the old way of speaking, continually put on the new way of speaking, and continually seek forgiveness for having grieved the Holy Spirit for our failures. We won’t achieve perfection in our speech in this lifetime. But we can grow. In fact, to be true to our Lord, we must grow. And trusting the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we will grow.

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So then; let’s look first at what it is that we must ‘put off’. In verse 29, the apostle Paul writes, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth …” And this teaches us that …

1. WE MUST CEASE FROM ALL ‘ROTTEN’ SPEECH.

When I read Paul’s words, it brings a lot of sorrowful memories to my mind. I confess that before I trusted the Lord Jesus as my Savior, I had a very foul mouth. I wasn’t very popular growing up; and so, I tried to get along socially by collecting and telling dirty jokes, and by using lots of swear words, and by bad-mouthing other people. I’m ashamed to admit this today; but when I was a teenager, I even bought a little paperback book titled 2000 Insults for All Occasions. I thought that it would help me become one of the ‘cool kids’. It didn’t. All it did was make me feel dirtier and filthier inside. I was like one of those plastic containers in the refrigerator—filled with corruption. You’d want to hold your nose before prying the lid open!

Well; I heard the good news of the gospel of Jesus, and placed my trust in Him. He took away the corruption within and I was washed clean inside. I became a new creature. But it still took quite a while for my mouth to be cleaned up. After all, you might be able to dump the rotten stuff out of the food container … but you still have to scrub away all the left-over stains and smells. I’d say it took at least a year and a half for the Lord to break me of the habit of using swear words and repeating dirty jokes. He helped me. But I know that the potential is still always there—and even today, I must keep on trusting Him. I must keep on obeying the command to not let such things come out of my mouth.

Pastor James wrote about how much of a dangerous potential this is for us as believers. In James 3:5-12, he wrote that

… the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh (James 3:5b-12).

And the damage that our tongues can do doesn’t just come from such obvious things as cursing, or bad-mouthing, or insults. It can come simply by giving voice to a complaining and doubting spirit in such a way as to harm the faith and sanctification of others. Do you remember the time when Moses sent twelve spies up to spy out the land that God was going to give to the people of Israel? All twelve of them saw the bountifulness and beauty of the land. But because of their doubts and disbelief in the power of God, ten of the spies gave a “bad report”. They admitted that the land was good; but they spoke of how hard it would be to take the land—not even considering God’s power to help them. And when the whole congregation of the people heard this bad report, they were brought down in despair and unbelief; and they said,

“If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:2-3).

As a result of this bad report, the people refused to obey God and take the land. They had to wander in the wilderness for forty years until that entire generation died out. Just think of the damage we can cause by allowing such corrupt and rotten words to come out of our mouths!

Jesus once said;

“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).

So; it’s very important, dear brothers and sisters, that we let the Holy Spirit remove all such corruption within us, so that we will not let such rotten words come out of our mouths.

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Now; considering the potential for evil that lies within our mouths, it might be tempting to super-glue our lips shut. But if we did that, we would not be behaving like our Lord. He used His lips for the good of all. And that’s what He desires for us to do. It’s what He redeemed us to do.

We know the potential for harm that comes from speaking rotten words. But have you ever known someone who brought about the opposite? Have you ever known someone who—by the grace of God—knew just the right thing to say at the right time to build up the souls of the people around them? Think of Proverbs 25:11-13;

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold
In settings of silver.
Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold
Is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.
Like the cold of snow in time of harvest
Is a faithful messenger to those who send him,
For he refreshes the soul of his masters (Proverbs 25:11-13).

Rotten words do great harm. But good words do great good. After telling us what to ‘put off’, Paul then goes on in verse 29 to show us what we must now ‘put on’. “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth,” Paul says; “but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” And so, he emphasized to us that …

2. WE MUST SPEAK WHAT IS GOOD.

What does it mean to only let out of our mouths “what is good”? Looking at Paul’s words in the latter half of verse 29, we can see that it would mean three things. He gave us three standards that can help us know what to ‘let out’ of our mouths:

First, it would mean speaking what is good for the occasion. He wrote of what is “good for necessary edification”. That’s a bit of a difficult phrase to translate from the original language. But I like very much how the New American Standard version translates it: “only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment …” That captures the intention of Paul’s words very well. It suggests that we must study carefully the person to whom we’re speaking, rightly discern their needs, and speak that which is most appropriate to the situation at hand.

Many times, the ‘rottenness’ of our words isn’t found so much in what we say as it is in the bad timing in which we said it. It may have been the right thing to say—but it was the wrong time to say it. I have to hang my head in shame on this one. I have been guilty of this many times. And yet, the right word, at the right time, in the right situation, is a wonderful thing. Consider what Proverbs 15:28 tells us;

The heart of the righteous studies how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil (Proverbs 15:28).

May God help us to learn to study carefully; so that we can actually speak what is good for the occasion.

A second thing this would mean—a second standard to follow—would be to speak what is edifying in the faith. Paul wrote that we’re to speak “what is good for necessary edification”. That word “edification” simply means to ‘build something up’ and to ‘strengthen’ it. And what better thing could there be to build up in the lives of others than a faith in Jesus?

