Some Types of Sinful Speech:
BOASTING
COMPLAINING
SLANDER (GOSSIP/BACKBITING)
PROFANITY
CARELESS WORDS / EMPTY CHATTER
LYING
Truths from the text to help control the fire:
- We are ACCOUNTABLE for how we use our TONGUE. (Titus 3:1-2)
- Control the TONGUE, control the BODY. (Titus 3:2-5)
- Recognize that the TONGUE DEFILES us. (Titus 3:6)
- Our TONGUE can be used for GOOD and EVIL . (Titus 3:9-10)
- We are POWERLESS to tame the TONGUE without Christ. (Titus 3:7-8)
Mark Ort - HBCPN Elder
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!
-
00:00-00:04
We're going to be in James Chapter 3, so if you want to go ahead and turn there.
00:07-00:14
Most of you know that I do prison ministry, and my wife, Kristen, does that along with me.
00:14-00:16
She's over in the women's plot, of course.
00:16-00:18
It's the Butler County Prison.
00:19-00:25
I just wanted to spend a couple of minutes telling you guys and giving you an update about what we do.
00:27-00:29
Maybe you're wondering a little bit about what happens in the prisons.
00:31-00:33
It's a pretty amazing ministry, actually.
00:33-00:37
We go in through a group called Pressing On Ministries.
00:37-00:39
It's a ministry in Butler.
00:40-00:41
A good friend of mine heads it up.
00:42-00:51
It deals with addiction issues, drug addiction and alcohol addiction, and any kind of addiction that somebody may have.
00:51-00:55
They provide biblical answers for the men and women who come to that.
00:56-00:59
involved in the prison, the Butler County prison.
00:59-01:07
And so we go in on most Friday nights and deliver the gospel to the men and women at the jail.
01:08-01:10
And it's kind of interesting.
01:11-01:17
Kristen goes in the women's pod and I'll be in the men's pod and we're literally 10 feet apart.
01:17-01:29
There's a hallway and the two pods when you go in, when you weave your way around through the doors and enter into the rooms that you're in, our respective rooms are across the hall from each other.
01:29-01:31
We're literally 10 feet apart.
01:31-01:38
So it's kind of neat to know that my wife is right across the hall from me, given the good news to the women.
01:40-01:45
And at first, I never would have dreamed that I would do prison ministry 20 years ago.
01:46-01:48
And that's actually how I met Jeff Miller.
01:49-01:52
And Jeff and his wife and their kids are on vacation today.
01:52-01:52
They're in Florida.
01:53-01:56
We've been praying for their vacation and for their safety and everything.
01:57-01:58
But that's how we met.
01:59-02:12
And at the prison, I always thought that these guys were just like dirtbags and scum of the earth and things like that.
02:12-02:16
And in many cases, they have done some really horrible things.
02:16-02:30
But when I look at them, when I go in every Friday, when I see them and I've gotten to know some of these guys, they're not a whole lot different than you and I.
02:30-02:39
In fact, they need Jesus just like you do, and you need Jesus just like they do.
02:40-02:45
And so as I look around the room, we get 8, 10, 12 guys in there.
02:45-02:50
Kristen gets 2 or 3, 5, maybe 6 ladies that come.
02:52-02:56
I don't look at them necessarily as criminals now.
02:57-03:04
These are like dads and husbands and people who have hurts and needs and fears.
03:05-03:09
And they have victories and wins and stuff like that.
03:10-03:17
And when I look at them, they've become, the regulars have kind of become my friend.
03:18-03:19
They're my friends.
03:19-03:25
When I miss a Friday night, I miss this past Friday, they are disappointed.
03:25-03:26
"Mark, where were you last week?
03:27-03:34
We missed you." Many of you have been involved in that prison ministry by praying, giving Bibles.
03:36-03:42
We're allowed to have paperback Bibles in there, and so we deliver the MacArthur Study Bible.
03:42-03:43
They all want the MacArthur Study Bible.
03:44-03:53
So for me, I look around and all the guys in my Bible study have MacArthur Study Bibles, and they have little sticky notes in there and things in there.
03:53-03:56
They're very excited to learn from the Word of God.
03:57-04:02
What we do in there is not much different than what we do here today.
04:03-04:05
We sing a couple of songs maybe.
04:06-04:12
A couple of weeks ago, we sang "The Old Rugged Cross." One of the guys who led it has a really deep, booming voice.
04:13-04:14
He's now out of jail.
04:16-04:22
We sang that song, and it was kind of humorous because they don't care about the notes.
04:23-04:26
They don't care if they're not singing the tune it's supposed to be.
04:26-04:27
They just sing it.
04:27-04:32
And it's pretty neat to hear the different variations of the songs that they'll sing.
04:33-04:35
And then we take prayer requests.
04:35-04:36
They love their prayer request time.
