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

Hey, you welcome to the Generation's Church podcast. We pray you will be

blessed by this message. Today I made a word of God both encouraged and

challenge you to be all God purpose you to be. Now, let's dive

right in, Okay Church. Today we're going to begin a sort of a

prelude to the actual series. I mentioned before that we're gonna go into a

series of talking about discipleship, and I've entitled that series The b Attitude of

Following Jesus. So that will be the actual series, but today I want

to begin with a prelude sort of like a pre introduction to that. I'm

going to be doing two parts of this, and today's part one, and

for part one, I have entitled the message simply Words have meaning. Words

have meaning. I know it sounds obvious, it sounds dureh. But sometimes

things that are simple we may is they're so simple we don't think deeply about

them, but they are actually deeper significance to it. For example, words,

I read a funny story of an Old Testament professor. Uh he you

know, I go to a Bible school. Now I kind of appreciate some

of some of these kind of stories and stuff. I go to a Bible

school where you know, they like to define terms very accurately, very carefully,

and you know, sometimes they break apart certain words and make to make

sure that it means exactly the thing we wanted to mean. So there was

this story about an ultimate Old Testament professor in the Bible school. He was

at a conference for Christian professors, and he wanted to go into a session

for all the Old Testament professors, but he actually ended up in a her

session. He went to the wrong class and he went into the session for

philosophy professors, and then once he was in there, by the time he

realized he was in the wrong place, he couldn't get out. But what

transpired, what transpired was quite interesting, according to the professor in that session,

they never actually arrived at the topic of discussion for the philosophy session because

they spend the entire time arguing over how certain words were best defined. So

instead of talking about the topic, they spent most of the time just defining

words afterwards afterwards and arguing about what those words actually mean, and they had

no time left to talk about the topic. So I know, the professors

said, these were the words kind of philosophers because they were talking about everything

except the important things. Now, as I say that, it sounds like

I'm trying to say, you know, don't be too particular about words and

things like that, but you know what there are, You know, there's

there's always times and seasons for everything. There's always a purpose for everything.

And as cumbersome as constantly worrying about proper about what proper definitions can be.

You know, the philosophers that we kind of like talked about just now that

really will particularly about meanings of words. You know, they may be onto

something important because what we mean by certain terms that we drop in casual conversations

is actually of utmost importance, especially when we are discussing matters of eternal importance.

So while I do believe one can go too far down this road of

defining everything, making sure we use the right word for the right things all

the time, and constantly worrying that, you know, our words have no

meaning until they're explicitly defined for the listeners, I think there is some balance

here to be had. It is good to make sure that we're all more

or less on the same page. I think that's that's where I'm trying to

get at as we go into the series of disciples it's very important that we

are on the same page, especially on the same page with Jesus, who

was the one who originally invited people into a journey and life of discipleship.

So we want to know what did Jesus mean by those terms. And you

know, interestingly, some of the words we use for discipleship today Jesus did

not use in those days. So it's an indication that perhaps, maybe,

just maybe discipleship that Jesus meant and the discipleship practice today may not necessarily be

the same thing. And the only way to understand those things is if we

can understand when Jesus said those words, what did they mean? You know,

let's use like a day to day illustration. We live in a country

where there are many different backgrounds, you know, religious backgrounds, cultural backgrounds.

We have all kinds of people that live in this country. And you

know, if someone walked up to you or to me and ask, hey,

are you a Christian? Now, what would you say? I can

see some hands some people say yes, you know, very quickly. I

want you to just stop, maybe just a few seconds, to delay and

think about whether you should so quickly say yes or not, because when someone

asks you are you a Christian, they may have a very different interpretation in

their mind when they asked you that question, and when you say yes or

no, you may have a very different interpretation in your mind. You know,

in my Bible school class, there was one class where we were talking

about the deity of Christ and our lecturer kind of like through a very obvious

question to the class and he asked, do you think Jesus is God?

You know, what would you say, Jesus is God? Would you say

yes or no? And of course, it being a class a full of

Bible school students, we all say yes, of course Jesus is God.

And then the lecturer said, oh, you shouldn't be so quick to say

that. We were all confused, like, of course Jesus is God,

right, what do you say? Don't be so quick to say that.

He said, what we should do instead was ask the person who was asking,

is Jesus God? Is Jesus God? And ask him or her what

he or she means by God? What do you mean by God? And

you know, we actually went deeper into that thought because it's quite true.