In the original language of this verse, it reads, “what is good toward edification of the need”. And as I was studying this passage, I made an interesting discovery. In some ancient quotations of this verse—primarily from the early church fathers in the first few centuries of the history of the church—it’s recorded as saying “what is good toward edification of the faith”. It seems that—for some of the ancient Christian preachers and teachers anyway—the ‘need’ that was to be ‘built up’ had to do with growth in the faith. And can there be a better use for our words, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, than for the building up of one another’s love for and trust in Jesus, and for the growth in our faith and obedience toward Him? I appreciate what the apostle Paul once wrote to the Roman Christians in Romans 1:11-12. He told them;

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established—that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me (Romans 1:11-12).

I read the other day about an old preacher who had a friend that he loved to meet. He said that after encountering that friend, it wouldn’t be more than just a few minutes before the friend would say, “You know; I was reading something wonderful in the Bible the other day. It presented something to me about the Lord that I’d never thought of before …”; and then that friend would share what they had learned. It always built up that old preacher’s faith. Maybe you have someone like that in your life—speaking in such a way as to build up the faith of others in Jesus. Let’s become like that to others! That’s a great example of how to speak what is good.

And a third thing that it would mean would be to speak what gives grace to the hearer. Paul wrote that we should speak “what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers”. “Grace”, in this sense, means ‘a blessing’ or ‘a benefit’. And that’s a great standard for identifying the ‘good’ that we’re to let out of our mouths—that is, whatever blesses them or benefits them in some way.

That doesn’t mean that we never say ‘hard things’ when they need to be said. Sometimes, tough love requires that we speak hard things. But we should always say them in a way that leads to blessings in the long run. I like very much what the apostle Paul says in Colossians 3:6;

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one (Colossians 3:6).

“Salt” is a preservative. It brings healing to wounds. But it also adds flavor to what is dull. It means that we learn to say things—even hard things—with a certain ‘sparkle; in a way that makes it easy to take … and that actually makes the listener want to do what is right.

And dear brothers and sisters; this is how our Lord wants us to talk. He doesn’t want us to only keep our mouths closed. Rather, He wants to change our hearts so that, when we open them, only what is good comes out instead. That’s how we will be like Jesus in how we speak.

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So; here’s what we’re to ‘put off’ from ourselves: “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth …” And here’s what we’re to ‘put on’ instead: to only let proceed out “what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

But there’s a third thing in Paul’s three-fold pattern for life-transformation. It’s the part that involves ‘the renewing of the spirit of our minds’. And that’s what we find in verse 30: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

This teaches us a very important truth to remember in this whole matter of what comes out of our mouths. It’s the wonderful truth that the Holy Spirit indwells us; and that …

3. WE MUST NOT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH OUR WORDS.

When we first believed on Jesus and were redeemed from our sins, God the Father placed the Holy Spirit in us—the third Person of the Triune Godhead. God the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in us. He loves us, and protects us, and guides us, and empowers us. And He even serves as the seal—the guarantee—that we will ultimately be glorified at Jesus’ return, and be made like Him. Paul talked about this in Ephesians 1:13-14, when he wrote;

In Him [that is, in Christ] you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Even now, the Holy Spirit is working in us to make us live like Jesus. And His presence in us is the guarantee that, one day, God the Father will bring us—body and spirit—into the glory of the Lord Jesus Himself on the day of Jesus’ return. The Spirit is the seal in us that our ‘redemption’ will be brought to full completion—and that we will dwell with Jesus eternally in glory. But when we allow what is corrupt and rotten to come out of our mouths, we grieve Him deeply. He will never leave us. But He is ‘Holy’; and we can sadden Him deeply. And what’s more, we can end up hindering Him from being able to do what He desires to do in our lives.

I have thought about this much; dear brothers and sisters. The Holy Spirit loves us very much; and it pains me greatly to think of how many times I have grieved this One who loves me by the things that have come out of my mouth. I think that His grief has often been in reference to me personally—as the one who does the speaking. But I suspect that it would also be in reference to how my words have also impacted my fellow believers—the other people whom the Holy Spirit has sealed for eternal glory.

The apostle Paul has said, in Romans 14:21;

It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak (Romans 14:21).

How often might it be, then, that I have caused some other brother or sister to stumble, or be offended, or be made weak in the faith, by some rotten words that have come out of my mouth? How much does that sadden the Holy Spirit who has sealed my fellow believer—as well as me—for the day of redemption?

And what’s more, how often have I been tempted as a result to seal my lips shut and say nothing at all—and thus failed to obey the Lord’s call to speak that which is good for the edification of my brother’s or sister’s need, that it might give grace to them? How much might that also grieve the Holy Spirit?

I wonder if the best way to not grieve the Holy Spirit is to get into the habit of speaking God’s word more often to one another—to offer one another a well-chosen passage of Scripture at the right time to one another. We can’t go wrong by—in an attitude of genuine love—speaking what the Holy Spirit Himself has given us to give to one another, at just the right time and in just the right situation. Wouldn’t that ‘please’ Him rather than ‘grieve’ Him?

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Now, dear church family; I greatly need God’s grace in this. And so do you. So, let’s ask God to help us. By His enabling grace, let’s ask Him to help us ‘put off’ all rotten words from coming out of our mouths. Let’s seek His help to ‘put on’ the pattern of our Lord Himself; and speak what is good for those who hear. And let’s allow ourselves to be ‘renewed in the spirit of our minds’, so that we learn not to grieve the Holy Spirit who has sealed us for the day of redemption—but rather, please Him.

As a result, may it be that—when the lid is opened—only what is good and honoring to our Lord Jesus will come out of us.

AE