Can't You Smell That Smell?

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it might give grace to those who hear (Eph 4:29).

Whew!  Do you smell that?  Way too often, the stuff that comes out of my mouth is just downright nasty.  Putrid.  Rotten.  I’m not talking about bad breath.  I’m talking about disgusting talk.  Sarcastic.  Snarky.  Critical.  Cutting.  Rather than building folks up at just the right time, I look for the perfect chance to cut them down.  But Paul picks up the spiritual two-by-four here to get my attention.  “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it might give grace to those who hear” (v29).  Instead of sick smell of death, it should have the sweet aroma of life.

Can’t you smell that smell?

From his cell in a Roman slammer, Paul writes to his buddies back in Ephesus, a massive port city on the west coast of modern day Turkey.  He’s letting them know what life looks like once God transforms you from being a member of the Walking Dead into being “alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:1, 4).  He’s describing how differently we look once we’ve taken off the filthy old life of sin and pulled on that brand new wardrobe of righteousness from Jesus’ closet (Eph 4:22, 24).  This is more than simply behavior modification and a “do better” gospel of self-help.  He does for us what we could never do for ourselves (Eph 2:5-8).  Christ does the dirty work and changes us from the inside out (Eph 3:16, 4:23).  We’re no longer out there trying to do it on our own.  We’re “in Christ,” a phrase that the apostle uses in this letter in some form or the other at least 28 times.

My speech is a huge indicator of what Jesus is doing in my life.  The radical Rabbi/Carpenter said so Himself.  “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:34).  What’s inside is eventually coming out.  If my heart is rotten, my speech stinks.  Paul has already warned the Ephesian believers that lying has to stop and truth needs to start (Eph 4:25).  Now he goes on to write that it’s time to put a cork in our self-centered snark.  “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths” (v29).  That’s step one.  The apostle uses the word sapros, which can certainly mean bad, unwholesome, unprofitable and poor quality.  But it’s worse than that.  It reeks.  Talk that’s rotten, putrid, decayed and diseased.  Stinks like a rotting corpse.  Gangrene.  Decomposing flesh.  Pretty nasty description, right?  Well, that’s because it is.  Way too often my speech smells like something has died.  Just like a rotten apple causes other fruit to decay, so does my mouth.

Every time biblical authors use this Greek term, it’s kinda nasty.  Downright disgusting.  Jesus tells His crew that while good trees provide sweet and delicious produce, “the diseased (Gr. sapros) tree bears bad fruit” (Mt 7:17).  There are few things that smell worse than rotting fruit.  One thing that does stink more is dead fish.  In his rather aromatic description of the Parable of the Net, Christ paints a picture of a fisherman sorting through his net full of fish.  The angler hung on to the keepers but “threw away the bad (Gr. sapros)” (Mt 13:48).  

Go ahead, stick your nose in there.  PHEW!!!  That’s what my speech smells like to others once they get a whiff.  Here’s the deal.  When you’re around stuff the stinks, you get used to it.  You no longer notice it.  It’s like bad breath.  The person who has it can’t smell it.  They’re used to it.  Your language may stink to high heaven but you have no idea.  Allow the Holy Spirit to examine your speech.  Is it harmful?  Do you default to sarcasm and snark?  Do you ever thank anyone?  Do you ever encourage anyone?  Is your speech harmful or helpful?  While those around are painfully aware of the sewer that is my mouth, I probably can’t smell that smell all by myself.  

Paul gives me a few helpful hints to know if my mouth smells like a clogged toilet.  Over in his note to the folks in Colossae, he says to toss in the trash every bit of “anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth” (Col 3:8).  Like a loving dad, Solomon told his son the very same thing.  “Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you” (Prov 4:24).  Later in this letter to the church in Ephesus, the apostle warns against letting my sense of rumor get out of control.  “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Eph 5:4).  But we can’t do it alone.  Without God’s help, we don’t stand a chance.  That’s why David sang, “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps 141:3).

Once God has allowed us to get a whiff of rotten language, it’s time for step two.  Once we stop the stank, we should saying things that are “good for building up” (v29).  My words should be instructive.  My words should be encouraging.  My words should be uplifting (even when correcting).  My words should be well-timed (Prov 15:23; 25:11; 24:26).  Earlier, Paul describes how church leaders and teachers build up members of the church so they can be useful in ministry, not demolish them and make them useless (Eph 4:12).  Put down the wrecking ball.  Drop the sledgehammer.  Stop tearing down.  Start building up.  The folks over in Thessalonica were doing it.  “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1Th 5:11).  Start doing it.  Keep doing it.

The apostle makes it clear that the “when” of my words are almost as important as the “what.”  My language needs to be appropriate, “as fits the occasion” (v29).  Just as in comedy, timing is everything.  Let’s face it.  The key to humor is dropping that punchline at the perfect moment.  I’m not saying that encouragement must be dry and without a smile.  As a matter of fact, I think Jesus was probably one of the funniest guys to ever walk the planet.  What I am saying is to apply some of the same discernment and timing to encourage as you do to deliver a zinger.  It’s just as important to say the proper words at the right time as it is to say the right words.  Timing is everything.

Finally, Paul tells me that my speech should drip with God’s goodness and that “it might give grace” (v29)  It ALWAYS comes back to grace.  It ALWAYS comes back to getting good stuff that we don’t deserve.  Since Jesus blasted me with His fire hose of grace, saved me by His grace (Eph 2:5-8), keeps saving me by His grace, I should drip with His grace.  That means speaking with grace each and every chance I get.  Just like Jesus did (Lk 4:22).  Eugene Peterson paraphrases Paul’s command this way: “Watch the way you talk.  Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth.  Say only what helps, each word a gift” (Eph 4:29 The Message).

Can’t you smell that smell?

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