04:36-04:38
And we'll spend 45 minutes doing prayer.
04:39-04:40
And they love that.
04:40-04:49
They have so many needs and their cases and their families and just the things that go on in their plot and stuff.
04:49-04:51
A lot of different requests.
04:52-04:54
And then we study the Word.
04:55-04:59
We open up the Bible and we teach them something from the Word.
05:00-05:08
And it generally always goes toward the Gospel because I know there's people sitting there who don't know the Gospel.
05:09-05:11
So we clarify the Gospel.
05:11-05:22
That's our job as Christians really is to make the Gospel clear to people so that they understand their condition and understand what they need to do in their life to Jesus Christ.
05:24-05:29
I share with them a Bible study, something usually that I'm studying.
05:30-05:41
And a few weeks ago, I shared a message with them about how they can control their tongue, how they can honor God with their speech.
05:41-05:51
And since I did that, I kind of worked on it a little bit and made it suitable for a Sunday morning message.
05:51-05:53
And I wanted to bring that to you this morning.
05:53-06:01
So if you open up your copy of the scriptures to James chapter three, we're gonna look at verses one through 12.
06:03-06:15
If you would just imagine with me a scenario where you get up in the morning and you decide you're going to take a road trip and you're gonna take your dog with you.
06:16-06:20
I don't know if you have dogs, if some of you have dogs, maybe you have a cat, but just imagine you have a dog.
06:20-06:26
We have a dog, his name's Reggie, and he is the cutest little thing ever.
06:27-06:27
Right, Libby?
06:28-06:30
He's a cute dog.
06:31-06:46
But just imagine you get up in the morning and you're getting ready to go, and your dog goes over and he's eating his food, and he looks up at you and he says, "This is the best food I've ever had. I love this food.
06:46-06:50
You take such good care of me, and you give me this really good stuff.
06:50-06:52
I mean, I could eat this stuff every day.
06:52-06:53
It's so good.
06:55-06:57
You're happy that your dog is appreciative.
06:58-07:00
You hop in the car, and the dog goes with you.
07:01-07:04
Niagara Falls, I guess, is like 90 miles away.
07:05-07:06
We're going to Niagara Falls.
07:06-07:09
On the way there, we have some time to communicate.
07:09-07:10
There's some time to talk.
07:11-07:15
The dog, he just says, "I just love you so much.
07:17-07:18
"You're like the best.
07:19-07:20
"I love spending time with you.
07:20-07:24
"We're having a great time." You have this conversation the whole way to Niagara Falls.
07:26-07:35
And you get to Niagara Falls and jump out of the car and you walk over, I don't know how many of you have ever been to Niagara Falls, but I love Niagara Falls.
07:35-07:37
It's like the best.
07:37-07:39
I love that kind of thing in nature.
07:40-07:47
So the dog gets out and he runs over and he looks over the precipice and he says, "This is totally awesome.
07:47-07:48
I love this.
07:48-07:49
This is so beautiful.
07:49-07:51
I've never seen anything like this in my life.
07:52-07:59
Best road trip ever for me." You look at that and that's kind of like a far-fetched story.
08:00-08:02
I mean, we can use our imagination.
08:02-08:03
It's kind of out there.
08:03-08:04
Dogs don't talk.
08:06-08:10
Think about this gift of communication that God has given us.
08:11-08:20
Nowhere in God's creation has he given any of his creatures that kind of ability.
08:21-08:25
Your dog has never told you how good the food is that you give them.
08:28-08:31
They don't verbalize beauty.
08:32-08:41
They don't stand at the precipice of Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon and say, "Man, this is really pretty." They're just worried about where their next dog treat's coming from, right?
08:42-08:47
For us to have the gift of communication like we do, I mean, we can express our love to one another.
08:48-08:49
We can encourage one another.
08:50-08:52
We talk about our fears with one another, our worries.
08:53-08:58
We talk about how we pray for one another, things that make us sad.
08:58-09:03
We can express extreme happiness and exclamations and things like that.
09:05-09:08
Words really define who we are, don't they?
09:10-09:11
They define who we are.
09:11-09:16
The things we choose to say tells the world what kind of person we are.
09:18-09:22
And it really tells the world who we belong to.
09:23-09:29
Unfortunately, we live in a culture that's increasingly careless with its words.
09:30-09:42
Language that was once considered distasteful or foul or vulgar, those kinds of things have become commonplace in everyday life and everyday talk.
09:43-09:46
Christians sometimes haven't been able to control themselves.
09:47-09:53
They've not been able to exercise self-control when they've expressed themselves.
09:53-09:59
And you might ask yourself, "What difference does it make?" Or what's on your bulletin cover?
09:59-10:01
Does God really care how I speak?
10:02-10:03
Does He care about that kind of thing?
