SPEAK WITH GRACE!

^“1 Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also

have a Master in heaven. ² Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with

thanksgiving; ³meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door

for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, ⁴that I

may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. ⁵Walk in wisdom toward those who are

outside, redeeming the time. ⁶Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt,

that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

There is much that could be written about this passage, but I want to focus on verse 6 in which we are commanded to “let your speech be always with grace”. This is a subject that is not given much consideration. However, if we are to be like our Lord and Savior Yeshua, we need to learn to speak gracious words. But what are gracious words? And how do we learn to speak them? These are some of the things that we will explore here. It should also be pointed out that our speech is to be “seasoned with salt”. One of the meanings of this is that our words are to be truthful. Salt is a preservative and we are to preserve the truth with our words. But my purpose here will be to discuss the importance of having gracious words.

A. GOD SPEAKS GRACE TO US

Grace is a word that we hear often, but what exactly does it mean? Before we can learn to speak gracious words, we first must have a basic understanding of what grace is. Throughout the New Testament writings, wherever the word grace is used, the Greek word that is being translated is charis, which means “acceptable, benefit, favor, gift, grace, joy, liberality, pleasure, thankworthy”. In the beginning of the Gospel of John, we are told:

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld

His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

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¹⁶And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷For the law was

given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

(John 1:14,16)

From the foregoing, we learn that grace is part of the very essence of our Heavenly Father, as well as His Son and our Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). When we take a close look at the meaning of charis, we see that it describes how Yeshua demonstrated the Father’s love towards mankind. I believe that in

the following passage, Yeshua expressed the grace of God beautifully:

“¹⁸"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
¹⁹To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.

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²²So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the

gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.”

(Luke 4:18-19; 22)

From this passage, we see that the gracious words that Yeshua spoke concerned such things healing, freedom from oppression, being set free from captivity and forgiveness of sins. He proclaimed that all were welcome to come to God through Him. Yeshua announced that all who came to Him-regardless of the sins they had committed-would be accepted by Him. Further evidence of His grace can be seen in the following verse:

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,

but that the world through Him might be saved.”

(John 3:17)

What could be more gracious than this? God is not looking to condemn anyone. That is why He sent His Son Yeshua to die for our sins. That is why Yeshua could proclaim the “acceptable year of the Lord”. In the Law of Moses, the “acceptable year of the Lord” was the Year of Jubilee, which came every 50 years, starting on the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 25:8-34). In this year, all debts were forgiven, and any property lost through debt forfeiture was returned to the original owner or his family. It was a year in which the oppressed were set free. In other words, it was a year in which the captives were set free and restored. It was a time of great rejoicing. So when Yeshua proclaimed the “acceptable year of the Lord”, He was saying that He was releasing us from the greatest debt of all-the sin debt-and was restoring us to our Heavenly Father. Along with setting us free from sin, Yeshua also set us free from oppression-the bondage caused by sin. He was proclaiming a time of great rejoicing. There could be no greater expression of grace than this!

In another passage, Yeshua God’s grace as follows:

²⁸Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

(Matthew 11:28-30)

Here we see that Yeshua’s words were words of invitation and acceptance for all who are weary. All are invited, without exception. Truly these are gracious words.

The Apostle Paul elaborated further on the grace expressed in Yeshua in his letter to the believers in Ephesus:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed

us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He

chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy

and without blame before Him in love, ⁵having predestined us to adoption

as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according

to the riches of His grace ⁸which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence…”

(Ephesians 1:2-8)

Do you see how grace speaks to the good things God desires to do for all of His children? God’s gracious words speak to forgiveness, acceptance, love, joy, peace, healing, blessing and His wonderful plans for us throughout all eternity. There is so much more that could be said about God’s grace. But my purpose here is to understand what kind of gracious words Yeshua was speaking. For if we are to learn how to speak gracious words, we must first have an example of Someone Who spoke gracious words. Now that we have seen how Yeshua demonstrated-by His words-the grace of God, let us now see how we might learn to speak gracious words like He did.

II. SPEAK GRACIOUS WORDS

Since Yeshua spoke gracious words, He expects all of His followers to speak gracious words. He not only expects us to speak gracious words-He commands us to do so.

I think Psalm 45:2, which is a prophecy about the Messiah, perfectly describes the character of Yeshua’s speech:

“You are fairer than the sons of men;

Grace is poured upon your lips;

Therefore God has blessed you forever.”

