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Words Have Meaning (Prelude to The Be.Attitudes of Following Jesus Series) | Andy Yeoh · Generations Church

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  Hey, you welcome to the Generation's Church podcast. We pray you will be
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  blessed by this message. Today I made a word of God both encouraged and
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  challenge you to be all God purpose you to be. Now, let's dive
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  right in, Okay Church. Today we're going to begin a sort of a
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  prelude to the actual series. I mentioned before that we're gonna go into a
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  series of talking about discipleship, and I've entitled that series The b Attitude of
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  Following Jesus. So that will be the actual series, but today I want
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  to begin with a prelude sort of like a pre introduction to that. I'm
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  going to be doing two parts of this, and today's part one, and
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  for part one, I have entitled the message simply Words have meaning. Words
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  have meaning. I know it sounds obvious, it sounds dureh. But sometimes
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  things that are simple we may is they're so simple we don't think deeply about
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  them, but they are actually deeper significance to it. For example, words,
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  I read a funny story of an Old Testament professor. Uh he you
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  know, I go to a Bible school. Now I kind of appreciate some
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  of some of these kind of stories and stuff. I go to a Bible
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  school where you know, they like to define terms very accurately, very carefully,
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  and you know, sometimes they break apart certain words and make to make
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  sure that it means exactly the thing we wanted to mean. So there was
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  this story about an ultimate Old Testament professor in the Bible school. He was
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  at a conference for Christian professors, and he wanted to go into a session
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  for all the Old Testament professors, but he actually ended up in a her
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  session. He went to the wrong class and he went into the session for
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  philosophy professors, and then once he was in there, by the time he
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  realized he was in the wrong place, he couldn't get out. But what
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  transpired, what transpired was quite interesting, according to the professor in that session,
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  they never actually arrived at the topic of discussion for the philosophy session because
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  they spend the entire time arguing over how certain words were best defined. So
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  instead of talking about the topic, they spent most of the time just defining
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  words afterwards afterwards and arguing about what those words actually mean, and they had
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  no time left to talk about the topic. So I know, the professors
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  said, these were the words kind of philosophers because they were talking about everything
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  except the important things. Now, as I say that, it sounds like
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  I'm trying to say, you know, don't be too particular about words and
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  things like that, but you know what there are, You know, there's
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  there's always times and seasons for everything. There's always a purpose for everything.
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  And as cumbersome as constantly worrying about proper about what proper definitions can be.
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  You know, the philosophers that we kind of like talked about just now that
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  really will particularly about meanings of words. You know, they may be onto
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  something important because what we mean by certain terms that we drop in casual conversations
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  is actually of utmost importance, especially when we are discussing matters of eternal importance.
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  So while I do believe one can go too far down this road of
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  defining everything, making sure we use the right word for the right things all
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  the time, and constantly worrying that, you know, our words have no
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  meaning until they're explicitly defined for the listeners, I think there is some balance
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  here to be had. It is good to make sure that we're all more
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  or less on the same page. I think that's that's where I'm trying to
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  get at as we go into the series of disciples it's very important that we
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  are on the same page, especially on the same page with Jesus, who
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  was the one who originally invited people into a journey and life of discipleship.
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  So we want to know what did Jesus mean by those terms. And you
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  know, interestingly, some of the words we use for discipleship today Jesus did
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  not use in those days. So it's an indication that perhaps, maybe,
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  just maybe discipleship that Jesus meant and the discipleship practice today may not necessarily be
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  the same thing. And the only way to understand those things is if we
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  can understand when Jesus said those words, what did they mean? You know,
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  let's use like a day to day illustration. We live in a country
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  where there are many different backgrounds, you know, religious backgrounds, cultural backgrounds.
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  We have all kinds of people that live in this country. And you
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  know, if someone walked up to you or to me and ask, hey,
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  are you a Christian? Now, what would you say? I can
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  see some hands some people say yes, you know, very quickly. I
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  want you to just stop, maybe just a few seconds, to delay and
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  think about whether you should so quickly say yes or not, because when someone
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  asks you are you a Christian, they may have a very different interpretation in
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  their mind when they asked you that question, and when you say yes or
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  no, you may have a very different interpretation in your mind. You know,
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  in my Bible school class, there was one class where we were talking
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  about the deity of Christ and our lecturer kind of like through a very obvious
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  question to the class and he asked, do you think Jesus is God?
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  You know, what would you say, Jesus is God? Would you say
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  yes or no? And of course, it being a class a full of
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  Bible school students, we all say yes, of course Jesus is God.
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  And then the lecturer said, oh, you shouldn't be so quick to say
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  that. We were all confused, like, of course Jesus is God,
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  right, what do you say? Don't be so quick to say that.
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  He said, what we should do instead was ask the person who was asking,
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  is Jesus God? Is Jesus God? And ask him or her what
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  he or she means by God? What do you mean by God? And
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  you know, we actually went deeper into that thought because it's quite true.