10:05-10:19
So as we look at James chapter 3, I want to look at James chapter 3, and I tell the guys that had jailed us all the time, that when we come to God's Word, it's not this kind of psychological mumbo-jumbo stuff.
10:20-10:22
This is not a self-help book.
10:23-10:34
Certainly you can get some help from it, but I'm not going to the jail or I'm not coming here to talk to you guys about how you can help yourself.
10:36-10:39
It's not a self-help seminar is what I'm saying.
10:40-10:44
The presentation of God's Word is not to make us feel good.
10:45-10:52
The presentation of God's Word, the intent, is that we might know God and bring Him honor.
10:53-10:54
That's what I wanted to do today.
10:55-11:03
So when we come to James 3, let's not come to it with the expectation that this chapter is going to help me clean up my speech.
11:04-11:10
Let's look at it as this chapter is going to show me how to honor God in my speech.
11:11-11:14
So let's take a look at James 3.
11:15-11:23
It says, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.
11:24-11:25
For we all stumble in many ways.
11:26-11:37
If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well." Now, if we put bits into the horse's mouth so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well.
11:38-11:49
Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.
11:50-11:55
So also, the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.
11:55-11:59
Behold, how great a force is set aflame by such a small fire.
12:00-12:03
And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity.
12:03-12:12
The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
12:14-12:26
Every species of birds, I'm sorry, for every species of beasts and birds and reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue.
12:27-12:30
It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
12:32-12:38
With it, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God.
12:39-12:43
From it, from the same mouth, come both blessing and cursing.
12:44-12:47
My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
12:49-12:53
Does a fountain send out from the same opening, both fresh and bitter water?
12:54-12:58
"In a fig tree, my brother, I produce olives, or a vine, I produce figs.
13:00-13:13
Neither salt water can produce fresh." Before we go through the passage, there were some points that I wanted to make about the passage, but I wanted to look at some kind of speech.
13:15-13:23
This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch, but just a couple of kinds of sinful speeches that we may find ourselves engaging in.
13:25-13:28
The first one I think you have on your outline is going to be boasting.
13:29-13:31
I think we know what boasting is.
13:31-13:41
The dictionary defined boasting as something like excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, abilities.
13:42-13:43
This is bragging.
13:44-13:45
It's gloating.
13:46-13:48
It's verbalized self-admiration.
13:50-13:56
Listen to what God's Word says about boasting in Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24.
14:20-14:22
justice and righteousness on earth.
14:23-14:26
Ride the light in these things declares the Lord.
14:28-14:46
The word boast in this passage in the Hebrew I'm never going to be accused of being a Hebrew scholar. I've never studied Hebrew. I've never studied Greek. But I do have tools at home and there are valuable tools that you guys can use to look things up.
14:46-15:48
There's some caution in that that of course but boast in this passage is actually the Hebrew Hebrew word hello h-a-l-e-l hello means extravagant praise glorious and lofty like we're just saying that song glorious it's like hello hallelujah that's where that's where that word comes from hallelujah it's combining the word hello the praise with the word "Yah" short for Yahweh. It literally means "praise to Yahweh." Hallelujah. This word is translated into English several times in the book of Revelation. It's ascribing praise and glory and adoration to God, the Lord Almighty. So when we boast about something, when we boast about ourselves, We're really saying, "Hallelujah to me." We're pompously overestimating ourselves.
15:50-16:05
We're puffing out our spiritual chest and we're saying, "Look how great I am." When we use boastful words, what we're really doing, we're robbing God of the glory and praise that He alone is worthy of.
16:06-16:34
pretty dangerous because listen to what Psalm 5 5 says the boastful not shall not stand before your eyes you hate all who do iniquity this this is kind of a self-explanatory verse it condemns the prideful person the person who exalts himself God is not particularly interested in people who find their confidence in themselves. We are woefully inadequate in our own power.
16:36-16:44
And if we were honest with ourselves, I think we would say that we're really weak and frail and needy. We really don't have anything to brag about.
16:45-16:47
So does God really care if I boast?
16:48-16:57
What about complaining? That's the next one on your list. Complaining is pretty simple.
16:57-17:02
If we're honest with ourselves, we can admit what complaining is.
17:02-17:06
It's just verbalizing our ungratefulness about a circumstance that we're in.
17:07-17:20
I mean, if you think about complaining, it's pretty, it's a, if I could use the word putrid, aroma, to the people around you.
17:21-17:23
Who wants to be around a complainer?
17:26-17:34
If somebody, If somebody's coming to me and complaining, I gotta be honest with you, you kinda lose me after about the first three words.
17:36-17:47
Seriously, I wanna hear what you have to say, and there's room for discussion about things, but if you start complaining, you sound like Charlie Brown's teacher to me.
17:47-17:49
(audience laughs) You know what that sounds like?
