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Place for Truth |
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Words from the Heart
Propositional Statement: Our tongues reveal our hearts. What comes out of our mouths reveal what is in our hearts! FCF: We do not think before we speak. We do not know our hearts and we say things we do not mean that curse other men made in God's image. Introduction "Watch your mouth!" "Keep your mouth shut and listen!" "If I catch you talking one more time, your father- - your principal, etc. is going to hear about it, etc!" "You hurt my feelings!" "That wasn't a very nice thing to say!" "Hey - that's not fair!" We have all said and heard these phrases. These phrases are the direct results of one small thing- - one small organ of the body that produces comments such as these! Tonight, I'm going to talk to you about a deadly evil. A monstrous tool used for evil - but like every tool, it can also be used for good! It is a tool that reveals the true heart of a person. It is an evil that is described by James as small as the rudder of a ship, but powerful enough to turn the great vessel in the seas. An evil described as a spark that sets a forest on fire. The tongue is described as a poison and something that can defile the whole body! The question that always gets me is James's statement in verse 9-10: "From the same mouth come blessing to our Lord and Father, and we curse men made in his image- - How can this be?!" These images that James uses show us that while the tongue may seem a small and harmless thing, it have the great potentiality of directly hurting and abusing another person- - as well as to bless God and help another person.
Illustration: Adults who remember something said to them as children: "You'll never amount to anything!"; "You're dumb - don't you know anything?!"; "Can't you just behave?"; "Why can't you be like 'so-and-so's' child?!" These comments stay in our minds and affect the way we think about God and ourselves. Don't kid yourself, the comments we make as young people and particularly the comments we make as adults to others and to our children affect the way people live. Comments that we make from our tongues linger in our minds like that of a cassette recorder. And like the cassette recorder, we can play it again and again in our minds- - this affects how we think about ourselves as people made in God's image! Illustration: Creation: Man was given speech by God his Creator to communicate with other men (the beasts could not communicate like this). After the fall of Adam, the tongue was used to abuse. Man would curse both his Creator and other creatures. James 3:1-2 says: James 3:1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 17 " Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. James 3:9-11 says: 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. 32 "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. 33 " 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. 35 "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 "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." 11 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."… 15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us." 16 So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 "These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." Illustration: Imagine that tonight, you were not told this, but some of your family members, some of the people with which you work and others from church have been asked to speak and give a testimony about you! Now, all things being equal, and with hopes that they would be honest and fair, what would they say about you? Those at home, work, and school- - would they be able to say you are one who uses your tongue to praise God- - or do you curse other men? Do you gossip? Are you bitter with sarcasm and anger? These things are difficult to think about, but they are necessary for us as Christians to consider. We must constantly remember our hearts! Illustration: How many times during a day, say at home or work, does someone say something spiteful or hateful or sarcastic- - it crosses you the wrong way and from the midst of your soul, a great pressure like water through a garden hose, rushes to your mouth and you respond in an angry manner? How many times has this happened to you at home and work? You ask yourself: "Now, how did that happen?" "I was minding my own business and someone just got the best of me - I cursed them! Like an erupting volcano, our tongue spews forth public profanities and private obscenities that we must be watching for. It is not accident, the Lord inspired James to compare the tongue with poison. After we have opened our mouths and hurt or offended others, it is harder to go to that person and ask forgiveness, than to merely hold our tongue as we should! That is an incentive to watch what we say and how we respond to others - -it is easier to hold the tongue that to go and ask forgiveness from that family member, co-worker, or fellow brother/sister in Christ! Illustration: My dad used to say he was not going to allow other people's problems to become his problems. Good advice! As Christians, we never seek to intentionally say something angry or hurtful to others- -we do not want to be intentionally hostile! It's our hearts, we have a heart-problem and we cannot know them ultimately as Jeremiah says! So we must be constantly on our guard - -whether in the home among family, in the workplace, among friends and associates, or in the church! We do not want to have to unsay what we have said! We must prayerfully be on guard in the place we know we have the greatest tendency to snapping and reacting wrongly with our tongues (Is it traffic, in the car? Is it when the sales clerk at the mall is rude to you and for all practical purposes cannot answer your question? How about the MVA, or any bureaucratic organization? Are you watching out when they tell you that you do not have enough information to obtain a driver's license after you have stood in line for a long time and took a long lunch in order to obtain your license? ) Find out - think about when you are most susceptible to angry outbursts of the tongue! Then, ask the Lord for his help! 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. 26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. You must be changed by repenting of the things your mouth has revealed from your heart. You must repent by turning away from your selfish desires and idolatrous dreams to the only True and Living God! The only way you can change is by the transformation wrought by God's mighty Spirit and Word- - and this is by His grace alone! As Isaiah the prophet found out when he caught a glimpse of God's Absolute Holy character: He said: "Woe to me, for I am undone; I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips!" The Lord in his grace atoned for his sins - -we need atonement as well! It was Isaiah's lips that reveals what kind of sinful and profane man he was in the presence of a Holy God! THIS IS YOUR HOPE- - THIS IS YOUR LORD! People of God: Go out tonight into the world as Christ's witnesses. As the salt and light of the world be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger! Serve the Lord Christ by the power of his Spirit!
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