BAD WORDS: The Power of Words
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by PulpitAI (with edits)
Northwest Conference Annual Meeting
Jordan, our chairperson, and myself had the opportunity to go to our Northwest Conference this weekend—it was in the Cities—and it was a beautiful weekend. We so enjoyed it, with about 137/138 other churches within our conference, and I’m so excited with what God is doing within our denomination and within our conference. And there were several moments within this conference that Duluth got a shoutout. And so it was exciting that the Cities are taking notice of what God is doing in Duluth through our Covenant churches, and so I’m just so proud of you, I’m proud of the churches in Duluth and what God is doing, and really fun to be part of that and it is such an honor.
But two things kind of just this weekend. So one, I was encouraged with what God is doing within our conference. I was also discouraged because I realized that I’m getting old, and so that wasn’t a fun feeling on many levels, right? It’s like, first of all, you see all these new young faces, youth pastors coming up and lead pastors, like, they’re all so young, and I don’t know any of them, and the pastors that was there when I started, they all retired, right? And then they talked about Generation Alpha. Now, if you’re fourteen and younger, you’re part of that Generation Alpha. And just talking about some of the challenges in their lives and how they’re gonna see church—we have a huge challenge, but an exciting challenge in front of us as a church on how to minister to them. And then also not just to Generation Alpha, but also how do we minister to their parents, right? And as we think about all of the complexities in our world today and how we view religion and kind of just on church and our relationship with God, and there is a big obviously moving away from church. And so we don’t want that, and so there’s a lot that we have to rethink, and I’m gonna try and challenge you this morning, and I’m gonna encourage you: don’t try and form an opinion immediately in this moment this morning. I want you to just listen and observe, right, think through some of these things that I’m gonna share with you, and then go home and ponder some of these things, and get excited with me as we think about the next generation and as we think about what does that mean for the church.
Words and Discipleship
And so today we’re starting a brand new sermon series we call “Bad Words.” Today I want to lay a foundation for us, and I’m gonna try and go in a different direction even what’s forming in your head right now as you think about “bad words.” I want you to think in the context of discipleship. This is an important word for us in the church culture. Discipleship is really what it’s all about in our relationship with God. Here’s kind of one definition for us to form an idea around this word:
Christian discipleship is the process by which individuals are guided and nurtured in their faith and spiritual growth within Christian tradition. This involves learning to follow Jesus Christ more closely through study, prayer, and living out the teachings of the Bible. Discipleship is not merely about acquiring knowledge, but it is fundamentally about transformation and commitment to living a life that reflects Christian values and principles.
I want you to just repeat that quickly. Okay, don’t look there. No, so that’s a mouthful. I took that definition—it’s an important definition for discipleship because this impacts all of us. If you’re gonna say, “I am gonna be a follower of Jesus Christ,” then this is what it means to be a follower of Christ and kind of how you get there. I took this definition, I threw it in ChatGPT, and I said, “Give me a definition with this for somebody that’s ten years and younger, or at least that somebody that’s 10 will understand it.” And so for all our 10-year-olds and younger, this is for you.
Christian discipleship is like being on a team where Jesus is the coach.
Who can relate with that so far? All right, I see some hands.
He teaches us through the Bible how to be kind, help others, and make good choices. As disciples, we practice what he teaches by praying, reading stories from the Bible, and doing things that make the world a better place, like helping our friends and family. We also meet with other people who follow Jesus so we can learn together and help each other be the best team players we can be.
Some of you might say, “Why did you even give us that first definition? Let’s just hang with this. This is way better.” I agree with you.
Now, again, as we just think about the next generation, Generation Alpha, Generation Z, and the Millennials, right—we don’t have to talk about Generation X today because they’re the perfect generation. We have it all down. But just this call to discipleship—what does that mean? And then even in context of bad words and words.
So over the next four weeks, we’re really gonna look and dig into God’s Word to say, “What does he say about our words?” We know that words are powerful. Even when we think about God, right in the beginning of Genesis, it says that he spoke. He spoke life into existence. That is a powerful moment. That’s powerful words. Obviously, as believers, you know, we don’t have that type of power, right? It’s like, I’m not gonna speak just things like that into existence, but nonetheless, our words have a lot of power. And even more so, when we think in this process with discipleship, it is important, then, for us to realize that when God speaks, and the power and the force behind his words—when his words can speak into creation, right, and when he can form something out of nothing, just with his words—and when we look at scripture and some of the words and things that he share about us in his words, then we got to pay attention, and we can apply it, and it’s gonna change our lives. Can I hear an amen? Right? And so this is not just a cute love story and just a regular book. This is God’s powerful Word speaking into our lives, and it can transform our whole world. Can I hear an amen? And do you believe that this morning? Young people, do you believe that this morning?