17:49-17:52
I just hear blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
17:53-17:58
So if that's like that to me, What about God?
17:59-18:00
What's he hearing when we're complaining?
18:01-18:20
it is a Displeasing aroma to God when we complain If our discussion involves Grumbling and complaining if you hear me complaining, would you please lovingly confront me?
18:21-18:27
And say hey, you know Complaining is not what we're supposed to do as Christians.
18:28-18:30
So does God really care if I complain?
18:31-18:32
Does he care if I boast?
18:32-18:33
Does he care if I complain?
18:35-18:36
The next one is slander.
18:36-18:37
What about slander?
18:38-18:41
That's kind of like gossip or backbiting.
18:43-18:47
Our court systems are full of cases dealing with defamation lawsuits.
18:49-18:51
It's making false accusations about somebody.
18:52-19:01
It's accusations that are represented as fact, with the ultimate end being damage and harm done to someone else's reputation.
19:03-19:06
That might include things like shaming somebody, ridicule.
19:08-19:12
Guys that are in school, do you engage in ridicule at your school?
19:13-19:15
That would be slander if you're ridiculing somebody.
19:15-20:10
Scorning, gossiping, backbiting, anything that's malicious with an intent to harm somebody reputation. It's a vicious form of communication that a Christian ought not to be involved in. In the fourth chapter of Matthew, when the devil led Jesus up to be tempted, that word for the devil in there is the word "slanderer." You know, the devil's called a lot of things in the Scriptures. He's called the deceiver, the enemy, the murderer, the adversary. But in this account, in chapter 4 of Matthew, he's referred to as a slanderer. He's making false accusations. He wants to ruin the reputation of Jesus by throwing temptations in his path, hoping that Jesus will succumb to that. So for us to engage in slanderous type of communication, not only have we been fooled by the devil, we become implicit.
20:10-20:12
We're working with him.
20:14-20:30
Jesus, when speaking to his disciples in John 6, 68, he said, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" He was speaking of Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray him for a few coins.
20:31-20:38
If we feel as though we must ruin someone's reputation through our malicious words, then clearly we're doing the work of the enemy.
20:40-21:12
Would what Jesus turn to us when we're slandering In our viciousness and call us a devil Does Jesus really care if I slander God really care if I slander What about this one on your outline profanity You can use several words interchangeably with that vulgarity adversity I I was looking up on Google profanity and it literally means not admitted into the temple.
21:13-21:14
That's what the word profanity means.
21:15-21:19
Perversity is twisted, distorted, crooked, deceitful, false.
21:21-21:26
Twisted and crooked words that fly from our lips, they reveal something about us, don't they?
21:27-21:34
There's something sinister in our heart that is being revealed with our crooked speech or perversity.
21:35-22:01
speech begins with perverse heart. I don't know if you knew this or not, but your tongue is connected to your heart. Out of the mouth, let me start that again, for the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart, from Matthew 12. And in Proverbs 11, it says the perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord. Do you get that logical connection there?
22:02-22:17
You're speaking something that's coming from your heart, and God's saying, "I'm looking at you like this is an abomination." We really have to watch our words.
22:17-22:20
God takes our language very seriously.
22:21-22:23
I want you to think about these two verses.
22:24-22:25
Write these verses down.
22:26-22:31
Ephesians 5, 3, 4, and 5.
22:31-22:33
I thought this was pretty neat.
22:34-23:53
Ephesians 5.3 says this, "Immorality or any impurity or greed must not be named among you as is proper among the saints." Now, if you skip to verse 5, he says, "For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." two verses stand as prominent bookends around another verse. And look what the verse in the middle says. "There must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather the giving of thanks." I couldn't help but be amazed when I looked at that, how that connected, where you have a verse in the middle of two other verses talking about immorality and impurity, talking about your tongue, but these verses are talking about, it's plain what they're talking about, it's who is a participant and who is not a participant in the kingdom of God. The way we speak, that's sandwiched in between two verses that talk about that.
23:56-24:01
Church, we need to find out what words are profane and stop using them.
24:03-24:04
How do we know what are profane words?
24:04-24:05
I'm going to give you a couple of hints.
24:06-24:09
We can distill them down to a couple of categories.
24:12-24:16
Profane words are those which are associated with ungodly sexual filth.
24:19-24:22
There are also words that express anger.
24:26-24:29
We have ungodly sexual filth, words that express anger.
24:31-24:36
Some profanity is an ill attempt at trying to tell a joke or expressing humor.
24:39-24:43
And other profane words are directly irreverent to God.
24:45-24:47
Let me give you a little bit more help here.
24:50-25:01
The proper context of this phrase, "Oh my God," David wrote "Oh my God" a bunch of times in the book of Psalms.
25:02-25:03
Let me just read one to you.
25:04-25:06
"Deliver me from my enemies, oh my God.
