The Lion Tamer - The Whip

Bambi Video: If you can’t say something nice...

The Whip.

Lion tamer video from 1938: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msBwOO3xZLs

When you first see a lion tamer use this whip, you may think that they are actually hurting the lion. However, the whip is not used against the lion. It is simply used to gain their attention and demand the adequate space. You see, the lion has a space and the tamer has a space and the whip is used to reaffirm in the mind of the lion that he is not to invade the space of the tamer.

Many times, in our lives, we have an attitude when it comes to life change. We believe that we are going to take the “bull by the horns” or the “lion by the tail”. We say to ourselves...

I am going to “whip” myself into shape.

Proverbs 18:21 ESV

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

Matthew 5:41 ESV

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Matthew 25:41 ESV

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 2 ESV

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Matthew 5:41

Ephesians 2:5 ESV

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

5:41

However, when we look at our lives and the battle that we have with the tongue, our job is to understand the effect that the tongue can have on me and then, command the space, and use it accordingly. As long as there is a surrender of my tongue to God, it will be placed under the hand of God.

And, today, I want to look at the tongue in the family of God. Because, inside of this faith family, the tongue can be used to bring life… or it can be used to bring death. It can be used to build up and edify or it can be used to destroy.

Last week we talked about surrender. We talked about how we don’t have the ability to tame the tongue (James verse), but that our responsibility is to bridle the tongue and give the reins to God and ask Him to be the director and leader in our lives. He is the one who is supposed to be pulling the reins to the left or right or pulling back or loosening up. He is the leader of our life.

We also looked at the difference between conviction and condemnation. We saw how “conviction” comes from the Holy Spirit and how “condemnation” comes from the enemy. The Bible says...

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Those are the words of Jesus.

So, the enemy comes to destroy. I have a question for you...

How does the enemy use our tongue to destroy?

So, how do we fight back? What are we to do? How do we begin to win this battle?

Open up your Bible to...

James 4:7 ESV

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

What comes first?

In our lives we will often find ourselves in a place where we are resisting and resisting and resisting, and failing and failing and failing. This often happens because we miss that first part… ‘Submit to God’.

So, every day I begin it by making a conscious decision to submit to God. My day is His day. My actions are His actions. I give ME over to HIM and this includes what I say and why I say it.

Inside of the body of Christ… each and every one of us… we have to take times to check ourselves and our tongues and make sure that we are living according to God’s standard in our life. We have to have a continual check on our motives.

James gives three benchmarks that check our motives.

During my self-sanctification day, I tried to resist the devil, but I failed to first submit to God. The order is important. First submit, then resist. Though we may have momentary victory, any battle with temptation is doomed unless we first submit to God. James gives three benchmarks that check our motives.

Benchmark 1

“Do not speak against [slander] one another, brethren...” ().

James 4:11 ESV

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

The word brethren refers to fellow believers. That’s us!

The word for “slander” has an incredible depth of meaning.

2635 katalaléō (from 2596 /katá, "down, according to," intensifying 2980 /laléō, "to prattle on") – properly, speak down to in a hostile, deriding way; to mock (revile), detracting from someone's reputation by "malice of speech directed against one's neightbor" (DNTT, 4,4); to defame, slander (backbite).

So, this can be done in two ways. Talking down to someone in a demeaning way or talking behind someone’s back in a way to damage their reputation or defame their name.

I still remember a time when someone carried a very radically different view of how things should be ran and how things should be done.

You see, the church is a family. THE PLACE Church is a family. In fact, our vision statement starts simply like this… “THE PLACE is a family of forgiven people...” Not perfect people. People who mess up and make mistakes. And… when that happens… YOU have a choice of how you are going to handle it.

You can get offended. You can go find someone and talk about the pastor or the leader or the person or the visitor. You can fill their minds with ideas that our your own. You can seek to destroy the work of God in that person and in this faith community.

When I find myself being swept away in negativity or gossip or anger I always ask myself, ‘how is my prayer life?’ John MacArthur put it this way...

The joyless Christian reveals himself by having negative thoughts and talk about others, in a lack of concern for others welfare, and a failure to intercede on others behalf. Joyless believers are self-centered, selfish, proud, and often vengeful and their self-centeredness inevitably manifests itself in prayerlessness.