What you think is God may not be the same idea as someone else had

about God. For some people, God is like a singular entity that there's

not more than one, just one single God. For some people when they

say God, it can mean more than one person. So we were taught

to actually more be more careful, and be more precise in defining those terms.

So if someone asks you are you a Christian? You know it's of

course maybe it's very easy to say yes, of course I am, and

it would be true. But then, like I said earlier, what you

mean by you are a Christian and what that person hurt and understand when you

say you're a Christian could be could just be two different things, you know,

for example, especially people who are not familiar with Christianity or what actually

means and what's the meaning it carries. For many people who are not Christians

or not from maybe they're not from the Western world, they may have this

very simple assumption that all Americans are Christians. For example, all Americans are

Christians because a lot of us watch American TV shows, right, and perhaps

it's presented to us that, oh, a lot of Americans are Christians.

We who live in this part of the world may have that assumption, and

some of us in this country here or in other parts of the world may

watch those TV series and assume that what they're watching is representative of all of

American culture. And since they assume that all Americans are Christians, they may

assume that that culture is Christian culture. And if that is true, the

idea in their mind about Christians could be, well, I watch it in

the movies. I watched it in the TV shows. Christians seem to be

people who have multiple partners. They slip around, you know, because they

watch Prom nine and they watch how during prom nights, these young girls and

young guys lose their virginity on Prom nine. And you know, this may

be the assumption. You know, bear in mind, if that's what they're

watching, the assumption could be, Okay, everyone on this TV show these

are Christians. Why because they assume Americans are Christians, you know, then

you know they go further. Christians to them means people who get drunk frequently,

don't really go to church or are brought in church because those are the

images shown on films. They don't really pray, don't really worship, and

they never really mentioned God unless they're swearing. You know, Christians are people

who use crude languages and you know, stuff like that. So when you

say yes, I'm a Christian to somebody, they may have a very different

idea in mind. And so instead of just quickly answering yes or no,

but perhaps we could ask them a different question. Maybe we can ask them,

Hey, when you ask me if I'm a Christian, what did you

mean by Christians? What do you understand by that? So that was just

a simple example. It could be anything. For example, if I say

apple, for some of you here, you're thinking a computer, a phone,

someone else a fruit someone else. You're not thinking about the fruit.

You're thinking about a drink. For some of you, who's thinking about the

fruit? Is it a red one or a green one? Right? So,

like one word can have so many different meanings. Why is this important?

Like I said, we're about to go into a series where we're going

to look at things that Jesus said, Things that Jesus said about discipleship,

things that you just said about following him. Now, if we don't understand

those terms the way Jesus said it or what he meant, we may be

doing or living a very different way. So as we draw this to a

close, I just want to share with you a few things that are from

my research. I've learned there are at least five types of meanings of words,

or rather types of word meaning. Okay. Types of word meaning refer

to the different ways in which words convey significance or sense. All right,

so there are five. The first one is denotative meaning denotative meaning. This

type of meaning refers to the literal dictionary definition of a word. Denotative meanings

are like they are the objective and precise, and can be used to describe

specific objects, actions, or concepts. Okay. Secondly is connotative meaning.

This type of meaning refers to the emotional or cultural associations that a word may

have. Connotative meanings are subjective instead of objective, and can vary based on

personal experiences, cultural context, or social norms. For example, the word

home home home may have positive connotations for some people, but negative connotations for

others. For some people, home is a place they want to return to.

For others, home is a place they want to run away from,

depending on their experiences, their contexts, et cetera, et cetera. Now,

so far we've talked about two different tip meanings. Why is this important

because when Jesus spoke two thousand years ago, he spoke to a people that

live in those times that understood those terms in a particular way. Sometimes it's

denotative, other times connotative, but other times it is figurative, which is

the third type of word meaning. Figurative refers to the non literal use of

words to convey a different or abstract sense. Figurative meanings include metaphors, similes,

and idioms. For example, let's just say the phrase a penny for

your thoughts, A penny for your thoughts. Now, the word picture is

you know, I'm giving you coins for your thoughts, but that's not what

it means. I'm not paying you to think. But it's an idiom.

It's an idiom that means what do you think? So if you see someone

de being thought, you know, you might look at him and say,

hey, hey, brother, a penny for your thoughts. And what you're

really saying is what are you thinking? Can you tell me? So that's

figurative. Believe or not what Jesus does use figurative meanings when he spoke in

those days. The fourth type of word meaning is collocative meaning. This type

of meaning refers to the words that often occur together with a particular word.