25:07-25:18
Set me securely on high, away from those who rise up against me." This is David in Psalm 59, not using the name of the Lord flippantly or in vain.
25:22-25:26
Here's one. How about the proper context of the word "hell"?
25:28-25:42
"If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, for it is better for you to enter life crippled than to have your two hands, to go into hell, the unquenchable fire, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
25:42-25:46
This is Jesus in Mark 9, He's describing the horribleness of hell.
25:47-25:49
How do we use the word hell?
25:49-25:50
Do we use it carelessly?
25:51-25:58
Is hell in our vocabulary when talking about things other than the torturous place of punishment for those who reject Christ?
25:59-26:00
If so, that's profane.
26:04-26:05
What about the word damned?
26:06-26:08
What's the proper context of the word damned?
26:09-26:10
This is from the King James.
26:11-26:18
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
26:20-26:21
It's in Mark 16, 16.
26:22-26:25
Your translation might use the word condemned or judged.
26:26-26:35
This is the highest form of condemnation that we as sinful people don't have the right to make.
26:35-26:36
in my view.
26:37-26:38
We just have to be careful.
26:38-26:42
I'm not going to go through a list of all the profane words.
26:44-26:47
I'll ask you again, does God care if I use profanity?
26:50-26:55
We have boasting, we have complaining, we have slander, profanity.
26:55-26:58
What about careless words or empty chatter?
27:02-27:04
Careless words or empty chatter.
27:05-27:09
This is a discussion of vain and useless matters.
27:11-27:18
I think of-- well, King James Version says, "vain babblings." Babbling, that's empty chatter.
27:19-27:30
I think of things like Hollywood, or sitcoms, or getting involved in endless political debates.
27:30-27:33
I mean, there's room for discussion and things.
27:34-27:37
But this is fruitless talk that has no spiritual usefulness.
27:40-27:42
They're unholy words that have no substance.
27:43-27:46
They're lacking solid worth.
27:47-28:01
If I were to get up here and talk to you and tell you jokes and make you laugh, and if you go away from here and think, I got no spiritual nourishment this morning, then that's an epic fail.
28:02-28:03
That's empty chatter.
28:05-28:11
I am chattering up here if I'm not giving you something that's useful and fruitful.
28:13-28:15
Here's some examples on that.
28:15-28:19
I mean, you know, things that are, we're trying to win an argument, I guess.
28:20-28:24
Things that are well-established in Scripture and we're still arguing about them.
28:25-28:27
Does a day in chapter one of Genesis really mean a day?
28:28-28:30
I mean, people debate about that all the time.
28:31-28:32
I think the Bible's pretty clear about that.
28:33-28:34
Can we discuss?
28:34-28:35
Yes, we should discuss.
28:36-28:37
Should we babble about it?
28:38-28:39
No, that's empty chatter.
28:41-28:44
You know, I mentioned the King James Scriptures.
28:44-28:46
I love the King James Bible.
28:46-28:47
I don't use the King James.
28:47-28:48
I use the New American Standard.
28:49-28:51
I know some of you folks use the ESV, NIV.
28:52-28:56
There's a lot of six or seven really reliable translations.
28:57-29:02
Getting involved in a King James-only debate is fruitless.
29:03-29:03
Disgust? Yes.
29:05-29:06
Babble, empty chatter?
29:07-29:08
Not good.
29:09-29:14
Droning on in careless, empty, thoughtless words is bad.
29:14-29:16
It's a doorway to other sins.
29:17-29:26
2 Timothy 2:16 says that worldly and empty chatter leads to something. It leads to further ungodliness, and it spreads like gangrene.
29:29-30:03
There's no words we need to be careful we need to assemble our words and our phrases our sentences in such a way that are valuable to somebody that are fruitful and it's a duty of the Christian we must embrace that what about lying God disdains lying so much that he he made it as one of his 10 Commandments. We talked about slander and that's slander is a form of lying.
30:06-30:22
This is a little more broad. It's an outright, bold-faced falsehood. It could be a half-truth, a half-lie, a white lie, deception. Anything short of the truth is a lie.
30:23-30:26
Lies are abominable to God.
30:27-30:31
If we aren't telling the truth, what does that make us?
30:32-30:33
What does that make us?
30:34-30:34
A liar.
30:34-30:34
A liar.
30:35-30:38
If we kill somebody, we're a murderer, right?
30:38-30:40
If we steal something, we're a thief.
30:41-30:43
If we cheat on our spouse, we're an adulterer.
30:44-30:46
If we lie, that makes us a liar.
30:47-30:49
Proverbs 19 has something to say about this.
30:50-31:17
says, "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will perish." That's pretty harsh. Wow. You tell a lie? Do you know why liars perish? Because Satan is a liar. Satan is a father of lies. Christ is the author of truth. Who are we supposed to be like? As Christians, we're supposed to be Christ-like, not Satan-like.
