Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.
13 sermons cite this verse
… issue of communication. We have to learn how to put into practice good communication skills. Look at that verse in Ephesians 4 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good and edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. That's a command to all Christians, but it certainly applies to our marriages as well. And we have to learn the skill of good communication. And you've seen couples, and I've seen them, who before they ever get married, they talk to each other all the time. They spend hours on the phone. They spend lots of effort in communication skills. But as the years go by, they talk less and less until you see them sitting in the restaurant eating their meals in complete silence without any meaningful conversation. I remember several years ago when my wife and I were struggling through this whole issue of having meaningful conversation. It seems like all of our talk had just been reduced to who's picking up the kids and when's our next meeting at the church. …
… because many of you probably still have it memorized let no evil talk come out of your mouth but only what is useful for building up as there is need that your words may give grace to those who hear can you imagine how politics would look differently if we all practiced that. Let no evil, remember that word is putrid, it's like rotten, it's spoiling. Let no evil word or talk come out of your mouth, but only what's useful for building others up as there is need, that your words might give grace to those who hear. I think about Paul when he's talking, he's writing to the church at Corinth. You see, there was a lot of divisions in the early church, and in those divisions, there was great conflict in many of the churches, so almost every letter of the New Testament addresses conflict and how to resolve conflict. And in 1 Corinthians, This letter is a major theme of it is the conflict. It starts in chapter 1 and winds its way all the way through the divisions in the church. …
… magnitude of our words and how powerful they can be used to destroy and corrupt but Paul shows us how they can be used to build to heal and to bring life Ephesians 4 29 it's one of my favorite scriptures in the word of God it says this do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only what is helpful for the building up of others according to my needs, no, their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. The message version of the Bible says it like this, say only what helps each word a gift. What if we lived our life like that? Like every time we're talking to our spouse, like every time we're talking to the people in our lives and our children, we were handing them a gift. We are. you're either tearing down or you're lifting up with your words, those around you. And I want us to look at what happens when we don't choose to use our words to build, but we choose to use our words to set things on fire. …
… And number three, is it kind? In Ephesians 4.29, just a few verses after Ephesians 4.25, Paul says, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth. but only such a word as is good for edification. That word means to build up. When you speak something to somebody, ask yourself, is that building up a person or is it tearing down the person? Is it encouraging them in their walk with God or is it discouraging them in their walk with God? Is it true? Is it building up? Is it needful? And then he goes on to say, according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear. Is the word I'm speaking filled with grace? Is it filled with kindness? Or is it filled with bitterness? Number four, to control our speech, remind yourself of the need to purify your heart. Remind yourself of your need to purify your heart. D.O. Moody said one time, if a man could develop a camera that would reveal the innermost parts of a person's thought life, that man would starve to death for lack of business. …
… I'm reminded of what the Apostle Paul said. He said in Ephesians 4.29, and let no unclean words come out of your mouth, but only what is useful for building others up as there is need, that your words may give grace to those who hear. Like you can disagree vehemently, but you can disagree in love, but you have to be intentional about that because in the middle of it, your feelings get all riled up and you find yourself getting really angry. But you see, anger and hate never actually leads to anything positive. I love how the apostle Paul says this, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. which leads me back to Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount. He said, you have heard that it was said, you must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father in heaven. …
… according to their needs in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 4.29, hidden in your heart, it will empower you in that temptation, enable you there. You struggle with your tongue. You just kind of say things that you always regret and you find yourself saying things, things coming out of your mouth that you know don't honor Christ. When you face those temptations, you're going to be a lot worse off if you don't know the word than if you have the word hidden in your heart and you're able to say, you know, James 3 says, the tongue is a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. Out kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and haven't tamed by man. But no man can tame the tongue and is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. …
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. There seems to be a lot of confusion in the world today, and certainly in our culture, about what a true Christian is. We struggle with the reality of that fact because we wish it were clearer who the Christians were, so people claiming to be Christians didn't do so much damage to our reputation. The range of Christianity extends all the way from the true believers on the one hand to the false teachers who claim the name Christian, but who really are the agents of the devil and everything in between. …
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice or evil. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Now our theme in chapter 4 has been spiritual transformation. That identifies the true Christian. Verses 17 and 19 that I just read to you describe the unconverted person, and then you have, as I noted, the transition in verse 20. You have learned Christ, and that is a dramatic transformation. You have heard Him. You literally heard Him speak by His Spirit in your heart and in His Word. You have been taught in Him by the Spirit and the Word. …
… Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." This is a very pragmatic section starting in verse 25, and it will continue to be so as we march through chapter 5 in the future. But there's a turning point here, and it's in verse 20. You did not learn Christ in this way. Prior to that, in verses 17 and 19, is a description of the unconverted, the people who are in their fallen condition. They walk in the futility of their mind. They are darkened in their understanding. …
… do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. There it is, in a way. benefit those who listen. In other words, everything I do when I speak is not what meets my needs, but what meets theirs. What do they need? What do they need to hear? What do they need to hear? That's what I give them. And then you're kind. That's a kind conversation. It's kindness expressed through your words. Do you enter into conversations asking, what do these people really need from me? What do they need to hear? Where do they need the conversation to go? That's kindness. So basically, kindness is very simple. It's meeting the needs of other people instead of your own. It's noticing needs and meeting the needs of other people instead of your own. But look carefully before we move on. Even here, it doesn't say that you should say what pleases them but what benefits them. …
… who we are in Christ Jesus. So, I want you to begin, if you will, in the 29th verse. One of the things he says here, he says, let no unholdsome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. And then he makes a statement that most of us know this one by heart. He says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Then here's what he says. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Now, if our first response to someone who wrongs us is anger and bitterness and hostility, then what he says here, let all bitterness, that is, a feeling of intense animosity towards someone, bitterness. …
… look at the next one verse 30 some of y'all say i can't take another one that's all right hold on it's gonna get it's gonna get more better all right verse 30 and do not grieve the holy spirit of god by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption that's what we do by the way with the corrupting thought let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you. By the way, that also goes back to the first imperative. If I'm saying something and it's true, but it's bitter, it's true, but it's slanderous, it's true, but it's angry, I'm in sin. In all malice, be kind to one another. Don't say things that are unkind. Tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Another indication that an unbeliever can't do these things. forgiving one another. And let me clarify that, because a lot of people, when we talk about forgiveness, you know, we, for whatever reason, you know, there's this phrase in our culture, forgive and forget. …
… according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. And then he makes a statement that most of us know this one by heart. He says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Then here's what he says. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Now, when a person has an unforgiving spirit and refuses to be kind and tenderhearted and forgiving, even as God has forgiven us in Christ Jesus. When a person refuses to do that, what happens to them? Well, there's some very definite consequences. One of them is emotional bondage. And this is where people are who are living in anger and bitterness and hostility and resentment. And everybody's going to have things done to them or said about them in life because that's the kind of world we live in. …