Collocative meanings are essential for understanding the nuances of language, such as idiomatic expressions

and phrasal verbs. For example, yeah, the verb make make. The

verb make has different collocative meanings when combined with different nouns. For example,

make coffee is not the same as make a decision. Okay, make coffee,

make a decision. Two different things, but same verb. Now.

The last one is thematic meaning. This type of meaning refers to the broad

concepts or ideas that a word may represent. Themetic meanings are often abstract and

can be influenced by cultural, social, or historical factors. For example,

the word freedom, it's such a big concept, large concept. The word

freedom again may have different thematic meanings in different contexts, because it could mean

political freedom, it could mean personal freedom, and it's not the same thing.

So we now we understand that there are five different types of word meanings

at least, and as we read the Bible and the things that Jesus said,

it's important to ask ourselves, you know, what kind of meaning is

being ascribed to these words that Jesus are saying because understanding the different types of

word meanings is essential for effective communication and language processing. And by recognizing how

words can convey significance, we can better interpret and use leangs in different contexts.

And for us who people who kind of like rests our confidence in the

fact that the Bible is defined on an ultimate authority of our lives, it's

important that we understand what these words that Jesus used mean. Now have you

ever have you ever used these phrases before? Like, you know, you're

trying to think of something and then you kind of like can't find that word,

and then you say, I don't know the word for it, or

I can't think of the word for it, or I forgot the word for

it. Have you ever been there before? I'm sure you have, right,

Almost everyone, Right, we say something or we're thinking of something,

and then oh man, what was it again? I don't know the word

for it, and we can't quite find the right word to describe the concept,

the thought, the idea that is in our head. Well, can

I flow from the illustration? And it just kind of make a very big

statement. The statement is this, Jesus is the word for it? Jesus

is the word for it. If you don't know the word for it,

Jesus is the word for it. What do I mean by that? I

mean that we need to define our life, especially as a Christian, based

on who Jesus is, because Jesus is the word. He is the meaning

John Chapter one, verse one to three, and then verse fourteen. Also

it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with

God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God,

and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything

made. That was made was fourteen and the word became flesh. So Jesus

bring the logos, which is the Greek word here. And the Greek word

logos is a whole bunch of meaning that I'm so you can search it up

yourself. But one of the first meanings is that logos means a word uttered

by a living voice, and it embodies a conception or idea. So meaning

to say, Jesus as established in the Word of God, he is the

word, meaning he is the meaning he is, the concept, is the

idea. He is the definition. For us to understand anything about our lives,

we have to understand what Jesus means because he is our creator. He

is the creator of everything we know and even don't know. Jesus is the

word for it. And so we cannot define things like disciple, shape,

worship, prayer of faith just based on our own whims and fancies. We

have to go to Jesus and look at Jesus's life and look at his words

and say this is what it means. All right? So as we go

into a seriously discipleship and we ask ourselves what is discipleship. We don't just

go to that book, that commentary, watch this YouTube video, that TikTok

video and go ah, that's discipleship. Let's follow that. We don't just

go to this church that church. Look at the concept. I mean,

I'm not saying they're bad, They're probably good. But the thing is this

the ultimate definition, the out word meaning comes from Jesus. What is the

tip of shape? Or how about other concepts? Are the things that we

read so much about in the Bible, For example, what is what is

a Christian? What does that mean? It's not not just to ask another

passer down the road, what do you think of christian is? It's important,

in fact crucial to usk Jesus, what Christian means, what us following

Jesus mean? What is love? What is give? What is serf?

How about lead? And worship and pray? All of these things. We

need to go to God and go to Jesus, and go to the Bible

and define these things. Because when we define these things properly, then we'll

be able to act on them properly. To it's crucial we know what Jesus,

the word the law gous means by all of those things that we mentioned.

So as I close, I just want to reiterate that, you know

what. It may sound simple, it may sound cumbersome, but words have

meaning. Words are not just words. Words are not just a string of

texts or letters put together just to communicate something, to buy something, to

get something done. Words have meaning. It can affect how we live,

and it can affect our lifestyle, our presence, our future, everything.

And as believers, we have Jesus as the log of Us to fall back

on, and I encourage you church to do just that. And in the

next few weeks, maybe in the next one, one or two, as

we go through this series, and that's what we're gonna be looking at We're

going to keep looking back at Jesus and ask Jesus through the Bible, what

does he mean by all these things like discipleship and follow away and gave and

serve and lead and et cetera. All right, thank you for joining us.

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