31:17-31:20
We need to stop our lying.
31:20-31:21
We need to stop our deception.
31:21-31:22
Does God care if we lie?
31:25-31:33
So boasting, complaining, slander, profanity, careless words and empty chatter, lying, just a few.
31:33-31:34
There's more, I'm sure.
31:34-31:35
There's abusive speech.
31:35-31:36
There's sarcasm.
31:36-31:38
There's other kinds of things.
31:38-31:44
And this sounds bad, and we're guilty of these things, but the Bible gives us hope.
31:45-31:53
Why don't we look at our passage now, and we're going to get some help in these words to control the fire so we can honor God with our speech.
31:55-32:09
The first thing, if you look in verse 1, it says, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment." We're accountable for our speech.
32:09-32:22
Now this particular verse is talking about teachers, as in somebody like Pastor Jeff, somebody like me who gets up in front of you, somebody who teaches the Bible in a small group.
32:23-32:31
And if you guys that do small group, Ben, Ben, and Dan, you guys are accountable.
32:32-32:38
Dan with the youth ministry was so encouraged last week with the launch of our youth ministry.
32:38-32:41
I love that Dan and Alicia are putting that together.
32:42-32:44
But they are accountable for the things that they'll teach there.
32:46-32:47
What are we saying?
32:48-32:51
It's a sobering thing to stand up in front of people and teach the Word of God.
32:52-32:56
Standing up here and you're representing God, that makes me nervous.
32:56-33:01
I worry that I'm going to say the wrong thing because I know I'm going to be accountable.
33:02-33:06
Yeah, this is talking about teachers, but the principle's there.
33:06-33:08
The principle is there for everyone.
33:10-33:12
When you go to work, are you not accountable for the things that you say?
33:14-33:17
Are you not accountable for the things that you tell your kids when you teach them things?
33:19-33:20
How about if you get arrested?
33:21-33:25
If you get arrested, they read you your Miranda rights, right?
33:26-33:29
And by the way, if you get arrested and go to Baltimore County Prison, I'll get to see you.
33:31-33:32
They read your rights.
33:32-33:38
Anything you say can and will be used against you, because you're accountable for your words.
33:39-33:40
That's the first one.
33:41-33:42
Understand that we're accountable.
33:43-33:49
The second one, if you control the tongue, you will control the body.
33:50-33:52
The tongue is a very small part of the body.
33:53-33:56
I look some things up here, and we have some doctors in the house.
33:57-34:01
So if I say something wrong, I'm accountable for my words.
34:02-34:14
The average tongue is about 3 and 1/2 inches long, and it weighs about two and a half ounces, that means for somebody like me, that's about 0.08% of my body weight.
34:15-34:26
You have this relatively small member in your body that the scriptures say that it can control your whole body.
34:28-34:39
Various biblical scholars that I've read, I read this more than once this past week, They contend that the tongue is the most rebellious of all body parts.
34:41-34:44
Well, it's a small piece, but it's the most rebellious.
34:46-34:59
So, logic would tell us if you're capable of controlling the most rebellious member of your body, then you should be able to control the less rebellious members a little bit easier.
35:00-35:04
at verse 2 through 5, he says, "We all stumble in many ways.
35:04-35:11
If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man able to bridle the whole body as well." We'll just stop there for a second.
35:12-35:31
I used to look at that verse kind of hypothetically, like, "Oh, yeah, we all stumble in many ways, but if you don't stumble, we all know everybody stumbles, then you're a perfect man able to bridle the whole body as well." I looked at that as, "Well, I can't do anything about this.
35:33-35:34
I'm not a perfect man.
35:34-35:38
I'm not going to be able to pride on my whole body." But I think this passage is saying the opposite.
35:39-35:46
If we tear this verse apart just a little bit, you see the word "stumble." Stumble can be a mistake, be a sin.
35:48-35:49
Look at the word "perfect" here.
35:50-35:55
This is not sinless perfection, but maturity, completeness.
35:56-36:02
And the word "bridal" means to hold in check or restrain or guide.
36:03-36:08
So if we put this verse, verse number 2, in everyday language, it might look something like this.
36:08-36:15
"We all make mistakes and we're going to sin." If anyone does not sin in what he says, then he is mature.
36:16-36:19
And as a result of his maturity, he's able to keep his whole body in check.
36:21-36:34
I think what he's telling us there is that you, in your maturity, In your maturity, you control this small member, you will be able to control the rest of your body.
36:35-36:43
Here's a few verses here of some word pictures of how something so small can control something so big.
36:43-36:45
And I brought a couple of things with me to show you.
36:46-36:48
Some of you have already recognized what these are.
36:48-36:50
This is a horse bit.
36:52-36:54
Something small, it weighs less than a pound.
