Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

“Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.” – (Ecclesiastes 5:1-3)

We did not have to read long this morning to find a very simple and practical truth from the Word of God. The verses above deal with our words, but particularly in the context of the words that we say in the house of God. Notice the Scripture is clear that we are to be more ready to hear than to hear than to speak, especially when it comes to speaking to God. I think the next few verses (vs. 4 – 7) shed a little bit more light on the context of this passage. We need to be very careful about the things that we vow to God. Last year’s post – “Promises, Promises” – dealt specifically with the subject of vows.

This morning, however, I want to think more about the tendency that we have to alk too much. There are so many verses in the Scripture that teach us regarding the use of our words. I will not take the time to list all of them here. I am sure that most us are pretty familiar with them, anyway. But I do want us to be challenged to be careful about what we say. Much of what comes out of our mouths is useless drivel, not really profitable for anything. I am not saying that there is not a place for small talk and pleasantries; but I do thing more thought should be given to what we say.

Here are some things that we should think about before we open our mouths:

1  Will it be profitable to those we are addressing, building them up?

2  Will it glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, or are we attempting to lift up ourselves?  I find that many of us like to talk about ourselves, and say things that make ourselves look good.

3  Will it hurt those that we are speaking too? I understand that we need to speak the truth in love, but our motivation ought not be to hurt people, but rather to help them.

There are many things that I would like to say regarding this, but it would be a violation of the principle. Let the Word of God speak for itself, and let our words be few, unless we are sure that we are actually saying things that God would be pleased with.