CORRUPT COMMUNICATION
With a few minutes to kill between appointments, I recently decided to swing into a sports equipment store. Needing some new sneakers, I figured it was a good time to take a look. As I approached the front entrance, I immediately noticed a woman pacing in front of the sliding glass doors. Visibly upset, she was holding a telephone to her ear, impatiently waiting for someone to pick up. Eyes fixed on the sidewalk, I made my way to the entrance.
Before I could safely slip inside the store, the woman began speaking to the poor person who answered the call. Thanks to the volume of her voice, I learned that she was speaking with the manager of the store she was irritably pacing in front of. She demanded that the store manager meet her out front. As a third party observer, I was informed that she was furious about something that had taken place in the store moments earlier. I have no earthly idea what had transpired, and certainly did not have a clue if the woman had a legitimate reason to be upset or not. What I do know is the lady had no right to speak with such venomous, angry, threatening, and disrespectful language to another person.
Once inside the store, on my way to the shoe department, I considered this woman’s approach in dealing with the store manager. She typified our current culture. We live in an angry country where people are eager to unleash their discourteous anger at the drop of a hat. In a culture that incessantly worships individualism and absolute autonomy, disrespectful and cruel speech has become the norm. Like it or not, it’s the way it is. Rude and disrespectful people are easy to find.
Maybe, you’re one of them.
In Ephesians 4:29 Paul writes, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” The word translated “corrupting” comes from the Greek word sapros, meaning “rotten, of poor quality, bad, unfit for use, worthless.” This imperative is straightforward: Christians are not to use language that is corrupted with rottenness. Sadly, many professing Christians are not obeying this commandment.
Today’s culture has normalized speech that is detestable, disrespectful, disgraceful, demoralizing, demeaning, disparaging, destructive, disheartening, disruptive, and dysfunctional. If you require an example, the 2020 presidential campaign serves as an illustration of what rotten speech looks and sounds like. The candidates, representing both political parties, sounded more like self-centered, irrational middle school children on a playground slinging petty insults and immature put-downs at one another rather than well-educated adults exchanging ideas of how to lead our nation. As a country, we were asked to elect a president from a pool of candidates that sounded as if they needed a crash course on civility, reasonableness, and dignity. When this level of immaturity and maliciousness reaches the highest levels of government, it is predictably commonplace on the streets of our local communities. Civil seems to have been erased from our civilization.
Likewise, social media has increasingly become a cesspool of toxicity where hateful daggers are thrown with little to no concern for the damage these degrading and malicious words cause to those who read them. Hiding behind the protection of their devices, malicious trolls cowardly fling hurtful and disgraceful words at others like hand grenades over a wall, not caring that there are living and breathing human beings on the other side of their nasty comments. All people are created in the image of almighty God; therefore, they should never be treated with disdain simply because they disagree with our position. Concerning issues of absolute truth, we must unapologetically stand for God’s truth. With that said, we must never do so out of rage or hatefulness. Concerning debatable issues, we must humbly remember that our opinions matter far less than we believe. Falling prey to the temptation to engage in today’s bombardment of nonsense and cruelty is foolish at best and ungodly at worst.
Perhaps you are nodding your head in agreement thus far. I sure hope you are. But here is the sad reality: scores of Christians are behaving no differently than the world in how they speak. As the church, we must never normalize what the Bible considers abnormal. Scripture not only calls corrupt speech abnormal, it considers corrupt language to be a sin against God. Oftentimes, the speech of Christians sounds a lot like the ten “Ds”—our language is often detestable, disrespectful, disgraceful, demoralizing, demeaning, disparaging, destructive, disheartening, disruptive, and dysfunctional.
As Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, Christians are to be “the light of the world.” But we can never be light if we sound like we are immersed in darkness. In the book of James we read that our tongue is a fire. Oh how quickly a little spark becomes a raging fire, spewing cruelty, disrespect, and wickedness. Our mouths quickly become flamethrowers, discharging cruel, impolite, and demoralizing words. Swimming in the putrid waters of unwholesome conversation will drain the hope from your soul, draw your mind from righteousness, and lead you away from Christ. As those entrusted to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, we must remember that no one is drawn to people radiating hatefulness and cruelty.
