In Matt.26:57-75 we have a recording of the accusation made against Peter the night Jesus went on trial and Peter was hanging around the High Priest’s palace to see what would happen to Jesus. He was accused of being a friend of Jesus since your speech bewrayeth thee. To misread it as thy speech betrayeth thee is not to do any injury to the meaning. Apparently the Galilean accent was not pretty. In Jerusalem there were many trite and well-worn jests about its rustic flavour. I suggest it was much like us and Kiwis (fush and chups), or the Poms (no wha ah meen?). A man from Galilee only had to ask a question of a shopkeeper in Jerusalem and everybody knew where he was from. Some things cannot be hidden, and an accent is one of them. We hear them in our multicultural society – Cockneys, Scots, Irish, Yanks, Chinese, Africans etc. – all different and all revealing something about the person speaking.
When Peter was warming himself around the fire that night, he was challenged by a couple of maids who accused him of being a disciple of Jesus. He denied, but to deny he had to open his mouth and speak. With every word he uttered he was digging his own grave for others could hear the Galilean accent. Finally, the crowd challenged him on the basis of his speech and he began to curse and swear – using the very accent that had betrayed him initially.
Who ever notices his own accent? I remember when one of my daughters was young, she was indignant about some Americans talking about our accent, saying, we don’t have an accent – they have the accent! The object of Christianity is for us to have the mind of Christ. George McDonald said, The Kingdom of Heaven is not come even when God’s will is our law – it is fully come when God’s will is our will. Do we betray the fact that we are Christians? How does one gain the Galilean accent? – only one way really – to live in a place long enough to soak it up and be affected by it. We have to make a large room for Christ to dwell in our life. We live such busy lives. Hurry is the death of prayer, Hartley Simmons used to say. A theologian named Whyte said, Gabriel is said to have come swiftly to Daniel while he was speaking and praying. He would need to come very quickly indeed to most of us if he is to catch us on our knees. And what do we read most, the newspaper, text messages, novels, or God’s word?
Mixed messages are confusing (1 Cor. 14:7,8). Remember Little red Riding Hood’s dilemma when looking at Grandma in the bed? Something was not quite right. Grandma, what big eyes you have. All the better to see you with, replied the wolf. But, Grandma, what big teeth you have! All the better to eat you with my dear! Cried the wolf.
When the twelve spies returned from spying out the land of Canaan, they brought back some of the fruits of the land. One of the clusters of grapes had to be carried on a staff between two of them. (Num. 13:23). At first they said it was a good land (v.27) but they were afraid of the inhabitants. When the forces of negativity took over they began to change their tune and they said it was a terrible place, hostile to human habitation (v.32). But the silent contradictory testimony was the grape cluster on the staff together with the figs and the pomegranates. Fear said one thing but the evidence said another. That’s the way it was with Peter too, wasn’t it?
Saul returned from the slaughter of the Amelekites claiming, I have done the Lord’s will. Samuel’s question was so piercing and so relevant; what does the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen mean? (1 Sam. 15:4). Saul’s own conscience may have been silent but dumb animals were proclaiming his disobedience. The prophet’s words reveal God’s view of disobedience. According to vs. 22,23, it is a sin of utmost cruciality. It renders useless the most solemn acts of worship. It is as bad as witchcraft and idolatry. It cuts at the root of all authority. It is the elevation of human wisdom over the eternal and attempts to break the Scripture which says no man can serve two masters. It was not that Saul did not believe in God, or that he refused to go to war against the Amelekites: he did that, but God’s commands were not supreme; other considerations got in the road.
Robert Ingersol was a famous American infidel who loved to make fun of the Bible and travelled the country giving lectures against it. That is not to say that he was ignorant of all that was in the Bible. He knew what the Bible said about baptism and he would ask denominationals if they believed in the essentiality of baptism. When they said “no” he would quote Acts 2:38 and tell them that they no more believed the Bible than he did.
Titus 1:16 speaks of those who claim to know God but in works they deny Him. Jesus once asked, What do you more than others? (Matt.5:47). There is to be a difference between a Christian and a man of the world. Yogi Spears tells the story of something that happened when he was dating a girl who would become his wife. After he took her home he would impress her with his ability to drive fast in reverse and so he would back of of the house down the road. One night, he had backed out of the driveway and down the road a pretty good distance when he ran over a dog. He got out of the car and the owner of the dog approached and asked Yogi what had happened. Well, sir, I was backing down the road and ran over the dog. Well that explains it, said the owner, he couldn’t tell which way you were going! 2 Cor. 3:2 says we are read of men. Whether you are aware of or accept it, people watch us and draw conclusions about us that may be different from what we want or say.
Lot seemed as one that mocked to his sons-in-law (Gen. 19:14). Why? Probably a number of reasons. If Sodom was such a wicked place why had he moved there? If it was so urgent to get out why wasn’t he hurrying himself? Why did the angels have to drag him out? Parents need to be careful with the example they set their kids. In fact, your kids will know your priorities probably better than any other person. If they receive mixed messages they will end up in all probability being confused about what it is to be a Christian.
We must be confident, joyful people (Phil. 4:4). Do we live in a dull or dangerous time? In eternity when the history of the church will be discussed, how will they speak of our time? Every generation has its trials and temptations, but the ancients will find it hard to believe there was no overt persecution in our time and place:– no lions, no crosses, no swords. Paul speaks of the troubles he faced (2 Cor. 11) and they draw a picture of a world far different from ours. Yet, even when he was depressed and fearful, with him it was always Up again – back into the thickest of the action once more! This is the spirit of Jesus. Alexander Campbell said of Jesus that He drew His sword on the banks of the Jordan and threw away the scabbard.
If we were arrested on suspicion of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us? What mixed messages do we give when we say we believe Matt. 28:20 and yet are worried about the stock market or the price of groceries? One time, Martin Luther’s wife came into their living room dressed in black and with a long face. He asked the meaning of her behaviour and she said, God died! He told her not to be so foolish and then she explained that she didn’t really believe God was dead, but that her husband had been behaving as though God was dead.
We cannot afford to give mixed messages. When a man is recognized as an ungodly man he is seen as a warning rather then an example. If people believe we are Christians they will tend to regard us as a safe guide to follow. The responsibility then is great, for when we deviate from the true path we turn others toward evil. We are the only gospel some people will read. What will they read? Will they understand what they read?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, What you do speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you say.