Taming the Tongue (2)

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

What this means is that while James 3 presents a challenging message, God’s Word also presents an encouraging message, because through that challenge, God grows us in a way that draws us closer to the individual that He has called us to be. Amen?

So please turn in your Bibles to James chapter 3 for today’s message on Taming the Tongue

E. James 3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

The first point I want to point out in God’s Word is this:

The tongue is incredibly powerful (How you use it will produce major consequences).

James 3 shows us the incredible consequences that can come from our words Proverbs 18:21 says Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

I. I don’t care who you are, how much or how little influence you think you have.. The Word of God says that your tongue is extremely powerful, and the words that come out of your mouth have a great impact.. What kind of impact they have is up to you.

Example of encouraging someone with words - putting them on a great, positive path.

Example of discouraging someone with words - stunting their growth in life.

Example of how self-talk can have a huge impact on an individual

Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you have kids, think about your kids. If you don’t have kids, think about your future children or think about those people in your life you love the most. Here’s the rule: If God wouldn’t say it to you, don’t say it to your kids. And if you wouldn’t say it to your kids, don’t say it to yourself.

A. What does this mean for us and how we live our lives? It means that we should weigh the magnitude of how we speak to others… our spouses, parents, kids, co-workers, and even ourselves. We should think about the lasting effect that our words have on someone’s day, and maybe even the trajectory of their lives, as we speak to them.

But how do we do that? How do we control our tongues, especially when God’s word says that no human being can tame the tongue?

In verse 8, where it says, “no human being can tame the tongue” God’s Word isn’t telling us that the tongue can’t be tamed; He’s saying that we can’t tame the tongue on our own.

Well, when we dig into God’s Word, what we really see is that we have a problem in how we speak, our tongue is just the indicator of a greater problem. In other words, an ungodly tongue isn’t the root issue; it’s just a symptom..

What is the root issue then?

Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

If everything we do flows from our heart, then that means how we walk, how we act, and yes, how we speak, is an indicator of the condition of our heart.

Our tongue is a reflection of our heart (Something can’t come out of you if it’s not already in you). Matt 12:34, Romans 10:9-10, Mark 7:15-19

E. Here’s what Jesus has to say on the issue. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” … meaning that if you want to test the condition of someone’s heart, all you need to do is listen to the way they talk.

I. Let me provide an illustration for you. (Ask kid) What is this? It’s a water bottle. What’s in this water bottle? Water. If I take this cap off and turn this water bottle upside down, what’s going to come out of it? Water. Can coffee come out of this water bottle? No. Can Mountain Dew come out of this water bottle? No. How about grape juice? No. What is the only thing that can come out of this water bottle? Water. Why? Because that’s the only thing that’s in the bottle.

Here’s the point: Your heart is the water bottle; your tongue is the lid. Nothing can come out of your mouth if it’s not already in your heart.

In Mark 7, Jesus is talking to a group of Pharisees, and these Pharisees have an issue, an issue of self-righteousness. And according to what we just read in Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”, self-righteousness, just like any other sin, ultimately isn’t an issue of how you walk, or act, or talk. It’s an issue of your what? YOUR HEART. These Pharisees, they think they’re better than everyone else because they follow ceremonial law for everyone to see. These are the same people who pray out loud in public just to be seen and heard. They’re “doing the right thing” religiously, but their intentions aren’t pure. And their intentions aren’t pure because neither are their HEARTS. So listen to what Jesus tells them starting in verse 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

*Here’s what Jesus was saying.. it’s not just about checking the right boxes and doing the right things to look religious. He basically told His Jewish disciples, y’all can even eat bacon, and it will have no bearing on your right-standing with God.. because God isn't concerned with how ceremonially religious you are; He’s concerned with the condition of your heart. In verse 20 Jesus says “what comes out of a person is what defiles him…” and what comes out of you comes from your HEART.

Let me give you a few examples of how the tongue can be a great indicator of the condition of your heart..

A harsh tongue or critical tongue reveals that you have anger and unforgiveness in your heart.

A negative tongue reveals that you have fear in your heart.

A boasting tongue reveals that you have pride and insecurity in your heart.

A judgmental tongue reveals that guilt and shame reside in your heart.

So the question then becomes this…

So how do we fix our hearts?

Well, that’s a great question. First of all, we have to be willing to be honest with ourselves. And we have to be willing to submit ourselves to the authority of Christ and to the authority of God’s Word. We have to acknowledge that His way is the way and do our best to follow that Way.

And y’all, I am far from perfect, and I am far from having a completely pure heart. If I examine myself closely enough, then I can probably identify, in some way, with every line item on that list. But God doesn’t call us to reach a point in our lives where we are absolutely sinless. He calls us to keep striving to become more like Him - to be SANCTIFIED. And in order to continue to grow in Christ, then our hearts have to continually be changing, becoming more like Jesus and less like who we were yesterday.

E. Psalm 139:23-24 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

1 Samuel 13:14 says that David is a man after God’s own heart. David is called a man after God’s own heart because, despite his failures, and there are multiple, he lived with a strong desire to align his heart with the heart of God. And this prayer that David prays here in the Psalms is one that we should pray daily. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

What David is asking God here is what we should all be asking God: Lord, identify any impurity in my heart and remove it. And when that happens - when we invite God to put in us a pure heart - we begin to speak with a pure tongue, and not only that, but we begin to walk and live with pure, Godly intentions.

But if that’s going to happen, then our hearts must be examined.

I. Where a medical doctor may use some sort of medical tool to examine the physical heart, to find its impurities, we, as followers of Christ, have a different tool that we can use to examine our own spiritual hearts. Hebrews 4:12 says For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Man, when we open ourselves to this Word and spend time in this book, it is living and active. It is a sharp sword, and this sword will peel back the layers and show us what’s really in here.

The more time we spend in the word of God, the more God will reveal the impurities of our hearts, and, in effect, the more our hearts will begin to align with God’s. And when that happens, we begin to speak in a way that is pleasing to God, and we become a blessing, an encouragement, to all those around us. And our tongues, then, become an instrument of power to do the work of God. We speak with a Godly tongue. And when we speak with a Godly tongue,

Our kids…

Our marriages…

Our friendships…

Our parents…

Our church…

What is impossible w man is possible w God-James 3:8 says that no human being can tame the tongue.. No one in this room has the power, on their own, to make their speech pleasing to God. But we do have a God that can transform and purify our hearts if we allow Him to. And out of a pure heart, our tongue, our words will be pleasing and acceptable to God and a blessing to everybody around us. Amen?