36:55-36:55
What's a horse weigh?
36:56-36:57
Rachel, what's a horse weigh?
36:58-36:59
About 1,200 pounds?
36:59-36:59
Yeah.
37:00-37:01
Yeah, 1,200 pounds.
37:01-37:03
This can control a 1,200 pound animal.
37:04-37:07
And this is just another bit.
37:08-37:09
Neat little devices here.
37:10-37:15
Something so small can control something so big.
37:16-37:25
If you control your tongue, you'll be amazed at the victories that I think God will give you in controlling your body.
37:25-37:27
That's what the scripture says.
37:27-37:29
He used a couple other word pictures here.
37:29-37:33
He talks about a rudder, small thing on a boat, controls the whole boat.
37:35-37:40
Talks about the tongue in verse five, is a small part of the body and boasts of great things.
37:41-37:44
Behold, how great a forest to set aflame by such a small fire.
37:45-37:45
That's a match.
37:46-37:48
You all have matches in your house.
37:48-37:49
I'm not gonna light it.
37:49-37:50
Probably throw us out of here.
37:51-38:03
And something this little and burn down California, and they're having a drought and everything, you throw this out the window of your car when driving by and you're creating a forest fire.
38:04-38:10
Something small can have, can control the body.
38:10-38:11
And that's what he's saying here.
38:13-38:15
We control the tongue, we control the body.
38:16-38:19
The next thing is recognize that the tongue defiles.
38:20-38:22
We'll spend a lot of time on that.
38:22-38:25
You'll see that in verse six.
38:28-38:28
What's it mean to defile?
38:29-38:32
It means to corrupt, to pollute.
38:33-38:44
You know, if you imagine you're hanging your laundry out, I don't know if many of you hang your laundry outside, but imagine you hang your laundry out like they used to, and your neighbor starts a fire and the smoke comes over, gets on your laundry.
38:45-38:47
It's polluting your laundry, it's defiling it.
38:49-38:51
Or rust on your car.
38:52-38:55
What does the wintertime do with the salt on the road?
38:55-38:56
It's on your car.
38:56-39:00
If you're like me and you only wash your car like once every five years, it's going to rust.
39:02-39:06
We just need to have an acute awareness of the defiling nature of our tongue.
39:06-39:07
Just be aware that it defiles.
39:08-39:14
If we're aware, then that can go a long way in equipping ourselves with the destructive consequences.
39:16-39:19
Fourth thing, our tongue can be used for good and for evil.
39:20-39:24
Your tongue is pretty unique in this regard.
39:24-39:25
Your tongue does two things.
39:25-39:29
It does blessing, and we're skipping down to verses nine and 10 here.
39:30-39:33
We're blessing and we're cursing.
39:34-39:38
We're blessing our Lord and we're cursing men who have been made in the likeness of God.
39:39-39:43
He says, what about a refreshing spring fountain?
39:44-39:47
Does it produce bitter water and fresh water at the same time?
39:48-39:49
It does not.
39:50-39:51
What about fig trees?
39:53-39:56
Fig trees are smart enough to do one thing.
39:57-39:58
They make figs.
39:58-40:00
They don't make anything else.
40:01-40:02
They make figs.
40:02-40:06
They're creating, they're doing what God created them to do.
40:07-40:10
And again, he uses another water example here, saltwater.
40:11-40:16
If you're in the ocean, you can't put a cup in one side of the boat and pull out.
40:17-40:19
Fresh water, and the other side, pull out.
40:20-40:47
salt water. It's all salt water. It's our mouth, likewise our mouth. He says, "From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing, my brethren, these things ought not to be this way." And number five, we are powerless to tame the tongue without Christ. It says in verse eight, "No one can tame the tongue." No No one can tame the tongue.
40:47-40:50
We are helpless to do this in our own strength.
40:51-40:55
Tame in this passage means to curb or subdue.
40:57-41:01
The verse really says we cannot subdue our tongue.
41:02-41:02
It's wild.
41:04-41:05
And how are we going to bring it into subjection?
41:06-41:07
We can't tame it.
41:08-41:10
We don't need to despair about that.
41:11-41:25
We talked in these other points about things that we need to do, recognizing its use for good and evil and recognizing that it causes pollution and corruption and that we're accountable for our words and things like that.
41:27-41:29
This is the most important one, to recognize we're powerless.
41:31-41:37
If I can remind you of a story that we covered in the Book of Mark, Chapter 5.
41:37-41:38
You don't need to turn there.
41:39-41:42
But remember when we talked about the Gerasene Demoniac?
41:44-41:48
Now, I'm not comparing the use of our tongue to a demon.
41:49-41:51
That's not the comparison I'm making here.
41:52-41:56
If you're using foul language, I'm not saying you're demon possessed.
41:56-41:58
I want you to get the comparison.