Now, just kind of going back to this idea about words and just discipleship, I want to leave you this quote with Eugene Peterson. It says:
Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his way steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions, and gifts, our human needs and eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for.
So when we take all of this, how do we help our kids? How does the church help the next generation to apply this to their lives? And so a key piece to that is we need to understand the next generation, right? A lot of times we will look at the next generation and we’ll say, “Oh, our kids are the next generation and the church of tomorrow.” No, they are the church of today. Amen? And then to say, “What do I need to change? How do I need to look at the world a little bit different to understand how they perceive and experience things so that we can share the gospel and the good news to them in a relevant way?” Pay attention, church. I want to say this, that the Word of God stays the same. We’re never gonna change the Word of God. God’s Word is strong. God’s Word is powerful, and it is steady. It’s the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But we need to figure out how do we minister to the next generation.
One of the scary and sad things for me a little bit on this week at Northwest Conference, there was two churches that died, that they kind of took off the roster, right? I think one was founded in 1940, so a long, rich history, great ministry. There was another church that they took off, and there was only one new church plant. Now that is not sustainable. Over the next 10 years we will be losing millions of young people if we don’t stay relevant and if we don’t figure out how to speak to the next generation and minister to them effectively. So this is very, very concerning for the church. And it needs to impact our hearts as we think through some of these things to say, “Are we so passionate about the next generation and about what the church needs to look like and how we need to adjust and adapt so that they can hear the gospel and so that they can take that to their generation or to their peers and to impact the world?” Because otherwise, where is it gonna stop?
Slang Quiz
Now, just to give you a glance on how different things already are in our generations, I want to pick on Christo, and I ask him to bring one of his youth volunteers with him. We’re gonna see if they are hip, right? Do we have the hippest youth pastor and volunteers in our church? Even if you guys fail today, just know you’re still hip in my eyes, all right? Just know that.
All right, who of our young people are pretty hip and clued up with culture? Hannah, come on up. You can bring somebody with you if you think, sort of, they can help you out. Just if I maybe stump you. Who do you want? Think carefully, call a friend. Who are you calling? Okay, all right. So it’s youth against the very cool adult volunteers.
All right, I’m gonna give you—here are some slang words that is happening with Generation Alpha, right, and so I’m gonna give you the word and then, adults, you guys can talk, figure out if you know what it is, and then you guys can see. So these words are kind of coming from Generation Z, but Generation Alpha has really kind of taken to their own, okay?
So here it is. Give them the word. “Yeet.” Okay, don’t say anything, don’t say anything. Ah, don’t Google! Wow, cheating generation. Do you guys know what it means?
[Christo:] Is it a vegetable?
[Justine:] It’s like being really cool, you’re yeet.
[Steven:] Okay.
[Hannah:] It’s like, when you like, chuck something. Like you yeet it.
[Camden:] Yeah.
[Steven:] Okay, here’s what it means: “An exclamation of excitement or approval, and also used to indicate throwing something with force.” So one. Okay. Veggies? You must be from Africa.
Okay, “ghost.”
[Justine:] Oh, I know this! It’s to like, just like, stop talking.
[Christo:] Ignore someone.
[Justine:] Yes, ignore someone.
[Christo:] Ignore.
[Hannah:] Yeah, you pretty much just ignore someone.
[Steven:] Okay, so like, ghosted, “to suddenly cut off all communication with someone, typically without explanation.” I don’t know why you’re giving high five, it’s still one for them. All right?
All right, “goat.” Yes?
[Justine:] Greatest of all time.
[Steven:] Yeah, that’s what they say about me.
[Hannah:] Greatest of all time.
[Steven:] All right, good. Good job. “An acronym for ‘Greatest Of All Time,’ used to describe someone who is the best at what they do.”
All right, I think here I’m gonna stump them. “Rizz.”
[Christo:] Is it being cool? Like, rizz. You got the rizz.
[Justine:] I was thinking, like, pop, like fizz. Pop fizz?
[Steven:] What are you gonna go with?
[Christo:] They’re both shaking their heads, so… yeah, they’re cool, like “rizz.” It’s more…
[Camden:] Oh, uh, mm… yeah. I’m not… You get to answer this one.
