Words

Here we are one more time. I love doing this. Hope you love listening to it. This is dick-foath with stories to make sense of it all. And have several stories in this podcast that I hope you will find interesting. One of which is right in the middle of the podcast. Because I'm going to play for you a message, again from National Community Church back in 2014 in Washington, DC, a message that speaks to the power of language or the power of words. Now the last time we were together, I talked about the five ways that we tend to deal with conflict. And a lot of times what causes conflict or gets us into it is language that we use, intonation that we use, and all of that. This particular message that I spoke in the middle of it, I used a piece of video from Ubicity High School some years ago. They had what they call a challenge day. Ubicity is in Northern California. And again, like the school I talked about last week in the Central Valley of California in Los Bannes, they had challenges with some racial conflicts. And they got together, they got the young people together in the gym. And they had them do an exercise. I won't describe it to you here, but you'll catch the essence of it in the middle of the message as you listen. So listen away, I'll be back in a few. On it speak to you this weekend about words. Washington is broad boulevards, it's flowering trees, it's magnificent monuments, it's power, it's money and words, gazillions of words. They have what the media folks call the chattering class, you have white papers, you have policy papers, you have debates, you have a congressional record, you have the Washington Post, you have USA Today, you have journals, you have magazines, we have blogs, what is it with words? I was in a unnamed department store in Colorado the other day. A boy, three years old or so, threw himself on the floor in a tantrum. If you're a parent, one of your worst moments, because they say just ignore it, well you can ignore it, but 73 other people are not ignoring that. And the mother said, Johnny, stand up and use your words. I know you're expressing yourself, but we can't decipher that, well we know you're ticked. But we don't, how we communicate is with words, words are express personality, who I am, what I think, what I feel, and the tone I use makes all the difference. You've heard me say this before, if you've been around very long, one way of saying I love you is I love you, the other way of saying I love you is I love you. Some words, different tone, totally different meaning, when I was a young pastor, just starting to speak, just doing this. I was trying to find my own voice, if you will, and that was back in the day when Billy Graham was big and all of that. And I grew up in a more revivalistic atmosphere where the preachers were, like that, and blessed God, he sounded like this, you know, that's how they sounded. But some of us grew up in a more liturgical background where God sounds like this. But what if God just sounded like this, like every day? We make up slogans with words, we make up branding ideas with words, you put words to music, we call them lyrics, there are rhymes from our childhood that we remember, Jack Benimble, Jack B. Quickness, some of your younger, you don't remember that one, but how about Mary had a little lamb? Its fleece was white as snow and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. Words are used to give directions, sit down, stand up, do whatever it is. Back a hundred and some years ago in the Welsh Revivals when this sweep of God came across the country of Wales, I mean it just mesmerized the whole country and they had a problem in the minds because all of these tough miners with the bad mouths were coming to Jesus, they came to Jesus, he changed their words and it impacted production because the mules wouldn't move without those other words that they used to use. Some of us are more wordy than others, like I'm a kind of person who processes out loud. So I find out what I'm thinking as I speak, our eldest daughter, one day said, Dad, I think you like the feel of words in your mouth. There are great words in this town, one of my favorite places when I lived here for 15 years was to take friends late at night to the Lincoln Memorial and when you're standing looking at that seated statue of Lincoln on your left are these words, four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Those were spoken on November 19th, 1863. On March the 4th, 1865 this set of words, the second inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln were spoken some say the second inaugural may be the finest writing ever in the English language. And five weeks later he was dead. So why would John, the gospel writer, start his story, the story of Jesus this way? In the beginning was the word the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. Now the readers or the listeners to that in John's day, John the Apostles day, would be Jewish in Greek essentially and for the Jewish person it harked back to the Old Testament where word personifies God's revelation. The word of the Lord came through Ezekiel, et cetera. If you had a Greek worldview you understood that the Logos or the word was the bridge between this transcendental plane and the material world. But we still ask the question, why would John use the word to characterize Jesus? John Piper talks about it this way, John calls Jesus the word because he had come to see the words of Jesus as the truth of God and the person of Jesus as the truth of God in such a unified way that Jesus himself in his coming and working and teaching and dying