41:59-42:09
The passage is talking about, here's a man that he had demons, And he was absolutely powerless to do anything about it.
42:09-42:22
In verse 4 of that passage, it says, "No one was able to subdue him." An interesting connection between James 3/8 and Mark 5/4.
42:24-42:37
It says, "No one was able to subdue that guy." It's the exact same word that says, "No one contained the tongue." Now was that guy left out all alone and out on a limb?
42:38-42:38
No.
42:39-42:45
We go on in that passage, and we see that the demoniac encountered the one who could tame him.
42:47-42:47
Who was it?
42:49-42:50
It's not a Pat Sunday School answer.
42:52-42:53
It was Jesus.
42:53-42:56
You know, that's the answer to every Sunday School question.
42:57-43:02
But in this case, Jesus was the only one that was able to subdue this guy.
43:04-43:13
The subduing, taming power of Jesus Christ made the difference in this man's life by dealing with the issues that he was not capable of doing on his own.
43:15-43:22
The question here isn't really, "Does God care how you speak?" The question is, "Do you care?
43:24-43:27
Do you care how you speak?" God showed he cared.
43:29-43:33
We care by providing you the power to do something about it.
43:34-43:35
Power through the Son, Jesus Christ.
43:37-43:46
We can show that we care by putting into practice some principles that we learned from 2 Peter 1.
43:46-43:52
If you turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter 1, and then we'll be done.
43:54-43:55
2 Peter 1.
43:58-44:08
There's two, this is about God giving us everything pertaining to life and godliness in verse three.
44:09-44:26
He says, "Seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence." And so, as part of our sanctification or our growing, you know, I see that God has a part.
44:27-44:29
He does his part, okay?
44:30-44:31
We have a part.
44:32-44:33
We have a part in that.
44:34-44:36
And that's what I'm gonna read to you next.
44:37-44:39
I call this our responsibility.
44:39-44:47
And a friend of mine once said that our responsibility is our response to God's ability.
44:48-44:54
God already did this, but there are some things that we have to do in our sanctification process.
44:55-45:00
And this helps us in controlling our time so that we give honor to God.
45:01-45:02
What is that responsibility?
45:03-45:06
God did his thing, what do we do?
45:06-45:16
Jump down to verse five, it says, "For this very reason, also applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence.
45:17-45:23
And in your moral excellence, knowledge." Is moral excellence gonna help you in your speech?
45:24-45:28
I hope so, in your knowledge, self-control.
45:30-45:33
One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is self-control.
45:33-45:36
We have to exercise self-control when we're speaking.
45:36-45:39
And in your self-control, perseverance, don't give up.
45:40-45:41
And in your perseverance, godliness.
45:42-45:44
And in your godliness, brotherly kindness.
45:45-45:46
And in your brotherly kindness, love.
45:47-46:02
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, They render you neither useless or unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Is there anybody here who wants to be useless?
46:04-46:05
How about unfruitful?
46:05-46:06
Anybody want to be unfruitful?
46:07-46:16
He says if these qualities are yours and they're increasing, he says you will not be useless or unfruitful.
46:17-46:26
And verse 9 says, "For he who lacks these qualities is blind, or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
46:27-46:43
Therefore be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you." And listen to this, "For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble." Do you remember that verse in James 3?
46:45-47:22
2 it says for we all stumble in many ways if anyone does not stumble and what he says he's a perfect man able to bridle his tongue he says if you're practicing these things you are not going to stumble you are not going to do those things does God care about your speech do you Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you and just confess our inadequacies in so many areas.
47:23-47:32
Lord, I know that I have a lot to learn myself and a lot of things to put into practice regarding how I speak.
47:33-47:37
And Lord, as a church, might we grow in that area.
47:37-47:46
I pray God that you would help us, that you would do your work in subduing and taking our tongue.
47:48-47:50
Lord, we know that we're incapable of doing it ourselves.
47:51-47:56
Lord, we, again, don't wanna do this just to help ourselves.
47:58-48:01
We as Christians have a responsibility to honor you.
48:02-48:05
And I pray God that we would honor you in our speech.
48:06-48:09
Thank you for giving us the power to do so through your son.
48:10-48:11
In his name we pray, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 Timothy 3:11 and Titus 3:2
What does it mean to malign someone? Gossip and slander is vicious and damaging. How do you prevent this kind of evil communication from damaging your life and the lives of others?
What is profanity? Does the culture dictate what words we consider profane? What words or phrases should we stop using, and why?
If there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), will Christians really be held accountable for every careless or idle word (Matthew 12:36). How do you reconcile these two passages?
Reviewing 2 Peter 1:3-11, discuss "God's part" and "our part" in controlling the tongue.
Breakout Questions:
Have you been encouraging/exhorting other in their walk with Christ this week? In what circumstances? Pray for one another.