Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
We live in one of the least populated counties in the entire state of Minnesota. Sometimes on a weekend, on a quiet summer evening, we can hear the sound of gunfire out in the woods. I tend to perk up my ears and take notice when somebody completely unloads their entire clip in just a few seconds. As fast as they possibly can, they pull that trigger and empty all of their ammo onto a target.
This always reminds me of the Christian Life.
The tongue can be a loaded gun, hurling a clipful of abusive, insulting and malicious language, except this time it’s aimed at a live target…….you!
Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,…..
Revile means to attack someone with abusive language or criticize in an abusive or insulting manner. Revile implies a scurrilous, abusive attack prompted by anger, hatred and malice toward the other person. We are called to love one another, and hatred is the mark of the devil.
John 15:18-20 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Malice is the intention or desire to do evil; or the desire to do bad things to another person, such as hating someone and wanting to seek revenge. Malice is intentionally performing a wrongful act with intention to harm or deprive another in an illegal or immoral way. It’s the desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another, and being deliberately mean. Reviling a brother is external evidence of an inward hatred and bitterness towards them.
1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Timothy was commanded to rebuke the church sharply. Jesus rebuked numerous religious leaders who got offended at His corrections. To revile someone is completely different than a strong rebuke. When you verbally attack someone, calling them names and saying mean things, this is what it means to revile. Individuals who are arrogant will often look for ways to revile those that they view as beneath them. When someone is reviled, people hate them intensely and show their hatred of them by unloading their abusive and expletive-laced language at them. They misuse the tongue to malign others. It’s not beneficial speech, and is only meant to hurt the other in an abusive manner. The tongue of some people can be filled with poison like a snake, ready to strike and spill their hateful venom at others.
Romans 3:13-14 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Abusive language is speech that is prone to treat someone badly by using coarse, insulting words or other maltreatment. Scurrilous is the use of vulgar and evil speech, containing obscenities, abuse, or slander directed at someone out of hatred for them.
A synonym is vituperate which means to criticize in a harsh and abusive manner, or to revile, vilify, defame, or mouth off about someone or use harsh or abusive wording. It is truly hate speech. To revile someone is an open desplay of the flesh, and it defiles the temple because it comes from inside of the heart.
James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Jesus was reviled and hated.
Matthew 27:39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
Mark 15:32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
Although the Lord Jesus was reviled and was treated with such verbal abuse, He didn’t return evil for evil. God sees everything and Jesus committed Himself to Gods judgement.
1 Peter 2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
The word “rail” is a very similar word which means to use harsh and abuse of language. They railed on Christ Jesus too.
Mark 15:29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer…
To keep company means to closely associate with someone, to be together often and associate habitually, sharing a close friendship. Some synonyms are to chum around, consort, fraternize, or hang with each other. Be careful who you hang out with because their anti-biblical beliefs and immoral behavior can rub off on you. Those who rail on others are not consenting to wholesome words.
1 Timothy 6:3-4 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
So again, when somebody rails it means to use harsh or abusive language. Railing is telling somebody that you hate their stinking guts and you are a stupid idiot and a moron. All this does is expose the state of somebody’s heart, completely void of divine love. It’s speech that is not really meant to benefit the other person, but is used to hurt them intentionally. The brethren in the church were capable of admonishing and rebuking each other if it needed to be done, but it was done in a manner to help them see the truth. It wasn’t done out of hatred, but out of love for their souls.
Rebukes always need to be done with the intent to help the other person. This is because you want them to correct what they’re doing. When somebody rails on another it’s not meant for correctional purposes, it has to do with vindictive retribution through the use of hateful speech. We are called to suffer in the Christian life so when someone does this to you, don’t return it back to them. Vengeance belongeth to the Lord Jesus and He will avenge and repay. You need not to do anything.
1 Peter 3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing……
If somebody wrongs you don’t wrong them back. Even the archangel Michael didn’t rail against the devil.
Jude 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Lastly, to revlle somebody is to insult them. Insult means to be insensitive, insolent, or rude to someone. It’s to exalt yourself over another and speak in an obnoxious manner towards them. An insult is an action or form of speech that is deliberately intended to be rude. God’s blessings are coming when people revile you.
Foul and hateful language comes from a foul and hateful person, who has got you in their sights and is ready to do some…
….. Target Practice.
Let’s think about these things for right now, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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