On Christian Speech

From "In the Spirit of Transparency" (2 parts)
August 28, 1998

As a Christian covenant community, we aspire to live in accord with the teachings of Jesus Christ. For this reason, our Covenant of Communion encourages us “to live beyond the demands of the Ten Commandments…(and to) respond by the internal propulsion of Grace in the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.” As His community of disciples, “we are called to Righteousness by loving God above all as the expression of our spiritual worship. We are called to Servanthood by loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, and our brothers and sisters in Christ as God loves us.”

The values of Righteousness and Servanthood help us live up to the two greatest commandments (Mark 12:30-31). In turn, these values are strengthened in us as we live our community norms. Our community norms “are dynamically progressive approximations of the Kingdom norms embodied in our highest ideal, Jesus Christ…they characterize the spirituality we advocate as a community of disciples.”

This week’s column begins a series on our community’s values and norms. Because of its crucial importance to our communion, we will start with our norm on speech. Paragraph 5.5 of the Covenant of Communion encourages our members to (1) Speak well of others; (2) Speak only the truth to others, with prudence and respect; and (3) Reject the idle talk and gossip, and admonish those who engage in them. In addition, paragraph 6 on community culture regarding speech (and wrongdoing) states: “…They do not speak ill of, or judge, others at any time even if what they are saying is true.”

Our tongues were made by God to praise and glorify Him, and to encourage and to upbuild His Church. In a community of love, there must be room only for Christian speech. For the untamed tongue could sow distrust and create havoc; it can divide and destroy the community. James 3:5-6, 8 says “…the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. ..It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

In the next issue, we will address some typical situations in the community where Christian speech could help prevent wrongdoing and thus foster a stronger bond of love and unity among the brethren.

“Whoever would love life and see good days must keep the tongue from evil and the lips from speaking deceit.” 1 Peter 3:10

Speak From The Goodness of Your Heart

"From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good person brings forth good out of a store of goodness, but an evil person brings forth evil out of a store of evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will render an account for every careless word they speak. By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned" Mt 12:34-37.

The above words of Christ say it all. In truth, we are all of unclean lips, doomed before the Lord without the purifying ember of the Holy Spirit (Is 6:5-7). Like Isaiah, we must submit our hearts and tongues to the control of His Spirit. In community, there are many situations that require us to guard our speech in order to avoid wrongdoing, glorify God and build up His church.

In our intercessory prayers, circle sharing, shepherding and witnessing, there are sharings of personal matters which would be injurious or embarrassing to the sharer if the listener were to repeat the information to third parties. Such information becomes gossip if repeated outside of the sharer's circle of trust. Our sharings are governed by our circle promises, which reflect our community's values and norms. We must live up to our promise of confidentiality.

Community is about relationships. Therefore, we can expect to experience both joy and pain in our relationships. Whenever we are offended or hurt by a brother or sister, we must promptly confront and correct that person in love. We would be guilty of wrongdoing ourselves if we directed our grievances to a third party instead of going directly to our offending brethren. We must live up to our promises of openness and truthfulness.

Because every member of the community is unique, we can expect differences in thinking and approach to arise. We would be causing division within the community if we were to criticize those brothers and sisters whom we differ with when they are not around. Instead we should question, confront and challenge them directly and in love. They in turn should be open to correction and not be defensive. We must be one in community and live up to our promises of openness and accountability.

Finally, we are a community of sinners. It is only by the grace of God that we have been redeemed through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. We can be righteous only in Christ. We will therefore see and experience shortcomings in our community. Since God will not condemn us, we too should not condemn nor judge nor speak ill of our brethren. Rather, we are commanded to love our brethren as Jesus loved us. This means we must accept them regardless of who they are, where they came from and what they say and do. Christian speech requires that we encourage each other and pray for one another as we live up to our promise of grace.