One Heart - Together as OneSample

THE LANGUAGE WE USE

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And at this sound, the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language… Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” Acts 2:4-6, 9-11 ESV

The first language any child learns to speak is the mother tongue. In multi-ethnic societies, a child soon learns to speak other languages as well. A possible hindrance to the spread of the Gospel to new cultures was that the first Christians were mainly Jews, and spoke only Aramaic and Greek. When the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, He brought them a heavenly gift, the supernatural ability to speak in other languages. That gift enabled the disciples to share the Gospel in the heart language of Jews visiting Jerusalem from other parts of the Roman Empire. The same gift was given to the Romans in the house of Cornelius, an indication that the commission to share the Gospel was not limited to the Jewish Christians only. The confusion of languages by God at the building of the Tower of Babel was reversed. Language was no longer a hindrance to unity.

There are thousands of languages and dialects in the world. Expanding Empires had one thing in common - they forced people to speak their language. Most conquered people eventually lost their mother tongues. The Jews lost their Hebrew language in Persia, learning to speak Aramaic. When the Greeks conquered Persia, the people were again forced to speak another language, Greek. The Romans introduced Latin. Spain and Portugal introduced Spanish and Portuguese to South America. The British forced almost the whole world to speak English. The Soviet Union forced all conquered nations to speak Russian. The language of the conquerors was always seen as a curse. Languages became a division in the church. The Roman Catholic Church forbid the Bible to be translated into other languages, causing ordinary Christians to be ignorant of the Word of God. Many false teachings could be forced on people, imprisoning them in ignorance and superstition. Language became a weapon to keep people in submission and ignorance. It is an insult to the Holy Spirit to use your mother language as a weapon against people of other languages. He can cause a language to become extinct, and He can cause a language to become a blessing. Our behaviour and attitude will determine if our language is a blessing or curse.

God called faithful men and women to translate the Bible at the peril of losing their lives. The gift of the Holy Spirit began to triumph once more. There are 7300 known spoken languages in the world. 1255 languages have no part of the Bible translated. (Wycliffe Bible Translation). There are 17213 people groups in the world. 7280 people groups (42%) have not heard the Gospel in their own language.

Scriptures to meditate on before praying:

Acts 2:4-11; Acts 4:31; Acts 6:1-3; Acts 10:44-46; Acts 19:1-6.

PRAYER POINTS

ME: Am I using my mother language as a weapon against other people? Am I willing to befriend someone that speaks another language? Pray that the Holy Spirit will transform your mindset concerning people of other races.

US: Is our church open for people of other languages to join in our services? Are we willing to switch to a common language for the sake of such people? Ask the Holy Spirit for a fresh baptism and for His gift of speaking in another language so that your church can reach out to the community around you.

THEM: For too long the church has withheld the Gospel from people because of the language barrier. Let us pray that our desire for oneness will spill over into the secular world of our nations.

Remember your scripture memory of John 17.

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” - Ludwig Wittgenstein