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  What you think is God may not be the same idea as someone else had
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  about God. For some people, God is like a singular entity that there's
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  not more than one, just one single God. For some people when they
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  say God, it can mean more than one person. So we were taught
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  to actually more be more careful, and be more precise in defining those terms.
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  So if someone asks you are you a Christian? You know it's of
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  course maybe it's very easy to say yes, of course I am, and
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  it would be true. But then, like I said earlier, what you
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  mean by you are a Christian and what that person hurt and understand when you
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  say you're a Christian could be could just be two different things, you know,
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  for example, especially people who are not familiar with Christianity or what actually
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  means and what's the meaning it carries. For many people who are not Christians
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  or not from maybe they're not from the Western world, they may have this
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  very simple assumption that all Americans are Christians. For example, all Americans are
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  Christians because a lot of us watch American TV shows, right, and perhaps
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  it's presented to us that, oh, a lot of Americans are Christians.
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  We who live in this part of the world may have that assumption, and
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  some of us in this country here or in other parts of the world may
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  watch those TV series and assume that what they're watching is representative of all of
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  American culture. And since they assume that all Americans are Christians, they may
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  assume that that culture is Christian culture. And if that is true, the
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  idea in their mind about Christians could be, well, I watch it in
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  the movies. I watched it in the TV shows. Christians seem to be
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  people who have multiple partners. They slip around, you know, because they
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  watch Prom nine and they watch how during prom nights, these young girls and
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  young guys lose their virginity on Prom nine. And you know, this may
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  be the assumption. You know, bear in mind, if that's what they're
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  watching, the assumption could be, Okay, everyone on this TV show these
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  are Christians. Why because they assume Americans are Christians, you know, then
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  you know they go further. Christians to them means people who get drunk frequently,
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  don't really go to church or are brought in church because those are the
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  images shown on films. They don't really pray, don't really worship, and
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  they never really mentioned God unless they're swearing. You know, Christians are people
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  who use crude languages and you know, stuff like that. So when you
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  say yes, I'm a Christian to somebody, they may have a very different
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  idea in mind. And so instead of just quickly answering yes or no,
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  but perhaps we could ask them a different question. Maybe we can ask them,
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  Hey, when you ask me if I'm a Christian, what did you
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  mean by Christians? What do you understand by that? So that was just
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  a simple example. It could be anything. For example, if I say
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  apple, for some of you here, you're thinking a computer, a phone,
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  someone else a fruit someone else. You're not thinking about the fruit.
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  You're thinking about a drink. For some of you, who's thinking about the
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  fruit? Is it a red one or a green one? Right? So,
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  like one word can have so many different meanings. Why is this important?
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  Like I said, we're about to go into a series where we're going
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  to look at things that Jesus said, Things that Jesus said about discipleship,
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  things that you just said about following him. Now, if we don't understand
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  those terms the way Jesus said it or what he meant, we may be
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  doing or living a very different way. So as we draw this to a
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  close, I just want to share with you a few things that are from
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  my research. I've learned there are at least five types of meanings of words,
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  or rather types of word meaning. Okay. Types of word meaning refer
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  to the different ways in which words convey significance or sense. All right,
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  so there are five. The first one is denotative meaning denotative meaning. This
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  type of meaning refers to the literal dictionary definition of a word. Denotative meanings
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  are like they are the objective and precise, and can be used to describe
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  specific objects, actions, or concepts. Okay. Secondly is connotative meaning.
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  This type of meaning refers to the emotional or cultural associations that a word may
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  have. Connotative meanings are subjective instead of objective, and can vary based on
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  personal experiences, cultural context, or social norms. For example, the word
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  home home home may have positive connotations for some people, but negative connotations for
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  others. For some people, home is a place they want to return to.
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  For others, home is a place they want to run away from,
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  depending on their experiences, their contexts, et cetera, et cetera. Now,
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  so far we've talked about two different tip meanings. Why is this important
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  because when Jesus spoke two thousand years ago, he spoke to a people that
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  live in those times that understood those terms in a particular way. Sometimes it's
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  denotative, other times connotative, but other times it is figurative, which is
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  the third type of word meaning. Figurative refers to the non literal use of
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  words to convey a different or abstract sense. Figurative meanings include metaphors, similes,
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  and idioms. For example, let's just say the phrase a penny for
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  your thoughts, A penny for your thoughts. Now, the word picture is
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  you know, I'm giving you coins for your thoughts, but that's not what
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  it means. I'm not paying you to think. But it's an idiom.
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  It's an idiom that means what do you think? So if you see someone
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  de being thought, you know, you might look at him and say,
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  hey, hey, brother, a penny for your thoughts. And what you're
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  really saying is what are you thinking? Can you tell me? So that's
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  figurative. Believe or not what Jesus does use figurative meanings when he spoke in
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  those days. The fourth type of word meaning is collocative meaning. This type
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  of meaning refers to the words that often occur together with a particular word.
