Accounting for Idle Words

David W Palmer

Today, Jesus continues speaking—without a gap—from what we saw him say yesterday, when he was teaching on: speaking against the Holy Spirit. We will see that if we say words that grieve the Holy Spirit, they will be recorded and assessed. Furthermore, we will have to give account for them—along with every other word we say that is not productive:

(Matthew 12:33–34 NKJV) “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. {34} Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Our Lord begins by explaining where our words come from. We can, by deliberate choice, say whatever we want; but the general direction of the force of our words is set by the “abundance” of our hearts. In other words, the overflow of what we treasure in our hearts comes out of our mouths in words. Without exception, they reveal the direction of the spiritual wind blowing in our spirits; the sum total of our words reveals our inner direction.

Jesus shows that a tree pictures the correlation between heart/spirit and words; if the tree is good, its fruit will also be good. He also emphasizes that the type of tree sets the type of fruit. In our case, the fruit bearing “tree” springs from the seeds that take root in the soil of our hearts. The fruit of that tree is the words coming out of our mouths. Words are eternal, creative or destructive, powerful, spiritual, and accountable; we will have what we say (Mark 11:23).

Let’s now look at some further teaching by Jesus about what grows in our hearts, and how it begins:

(Luke 8:15 NKJV) “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”

(Matthew 13:31–32 NKJV) Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, {32} which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Jesus’s implication is that even though we cannot directly control the wind blowing from our hearts, or the fruit being harvested by its trees, we can choose what seeds we allow to grow in our hearts’ soil. This is clearly our responsibility.

If we allow bad seeds to take root in us, we will ultimately speak an abundance of bad, corrupt, and idle words. These are literally a multiplied harvest of the bad seeds that we have received, treasured, nurtured, and that our hearts have multiplied. This abundant harvest is then re-sown into our own hearts, multiplying the one bad tree into a forest of bad trees. The bad seeds are also released to others, and can take root in their lives also. For example, regarding the seed of bitterness, the Holy Spirit says:

(Hebrews 12:15 NLT) “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.”

Thankfully, this is not just true of bad seeds. In our opening passage, Jesus went on to reveal the following about good seeds:

(Matthew 12:35 NKJV) “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things ...”

If we sow good seeds, good thoughts, and good words into the soil of our hearts, and if we do this in communion with the Holy Spirit; we will soon have an abundant harvest of good words overflowing. This will reflect the general wind direction coming from our spirits. Jesus says that this will bring forth good things. Our good words are creative, and they propagate God’s kingdom. They produce around us a spiritual, then physical, Garden of Eden in which to live, and a “highway of holiness” on which to travel:

(Isaiah 35:4–10 NKJV) Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” … {8} A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, …” (I encourage you to look up and read this whole passage; it’s well worth the time investment.)

Obviously, the person who treasures up evil things—in communion with an evil spirit—will bring forth evil things (Mat. 12:35b).

Now we are getting to the serious conclusion of Jesus’s lesson:

(Matthew 12:36–37 NKJV) “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. {37} For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

My concern is that this is far more real than any of us have ever realized. “Every idle word!” Wow! Yes, we will have to account for every single one of them. Of course, if we realize this ourselves (with the Holy Spirit’s help), we can judge ourselves here and now, receive forgiveness, and have our past idle words cancelled out of existence by the blood of Jesus:

(1 Corinthians 11:31–32 NKJV) “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. {32} But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”

This is by far the wisest option. But first, we must admit that we have spoken “idle” words. What are idle words? According to the Greek definition, they are words that are inactive, unemployed, lazy, at leisure, shunning the labour that they ought to perform. That’s a very interesting definition; idle words are words that are not working, as words should. So what work should our words be doing?

(Ephesians 4:29 KJV) “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

Our words are supposed to edify others and “minister grace.” That is, they are supposed to impart encouragement and the divine power to be holy. They are also supposed to release our faith, and to be creative, comforting, and prophetic (See: Mark 11:23, 1 Cor. 14:1, 3). To explain how he did this himself, Jesus said:

(John 8:28, 38 KJV) “… as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. ... {38} I speak that which I have seen with my Father …”

(John 12:49 KJV) “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.”

Today, I encourage you to develop this in your life. Fill your heart with God’s words until they come overflowing out of your mouth in a harvest of good fruit and seeds for his kingdom. And walk in such close fellowship with the Holy Spirit that the words he prompts you to say come out effortlessly.

To increase the importance of this message, the Holy Spirit had a few more things to say about it. Today as we conclude, I will leave you to ponder them:

(Romans 14:10 NKJV) “… we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

(2 Corinthians 5:10–11 NKJV) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. {11} Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.”

(John 12:48 NKJV) “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”

(Hebrews 4:12–13 NKJV) “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. {13} And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Note: the “His” in verse 13 of this passage, refers to the subject stated in verse 12: “the word of God.” As Jesus said in John 12:48 (above), the word of God is the one to whom we must give account, and he is living, powerful, sharp, discerning, and can see everything.

Let’s make sure we take particular note of what Jesus says to us in his word and by his Spirit. And let’s receive, believe, treasure, confess, obey, and propagate only his words. Jesus did this, and his grace to do the same is available to you. Receive it by faith today. Remember, you will have to account for your words.