What Comes From the Tongue, Txposes the Heart.

If you are comfortable, please close your eyes. Please imagine, if you would, something that many of us have seen at some point. A man, let's call him Drew. He is in the audience of this church. His hands are raised, he is singing quite intently and with much passion. All praise and worship is being lifted from every ounce of his being, to his king. Now, picture a literal stream of hearts, going up to heaven. These hearts are coming, not only his mouth, but from his heart. It is a truly beautiful scene that you have seen and likely been taken back by.

Now, picture Drew again. Church has ended and he gets ready to head home. After church got out, when his wife picked up his son, they found out that his son got in trouble at children's church for not participating with the other kids. That changed the entire mood of the entire family. He is hungry, and so is everyone in the family. All that they want to do is go home and eat. When they get home, they open the door and walk into a living room covered in toilet paper. While they were away, the new puppy broke out of his cage, pulled out several rolls of toilet paper from the bathroom and shredded them throughout the living room. Drew is frustrated and becoming more angry by the moment. In his hostility, he yells at the kids to get in there and help clean things up. He says, "All I need you to do is clean this up and you cannot even to that!" In his frustration, he yells at his wife, "All you had to do was put the puppy away. You think you might be able to do it right the next time?" What do you visually SEE streaming from his mouth now? What do you see streaming from his heart? It certainly is not hearts anymore. Is it a bunch of curse word emojis? Is it black smoke? Whatever it is, it is certainly not building up.

Please stand and join me in the reading of the passage that we will study today.

[pick up Bible and read James 3:6-12]

Truth be told, I think many of us could have placed ourself in either of those places that Drew held. Both in the worshiping God and in cursing our family. Unfortunately, as much as I praise our Father in worship, I know that am guilty of taking out the struggles of life, on my family. The people that I love the most.

Today, we will look at the power of the tongue and find out how to obey the way that God would like us to use it.

Before we talk about the scripture, lets get a little context on the book of James. James was written by James. James was the brother of Jesus. The audience in the book of James was Jewish Christians. The book of James teaches the Jewish Christians how the might live out one’s faith. James often focused on not just hearing the word of God, but also doing what it said. The book was written to challenge its readers to focus on divine wisdom and not worldliness. I think you will see this as we go through these scriptures.

I. 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. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (3:6-8)

Christians should understand that taming the tongue is incredibly difficult.

What does this all mean? Let me start explaning, in my own words, A tiny spark can start a huge forest fire. To the rest of the body the tongue acts as a flame to that fire. In a world of wickedness, the tongue sticks out of the rest of the parts, bringing about stain the rest of the body. That fire comes from hell and can set your whole life on fire.

People can tame all kinds of animals but no man can tame the evilness of the tongue. We are even told in Genesis 1:26, "...And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” But when it comes to taming the small little tongue, no human can do it on their own.

If man cannot tame their own tongue, how can they change this in their life. 2 Chronicles 1:10-11 tells us that Solomon received God's wisdom, when he asked for it. 2 Chronicles 11 says, "11 God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king,"

You need to ask God to help you speak as he would want you to. He will respond in ways that you do not expect.

Why do we need to tame our tongue anyway?

James 3:9-11 tells us,

II. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? (3:9-11)

In my own words, We often praise our Lord ant then curse those made in God’s image, but blessing and cursing out of the same mouth is not godly. Do fresh water and salt water come from the same water source? Could an apple come from a pear tree? Could a tulip come from a strawberry plant?

Christians should change because tongues should not both bless and curse

Blessing and cursing was discussed in our initial example. God did not design us to pour out all of that love and then turn around and curse our families. Our families are here for us to lift up, show the way, be an example for and love.

Christians should change because what comes from the mouth, exposes the heart.

This is one the key takeaways from this message. Christians should change because what comes from the mouth, exposes the heart. Again, I am guilty! Some of the people that I can be meanest to, are the ones that I love most. If I love Jesus through it all, I should love all of them through it all to. I am also known to call out my family members for cursing. And, in raising children, we should because as parents, we are showing them the way. But as a child of God and a work in process, I need to look as myself as well.

What is this what comes from the mouth business anyway?

In the next example, please remember that "defile" means to "be impure."

Mathew 15:11 reminds us that, "it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

As we move down the page, we get to an even stronger verse

Matthew 15:18 goes on to say, "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person."

The things we talk about, the noises that we make, the words we say, the way that we say it, all show our heart.

If what comes out of our mouth is not glorifying to God, then that person is seen as unpure.

What are you talking about? Who are you talking to? Are you gossiping? Are you building up or tearing down? Are you being overall disrespectful? Are you glorifying God through your words? Do you talk the same way, regardless of who you are speaking with? Would you say and do the same things if Jesus were standing in the room with you?

All of this exposes what your heart is focused on.

So, what do we do with this information? To help explain, we will look at the final verse today. James 3:12 tells us,

III. Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. (3:12)

In my own words, A salt pond cannot give fresh water.

Christians should change because the Bible guides us to do so.

Christian should change because they trust that God has a plan for our lives that is better than we could give ourselves

This scripture is an illustration in itself. A salt pond cannot give fresh water like a poisoned tongue cannot speak Christian life. Instead that person is seen as hypocritical.

When we talk about how to carry out what the Bible or God's word says, we often get caught up in why it is important to do what the Bible says. Psalm 40:3, that reminds us, that many rely and trust that Jesus way is good. We trust that he has a plan for our life that is far beyond what we can fathom or plan for ourself. We trust that his ways are good. He showed us those ways when he walked the earth. Those ways are written out in the Bible. It is important that we trust his ways because his ways are better than our own.

Today, we learned quite a bit from these seven verses. Let's review:

We looked at the power of the tongue and find out how to obey the way that God would like us to use it.

We learned that there are many things about the tongue that Christians should understand:

From James 3:6-8 we learned that Christians should understand that taming the tongue is incredibly difficult.

From James 3: 9-11 we learned that Christians should change because tongues should not both bless and curse. In those same verses, we also learned that Christians should change because what comes from the mouth, exposes the heart.

And finally, From James 3:12 we learned two things. First Christians should change because the Bible guides us to do so. And finally, that Christian should change because they trust that God has a plan for our lives that is better than we could give ourselves.

What are you going to do with this information? Ask God to help you . Pray that he will help you to speak as he would want you to and He will respond in ways that you do not expect.

Mighty and powerful God, you are such a good and gracious Father. We come before you today, powerless before your holy ways. Thank you for showing us the way here on earth and most importantly into an eternity with You in heaven. God, today our prayer request is simple. We want to speak in the way that you see is holy, so that we can reflect You to those around us. Please come stand beside us and show us the way. Please help us to see what we have not seen before in ourselves and give that over to you. Help convict us where we need convicting. Help us to know how to turn away and do things differently. Help us to be victorious in representing your kingdom. Not for our own good, but for You God. We do this because we trust that your way is far better than our own. In Jesus Name, Amen.