On Sunday nights this summer I have been preaching from Colossians 4:2-6 about how our everyday speech should be gospel-centered. Last night I shared something that I have been personally feeling convicted about for some time.
I want my speech to always be gracious and seasoned with the salt of the gospel. However, I find that there are certain topics and instances when gracious speech never flows from my mouth.
The problem for me is two-fold on two levels of my life. One is a symptom of something greater.
The symptom is that talking about Alabama and Auburn football at church gets me angry. It is not my intention to blame anyone else for these conversations. It is my heart problem. The reality though is that what many people consider good natured ribbing, really gets under my skin. So, I know that this is my problem. I cannot let myself get so angry and frustrated over such a worthless topic.
But this is just a symptom of a greater problem. This shows that football has become an idol for me. We defend vehemently what we treasure. And when I put more energy and passion into defending a sports team than I do in encouraging fellow believers when we gather for worship each week, then that shows that God is not my greatest treasure. It is really sad when Christians cannot talk about Christ even when we are “at church.”
This leads me back to the original point… I will have consistently gracious, gospel-saturated speech when God is truly my treasure. So, for me to commit to gracious speech means I need to commit to valuing Christ above all else. This is especially needed on Sundays. There is nothing sacred about Sunday worship except that it is the only time when the whole church gathers. And for a couple of short hours each week we come together to make Christ supreme in our lives as a united body… theoretically at least.
So, as a pastor, I need to lead the way in obeying Colossians 4:6. For me that means that football is out as a conversation topic, especially on Sundays. This is not to be legalistic. This is because I want to gather with my church and exalt my Savior in everything we say and do. I want to be intentional in my conversations in order to point people to Christ.
I hope you will join me in treasuring Christ and allowing the grace of Christ to be evident in our speech.
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