The Flavor of Our Words

Introduction

On May 28, 1972, five men broke into an office complex in an attempt to steal information regarding the plans and policies of their opponents. They took pictures of documents and planted listening devices on phones and in some offices. Unfortunately for them, some of the bugs were not functioning as they ought and some needed maintenance, so these same five men returned to the office complex about three weeks later. Upon their second visit, Frank Willis, a security guard, had noticed that some of the door latches in the complex had been taped so that they would not lock when closed. He didn’t think much about it, removed the tape, and continued on his rounds. However, when he came back and found that they had been taped again, he called the police. And so began the Watergate Scandal.

For two years the investigation escalated, taking down a bunch of the world’s most powerful men with it, not the least of which of the President of the United States himself: Richard Nixon. Nixon had denied any wrong doing, but it wasn’t too long before there were accusations of his obstructing justice and improperly, unethically, and illegally using campaign funds for personal use. It was to these latter allegations that President Nixon spoke his infamous words, “People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I am not a crook.” And as it turns out, it does seem like he was telling the truth about that (as far as his financial affairs were concerned).

While President Nixon was not part of the planning or the crime of Watergate, he was in the cover-up, which began immediately after the burglars were caught. After stalling for two years, the White House was ordered to hand over the tapes of Nixon’s secretly recorded meetings in the Oval Office. There among the tapes was one that came to be known as the Smoking Gun Tape. In it, Nixon was heard giving the order to have the CIA obstruct the FBI’s investigation, insinuating that the FBI would uncover a covert operation if they kept digging and put national security at risk. This meeting was held only six days after the burglars were caught. He was also heard on other tapes authorizing hush-money for the burglars and encouraging of false testimony.

Of course, we know that Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment and then was pardoned by his vice-president become president, Gerald Ford. One wonders what would have happened if his words were never recorded; better yet, what would have happened if he had never spoken the words in the first place? His own words implicated and condemned him. His life and legacy were ruined. He was the first president to resign his office and the only president in modern history not to lie in-state at the Capitol’s rotunda—all because he could not keep his mouth shut. And why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut? We’ll talk about that a little later.

For now, we need to know that at any time, we can make the same mistake as Nixon. We may not be President of the United States, and we may not approve a colossal cover-up of illegal activity, but we will speak words that will forever change our lives—for the worse or the better. That is precisely the point that Solomon was making when he wrote Proverbs 18:21.

As we get into this texts and others like it, I want us to see three flavors that your words have. The first is the flavor of death. The second is the flavor of life. Finally, there is the flavor of eternity.

The Flavor of Death

The Flavor of Life

The Flavor of Eternity

Proverbs 18:21 ESV

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

The Flavor of Death

The first flavor that our words take on is the flavor of death—spoiled, rotten, nasty words of death. Have you ever had a moment in life when you were dumbstruck by your own words? You said something you wish you could take back, but, of course, it was too late. No take-backs. Or perhaps, you spoke rashly as I have been known to do on occasion. Maybe you revealed something personal that you wish you had kept to yourself—something that could be used against you if the wrong person found out. I’ve done that myself. Maybe it was something so mean—so ungodly—that the moment you said it, you know a relationship would never be the same—if the relationship survived at all!

Why do we do these things? Why do we open up our mouths and say these things we regret, whether immediately or sometime later? Why is it that we just can’t keep our mouths shut? Why do we have this incredible desire to ruin (or at least make harder) our own lives? The answer is quite simple.

Luke 6:45 ESV

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

You’ll notice that in this verse, you have the same idea as our main verse. The heart produces—bears fruit—that inevitably comes out of the mouth. That fruit may be good fruit if the heart is good, but it also may be bad fruit if the heart is bad. Why do we say the things we say? Because whatever is bubbling up in our hearts is inevitably (and in one way or another) going to come out of our mouths.

