One must wear the king’s garments. We must put on Christ in baptism. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). His righteousness must be our righteousness or we will not enter (Matthew 5:20). Paul said that he wanted to “be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:9).
Regardless of how many new technologies we obtain, the focus of the gospel is still the same: people. Jesus was about people; the church is about people; we need to be about people. What does that mean? It means continuing to worship and take care of the saints in the local body, reaching out to others in the community with the gospel and growing the body of Christ. Taking the message of the gospel to the rest of the world as we have opportunity (Matthew 28:18-20).
Why would God be angry that some people rejected His invitation? This is the rejection of God Himself. Why so serious? Justice demands punishment of sin and all have sinned. There is no forgiveness outside of the wedding feast. God only justifies those who believe and obey Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26). Those who have sought justice in this life alone will be disappointed to find themselves alongside of those to whom they served justice having rejected God’s invitation.
God has prepared a wonderful feast. He offers the bread and water of life, Jesus Christ. “And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:35). This is God offering Himself because Jesus is God with us. He gives a great feast, the abundant life (John 10:10).
God produced a morally perfect person, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, both God and man in the flesh. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” God knew all along that mankind would not accomplish salvation. God proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt over the many years of waiting for His Son to come into the world. Today, that record stands. Man needs God to save him, and the history of the Bible documents all of man’s failures “that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29).
Every child born into the world is innocent. Genesis 8:21 says that man begins to sin “from his youth,” not “from his birth.” Every single person has a chance to live a morally pure life, but no one does. Everyone sins eventually. At the dawn of time, however, this had yet to be proved. Could some man live a morally pure life without God’s aid? The Old Testament shows otherwise.
The miraculous gift of tongues was a sign that confirmed the word to unbelievers. God gave the apostles and other disciples the ability to miraculously speak foreign languages so they could take the gospel to the world. This miracle would convince unbelievers to believe the gospel as it did in Acts 2.
Tongues were not always understood by others, so they did not edify others. Without a translator, they edified the speaker of the tongue only. The gift of prophecy always edified because it was spoken in a language everyone understood. So, if speech edifies (whether it is a foreign tongue or a prophecy), then it is a language heard and understood. Tongues edified the speaker, so tongues were always understood by the person speaking them. That’s not true of people speaking tongues today. They often claim not to know what they said. So, they are not really “speaking in tongues.”
The miracle of speaking in tongues was not utterances only understood by God, but languages that people could understand—what we call foreign languages. Acts 2:4 says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Those who heard the apostles speaking in tongues were amazed. They evaluated what they heard. They said to each other, "Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?" (Acts 2:7-8).
Today we can look back on these two brothers, Tychicus and Onesimus, and learn from their good example of cooperation. Not everyone in the brotherhood is an Apostle Paul! We need plenty of Tychicus-types and Onesimus-types who will engage with our local congregations to do the Lord’s work. These men serve as a great example that the gospel is to be lived daily.
Paul described Tychicus as a “beloved brother,” “faithful minister,” “fellow servant,” and said that he would “comfort their hearts” (Ephesians 6:21-22, Colossians 4:7-8). The expression “beloved brother” shows Paul’s affection for Tychicus and communicated to the churches Paul’s relationship with him. “Faithful minister” was in reference to Tychicus ability to carry out the tasks that Paul assigned to him.
Having fellow laborers creates comradery and provides a source of encouragement and help. The apostle Paul had many fellow workers who aided his ministry. We see two of them in Colossians 4:7-9, Tychicus and Onesimus.
In the final analysis, all speech that is proud in its origins, that is, that does not acknowledge God as Lord over one’s speech, is sinful. This is the attitude of many in our country today. They claim that their tongue belongs to them, and they may use it however they see fit. They have forgotten that everything belongs to God, including our tongues. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.” The last part of that verse says, “and those who dwell therein.” That includes human beings.
The combination of evil and deceitful is important. It is not just the words that are wrong, but the intentions also. One may speak good, sweet, and pleasing words to others, but if those words have an evil intent behind them, God considers them deceitful and evil. Proverbs 26:24-26 says, “He who hates, disguises it with his lips, And lays up deceit within himself; When he speaks kindly, do not believe him, For there are seven abominations in his heart; Though his hatred is covered by deceit, His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.”
These words indulge the flesh and not to elevate the spirit. They are not gracious, edifying, or fruitful. We must avoid using these words. This prohibition covers any words that may be used for this purpose, whatever they might be. Words that refer to bodily waste would be included in this. Words that discuss the condemnation of another person are included—any word that refers to that which is corrupt, rotten, or putrid being used against another person or thing. This makes it a general prohibition that covers any are that we have not yet covered in this series of articles.
God did not want the children of Israel using His name for vows or oaths that they did not intend to keep. Numbers 30:2 says, “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” Using God’s name in association with an oath was a way of emphasizing that a person intended to complete his promise.
The common element in these three activities is talking about others behind their back. Psalm 15:3 makes it clear that the person who backbites does not dwell with God. Paul lists “backbiters” in Romans 1:30 among those who have rejected God. “Backbitings” is a sin that causes divisions (2 Corinthians 12:20). God will destroy the one who slanders his neighbor (Psalm 101:5), and Proverbs 26:20 says that where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.
Another area of forbidden speech is filthiness, foolish talking, and course jesting. Ephesians 5:3-4 says, “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” We used to call this telling “dirty jokes.” The context makes this clear. Discussing sexual matters in an inappropriate way is behavior not fitting for saints. It is sinful.
When we murmur, we create the false impression that we are doing something about the problem, but it does nothing to help. Murmuring is complaining with no intention of getting personally involved in the remediation; it is passive aggressive. What does that mean? It does not deal with things directly, but slinks around behind other peoples’ backs to create circumstances where someone else will do (for the murmurer) that for which he is murmuring. This is manipulative and sinful! In 1 Corinthians 10:10, the apostle Paul wrote, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.”
Murmuring is something that God forbids us to do, but we often do it anyway. Why? It’s a way to gratify the flesh. When we murmur, we create the false impression that we are doing something about the problem, but it does nothing to help. Murmuring is complaining with no intention of getting personally involved in the remediation; it is passive aggressive.