Welcome to the Daily Blade . The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit , the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil . Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson , and they stand ready to equip men for the fight . Let's sharpen up .
Speaker 2Alright , welcome
back . This week on the Daily Blade , we are focusing on Ecclesiastes 3 , verses 1 through 8 . I'll read it again here and a time to sow , a time to keep silence and a time to speak . A time to love and a time to hate , a time for war and a time
for peace . So , specifically , today we're keying in on the latter part of verse 7 , a time to keep silence and a time to speak . I mean , any of you guys have a problem minding your tongue ? No , just me .
Speaker 2Yeah , okay , I think that all of us fellas , if we're being honest , right , we'd say that we have a tendency at least to either open our mouths when we shouldn't and to keep our mouths closed when we shouldn't . Now this could take the form of , you know , saying the ugly mean comment to our spouse because we want to get a leg up in a fight or take a cheap shot , or remaining silent when we hear someone spreading a leg up in a fight , or take a cheap shot , or remaining silent when we hear someone spreading falsehoods in public . Right , either way , it's as if we lack the wisdom or the ability or the courage to do the right thing at the right time when it pertains to what we say Now . While writing this , I was reminded of a prayer that I used to say to myself all the time . It's called the Serenity Prayer , so the extended original version was written by Reinhold Niebuhr in the early 20th century , but it's just simple and , you know , kind of the simplified version of it goes like this God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change , courage to change the things I can , and wisdom to know the difference . Now , it's pretty easy to see the three main points there . So , god , grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change .
Speaker 2Sometimes there's just nothing we can do about what happened or what is happening . Right , we've just got to seek the peace of God about the situation , and then courage to change the things I can . There will 100% be times when peace is not an option and we've got to have the balls to address and confront the problem right . And then and wisdom to know the difference . You guys know this because you have the benefit of hindsight in your life . But sometimes the line between just accept it and move on and it's time to stand up for what I believe in can be very thin and blurry , and in those moments . We need wisdom , yes , but specifically we need the wisdom that comes from our Heavenly Father . And there are two main sources for that wisdom . We've got the Holy Spirit and the Word of God , otherwise known as the Sword of the Spirit , right , because if we go to the Word of God , we don't have to look far , for example , of times when we need to just zip it and times when we need to throw down right .
So in Habakkuk , chapter 1 , the prophet Habakkuk is complaining to God , you know , wondering aloud why God is seemingly sitting by and allowing injustice and violence to prevail through the rise of the Chaldeans . Those are the Babylonians , so the Chaldeans are wicked people , and Habakkuk is just confused by the whole situation . So in Habakkuk , chapter 2 , we see God's response . So , starting in verse 6 , god responds with the list of woes pronounced against these wicked people . He specifically calls out people that are violent , people that are greedy , people , who are idolatrous . But now verse 20, . So this is God talking , but the Lord is in his holy temple . Let all the earth keep silence before him . So essentially , god is like look , I am sovereign , I am ruling , I am holy , I am in the right place . These idols have no power . Hush your butt and submit Right . So there's clearly times to keep silence .
Speaker 2Now we need to go to the book of Ephesians . The first three chapters are basically doctrine , doctrinal truths , if you will . Ephesians 4 is where Paul starts getting into real life , application right . And in verse 14 , paul warns against us lacking discernment , like a child and getting romanced by incorrect doctrine . He then says this in verse 15 . Rather , speaking the truth in love , we are to grow up in every way into him , who is the head , into Christ . Now , people love to focus on the love part of that , but a bunch of people forget about the speaking the truth part . You can't just pick one , you have to have both . But you can't speak the truth in love if you don't speak up to begin with .
If a buddy of yours is cheating on his spouse , you don't let it slide . You confront him and you demand that he stop and fix his marriage . If your pastor is taking his cues about morality from our atheistic culture and , you know , thinks that the Bible is a stumbling block for evangelism , you don't sit on your hands . You publicly rebuke him and call him to repentance . If someone you love believes that they're , you don't sit on your hands . You publicly rebuke him and call him to repentance . If someone you love believes that they're , you know , good enough , whatever that means , to make it into heaven without Jesus , it's your job to disabuse them of that notion . You share the gospel with them and compel them to put their faith in Christ . So , yes , there are clearly times to keep silence and there are clearly times to speak up . See you back here tomorrow .