Jephthah was man who demonstrated this perfectly. What was in his heart continuously bore verbal fruit in his life, and ultimately brought him to ruin. Jephthah was what was considered to be an illegitimate son of a man named Gilead; his mother was a “strange woman,” which is translated with the word prostitute, but it could refer to her being a foreigner as well. At some point, Gilead actually got married and had other children, rearing Jephthah along with the others. However, he was never accepted by his half-siblings who ran him off and told him that he would have no inheritance from the family. Unbeknownst to them, the Ammonites would attack one day and occupy their land. Jephthah was their only hope of salvation, and so they called upon him to help them.

Listen to the pain in his words. Jephthah was hurt by how his family had treated him and rightly so. Imagine having grown up in a family who scorned you your entire life; imagine your family having kicked you out as a teenager, only to ask for your help years later. What would you say to them? How would you say it?

Judges 11:7 ESV

But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”

His brothers, the elders, were caught and they knew it, but Jephthah agreed to fight against the Ammonites, but on one condition.

Judges 11:9 ESV

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.”

The one thing he believed he was owed, but the one thing he was denied: the head of his father’s house. For years, he had brooded over his rightful place. This tree of bitterness had taken root deep in his heart. It was growing wide and tall, and when it bore fruit, we find it had the flavor of death. He said what he meant, and he meant what he said. It was the foul fruit of a galling grudge in a hurting heart. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was going to stop him from living up to the words he spoke.

To his credit, Jephthah sought to end the dispute through diplomacy, but it did not work. The King of Ammon was determined to take and keep the city of Gilead. If war was what he wanted, war would be what he got. Nothing could keep Jephthah from ruling the family who had hurt him so badly. And we see that to be true by the words he spoke.

Judges 11:30–31 ESV

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

He’d later regret these words that were coming out of his mouth even though he meant them at the time. All he could think about was the hurt of his family. All he could focus on was the wrong that they had done to him. So when he said he would sacrifice anything to win the war that would make him head of his family, he meant it. This bitterness of heart clouded his judgment and produced fruit from his tongue that had the flavor of bitter death.

Jephthah did win the war against Ammon and, upon returning, was greeted by his own daughter.

Judges 11:35 ESV

And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”

Notice this though, and this is important, Jephthah was only sorrowful because it was his daughter. It was his daughter. Anything or anyone else would have been fine. But his words were a flavor of death only because it was his daughter. “You have brought me very low, and you have become a cause of great trouble to me.” The focus of Jephthah’s words were on himself more than his daughter. He was troubled; he wasn’t concerned about her (in fact, she took the news better than anyone would expect). The words he spoke about beating the Ammonites and reclaiming his place, and vowing to sacrifice anything to do it, were death to him.

That’s what Solomon said happens at the hand of the tongue. “Death is in the hand/power of the tongue.” This verse is often used out of context (and I have done it myself) to say that we need to be careful with our words and how they affect others: they can build up or tear down. While that is certainly true, that is not the meaning of Solomon’s words. Solomon’s words are about personal life and death—the very life and death of the one who does the speaking. We need to understand that every time we open our mouths to speak, we are taking our own lives into our hands. Those words can ruin us or restore us; they can finish us or fashion us.

Jephthah’s life was filled with many more words, and each time they revealed his broken and bitter heart. Each time his words led him deeper and deeper into a death-filled life; because his words destroyed his own life, his life destroyed others as well. At his word, he went to war with the tribe of Ephraim, and at his word 42,000 Ephraimites died.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks—an abundance of bitterness, an abundance of vengeance, an abundance of self-focus, self-pity, self-preservation, and the tongue tastes the flavor of death as we eat the fruit of our words.

The Flavor of Life

Our words, however, do not only have a flavor of death; they also have the flavor of life—that is if our hearts have life in them. Remember that it is out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. If the heart is filled with good, it bears good fruit—fruit of life. This is the main thrust of what Solomon was getting at. Remember how I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about how the Proverbs will often use step parallelism in which similar words are written to express the same idea, except in step parallelism they are refined. This often happens in single verses, but sometimes its within a set of verses. This is one of those “sometimes.”