[Hannah:] Oh, it’s like you’re flirting with somebody, but it’s just like a new word.
[Steven:] Okay. Okay audience, you’ll have to help me. “Rizz means charm or attractiveness, particularly in a romantic sense. It is possibly derived from the word ‘charisma.’” All right, so I think I’m gonna give you guys one, so one-one.
“Fanum tax.” “Fanum tax.”
[Christo:] That’s like the tax before you get your real tax. It’s like the phantom one, like, oh, this is the projected, like what it could be, and then you get the real one.
[Steven:] I think you’re gonna get a point for that one.
[Camden:] I don’t know.
[Hannah:] We have no clue.
[Steven:] Really? Okay. Who knows the answer? Grant? Grant, share. Don’t be shy.
[Grant:] It’s like when you take someone’s food.
[Steven:] Yes, good job. “Refers to stealing part of someone’s food.” Excellent.
[Christo:] That’s paying tax!
[Steven:] Yeah, whatever. Zero-zero. Alright.
Video
Hello, Gen Z. I never thought we’d get to this point, but I guess time really flew by when we were having so much fun learning through a computer screen, watching life get more expensive, and preparing for yet another economic downturn about to arrive. Here’s the cherry on top—the era of Generation Z is coming to an end. In fact, 2024 will be the final year of Gen Z’s undisputed status as the youth in society, and from 2025 onward, our generation will see a continuous decline in our impact on youth culture, which you can think of as the ideas, trends, memes, and slang young people create that are largely separate from broader society. For the past 15 years, Generation Z became increasingly influential in this space, creating more and more of the culture youths enjoy today. But for the next fifteen years, Gen Z’s impact will diminish further and further, while Generation Alpha takes over as the new kids in town. Like it or not, gen Z is now at the top of the rollercoaster we call youth, and since we’re at the peak, it naturally means that there’s only one direction left to go—down.
Now before you protest and exclaim, “No, that can’t be true, we just got here!” Yeah, well, I guess that’s how Millennials felt when we suddenly invaded all those years ago. For our whole lives up to this point, we were always the newer, younger, cooler generation in society, but unfortunately, this is the beginning of the end to that, and from 2025 onward, as Gen Alphas become teenagers, they’ll be gaining more and more influence with each passing year, while Gen Z slowly fades into adulthood.
But first, who exactly are Gen Alphas? One way to understand this generation would be to look at the years associated with them. The beginning and end for each generation is always subject to debate, but to refresh our memory, Baby Boomers are generally considered to be born between 1946 to 1964, Gen X between 1965 to 1979, Millennials between 1980 to 1994, Gen Z between 1995 to 2009, and Gen Alpha between 2010 to 2024. But just knowing the years associated with Gen Alpha doesn’t really help us understand who they are as a generation. A better way would be to look at significant events that dramatically changed their generation and the world around them. Gen Z’s unique upbringing was coming to age in a post-9/11, post-Great Recession world, which impacted not just the US, but most of the West, through increasing government surveillance, rising income inequality, and a greater distrust of government and corporations. In contrast, Gen Alpha’s unique upbringing is characterized by being the first generation to be born into a world completely dominated by smartphones, iPads, AI, and other technologies. Many people forget that just over a decade ago, only a minority of Americans had a smartphone, and they were even less common in other countries, and so every generation before Gen A can still remember a world without these devices, without the excessive use of social media, and without the ubiquity of the Internet.
The transition of many important parts of our lives, like work, school, and entertainment, from the physical world to the virtual was only accelerated by the Pandemic. It is now becoming easier than ever to live your entire life on the Internet. Need to go shopping? There’s Amazon. Need to eat? There’s DoorDash. Need to get an education? There’s online classes. Need to make money? There’s remote jobs—or OnlyFans. Need friends or even a partner? There’s apps for that too. And once AI gets good enough, friendships and relationships with these algorithms will become an option for people as well, eliminating the need to form connections with actual humans at all. Unlike previous generations, Gen Alpha will never experience a world before all this, and the implications of growing up in such a dramatically different environment have yet to be fully understood.
When looking at the generations, you might notice a pattern here. Every one of them after the Boomers has been roughly fifteen years in length. So to understand Gen Z’s impending downfall, all we have to do is go back fifteen years to see the exact same thing happen to Millennials.
