Trash Talk by Pastor Abidan Shah

TRASH TALK by Pastor Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson

Introduction:  Some years back couple of our kids were complaining to Nicole about how much we make them work around the house and how much we should pay them. They didn’t realize that I was in the other room listening to their griping. So, I pulled out a piece of paper and started writing down everything we did for the kids and how much they owed us: Rent – $200/month; Food – $200/month, Gas – $100/month; Clothes – $75; Field trip – $30; and on and on. When we added it all up and tallied it with what they said we owed them, they owed us money! So, the kids wisely decided that it was better not to talk about getting paid. In Malachi, the people were also complaining against God about how much they were serving him and getting nothing for it. God heard them trash talking his name and he confronted them. That’s the title of the message: TRASH TALK.

Malachi 3    13 “Your words have been harsh against Me,” Says the Lord, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ 14 You have said, “It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners Before the Lord of hosts? 15 So now we call the proud blessed, for those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.’” 16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name.

Question: What do you say about God? Do you trash talk his name? Do you fear him? Do people hear you talking about God or do they hear you talking about others? Do you trash talk others or do you edify others? Are you saved?

Context: Throughout the book of Malachi God was holding the people of Israel in contempt for their words. It appears that they were trash talking about God behind his back but when he confronted them through Malachi, they didn’t repent and ask his forgiveness. Instead, like ungrateful children they restated their grievances against God to his face! Listen to these verses:

• 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’” Probably they were going around saying “God doesn’t love us and care about us.” But when God confronted them, they were not afraid to say it again to his face!
• 1:7 “You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’”
• 3:8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’”

These people had become so used to God that they were not afraid to talk back to him. “What’s he gonna do to us? Hurt us? Hasn’t he done enough of that?” You can call this a sin of excessive familiarity. They had lost sight of who God was. They had forgotten Habakkuk 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” Zechariah 2:13 “Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!”

Application: Are you infected with the sin of excessive familiarity towards God? Have you have lost sight of the fact that you are in the presence of the almighty eternal sovereign God? Never forget that you are just a creation. Be silent before him.

The pattern continues in Malachi 3:13 “‘Your words have been harsh against Me,’ Says the Lord.” The Hebrew word for “harsh” is “chazek,” which actually means “stout” or “heavy.” You could almost translate this as “Your words have been too heavy/too much against me.” It means that the people of Israel were not only speaking against God and to his face but they were also trying to force their words, their theology, and their false ideas about God upon him. People do that even today. With no biblical basis, they try to create God in their own image and preference – “I think God is like…” It doesn’t matter what you think. What matters is what God has said about himself in his word.

When God confronted them, they replied as expected – ‘What have we spoken against You?’ God reminded them – 14 You have said, “It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners Before the Lord of hosts? 15 So now we call the proud blessed, for those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.’” Nothing new here. They’re saying the same things they said previously – “There’s no benefit to serving God. You can do all you can to please him but it doesn’t matter. You can even walk around in all black (Kedar) to show your grief but it doesn’t matter to him.” In fact, they were even being sarcastic here – “Say hello to Mr. Proud but Blessed and Mrs. Wicked but Successful. They can even tempt God and nothing will happen to them but all we have to do is one tiny thing against him and he’ll send us off into exile!” How sad that people would talk this way about God…

Now listen to God’s response – 16 “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them…” Something has changed. Previously, God would’ve argued with the trash talkers and pointed out their fault and told them to make some changes. Not anymore. God is done with this group. He has decided to leave them to their own demise. Make no mistake, he will deal with them for their trash talking against him but he is no longer going to work with them. By the way, that’s a very scary place to be when God leaves us to our own demise. One of the saddest verses in the Bible is Romans 1:24 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness…”

Now, instead of working with those who were bent on trash talking against him, God turned his attention to another group who are doing just the opposite – 16 “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them…” Don’t misunderstand the word “feared.” It doesn’t mean fright. It is the Hebrew word “yare’” which means “reverence, honor, and respect.” Here’s an example: “By the time the year is over, I will do 7 weddings! Most of the time the bride does not want the groom to see her until she’s ready to walk down the aisle. At one of the weddings, they were having issues because where the bride was coming from, she was in line of his vision before she could even get to the aisle and she said, “I’m afraid he’s going to see me too soon.” Afraid? What’s he going to do to you? “Oh, not that way! I want everything to be just perfect for him so that when he sees me it’s me and no one else.”

While the trash talkers were busy bad-mouthing God, there was another group that wanted to please God and give him their best and spoke to each other. What did God do? “And the Lord listened and heard them…” Can you picture God leaning down and eaves dropping over this group! What did he hear? “God really spoke to my heart through today’s message.” “I know you’re going through a tough time. I’ll be praying for you.” “We need to pray for that young man. I think God is doing something in his life.” “God has been so faithful to my family.” “Have you ever studied this verse? I wonder what it means.” “We need to spread God’s word into our community. So many people need Christ.” What was God’s reaction? “So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord…” Recording Angel! Write it down! Two people came out of Clearview and instead of asking where were going to eat or “was so and so still with so and so,” they talked about my word. That couple over there stopped and prayed for another couple who is going through a difficult time in their marriage. Those group of men are coming together to decide how they can spread my gospel in their community.

Most people find more joy in gossiping and trash talking than talking about the things of God. As someone once said, “Little people talk about people; bigger people talk about things; but the greatest people talk about ideas.” Now don’t misunderstand. This does not mean that you never talk about people. It means that you don’t trash talk people. We’ve all been guilty of wasting time talking meaninglessly about people. Jesus said in Matthew 12   36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Someone might say, “But it’s not as much fun talking about the Bible as it is talking about others.” Two verses earlier in Matthew 12:34 Jesus told the Pharisees, “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” It reflects what’s inside.

Application: When the Lord leans over you, what does he hear? Does the Recording Angel walk away from you shaking his head? Are you the kind of person who edifies others by their words? There’s something else that this group was doing – “So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name.” They were also thinking about God. Do you think upon him, upon Christ? Someone might say, “That’s so arrogant of God for wanting us to think of him!” Not really. As Donald Grey Barnhouse once said, “God is perfection and perfection is always glad when imperfection is interested in perfection.”

Now listen to God’s response – 17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels…” The word for jewels is “segullah” which means “prized possession. Meaning: God will display them proudly as a king displays his beautiful and precious diamond ring. “…And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 18 Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.

Invitation: Are you his precious jewel? Can people discern easily that you serve God? Or do you trash talk God and others? Are you saved?