Proverbs 18:20–21 ESV

From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Notice how both verses are speaking about words by the use of its different parts: mouth, lips, tongue. Notice that it uses the idea of produce with the words fruit and yield. There is the idea of finding satisfaction which comes through the eating. This means that we cannot properly understand verse 21 without properly understanding verse 20. And what we find is that verse 20 is personal, which is why I said that verse 21 is personal. Solomon wasn’t referring to other people being satisfied by the fruit of our mouths, and so he was not saying that others experience death by our mouths. Again, the idea is true, and it may be taught elsewhere, but that is not what these verses are saying.

Instead, Solomon wrote that our words can do us great good in life, if we will use them appropriately.

Daniel was a man who knew the power of his words. When Daniel and the other noble youth including Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were exiled to Babylon, they were nearly forced to eat the king’s food and drink his wine. And we read,

Daniel 1:8 ESV

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

He resolved? Where would that have been? In his own heart, that’s where. His heart was not with Nebuchadnezzar; it was with God. And the words that he would speak would reveal that resolve—the fruit of his heart. He spoke to the chief eunuch about his situation. They were able to come up with a plan so that he could live out the resolution of his heart. At the end of the probational ten days that had been discussed, we find

Daniel 1:15 (ESV)

that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.

Life! Life was in the power of the tongue. The flavors of life were abundant for Daniel and his friends! But it would not be the last time this happened. When faced with certain death because Nebuchadnezzar had a bad dream, Daniel’s heart was calm. It was focused. It was sure. And his words reflected that.

Daniel 2:14 ESV

Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.

Even when he had to deliver the bad news that one day Babylon would fall and other kingdoms would come and fall until his God—Daniel’s God—would come and build an everlasting kingdom, he did so with grace and humility—reflections of his own heart. The book of Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar bowed down and gave homage to Daniel! Can you taste the flavor of life in these stories?

Then we see the time Daniel had to tell Nebuchadnezzar that he would lose his kingdom for a time due to his own pride that would result in his going insane. There was the moment when Belshazzar was having a party and called upon Daniel to give an interpretation as to what the handwriting on the wall meant. The result of that one was that he became the third highest rank of Babylon.

Then there is the time when the advisors to Darius the king wanted to kill Daniel and they set up a trap against him. When he fell into the trap, the king had to throw him to the lions. When Darius came the next morning to see if Daniel had survived, what were his first words? Do you remember? “O king, live forever!” He did not dress the king down for unjustly throwing him into the den. He didn’t let him have it for being so gullible toward his advisors. Why? Because that wasn’t in his heart. What was in his heart? Life. And what did he speak? “O king, live forever.”

Time and time again, Daniel lived by (or because of) his own words. We don’t see Daniel getting into trouble by his words; I’d imagine because he understood that death and life are in the power—the hand—of the tongue. Our tongues hold our lives in their hands.

Solomon continuously pointed this out in the Proverbs. He likens our words to a hard day’s work. He likens our words to laboring hands. Just as we ought to use our hands to produce a good life, we must use our words to do the same. It’s not one or the other, but both/and.

Proverbs 12:14 ESV

From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.

President Nixon had worked hard to get to the office of presidency. He was first a congressman, then senator, then vice president under Eisenhower. After he lost his first presidential bid, he became the governor of California. Then finally, he was President of the United States. During his first run for president, there was the famous debate between himself and Kennedy. Anyone who was watching television came away believing Kennedy had won, but whoever listened to it on the radio had the impression Nixon had won it. Had people only listened to his words, and not watched his face, he likely could have won the race; his words rang true for many Americans. It was his words, however, that became his downfall in the end. For years he had worked so hard, using his words as a tool to advance his political career and in a moment, everything he worked for came crashing in on him because his true heart was revealed by his own words.

Solomon warned us not to take our words for granted. Death and life are in their hands.

The Flavor of Eternity

It is not only the flavor of death and life that are in our words, but the flavor of eternity is as well. As time is limited, I will try to make this brief.

