Sunday, February 2, 2025

God's Gift to Us... the Ability to Speak

This message is based on the texts for the forth Sunday after the Epiphany. Jeremiah 1:4-10, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, and Luke 4:31-41. (Printed references are from the EVS version of the Bible.)

Message:  Spoken Words…

Consider for a moment the gift of speaking… God created us (humans) to speak. We use our teeth to chew our food, to break down larger pieces of food so it can be swallowed without choking, and to help us chew our food we use our cheeks, lips, and tongue to move the food within our mouths into position for our teeth to grind, diminish and swallow. We are much like created animals in that regard, for they do the same. However, we are different, in that, God also gave us the ability to use these instruments; our tongue, lips, teeth, mouth, and vocal cords to form words. While animals make sounds, we make sentences. Some animals make more sounds than others; bleating, howling, barking, whining, grunting, clucking, etc. I am not aware of any that even come close to the range of sounds that humans make. 

Even birds have limitations, most species of birds make specific calls that help us to identify who they are, with the exception of one small bird that I affectionately have named, “The bird of a thousand calls,” because I don’t know what it is. Yet, even that bird, doesn’t come close to the vocabulary of a typical human being. God created us uniquely to speak… to communicate… with words, using our forementioned instruments to make sounds that others can understand to convey our thoughts, desires, expectations, directives, and the like… that we call verbal communication. No one sounds exactly the same… similar maybe, but everyone has their own personal distinct sound. And given the sheer number of languages, dialects, and accents, the ability to speak and be understood is quite amazing. 
The BBC states that there are 7,100 spoken and signed languages around the world. 
The top eight languages by number of speakers are as follows…

  • English (1,456,448,320) just under 1.5 billion
  • Mandarin Chinese (1,138,222,350) just over 1.1 billion
  • Hindi (609,454,770) around 600 million
  • Spanish (559,078,890) just under 600 million
  • French (309,804,220) around 300 million
  • Modern Arabic (273,989,700) just under 300 million
  • Bengali (272,828,760) about the same
  • Russian (254,997,130) and just over 250 million

I am not bilingual. I only know a few words in other non-English languages. My son, Nathan, lived in Norway for a year, and understands some Norwegian, understands and speaks some limited Hmong (of which there are many dialects), and speaks and understands Tai as a second language, however English is his first language. His wife, Mai, understands and speaks some Hmong (from northern Thailand, the home of her grandparents), understands and speaks English as a second language, and speaks fluent Tai as that is her first language.  Our grandchildren are truly bilingual as both English and Tai are spoken with them in the home. Most of their language skills began in the first three years of their lives, even before they were aware that they were learning language or how to form words and speak. 

There is also a second kind of language that they have learned in both Tai and English, a spiritual language, the language of the faith, belief in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I was taught this language by my mother when I was just a little boy. It was reinforced by attending a Christian Day School and later in life in Confirmation and Bible Study groups. I don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t know about Jesus Christ or have faith in Him, even though there were times when I acted as if He weren’t important and neglected to feed my faith. 

The focus of our meditation today is GOD’S WORD.
Literally, God said He would place His WORD within Jeremiah’s mouth. “…for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.” When I prepare my messages, I ask God to help me write the message He would have me give for those who will be present on that particular Sunday. I also ask that He would open the hearts and the minds of the people present, so that they would be blessed, and be encouraged by whatever words I have spoken to grow in their faith, and have a stronger relationship with Him. Sometimes, I wonder if the words spoken have touched the lives of the people or have helped them to draw closer to God. I can only pray, and leave the spiritual aspect of that in God’s own hands, taking into account, that it is the work of the Holy Spirit using the word of God that draws us closer to Him. 

I, however am not Jeremiah, far from it. God placed His word within him and he was compelled to speak words of warnings and destruction, of repentance and salvation, even when everyone around him mocked him and persecuted him, even when he tried to keep his mouth shut, he could not, he was the carrier of God’s Word, and when he opened his mouth, the WORD OF THE LORD came out. 

In our gospel reading, there is another example of the Word of God being spoken, but not by prophets, by demons. “And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.” Jesus started His ministry by casting demons out of people who had become possessed, we aren’t told how that happened. However, history tells us that the Romans practiced various forms of cult worship, as did many of the conquered people that made up the Roman empire, and the Romans were tolerant of the many faiths of their subjects. Cult worship opens the door for demons to enter and to take possession of the heart and soul and physical bodies of people. 

These demons recognized Jesus! They had known Him before their rebellion and they knew their fate was in His hands. They had been cast out of heaven, and now they were on earth creating havoc with God’s creation, and taking possession of God’s people. Theirs is not a proclamation of faith, but a recognition of the presence of God, maybe even a defiance of God. Because Jesus had lowered Himself to become one with us, lower than the angels of heaven, lower than these former angels of heaven, who as demons still had power over people, yet, Jesus Christ was able to exercise His power over them, by a simple verbal command, “Come Out!” And Jesus would not allow them to speak… He gets the glory. They are just noise. 

Our third verse that deals with speaking relates to the ability to speak in the tongues of the angels… or languages of others not native to our upbringing… a second language, or third or fourth. We think in our first language, we translate those thoughts into the second our third, but the emotional connection remains in the first. That is why it takes years to make the connection between leaning a language and truly communicating and expressing ourselves in that language. Paul wrote, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, … I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (No better off than those cast out demons.)
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 


This is the part of the message that gets hard. It is hard to always show love and compassion and concern for others. Our wants, desires, needs, and expectations get in the way. We assume that we know what is best for us and for others. We act in self-preservation mode, making lip service to the care and concern for others, while holding on to a safety-net for our own financial security. We act with compassion, but only up to a point, provided we don’t put ourselves in harms way. Few people truly sacrifice themselves for the sake of others without reservation, and even then, Paul says, it must be done out of “LOVE.” 

We might try, but we will fail, because there is only ONE person who LOVED that deeply. Jesus Christ! He loved even those who were ponding nails into His arms, those who were shouting at Him to come down from the cross, who were so sure they were right in their unbelief that they challenged Him to show them He was God by using His power to come down from the cross…. Yet, out of love for them, He showed them His power by staying on the cross… when He had the power to come down… He chose to stay! 
He denied Himself to save us. His was a life of LOVE lived for our sake, of Life given in exchange for ours.... The embodiment of God’s WORD made flesh … a life of LOVE.
This WORD of God transcends all other words, thoughts, emotions, and communication, … more than just words on a page… more than the spoken word, Jesus is the living, breathing, WORD OF GOD, that compels us to rejoice and proclaim the glory of God. To Him be all honor, praise, and glory. Amen.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.