Transcript
What the kingdom of self does to human language is it creates this world of subtle subversion where I'm not coming to you with purity of purpose. I'm conflicted because on one level, I sort of like the kingdom of God, but I'm pretty, pretty wired by the kingdom of self and so, I want your respect. I want to win this argument. I want you to like me so you put me in a position of power. I want you to like me because you have a friend that I really want to be in my life b ecause he could help me in some way. I want you to think that I'm righteous because I like you worshiping me.
The Costume Kingdom of Self
And there's just an endless variety of motivations and so, it just complicates the world of communication because it makes it almost impossible to take words at face value anymore because they're so infected by all these other agendas.
Maybe a real good way of saying this is that the kingdom of self is a costume kingdom. It does a good job of masquerading as a kingdom of God, but it has other purpo ses. So in the guise of a prayer request, I'll just be gossiping because I like that scintillating pleasure of gossip. Or I'll be working myself by words into a position of power, but it'll come in the guise of a desire to be a good steward of the leadersh ip gifts that God has given me.
Or I'll yell at my children, but I'll be presenting myself as one of God's prophets saying, "Thus, says the Lord." That's the problem. Now, what happens with the people in my life is they have to live in this messy minefiel d of my communication. They can't just walk through the field knowing it's full of the lilies of truth because right next to those lilies are land mines.
And so , they can't just rest that when Paul says yes, it means yes; and when Paul says no, it means no . When Paul says North, he doesn't mean northeast; he means north.
What Happens When You Let Your Yes Be Yes
And all of a sudden, we live in this simple world of communication. Think, before Genesis 3, how simple the world of talk was because every word spoken was spoken up to God's standard and according to God's design. You didn't have to pick it apart. You didn't need to do lengthy exegesis of what I've said because what I said is what I meant. Think of how horribly complicated the world of talk has become because I speak out of mixed motivatio ns.
And so , the Bible says speak with integrity, speak with simplicity, speak with clarity. If your words are motivated by one intention, then they only have one meaning. If your words are motivated by mixed intention, then they always have mixed meaning.
And there's so much hurt and difficulty that comes out of that. God calls me to integrative communication, to speak with a singleness of heart with words that are clear.