Author: John MacArthur

If you want the solution to gossip, I believe Leonard Ravenhill said it perfectly when he said...

Leonard Ravenhill said it perfectly when he said...

“Notice, we never pray for folks we gossip about, and we never gossip about the folk for whom we pray! For prayer is a great deterrent.” Leonard Ravenhill

Family has issues, but families deal with those issues with respect and honor for one another.

Agree to disagree and see things from different perspectives.

Jesus put it so simply...

Today when I am tempted to slander, I pause and ask myself, “Do I feel secure in God’s love today?” That question puts the brakes on the bicycle.

Matthew 18:15 ESV

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

If someone has hurt you… go to them.

If you are gossiping and using your tongue, go to them and repent.

Benchmark 2

“Do not complain, brethren, against one another” ().

Is complaining wrong? When I’m frustrated am I just supposed to paint on a fake smile like everything is just fine when it is not. “Oh… praise the Lord. Bless Jesus. Life is perfect and fine and just right.”

Or… can I be real?

Absolutely. I think when it comes to complaining… you just have to watch who you do it to. You can complain all you want to the one who has the power to do something about it… God.

Maybe you can start a journal where you can complain and write down your frustrations and lay them out before the Lord. But, then, you have to do something with those pages.

Years ago I started “now-and-then” journaling. When I feel frustrated, I write my complaints in my quiet time journal, explaining how I feel about certain people or incidents. I end with a one-sentence prayer of surrender. The Lord can handle my ranting. By telling Him, I don’t need to tell others.

Over the years I have been complimented for not being a complainer. I’m grateful for the commendation—but you should hear what goes on inside.

Years ago I started “now-and-then” journaling. When I feel frustrated, I write my complaints in my quiet time journal, explaining how I feel about certain people or incidents. I end with a one-sentence prayer of surrender. The Lord can handle my ranting. By telling Him, I don’t need to tell others.

This discipline reminds me that God is sovereign over the cause of my complaints—lying politicians, annoying co-workers, late airplanes.

And then remember the advice from the last bench mark. If you are frustrated with a fellow Christian or someone in the family of God, go ahead and go directly to them. Let them know your frustrations

God has given us two ears, but one tongue, to show that we should be swift to hear, but slow to speak. God has set a double fence before the tongue, the teeth and the lips, to teach us to be wary that we offend not with our tongue.

Author: Thomas Watson

Benchmark 3

Just say the truth.

Jesus put it this way, ‘

Matthew 5:37 ESV

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Can you practice that? Just being honest with one another. Not puffing or making things up?

“But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no” (). This sounds like Jesus’ teaching in : “Make no oath at all, either by heaven … or by earth … but let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.'”

I used to think this was about cussing, but it’s more than that. The Jews of Jesus’ day could hardly speak without invoking oaths to give their statements credibility. For example: “My camel is the fastest in the land, and if not, may I die without children!”

Similarly today, we “pad up” our statements because we don’t think we have enough personal gravity to simply say yes or no. Some people bolster their words with a “by God,” wordy exaggerations, threats or emotional displays. Padding our words shows that we do not believe God is for us. To apply this, I simply try to give short answers. Too simple? Try it.

To sum up, James says:

I can’t tame my tongue (3:1-12)The problem is my heart’s motives (3:13-18)Humble submission brings grace—supernatural enablement to do what I must do (4:7)

Further, three benchmarks check my motives:

Slandering (4:11)Complaining (5:9)Padding my words to bolster my sagging ego (5:12)

Where to start? Should we simply keep quiet? says, “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise.” Though keeping silent lessens embarrassment, it prevents you from edifying others or speaking up in the presence of evil.

The chain connecting heart and tongue cannot be broken. For good or bad, it will always be there. But try this: Before you speak, pause and ask, “Why did I almost say that? What is my motive?” Then honestly submit: “Lord, I confess I was about to slander Mary because I am jealous of her good looks. Amen.”

This momentary silence may invite stares from your friends. Simply tell them you are confronting your sins.

“If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless” (). This is serious!