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  Collocative meanings are essential for understanding the nuances of language, such as idiomatic expressions
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  and phrasal verbs. For example, yeah, the verb make make. The
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  verb make has different collocative meanings when combined with different nouns. For example,
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  make coffee is not the same as make a decision. Okay, make coffee,
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  make a decision. Two different things, but same verb. Now.
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  The last one is thematic meaning. This type of meaning refers to the broad
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  concepts or ideas that a word may represent. Themetic meanings are often abstract and
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  can be influenced by cultural, social, or historical factors. For example,
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  the word freedom, it's such a big concept, large concept. The word
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  freedom again may have different thematic meanings in different contexts, because it could mean
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  political freedom, it could mean personal freedom, and it's not the same thing.
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  So we now we understand that there are five different types of word meanings
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  at least, and as we read the Bible and the things that Jesus said,
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  it's important to ask ourselves, you know, what kind of meaning is
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  being ascribed to these words that Jesus are saying because understanding the different types of
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  word meanings is essential for effective communication and language processing. And by recognizing how
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  words can convey significance, we can better interpret and use leangs in different contexts.
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  And for us who people who kind of like rests our confidence in the
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  fact that the Bible is defined on an ultimate authority of our lives, it's
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  important that we understand what these words that Jesus used mean. Now have you
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  ever have you ever used these phrases before? Like, you know, you're
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  trying to think of something and then you kind of like can't find that word,
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  and then you say, I don't know the word for it, or
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  I can't think of the word for it, or I forgot the word for
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  it. Have you ever been there before? I'm sure you have, right,
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  Almost everyone, Right, we say something or we're thinking of something,
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  and then oh man, what was it again? I don't know the word
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  for it, and we can't quite find the right word to describe the concept,
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  the thought, the idea that is in our head. Well, can
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  I flow from the illustration? And it just kind of make a very big
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  statement. The statement is this, Jesus is the word for it? Jesus
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  is the word for it. If you don't know the word for it,
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  Jesus is the word for it. What do I mean by that? I
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  mean that we need to define our life, especially as a Christian, based
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  on who Jesus is, because Jesus is the word. He is the meaning
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  John Chapter one, verse one to three, and then verse fourteen. Also
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  it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with
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  God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God,
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  and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything
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  made. That was made was fourteen and the word became flesh. So Jesus
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  bring the logos, which is the Greek word here. And the Greek word
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  logos is a whole bunch of meaning that I'm so you can search it up
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  yourself. But one of the first meanings is that logos means a word uttered
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  by a living voice, and it embodies a conception or idea. So meaning
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  to say, Jesus as established in the Word of God, he is the
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  word, meaning he is the meaning he is, the concept, is the
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  idea. He is the definition. For us to understand anything about our lives,
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  we have to understand what Jesus means because he is our creator. He
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  is the creator of everything we know and even don't know. Jesus is the
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  word for it. And so we cannot define things like disciple, shape,
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  worship, prayer of faith just based on our own whims and fancies. We
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  have to go to Jesus and look at Jesus's life and look at his words
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  and say this is what it means. All right? So as we go
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  into a seriously discipleship and we ask ourselves what is discipleship. We don't just
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  go to that book, that commentary, watch this YouTube video, that TikTok
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  video and go ah, that's discipleship. Let's follow that. We don't just
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  go to this church that church. Look at the concept. I mean,
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  I'm not saying they're bad, They're probably good. But the thing is this
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  the ultimate definition, the out word meaning comes from Jesus. What is the
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  tip of shape? Or how about other concepts? Are the things that we
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  read so much about in the Bible, For example, what is what is
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  a Christian? What does that mean? It's not not just to ask another
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  passer down the road, what do you think of christian is? It's important,
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  in fact crucial to usk Jesus, what Christian means, what us following
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  Jesus mean? What is love? What is give? What is serf?
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  How about lead? And worship and pray? All of these things. We
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  need to go to God and go to Jesus, and go to the Bible
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  and define these things. Because when we define these things properly, then we'll
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  be able to act on them properly. To it's crucial we know what Jesus,
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  the word the law gous means by all of those things that we mentioned.
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  So as I close, I just want to reiterate that, you know
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  what. It may sound simple, it may sound cumbersome, but words have
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  meaning. Words are not just words. Words are not just a string of
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  texts or letters put together just to communicate something, to buy something, to
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  get something done. Words have meaning. It can affect how we live,
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  and it can affect our lifestyle, our presence, our future, everything.
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  And as believers, we have Jesus as the log of Us to fall back
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  on, and I encourage you church to do just that. And in the
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  next few weeks, maybe in the next one, one or two, as
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  we go through this series, and that's what we're gonna be looking at We're
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  going to keep looking back at Jesus and ask Jesus through the Bible, what
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  does he mean by all these things like discipleship and follow away and gave and
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  serve and lead and et cetera. All right, thank you for joining us.
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  We trust you have been blessed by the Word of God. If you
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  like what if you experience, please subscribe and share with your friends on social
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  media. Do tagerus at generations mind. For more information, checks out on
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