If our words are the fruit of our hearts, then it only seems logical to say that the flavor of eternity is tasted in our words. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:11

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

In other words, we know eternity exists. We know that this is not all there is to life. It’s embedded into our very hearts so that we desire eternity. But at the same time we are frustrated. On our own, left to our devices and contrivances, we are frustrated because we have no idea what God is doing! Our hearts are confused and so our language is confused and our actions are confused. But we seek to speak of things eternal and we want to speak in words that last forever. Humanity uses poetry and song and prose to speak into eternity. We give advice to our children that they then give to their children and so on. Our culture does not tend to do this so much, but we read of blessings in the Bible that would reach down through the ages. The flavor of eternity is on our tongues—but never perfectly because we never perfectly know all that God has done and will do.

The desire is there, though! God has put the desire for eternity there because eternity awaits us!

I love these words of C. S. Lewis that he wrote in Mere Christianity. It’s a longer quote, but bear with me and listen closely.

The Christian says, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other hand, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”

And that’s really where the flavor of eternity is found: in helping other to do the same. If every person is born with eternity in their hearts, but is also born frustrated in not knowing what that means and what God has been doing from beginning to end, it is our duty—as those who know—to speak truth to eternity. We, as Christians, don’t know everything and don’t know perfectly, but we know more and we know better than anyone what God has been doing. He has been redeeming his creation since even before we fell. Christ was chosen before the foundation of the world to save us. We have the opportunity to speak with the flavor of eternity—true eternity. Paul tells us that is who we are and what we’re about.

Colossians 4:5–6 ESV

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

While eternity is on our hearts, it is not yet ours to hold. We have only a certain amount of time in this world. We must make the best use of it. So with the outsider, the unbeliever, we must speak to them in gracious ways—seasoned with salt—that which gives flavor. In essence, we are to speak with the flavor of eternity—we speak often of Jesus.

Conclusion

As we close out this portion of Proverbs, we have seen that there are flavors that our words produce—flavors that we will inevitably taste—flavors that match the fruit produced by what has rooted in our hearts. There is the flavor of death, the flavor of life, and the flavor of eternity. We who love it will eat its fruit.

John Mitchell, the head of Nixon’s re-election committee was concerned that the leaders of the DNC were spying on them through moles; that’s why they broke into the Watergate Complex and planted bugs—so they too could spy on them too. The ironic twist is that both Mitchell and Nixon’s hearts were filled with fear and paranoia all the time, and so Nixon had bugged his own office. This way, he could use whatever was revealed in the Oval Office, his personal office, and other places in the White House as leverage against his political enemies. That which was meant to advance his political career and bring down his enemies ended up bring himself down and solidifying his opposition.

It is so easy to get discouraged by the words that come from our mouths. And while many of those words have contributed to some terrible consequences in our lives, we can still take hope if we have placed our hope in Christ. Every believer in Christ has the Holy Spirit within who probes our hearts. He often will reveal his findings to us, but we are too busy to listen or too distracted to care. But when our words come out and we hear our heart speak, it often gets our attention. In those moments, listen and discover what the Holy Spirit has found hidden in your heart. Only then can we begin to root it out by the power and blood of Jesus Christ. As hard of a lesson our uncontrolled words can be, they are still a lesson to be learned, an odd grace that God has granted. So may we resolve to see our hearts as he does.

In so doing, we become more like Christ, and we grow more in grace.

Prayer

Our heavenly Father,

We now know how powerful our words are in our own lives, and we now also know the reason: our words reveal our hearts desires, feelings, and sin. Cause your Spirit to search us and try us, and reveal any wayward, foul, rotten, and deathly way in us, that it may be rooted out, and replaced with treasures that are straight, fresh, and life-giving. And allow that to overflow into words of life.

In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.

As we sing this next song, we want to invite the congregation to respond to how the Spirit has used his Word this morning. We give the opportunity to sing this song of response, but also during the song, we give you the opportunity to give an offering and receive the Lord’s Supper.

As we sing, in an effort to lessen chaos, we ask that we go pew by pew on each side. As you see the end of the line about equal to the first buttress on each side, we ask the next pew to make their way down.

As we take of the bread, you will find that it is a loaf in which you can tear a piece. The reason for this is that we are reminded of 1 Corinthians 10:17 “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” As you take a piece of this bread, remember that you are one with the person who went before you and the one who comes behind you. You are part of the body, a part of this bread.