Exercise Protective Speech, Part I: Formative Speech

October 26, 2025
Exercise Protective Speech, Part I: Formative Speech
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:14-16

Rom. 15:14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

Col. 3:14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 16:5-8

LEADER: The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
  you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
  indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

ALL: I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
  in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me;
  because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: Proverbs 25:11, 12; 15:31-33

LEADER: A word fitly spoken
  is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold
  is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof
  will dwell among the wise.
Whoever ignores instruction despises himself,
  but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
  and humility comes before honor.

  The Word of the Lord

ALL: Thanks be to God 

CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER: 

CONFESSION OF SIN:  

LEADER: Let us confess our sin to the Lord.

ALL: You showed us the power of words by speaking all things into existence. Your Son became one of us and died for us as He spoke to us the words of eternal life. We instead unleash words like weapons or withhold words that are in season. Forgive us for misusing or neglecting one more of your good gifts. Create in us the heart from which words of truth and love are spoken fitly and give life.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Ephesians 2:14, 17-18

LEADER: For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. . . . And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 

ALL: Thanks be to God.

BENEDICTION: 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

LEADER: For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Isaiah 50:4
  • 2 Timothy 3:14-16
  • Hebrews 5:12

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

  1. Let’s be frank and go deeper than normal here. Hardest thing you’ve ever had to say to someone that was for their good? Hardest thing you’ve heard someone say to you that was for your good? 
  2. Collect from the passages all the words about what we are expected to do for one another. Put those words in what you think are synonymous words, but in your own words. What is gained by submitting to this–and lost if we neglect doing so?
  3. What hesitations might you have when it comes to offering a fitting and timely word for someone? What’s appropriate about the pause to consider? What’s perhaps behind the hesitation that needs to be repented of?
  4. The Reformation sought to recover the doctrine of salvation as occurring through grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone. We also hear Paul speak of “working out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). How does exercising this formative protective speech contribute to that working out of our salvation? Why would that be a privilege in participating in that effort with the Lord? 

Illustrations:

Oct 26, 2025

BOOKS / DOCS

“The Church is your Mom,” Tish Harrison Warren
Devoted to the Church, Sinclair Ferguson
Contesting the Body of Christ, Myles Werntz
Church: A Guide to the People of God, Brad East
C.S. Lewis and the Church, eds. Judith and Brendan Wolfe
The Church and its Vocation, Michael W. Goheen
“What is Church?” Jason Micheli
Life Together, Dietrich Bønhoeffer (tl;dr: start here)
Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas
From Isolation to Community, Myles Werntz

SERMONS / TALKS

“Guidelines for Separation,” Sinclair Ferguson
“Forgiveness and Reconciliation,” Tim Keller (pdf)