Taming The Tounge

We love to talk don’t we?

And some people are just naturally good at it and some of us tend to put our foot in our moth every time we get a chance

Illustration:

A young man working at a grocery store was approached by a older lady one night. She was looking to by half a head of lettuce. Not knowing if they could even do that for her the young men went to find the manager. As he approached the manage he said “Sir I know its late at night and we are about to close but some batty old lady wants to buy just half a head of lettuce. It was at this point he noticed that the lady had followed him over there. Being quick on His feet the young man said but we are in luck because this fine young lady wants the other half.

But Seriously we talk a lot

Even if you are not a chatty person You still transmit a lot of information

In fact about

1/5 of our lives our spent in conversation

1/5 of our lives our spent in conversation And that does not include the amount of time you spend talking to yourself

And that does not include the amount of time you spend talking to yourself

Men use on average about 25,000 words a day

Women use about 30,000 words a day with an occasional gust of up to 50,000

That means the average person by using words that are spoken could write a 50,000 word novel on a little over five hours

In one year the average person would write 66 books that are 800 pages long

Every five hours you speak, you produce enough words to fill a book.

Let me ask you church what is your life book saying

Is it a story you want told?

Is it a story that would have the Lord’s stamp of approval?

When I read these verses I am reminded of an appointment a the doctors office

Often times when we go to the doctor he asl us to stick out our tongue so he can have a look around

I don’t know what he is looking for but he can tell an awful lot in that few seconds

That is what James is talking about

He says it is time for a spiritual check up

The tongue can tell us and others a lot about our spiritual health

It’s especially good at displaying the matters of the heart

Matthew 5:10–11 NLT

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.

Matthew 5:17–19 NLT

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Simply out what is in your heart is reflected through your tongue

James 3:1–12 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

And as we all know the tongue is hard to control

Tuen with me if you will we and let’s stand as we read

A perfect man = a mature man

The first thing that James points out to us is that

He uses two illustrations to emphasize this truth

· Horse and bridle

Horse and bridle

It’s amazing that if a horse is trained properly you can put a 90 pound kid on there and just by pulling on the reigns he can control a 1200 pound animal

A rudder on a big ship

· A rudder on a big ship

The same is true about the rudder of a ship. The rudder is comparison to the actual ship is very small but yet in controls the direction of the whole ship

Proverbs 18:21 NLT

The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

In the same way out tongue controls the direction of our life

In other words church if you speak negatively all the time then there is a good chance that your life is pretty negative

And the opposite is true

The way you talk to others

The way you talk to God

The way you talk to yourself

Will dramatically affect the direction of your life

Now this is not some name it and claim it philosophy

I am not telling you that you can have anything you want by just naming it and claiming it

But what you say matters and ultimately affect the direction of your life

For example

· When you stand at the alter and say I do it definitely changes you life. Whether for good or bad is up to your but life changes doesn’t it

When you stand at the alter and say I do it definitely changes you life. Whether for good or bad is up to your but life changes doesn’t it

· Men you can back me up in this on

Men you can back me up in this on

What you say to your wife drastically affects your life

o What you say to your wife drastically affects your life

If you don’t believe me just pop off at the moth to her and see how long it takes for her to put you in your place

o If you don’t believe me just pop off at the moth to her and see how long it takes for her to put you in your place

· If you go to the doctor and he says congratulation it’s a boy. That changes the direction of your life

The reality is that words matter

The words we use are powerful

If we speak…..

Ø God’s words

Ø God’s promises

Ø God’s will for our life

It will have an affect on our life

But here is something you need to understand

James tells us that the tongue is difficult to tame

In fact James compares it to a wold beast that can not be tamed

Colossians 3:17 NLT

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

apart from the spirit it can not be tamed

And apart from the spirit it can not be tamed

Everything we say, post or send should carry the approval of Jesus

Before it comes out of your mouth or the send button is hit you should ask yourself does God approve of this

Does it represent Jesus’s pretense in my life

Apart from the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT it is impossible to tame our tongue

Apart from the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT it is impossible to tame our tounge

James use a wildfire that is started from a small spark here to illustrate this point

And we all know how powerful fire is

James uses the word Gehenna to represent Hell

Just look at all the land that has been burned up this year

A tiny spark can destroy a forest

Which was a place right outside of Jerusalem where all the unclean trash was burned. A place where corpses of criminals, dead animals, and all manners of garbage was thrown to be burned. It was a place of burning sewage, burning flesh, and garbage.

While small in size the tongue still carries a lot of power And it can be set on fire by the fire of hell

James uses the word hell here as Gehenna Which was a place right outside of Jerusalem where all the unclean trash was burned. A place where corpses of criminals, dead animals, and all manners of garbage was thrown to be burned. It was a place of burning sewage, burning flesh, and garbage.

Maggots and worms crawled through the waste, and the smoke smelled strong and sickening ().

It was a place utterly filthy, disgusting and repulsive to the nose and eyes.

This is a powerful but truthful illustration

The tongue if allowed produces garbage

The tongue if allowed will produce garbage

It can be a instrument of filth and disgust

It can be repulsive

Morgan Blake wrote the following entitled

It can spew out negative and carless words if we do not put it in check

We all know that words can do a lot of damage that can not be taken back very easily

“Who Am I?“.