and rising, the stuff we just sang about, okay, was the final and decisive message of God. This is the message of God. He's the vibrant, vital word, words and deeds together were the message. His words clarified himself and his work. So later on in that same prologue of John, John 114 in the Gospel of John it says, and the word became flesh and dwell among us. Now next week I want to talk to you about that. The word is not just words on a page, it's expressed in humanity and when you talk about somebody's presence speaking to you, you say just being in the room with her spoke something to me. There is something that was transformational in being in that presence next week. I want to speak to you about that. But for now let's talk about Jesus the word and how that affects my words. I were to draw a triangle like this if I had a board up here so you have to imagine. This is where imagination kicks in. This is Jesus the word and He gives us language. He gives us the capacity to use words to express ideas and feelings and thought and sometimes depend on how they're used. They can be weapons or they can be keys. Those are the two observations I want to reflect on tonight. We know about words as weapons. We know what sarcasm feels like. I was raised in an atmosphere sometimes where sarcasm was the style of choice. The problem with sarcasm is supposed to be funny but it's usually only funny to the person using it. It's the lowest form of humor and only one guy is laughing. Look at how James speaks about words and the tongue. For we all stumble, this is James 3. For we all stumble in many ways and if anyone doesn't stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man. Able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. He goes on to talk about the tongue or how we speak as the rudder of the ship, how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire. The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life. It goes on to talk about what happens when the tongue is not bridled, when I just letter rip, if you will. We use words to intimidate, to defend, to put somebody else off balance. That's the way men and women use words differently, and this is not an absolute categorization, but generally this is common, that men will tend to tell you first of all what they think. Women oftentimes will tell you first of all what they feel and in marriage, that gets to be a huge problem. I tell people, like in early marriage, if you get into a tiff or a snit or a fight or Christian discussion, whatever you want to call it, I say to guys, be careful, because generally she's felt these things, she's going to say to you, and again, this isn't categorical, it doesn't mean that guys don't have feelings or that some of the women are saying, well, that's what I thought. The point is this, that when you have these exchanges between men and women a lot of times, she'll be speaking what she feels, and he'll just be saying his thoughts, so she's felt this for like 10 months, and in the heat of the moment, she says this deep thing, and he thinks it's a thought, and he goes, oh, okay, just goes on by, and he says this thing, and she's destroyed, because she thinks he's felt that for 10 months, and he just thought of it 20 seconds ago, it seemed like a good line, I'll just toss that out there, see how that works, just a little defensive deal, okay? Weapons are dishing units, words as weapons dis you, they cause dis ease, disconnect, discomfort, disgrace, they disable, they disrespect, they disengage, they disassemble, they disallow, sometimes they disembowel, I was raised in this British school, and I was a kid, I've told you that a dozen times, they used to have this saying, sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never what, how many of you believe that? Of course not, that's ridiculous, words can eviscerate you, when I was president of small college, I kept this piece of prose from Carl Sandberg under a piece of glass on my desk, it's called Primer Lesson, reads like this, look out how you use proud words. When you let proud words go, it is not easy to call them back, they wear long boots, hard boots, they walk off proud, they can't hear you calling. Look out how you use proud words. There is no place where words as weapons show up more, I think, than in high school. High school is brutal, we're in cliques, we're got popular people over here, you got that group, those are the jocks and those are the drama, I mean we just segregate ourselves. The group of city high school California, sometime back, they had what they called a challenge day and some folks came in to say, how you see another group of people and how you use words to describe them, probably doesn't help, and here's what happened. Once again, the way this activity works is going to call out different groupings. If a groupingly call applies to you, you'll cross over the line, go as far as you can without sitting in the chairs on the other side, then we want you to breathe, just notice how it feels to cross the line. Because every time you step across this line, you're going to step into a group that has less privilege, less power, and can sometimes be abused physically or emotionally, simply for being who they are. Please cross the line, if you ever felt hurt or judged because the color of your skin. And please cross the line if you've ever been teased or hurt because somebody thought you were fat or too big. Where did we learn to judge people's bodies? Where did we learn to be so mean? Please cross the line if you've ever been humiliated in a classroom by teacher or student. And please cross