The year is 2009, and Obama was just inaugurated President, thanks in large part to the youth at the time, Millennials, voting him in. Compare that to Gen Z having to vote for either this:
[Joe Biden:] “And Joan Shingang… Shi… I’m gonna pronounce… Shanga… Kowawa.”
...or this:
[Donald Trump:] “Ahhhh… ughhhh… ohhhh…”
And even better, twice in a row.
Our Response as the Church
It is easy to look at the world and church just through our perspective and the things that have shaped us. And it’s really important that the church will say, “I need to understand the next generation and the things that are shaping them,” so that we can speak and minister to them in an effective way. Because, like with each generation, there’s all kinds of challenges that will affect them either in the positive and the negative. Obviously, we see the profound impact of mental health that social media and some of these things are bringing, and the impact on relationships and community. And then how is the church gonna respond and speak to some of those things? And so then young people, even today as we start this series, and we’re looking at the power of words, we can’t just think—for us that’s older, right—like the power of words in the sense of just communication—you know, in the house that’s all important—but even how wide that becomes now when we think about the Internet and social media, because this is where our kids live. And how do we apply then God’s Word on social media, on text, and all of these other things that we are interacting with?
The Power of the Tongue
So I want us to look at James chapter 3. I apologize for the long introduction, but I think it’s important. If you have your Bible with you, James chapter 3, starting in verse 1.
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways.
You can highlight that.
Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.
What a powerful word. As we just look at these words and we get a sense of the power of words, the power of the tongue. And you know that your tongue has probably gotten you into a lot of trouble in the past, right, and the damage that your tongue, your words, can bring. And so James really—there’s a lot of wisdom when we study the book of James around this topic, as well as Proverbs.
And this morning I just want you to know this, that what we say and how we say it makes a difference. Taking control of our conversations and our words really matters, not just here on a Sunday morning, but at home, and how we respond online as well, and not just online, but in every text that we send as well. So we have to think, as believers and part of this process of being a disciple of Christ then, to say, “How do I make sure that my words count?” There’s different studies. One study shares that people on average shares about 16,000 words a day, right? One joke was that women actually shares double—about, you know, 30–32,000, but it’s because they have to repeat everything to their husbands, right? But 16,000 words, and how many of those words are healthy and whole as believers?
And just—your words matter. And think of all the platforms, all of the texts that you’re sending out. It matters what you communicate, and as disciples of Christ, we don’t have the luxury to be on a place where we’re just gonna demolish our testimony because of a moment of anger and frustration, where we say dumb stuff on social media or politics or different things, right, and then we lose our temper and we lose our testimony because of bad words and losing sight to this higher calling that God has called us to.
I mean, just think about your own life, how words have affected you. Think good and bad. Think about those teachers that were after you that said negative things. I sure had some of those. Because of that, today I hate woodwork and I hate math, right? But then I love history, world history, because some of my teachers and the things that they have shared. But think about how words, good or bad, how that has impacted your life.
And so here I want you to know, church, and especially with us going into another political season, words can destroy, and words will destroy. And even more so—I want you to know this—that if you have kids and grandkids in your house, they will pay attention to what you are sharing. I don’t know if my mother-in-law is watching again; I heard she texted me last week and said, “What a brilliant sermon,” and that I’m her favorite son-in-law. (I’m her only son-in-law.) But I was like—so this is just in respect, I have to share this—but as you think about kids paying attention, there was this grandma that went to visit the family and grandkids. And so the boy opens up the door, and he’s really excited to see grandma, and he’s like, “Grandma, I’m so excited to see you, and I’m really excited to see the new trick that dad has now because you are here.” And she’s like, “What new trick?” He said, “Well, when you come, he’s gonna climb the walls.” Right? Your kids will pay attention, and make sure that your words are words that brings life.
Proverbs 11 says this:
With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous escape.
When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.
Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.
Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue.
A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.
And then James 1:26 says:
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongue deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
Whoa, James, hold back a little bit. But this is the reality. Think about the last eight years. How many testimonies of your family members have gone to the wayside because of their language because of politics? Right? And I’m just saying today and as we start this series, your words matter. Your words as a believer matters.
It Starts With the Heart
And today, I think this is kind of the key piece—and I want you to walk away with this—this is the revelation that is very important for us. It starts with the heart. If you find a young person—you know, when I go and I walk in some of the high schools here, and you hear the words that the kids are sharing. It’s vulgar, it is disgusting, with the language that is happening in our schools. And a lot of times, you know, there’s a reaction and a response to say, “Oh, don’t say those words.” We want to address the fruit of the situation, but we don’t want to deal with the heart. And before we can deal with the words and to change the words that’s coming out of us, we have to start with our own heart.