Since we are new creations in the Messiah (see II Corinthians 5:17), God wants to pour grace upon our lips. He wants us to speak the same gracious words that Yeshua spoke. Since we are His earthly representatives, we can only truly represent Him when we allow Him to pour His grace upon our lips and speak His gracious words through us. But how far short have we all fallen from speaking His gracious words! But there is hope! Through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, all believers can learn to speak the same gracious words that Yeshua spoke. We can learn to speak words that are not only filled with comfort and encouragement, but we can learn to speak powerful words that set people free from the strongholds that hold them in bondage.

The first thing we must learn to do before we can speak gracious words is that we must stop speaking corrupt words. As it says in Ephesians 4:29-30:

“²⁹Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good

for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed

for the day of redemption.”

The Greek word translated as corrupt is sapros and means “rotten, worthless, bad, corrupt”.

We all have said things that can be described as rotten, haven’t we? We have all made worthless statements. All of us have sad bad things to others. None of us are exempt. And why is this so? In James 3:6-8, we are told why:

“⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among

our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of

nature; and it is set on fire by hell. ⁷For every kind of beast and bird, of

reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

⁸But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Unless we can learn to tame our tongues, we will continue to spew out corrupt words which do anything but minister grace to the hearers. We will continue to be inconsistent in our speech, sometimes speaking corrupt words, and other times speaking gracious words (see James 3:9-10). If no man can tame the tongue, then what hope is there? Thank God that He has given us the Holy Spirit, Who imparts to us the ability to tame our tongues. So while no person can tame his own tongue, the Holy Spirit can empower us to do so. As we yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to develop the fruit of the Spirit in our lives-love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)-we will see a decrease in our utterance of corrupt words and a continual increase in our speaking of gracious words. So while we, in our own power, cannot tame our own tongues, as Yeshua said: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)

Next, if we are to speak words that minister grace to the hearers, we need to ask the Lord to pour His grace into our lips. As I stated above, the Lord wants to pour His grace into our lips. But we have to ask Him to do so. Something I do is that at the beginning of each day, I ask the Lord to pour His grace into my lips.

Lastly, I want to give some practical examples of ways in which we can speak gracious words that minister grace to the hearers. This is not an all-inclusive list, but it meant to cover the major areas where we can apply this truth:

1) Speak words of encouragement-When someone is feeling downtrodden, speak words of encouragement and hope to help lift his spirits

2) Speak words of faith-If you see a brother or sister facing a difficult challenge-physical, financial, spiritual-speak words which remind them of the promises in God’s word that apply to their situation.

3) Speak words of kindness-There is nothing like a kind word to a person who is feeling down on himself and worthless. Words of kindness will help him to see that he has self-worth and that you value him as a person.

4) Speak words of love-If you can’t say it with love, don’t say it!

5) Speak words of healing-When you encounter a brother or sister who is physically or emotionally ill, speak words of healing to them.

6) Speak words of truth-Sometimes the most gracious thing you can do for a person is to point them to the truth.

7) Speak words of holiness-If we are to be holy as our Father in Heaven is holy, that certainly includes our conversation. Say goodbye to dirty and off-color jokes, swear words and sarcasm (especially sarcasm, which can be very cruel).

8) Speak words of comfort-When a brother or sister is in mourning or in some kind of mental or emotional turmoil, nothing can compare to words of comfort.

9) Speak words of joy-In the depressing times in which we live, we all need to hear joyful words on a regular basis.

10) Speak words of hope-All of us need to be reminded of the hope that we have in Yeshua both now, and in the world to come.

11) Speak words of victory-We all feel defeated from time to time. At such times, we need to be reminded of the promises of victory that are contained in the Word of God.

12) Speak words of freedom-Many people are in bondage to one thing or another. By the wisdom which the Holy Spirit gives us, we can speak Scripturally based words that will help set people free from the things that bind them.

13-Speak words of peace-To the soul that is experiencing turmoil, how wonderful it is to hear words of peace.

Are you beginning to see what power there is in speaking gracious words? Simply put, God uses gracious words as a major avenue for the release of His love, truth and power. If you make it your business to learn to speak gracious words, you are in for an exciting adventure in the Lord. The Holy Spirit will begin to pour God’s grace into your lips and He will start to teach you how to use your tongue in new and exciting ways as an instrument of His. The true measure of how much you are being conformed to the image of Yeshua is by how gracious your speech is. One of the main ways to learn to speak gracious words is to study the four Gospels and take special note as to how Yeshua spoke. This will help you learn to speak gracious words like He did. It will give the Holy Spirit material to work with.

The Apostle Paul instructed us to “be imitators of God as dear children (Ephesians 5:1). There can be no better way to “imitate” God than to live a life filled with gracious words. Amen.