the line if you've ever been teased or hurt for wearing the glasses, braces, a hearing aid for the ways that you talked, for the clothes that you wore, or for the shape size or the appearance of your body. That's how easy it is for us all to come together. Today we want you to see you're never really alone. It's like a habit, just making fun of each other and seeing something that comes as natural, something I never thought about. There are people who actually start opening their eyes and seeing that they're not alone in some things. They start seeing through somebody else's eyes. I came here today thinking that it was just a way to get out of a day of school and being here showed me that there's a lot more to it and that there's a lot more to the people at our school. Right now I don't feel like more or less than anybody here and that's where the person I thought had a lot. I thought that a lot of people weren't going to get up, you know, just kind of be like, hey, you know, I like challenge day, whatever that. A lot of people got in depth and got what was ever on their chest, you know, out. I see you and I see me and I don't see too much difference now. I don't know if I've ever worn the same pants and the same shoes. Boy difference. I said, no, that's not my pocket. It's a different color rag. I've started seeing that rag. I've started seeing that rag. I've started seeing that rag. I don't even know what to say. I was a little scary. I didn't think that the kids would respond at all to it or that it would make a difference. That it proved me wrong. I know I got picked on. I took it out on other people, one of them was flingling. Franklin. Franklin. And I've done it myself. And I'm sorry for it. I am not truly understanding the power of words that I can here. I'm not truly sorry to the millions of people that I've picked on. Unbelievable amount. I didn't even realize how today, in hell. I must have used expression here. Yeah, Franklin. Oh my God. I am a truly embarrassed and deeply sorry former. I think my teeth and lips are done. Even the adults need to apologize, including the assistant principal, who's also a parent. I've always provided myself with being able to be the strong one. And I stand here in front of all of you, sharing my weaknesses here. Two best days of my life were June 23rd, 1983. And on that day, I was blessed with a beautiful son. And I thought I was going to be the best foreign mom. And I have found that I've been a lot of things to cause him pain in his life. Jake, I'm so sorry. I love you so much. I don't know how to reach out to you. I don't know how to show you what care. But I'm going to keep trying and keep walking because no matter what. That day is extremely special to me and to you. I love you very much. To see grownups like that, maybe realize that parents had to go through it. You know, they were just like us. They were just teenagers like us. Words can be weapons. Words can be keys to unlock our doors. Keys aren't, don't have disinfront of them. They have things like n in front of them, like engage, enhance, encourage, enable, enrich, enfold, encircle, energize. In Proverbs, there's this wonderful thought in the first Proverb verse 8. Here, my son, your father's instruction for sake, not your mother's teaching. For they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. Words that grace us, words that affirm us, live at the core of how we feel about ourselves. And all of us have words and thoughts and feelings. We frame them in words and we get to choose which way we use them. Maya Angelou, poet, laureate of the United States, who died this year at 86. There was this wonderful quote from her that said, I've learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Gus Lee, who was raised in a poor neighborhood, Chinese kid in San Francisco, grew up to be an army officer, went on to teach at West Point, wrote a book called Courage, the backbone of leadership. And then there he says 85% of organizational success depends on communication, how we talk to each other. 70% of all organizational errors come from poor communication or poor listening. We recall only 17% of what we hear. You'll only recall 17% of what I say this weekend. You'll only recall maybe not even for 24 hours. But what you felt here, you will recall 80%. I recall 80% of what I feel. How do you feel when the creator of the universe, this Jesus that we have praised this weekend? How do you feel when he says to you, I have come that you might have life and have it overflowing. Have it more abundantly. How does that make you feel? I'm saying I'm in. I want that. Or this. Come to me. All you all who labor and are heavy laden. And I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly and heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. His words unlock my doors. Because that's true. What he tells me is true. When somebody teases me or cuts me down, the odds are 95% of the time. None of that's true. It's defensive. It's weaponry. But when he speaks to me, he doesn't speak to me like that. He speaks to me to build me up at the core so that I can have life. And that more abundantly. How many of you here can remember a coach that said, you were in sports, you have what it takes, just work at it. Or an adult who says to a child, I love being where you are. Like I love being in the same room. Sometimes truth brings life even if it's a little hard on us. Like the boss who says, you have a great work ethic and enthusiasm, but your gifts and this position aren't a fit. Let's find a better place for you to fit better. You say like, is that getting fired? Well, maybe. But