Motives, Humility, the Tongue
By G. B. Thompson
Motives, Humility, the Tongue
4. ANOTHER important condition in the receiving of the Holy Spirit is right motives. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” James 4:3. Many complain that their prayers are not answered. The apostle here tells us why many prayers are not answered in the way that we expect. It is because the motive underlying the asking is wrong. The prayers are prompted by a selfish desire. The Spirit testifies of Christ. It exalts him, not self; and any318asking for the purpose of exalting ourselves is a wrong motive. To the minister who desires the Holy Spirit that he may preach better and be more popular than some other brother, the Lord says, Ye “receive not, because ye ask amiss.” To the teacher in any school, to the officer in any church or Sabbath-school, who might desire and pray for the Holy Spirit that he might do better work than some other person and thus make a better show, the Lord says, Ye “receive not, because ye ask amiss.” If we desire the Spirit from any selfish motive whatsoever, in order that self can be more prominent, the Lord says, Ye “receive not, because ye ask amiss.” In the case of Simon the sorcerer we have a striking example of one desiring the Spirit from a wrong or selfish motive. He had witnessed the working of the Spirit in the labors of the apostles, and said to Peter, “Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.” He was willing to pay for the Spirit, to give a considerable sum for it, no doubt. He could use it, he thought, to make money and be in the public eye. There are many like Simon to-day who would gladly buy the Spirit as merchandise, rather than control the fleshly desires and keep the temple of their bodies clean as his abiding-place. Peter said to him: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” Acts 8:19-23. The Spirit is a gift from God. It can never be bought nor bribed. It is a gift to us for service and personal victory, and never for display. 5. Another condition worthy of notice is that of humility. “Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6. The opposite of humility is pride. To be humble is to yield up our pride. Pride is a terrible sin; it changed Lucifer, the covering cherub, into Satan, the prince of devils. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Prov. 16:18. The Spirit of God leads to humility. “He shall not speak of himself.” John 16:13. “He shall glorify me.” Verse 14. The work of the Spirit is ever to exalt Christ. The one in whom the Spirit dwells will say, like John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30. Pride is an attribute of the carnal heart. Pride, like rank weeds, grows in a dunghill. And really what are we that we should be proud? Alexander Maclaren says: “Granted that you are superior to me in something or other. Well, what does that matter? One mole-hill is a little higher than another; they are all about the same distance from the sun. I remember a friend of mine who, when a child, being told that the sun was ninety-five millions of miles off, asked whether it was from the up-stairs window or the down-stairs. And that is about the difference between men if they will bring themselves into comparison with the only true standard.” It is the “I” that is the barrier to spiritual progress. That is the trouble in the seventh chapter of Romans. The carnal “I” is living, never having been slain, and blocks the way to victory. The word I occurs more than thirty times in the last sixteen verses. It is found as many as six times in one short verse. “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” In the eighth chapter the “I” disappears, and the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is found instead. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to destroy the ego and exalt the Saviour. 6. Another important condition in the reception of the Spirit of God is that of the proper use of the tongue. “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” James 3:6. How often this “fire of hell” has been kindled in churches and communities by the improper use of the tongue! Nothing will drive the Holy Spirit from the life more effectually than a wrong use of this unruly member. An unbridled, unconsecrated tongue may be a remorseless tool of Satan. The writer knows of no more infernal instrument of evil than the tongue of the gossiper, the tattler, the backbiter, and the slanderer. There are many tearful eyes, broken hearts, ruined homes, and blasted lives, made such by a wrong use of the tongue. Churches have been ruined and neighborhoods disgraced by busybodies and scandal-mongers. How unchristlike such a course is! How the holy God must loathe such work! From such the gentle, peaceful Spirit quietly withdraws, leaving the heart cold and hard. Unless the heart yields to the gentle pleading of the Spirit, the case of all such seems quite hopeless. The apostle Paul exhorts: “Let no corrupt communications proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” “Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.” Eph. 4:29-31; 5:4. All this unholy brood can be summed up as a lack of love in the heart. For the words, “which are not convenient,” the Revised Version gives “which are not befitting.” Then for Christians “corrupt communications”—impure words, all “evil-speaking,” tattling, tale-bearing, gossiping, all jesting, and joking, and light, chaffy talk, and story-telling—are “not befitting.” Only such speech as comes from a heart void of anger or wrath, where no clamor or railing is found, and such as will minister to, edify, and build up the intellectual and moral character, is befitting. How many professed Christians there are who are addicted to the habit of telling jokes and funny stories, which neither minister grace nor edify. This conversation is not pure; much of it borders on the vulgar and questionable, and can well be classed with the common talk of the man in the street. It is sometimes difficult at public gatherings to distinguish from the conversation who are professed Christians and who are not. Those who are real Christians are, of course, readily distinguished. This unsanctified use of the tongue we are told grieves the Holy Spirit. The word translated “grieve” means literally to cause sorrow. Grief is sorrow. Here the gracious affection and tender love of the Spirit is revealed. He is represented as being in sorrow, sad and weeping, clothed in mourning, so to speak, by the empty, frivolous, impure, vulgar speech of his professed people. The experience of many can testify to the truthfulness of the Word of God in this matter. How unprepared we feel, after a social time spent together in spinning yarns and cracking the latest jokes, to go and labor for souls and minister to them the words of life. Suppose after having spent an evening together during which, instead of pure, edifying, intellectual conversation, much common street talk, slang remarks, funny stories, and witty, pert sayings have been the order, we are asked to go and pray for some poor, sick person. It may be the person has no hope in God, and this is our only chance to speak to him before he is ushered into the presence of the eternal Judge. How empty we feel! We realize that the Holy Spirit has been greatly displeased, and his presence has been quenched in the heart. How we wish we had been praying and meditating on the things that are lovely and of good report instead of upon the cheap and frivolous! I feel confident that this sin, which is so well-nigh universal, is doing as much to grieve the Spirit of God from hearts, and is responsible for as much barrenness of soul and lack of warm, earnest, Christian experience, as any other evil among God’s people. This wicked habit is wholly unnecessary, and ought to come to an end. James says, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” Once we have the victory over the tongue, we shall have the key to complete victory. Are we to continue longer to grieve from our hearts the Spirit of a holy God, and carry about with us a dry, powerless Christian experience, unable to battle against temptation, or lift up other souls bowed down with sin? Or shall we refuse longer to wound the heart of the Spirit with sorrow by this course, and claim the blessing which may be ours through faith?