Matthew 12—powerful passage here—says:
You brood of vipers, how can you, who are evil, say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.
Now here’s part of the discipleship for us all this morning, because we’re all in the same boat here. At some point—I don’t want any of us to think that your words are just empty and there’s not gonna be an account of your words. Scripture is very clear to us that at some point in our lives, when we are face-to-face with our Maker, you and I will give an account for every word—online, on text—how did we speak to one another?
And then here’s one of my favorite passages. Proverbs 4:23 says:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
If you want to change your words and your lifestyle, it will have to start with a transformation of the heart, and that work only belongs to Jesus Christ. We have some great medical people here, and there’s some great heart surgeons, but no heart doctor can fix your heart in this area. It is only Jesus Christ that can bring that transformation to your life and the work of the Holy Spirit that can change your words, that can change your love for other people and the way that you are gonna view other people. And so if you are dealing with anger and if you’re dealing with these bad words and unhealthy things in your life, I want to encourage you to go back today and to start with the heart and to say, “What is coming out of me is not healthy. Why isn’t it healthy? What do I need to do to bring change to my heart?”
And I can just say the first thing that you and I need to do is that we need to go on our knees and to realize that you and I are sinners, that we are in desperate need of a Savior, and that it is only Jesus Christ with his power that can come into our lives and change our whole world around. And the same thing with every generation that is coming up—they will all have to understand that and to realize that. And somehow we got to bring this to them and to remind them too—it’s like, they have a responsibility and that, although they are very intelligent and they have all of the electronics and technology and their future, at the end of the day, you cannot fix yourself. It is only Jesus Christ.
And somehow the church needs to be a place where young people are gonna stream into again to hear this good news of the gospel. And we got to do whatever we got to do as a church to say, “We will throw all of our money at it; we will throw all of our talents at it; we will throw all of our gifts at it; whatever it takes, because the next generation matters.” Can I hear an amen? Because otherwise we’re gonna just sit here, we’re gonna just perceive the world as it is, and we’re gonna say, “Oh, that next generation, that Generation Z! Boy they are dumb.” Right? Or generation alpha. And guess what? Next year, 2025, the next generation is being born. Then it’s a whole ‘nother shift again. The church is so far behind on some of these things, because again—and I am guilty, there’s so much I have been stuck in a rut and just observing the world from my old perspective and perspectives—but we have to put on a lens, we have to sit, we have to have conversation, we have to understand this culture, and to say, “I am willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of the next generation.”
At our Northwest Conference, they had a young choir there, and it wasn’t hymns. It was gospel hip-hop. And it was interesting—it’s Redeemer Covenant Church, right, one of the older Covenant churches in the Cities. And again, at least our conference still look a little older right? Very Swedish in some aspects, and it was such a joy to see those kids and the way that they were worshiping, and them even bringing, just you know, all of their hardships and stuff that they were willing to come and worship God in their style. And I was so grateful and I was so blessed by the response of the church, with those people sitting there and cheering and encouraging this generation, even though they did not probably like the songs. It didn’t probably click with them in a way it should’ve. But they were so excited about the next generation and the potential, and to see these people in the church rather than on the streets and in gangs, and to say, “Man, we’re in this together, and you are an example, a godly example, and we need more of that.” That was awesome. I was like, “Well done church. Well done church.” Are we willing to be uncomfortable for the next generation and to reach them so that their hearts can be changed?
Have Grace With Yourself
And this morning I want to just encourage you with this—have grace with yourself. The passage in James chapter 3, says this:
We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect.
And this morning, don’t go and think that you can just walk out here and be perfect. You need to be discipled. You need to grow in your relationship with God. But I want you to be intentional and to start to pay attention—first of all to your heart, and then to start to be intentional about the words that are coming out of your mouth, right, and then say, “Are these words that’s gonna lift up and speak life, or is it gonna bring death and destruction?”
And I want to encourage you, as we think about the next generation and in our younger generation, when we are meeting in the coffee area—and I want to encourage you, don’t just take off on a Sunday morning. Come on Wednesdays when we’re having dinner; sit around the table; ask questions; let young people ask the older generations questions. Older people, ask the younger people questions. Let’s interact. Let’s find out what are the things that are making us fearful and that brings anxiety and how we see this world and how we see the church, and so that together we can impact the next generation. Amen?