for a good boss, he works at finding that better fit. He could say you're just an idiot or you don't do it right. And people never forget how that makes them feel. When I was a president at this small college, we did a thing one time with small groups and we had students in and a faculty member in each one. And I was sitting in each of these. And we ran around the circle and each person described the other person in terms of an animal in the good ways. And you had to describe yourself in terms of an animal. And I described myself as a monkey. Because monkeys are social creatures. They live in clusters and trees. They're familial. They have some view. I said, but I'm a monkey. They would very much like to be an eagle. Everybody else in the group described me. And I was young. I was probably young by my standards. I was probably 38 in president of this college. And it came to the fact everybody in the group described me as a lion. Because I was president of the school. But the faculty member said, I think you're a lion. But I see you. Now you have to understand the context here. I like to be liked. When you like to be liked, which is sort of a variation maybe on the fear of man. When you like to be liked, sometimes you don't confront situations in ways you should. And when you're an institutional life, you have to confront. You can do it gently, but you have to confront. And that wasn't my benton. He said, I see you as a lion, but I see you as the lion in the Wizard of Oz. You're a cowardly lion. You're a lion who doesn't know he's a lion. That day changed me. Because he spoke the truth. He spoke it in a gentle manner. But it was a word of life to me. I'll always be tilted toward like to be liked. But the fact is in certain situations you have to be other ways. I love this story. Mary Ann Bird writes this. I grew up knowing I was different. I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate. And when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others. A little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth and garbled speech. When schoolmates asked what happened to your lip, I tell them I'd fall and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me. There was however a teacher in the second grade who we all adored. Mrs. Leonard by name, she was short, round, happy. A sparkly lady. Annually we had a hearing test. Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class and finally it was my turn. I knew from my past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something and we would have to repeat it back. Things like the sky is blue or do you have new shoes? I waited for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said in her whisper, I wish you were my little girl. Seven words changed a whole life. A couple of Monday nights ago I was here in DC. There were some senior citizens from our part of the country. They were like old people that were coming through. And they asked me to bring somebody to meet them from the political arena. I brought a former congressman, former ambassador, and his buddy who used to be here representing a state. And they told about them being prayer partners. And they said we would go meet, go to meet with leaders of nations. And the congressman said I would have the conversation and my friend would be over there and he'd just be sitting there. And finally he would say, the president of the prime minister would say what is he doing? Who is he? And he'd say he's my prayer partner. He'd say what is he doing? Well he's praying. And he'd say well for what? He said he's praying for you in the name of Jesus. And then they'd have a conversation. Because words to God, we call that prayer. The next morning I brought a retired three-star general who's rolled up the Pentagon now is to honor Vietnam veterans. This is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. And so many of those men and women came home and respite on. Because that was not a good war, if you will, not that any would be good. But that one. And he just said to the veterans in the room, on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for serving. And there were tears and people hugged him. The word did not come to give us words as weapons. We already know how to do that. The word came to give us life-giving words. That when we speak them, it speaks life into people. For six years here in Washington DC, I would go many days to sit with the United States Senator who would have a devotional before work hours. And we'd read Scripture. We'd exchange observations about that Scripture, and then we'd pray. At the end of every session, these are the words that he said. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Would you say those words with me? Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. One more time. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Let's pray. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts as we go this week, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Help us to know that every time we open our mouths, we can speak life, we can speak your words because the word is in us. In Jesus' name, amen. I just have to tell you that every time I watch and listen to that piece from Ubersity High School, I am deeply, deeply moved. What happens when people tell the truth with support of how they feel about certain things and how they respond to it can be tremendously freeing? That being said, this fellow who has lots of words is going to stop using them. I'm just going to sign off now and say, I look forward to our time together next week. God bless. Catch you later. Bye-bye. You