With our flamethrowers, we regularly burn the skin off anyone who disses us or disagrees with our opinion or perspective. As the skin of our victims melts away like ice in a raging bonfire, we curiously wait to see how long it will take until they collapse into a heap of burnt flesh and ash. There is nothing worse than the smell and sight of charred flesh. But do we care? Are we surprised that families are burning to the ground at an alarming rate? Is it any wonder churches are in ashes? Why are we surprised to see relationships going up in smoke? When our mouths are flamethrowers, and our tongues are little daggers filled with poison, it is no wonder people can no longer tolerate one another. When ungodly, hateful speech comes from Christians, is it any wonder the culture has stopped listening to the church? It is any wonder our culture has become such a cesspool of communication when even Christians are diving into the nastiness head first?
As lights to a world lost in darkness, we are to shine forth God’s hope, mercy, grace, peace, and glorious gospel, which can rescue people from hell. To do so, we must put away all corrupt communication. I’m curious, how does your conversation (in person and online) align with Ephesians 4:29? The words of those who claim the name of Jesus are to be wholesome. According to Ephesians 4:29, our speech must be:
1. Good for building up: Speech that is encouraging. We all need encouragement, and we all need to be encouragers (like Tychicus in Ephesians 6:21). Is your speech edifying and encouraging?
2. As fits the occasion: Speech that is well-timed. Christians must understand the setting, carefully assess the situation, and wisely speak in such a way that is appropriate for the given moment. To be clear, there is no moment in which cruel and hateful speech is acceptable. Does your speech appropriately fit the occasion?
3. Gives grace to those who hear: Despite popular opinion, grace is not passive, permissive, or dismissive of wrongdoing. Instead, grace means handling situations in a loving and Christ-like manner. Is your speech filled with grace or brutality?
While it is helpful to understand what wholesome speech includes, we must also consider what corrupt speech sounds like. If corrupt speech is the opposite of godly speech, corrupt speech can be described as:
1. Communication that tears people down (contrary to building up). This is language that is used to rip people to shreds, put them down, and shut them down.
2. Communication that is culturally impolite and ill-timed (contrary to well-crafted and fitting for the occasion). This is reckless language that is spoken with no regard for those hearing the words. Sarcasm would be an example.
3. Communication that is disgraceful, degrading, disrespectful, demoralizing, destructive, disheartening, and demeaning (contrary gives grace to those who hear). This is language that is impatient, cruel, and filled with ungodliness.
As we consider our speech, we must keep two important truths in mind:
1. Every word that flows from our mouths first percolates in our hearts. As Jesus said in Luke 6:45, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Your words cannot go where your heart has not already traveled. In order to make our speech holy, we cannot simply change our vocabulary. We must allow our hearts to be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we will consistently bear the fruit of the Spirit.
2. Every word that flows from our mouths will be righteously judged. In Matthew 12:36-37, Jesus said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” In light of Jesus’s warning, we must carefully weigh our words before speaking. That is why we must consistently ask: Are our words edifying? Are they fit for the occasion? Are they gracious? Asking these three simple questions will keep our fiery tongues from saying and our fingers from typing or tweeting ungodly words.
Christian, you are to allow no rotten communication to proceed from your mouth. Instead, you must only use speech that is good for encouragement and edification; your speech must always be appropriate for the occasion. And everything you say must bestow grace upon those who hear. It is high time that Christians not only quote but live by the words of Proverbs 15:1-4. These verses teach, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
By God’s grace we are redeemed from our sin. But salvation is not the end of the story. God’s grace also empowers us to obey God’s Word, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us bit by bit through the process of sanctification. We are to increasingly resemble Jesus, and reflect his holiness in action, thought, and word. As Peter commands us in 1 Peter 1:15, “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” Our conduct is not limited to outward actions; it obviously includes our speech. Rather than using your tongue to burn people to a crisp, use your mouth to speak the truth in love, to give grace, to encourage, and most importantly, to give praise and glory to God.