We all know that words can do a lot of damage that can not be taken back very easily

Morgan Blake wrote the following entitled “Who Am I?“.

I am more deadly than the screaming shell of the cannon.

I win without killing.

I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives.

I travel on the wings of the wind.

No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me.

I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless.

My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea and often as innocent.

I never forget and seldom forgive.

My name is Gossip.

Idle words can do a ton of damage

I wonder how many times carless words have ripped a church in half

How many times have carless words wounded a young Christian and the walked a way from the church

Before we wreak or send we would do well to stop and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance

Here is the simple truth

Yourself and others are affected by your words

And James is saying that we need to be careful as Christians in how we use our tongue

James says as Christian we can not use our tongue for destruction

If we open our mouth and the great physician looks around what does He see coming out of our hearts

And listen sometimes we don’t even have to open our mouth

Sometimes all we have to do is listen

How many times have we heard well it’s not me who does the gossiping I just listen

James would say that we should not let our ears be a garbage can

We as Christians should not participate in this kind of filth at all

that is the point he is trying to illustrate

Did you know that all of the 10 commandments can be broken by just our words

Words matter

The can spark a fire that can destroy everything in its path

And that is why James tells us that

James says that

Out of our mouth flows blessings and curses

out of our mouth flows blessings and curses

In other words we are two tongued

Someone once said that

Someone once said that the profanity of the church is far greater that that of the street

The profanity of the church is far greater that that of the street

In other words he is saying that we come in to the church and we preach love and unity and then as we leave church we curse the guy that just cut us off

Our how many times have we experienced this We get out of service and we are pumped up only to be deflated by a argument with the spouse of another family member

James says one minutes we are praising God and the next minute we are cursing the peole that God himself created

And by the way this is not a new problem that is why Jams is saying the tounge is like a beast that beat be tamed

Remember what Isiah said “I am a man of unclean lips

That is a good description of our generation today

Everywhere you look there is filth in the air

Poisonousness words being tossed about

And it is

the words that come out of our mouth that display our true character

The words that come out of our mouths display our true character

Harsh but true

That is why James alludes to a salt spring and a fig tree

He is saying that what is at the root of the tree will produce the fruit of that tree

That is why a pecan tree does not grow oranges

The problem lies deep within the heart

If you some one is always spilling out negative words then the have a negative heart

If your words are always angry then you have an angry bitter heart

If your words are full of live and compassionate then the opposite is true You have a loving kind heart

Bill McCartney the founder of the promise keepers movement says that you can measure the true value of a man’s heart by measuring his words

The core of the problem lies in the heart

Get a New Heart

1) Get a New Heart

The Bible talks about receiving a new heart

Ask the Holy Spirit to Control Your life

When you and I receive Christ as out savior we are given a new heart and the old deceitful heart is done away with

The only way to get a new tongue is to get a new heart

It takes a transformation that only comes form receiving a new nature

And that new nature comes form making Jesus the Lord of out life

2) Ask the Holy Spirit to Control Your life

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we receive that Holy Spirit

Use Your Words To Glorify God

He is our guide

And we our to seek His guidance in our lives

Psalm 141:3 NLT

Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips.

Psalm 19:14 NLT

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

God watches over our words and look at out heart

Are your words pleasing?

3) Use Your Words To Glorify God

If we use our tongue to glorify God in all that we do it will be hard to use it negatively

Use your words to worship the Lord

Why is it that we are so hesitant to do this

Ø If we watch football on any given day we see the crowd really getting into it

o Have you ever watched an area say game when they yell pig suey (show clip)

o And we can them a loyal fan

Ø But If that happens in the church our if a Christian speaks up for God they are Called a fanatic

Church we have to develop a habit of praising the Lord

Authentic Worship should flow from the depths of our heart

And just maybe if if you are not worshiping with your lips it’s because it’s not in your hearts

Now I am not saying tip the cup but if the cups over runneth let someone know about it

Shout to the Lord

Conclusion:

So I want you to close your eyes and do something

I know it will feel silly but I want you to do it

Stick out your tongue

Stick it way out there

A few of you aren’t doing it

A few of you aren’t doing i

Ok let’s do a spiritual check up

How’s your heart

What is your tongue saying about the heart’s condition

Are your words destructive and hurtful or are the persuasive and powerful?

IF we are going to speak powerful words then were should we draw those words from

Joshua 1:8 NLT

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

I would encourage you to speak the word of God over your life

This is not a name it and claim it philosophy

This is speaking the written words of God over your life

It is claiming the promises that he has already declared

I would encourage you to praise the Lord

Worship

Worship him with your words

We are going to close a little different today instead of everyone coming to play I want to close on prayer and then play a song

As the song begins to play the altar is open

I want you to look at your spiritual health report

We just all stuck out our tongues

Now we have the report back from the great physician What does it say

If your spiritual check up did not go they way you wanted it to come talk to the great physician about it

If you are looking at your report and say pastor it looks pretty good then come and pray that you stay on that path

Maybe your spiritual check up showed you needed a new heart. Jesus is ready to do that for you this morning

The rest of you I would just ask that you would lift your voice in praise

Whether is is singing along with the Lord our praying

Don’t worry about what others say or see

This is your time to praise the Lord

Let’s go to prayer

Taming The Tounge

Introduction:

Our Words Give Us Direction