Have you ever been told that? How did it make you feel? Good? Probably not…Have you ever said that to someone? How do you think it make them feel? Good?
Here’s a picture of the king of sarcasm, The Diceman. “Who invited chew inta my life anywaysa?”
You grew to just love him didn’t you… right. He just keeps at it, and keeps at it until you feel 2” tall. Now I got to admit, when he first came on the scene, I rolled over laughing. Sometimes I about peed my pants I was laughing so hard. Then I recognized the jabs, they started to sound too familiar, too close to home. I could hear ugliness, mean spiritedness, the sarcasm jabs started to hurt.
When our intention is to make someone look bad or feel bad while making ourselves look or feel better, God’s Word says it’s wrong. Philippians 2:3 (MSG) says ”If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”
You carry with you a loaded weapon…your mouth, it has the ability to do major damage, even minor damage is harmful. Ever watch a boxing match, a jab here, a jab there, more jabs here, more jabs there, on and on. Sometimes it seems like a this sparring match is going nowhere when out of thin air one more jab and one of them goes down. What happened? “Hey this fight is fixed!” someone yells out because they didn’t see the fatal blow. “Looser!” is shouted out from someone else. Oh, there was a knock out all right, the jab jab jab, jab jab jab took its toll and no one saw it coming. As humans we can only take so much.
Nobody is immune from this, myself included. We all occasionally make comments in a mild, sarcastic or facetious manner, without intending to hurt others. Sometimes, these comments can lighten a tense moment or even cause others around us to laugh. Let’s look at what Jesus’s brother James has to say about this…James 3:2 ” Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect…” then in v5-6 He continues with “In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.”
Everyone handles the little verbal jabs differently. Please don’t think that because they don’t affect you they aren’t effecting someone else. So often the “rolling eyes” or slight side shake of the head or turn of your mouth in disapproval are jabs to the soul.
By the way... this goes right along with what Pastor Rob is talking about right now at Southbrook. Read some of it here.
True wisdom comes from God. Trusting that The Father loves us so much that He sent his only begotten Son to die a horrible death on the cross for us, so that we never have to sacrifice anyone else ever again. When we use our tongues or body language as jabs, that is what we may be doing, sacrificing someone. That then becomes their cross to bare.
James 3:13-18 finishes with, “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”
Psalm 5:9 describes those whose “throat is an open sepulcher,” and Jesus Christ said, in Luke 6:45, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
Ultimately, we must all follow Christ’s admonition in Luke 6:31: “And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise.” In other words, we must always be considerate of others, treating them the way we would want to be treated. This includes the way we speak to them. You will be known as much by your words as by your actions, so choose your words wisely.
Laughter is a blessing, jabs eventually cause pain. You are a witness to others of God's love in your life. Put your gloves down and give the people around you that you love, the people that look up to you, see Jesus, not Diceman Jr.
