“Speaking the T--r--u-t--h” - Pastor Hines January 15, 2022

 

“Speaking the T--r--u-t--h” - Pastor Hines

January 15, 2022

A 4-year-old boy who was asked to pray for the Christmas dinner. The family members bowed their heads in expectation. He began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one. Then he thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister, Grandma, Grandpa, and all his aunts and uncles. Then he began to thank God for the food. He gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the fruit salad, the cranberry sauce, the pies, the cakes, even the Cool Whip. Then he paused, and everyone waited--and waited. After a long silence, the young fellow looked up at his mother and asked, "If I thank God for the broccoli, won't he know that I'm lying?"

That is a wise child! He did not want to tell a lie. Children first learn to tell lies around the age of three. They have begun to figure out that you can’t read their mind, you certainly do not know everything and do not have eyes in the back of your head. So, they think they can fool you. Sometimes they do. A study out of the University of Waterloo observing children in their own homes found that 96 percent of young children lie at some point. Four-year-olds lie, on average, every two hours, and six-year-olds lie, on average, every hour. ... Lying requires sophisticated thinking. One study of 1000 people suggested that teenagers lie the most. Judge Judy often says that we know teenagers are lying when they open up their mouth. I’m sure she’s exaggerating a bit.

If we have not learned already, the truth has a way of setting us free. The truth leads to righteousness and right living. Lies can put us and everyone around us at risk. Truth matters. Good words matter.

Growing up my mom would often say, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.” Well, the prophet Isaiah says in the first verse of our text that he will not keep silent, so he must have something good to say. Isaiah knows it is time to speak up and break the silence.

This is just the opposite of the verse in Habakkuk 2.20 that declares “The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.”  

Of course, silence is not just about words, it’s an attitude. Richard Foster a member of the Friend (Quaker) community, in his book Celebration of Discipline notes “If we are silent when we should speak, we are not living in the Discipline of silence. If we speak when we should be silent, we again miss the mark.

What is it that a godly person should say? Of course, the words that should come out of the mouths of those who walk with God should be words that build others up. The words that come out of the mouths of Christians should be words that honor God and bless the people and bless this world that God has created. Our words should be words that not only uplift, but show gratitude, praise, encouragement, and comfort. There is a wonderful new song that says “I will praise God in this storm.”  It echoes Psalm 92 which says “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, to sing and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High.”

Good and holy words are like anchors that stabilize us in our journey of faith. When we are navigating troubled waters, good and holy words help us to hold on until the storm is gone. Praising God with our words in a storm is a great way to start this year. Verse 1 the prophet says that he must speak because his speaking brings a light. He says speaking Godly words brings a vindication that shines like the dawn. Godly speech brings a salvation whose light is as bright as a burning torch. We all need light. We all need to see where God is leading us. We need vindication from injustices. We need salvation from wickedness. We need the light of God all the time, at every turn.

There is no need to keep our praises to God and our truth and our holy words silent!! Before I became a preacher, I learned a very, very good pastoral tip from a lay woman. We were talking during a break in a workshop and she began to express her strong feelings about preachers in general. I will never forget that she said, “Preachers talk too much.” It can be true that preachers can get a little long winded. We are a work in progress and often get told the sermon is too long. We go too far sometime, but that may be a little better than being silent!

Jeremiah was God’s spokesperson who thought about what would happen if he decided to keep silent. “If I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” If he did not speak up and speak out, Jeremiah knew he would be restless, uncomfortable, and unable to remain silent.

You may have heard our District Superintendent tell the story of how she stood up in a meeting and volunteered to invite people to worship. No one else spoke but she could not keep silent. Someone snarled to her from the back of the meeting something like, “Sit down and shut up.” Her feelings were hurt, but the Holy Spirit brought success to the things for which she volunteered. It is good that she spoke up to honor God.

Jesus said it well in Luke 19, if the people don’t praise God, the rocks will cry out. Or as Isaac Watt’s song “Joy to the World” exclaims, “Let “Heaven and nature sing!!” It is good that ALL of God’s creation praise God. At least three things happen when we praise God? First of all, our attitude of praise and thanksgiving affects all of our relationships in a miraculous way.  

Words can create anything. With a word God spoke creation into existence. We have power to use our words to create an atmosphere of love, to create wholeness where there is brokenness, to create peace when there is confusion.

Goldie and Abraham Plotkin conduct lectures on the Five Love Languages from the Hassidic Jewish perspective. Goldie tells the story of a couple clearly in love walking down the street together. Suddenly a man approaches them and greets the wife in a warm and friendly manner. As they keep walking, the husband asks, “Who was that fellow?” The wife answers, “That was Jacob Goldman. We used to date years ago. The husband says to his wife, “Aren’t you glad that you married me because I am the prime minister and he is a regular guy?” His wife replies, “If I had married him, he would have become the prime minister instead of you.” She had confidence that the words she carefully shared by the grace of God had created a great leader. 

A second thing that happens when we humble ourselves and give thanks and praise to God is that the Lord draws near. Psalm 22 says the Lord inhabits the praises of the people. As we are made in God’s image, we too want to live where there is praise and appreciation. Seeing each other with eyes of praise helps us to see the best in one another without overlooking the places we need to improve and repent. Praise and appreciation help us to be the best we can be.

Our lives are showered with blessings. Children flourish when they are nurtured and praised and appreciated for their efforts, for their ministry, for their giftedness. When we see our children flourish and become good people, it is because they have been nurtured. They have been praised and showers of blessings happen whenever there is praise.

Thirdly, praise brings the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not weak and helpless because God gives us the power of a Holy Spirit inside of us. Praising God ushers in that power. As Ernie Arnold a Nazarene preacher put it: Praise destroys walls. It tears down the walls of frustration, the walls of failure, the walls of self-shame, the walls of loss and the walls of sadness…praise is a destroyer of negativity. It takes things down and it builds things up. It takes down the enemy and it builds up your confidence in the Lord. It magnifies your vision of Jesus. It makes things new and possible. It cries out victory and it sings of the love and blessings of the Lord. Praise is a game-changer. 

When we speak the truth in love, when we refuse to be silent when God is to be praised and the people of God are to be uplifted, verse 4 says we are no longer azubah – the Hebrew word for forsaken.  We are no longer deserted. Instead, we become hephzibah – the Hebrew word meaning the one that God delights in, the one with whom God is in covenantal relationship. The one verse 5 says God rejoices over like a groom rejoices over his bride.  May we speak now and never hold our peace when it comes to speaking the truth in love and for praising our wonderful and loving God. May be go from azubah to hephzibah today and forever. Amen!