Sermon
“Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! Turn away from evil and do good.” King David seems to be prophesying that:
1) a long life,
2) a prosperous life, and,
4) the proper use and control of what we say
are all bound together. Is he really saying that you and I cannot truly have good lives if we do not control what we speak with our tongues? So much resting on such a little thing?

Hmmm… I wonder what else the Bible says about our tongues?
Proverbs 13:3 says, “Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.” Opening your mouth can ruin your life?

Proverbs 21:23, Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.”

Proverbs 18:21, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

I’m beginning to see a pattern here: What I say can be a part of bringing our Father’s life into the world or be a part of bringing death; if we don’t guard what we say, not only will we get ourselves into trouble, but we can dump a lot of trouble into the lives of those around us, as well.

I’d like to say that this all seems a little grand and overstating things to me, except that – I don’t know about you, but – my experience confirms just these things! When I’m watching what I say and I say life-giving things, I enjoy a lot of life and sweetness in my life. But when I don’t guard my tongue – when my mouth gets out of control – things get dark and bitter awfully fast.

The Lord Jesus taught a lot about our speech. He even went so far as to state that what we say and talk about is a very good indicator of our spiritual condition. In Matthew 12 He says, “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

He’s telling us that bad fruit doesn’t come from a good tree, and that good fruit can’t come from a bad tree. He’s telling us that there is direct connection between what comes out of our mouths and what’s in our hearts. That we can convince ourselves that we are so good and pure and righteous, but the truth about us will always be shown by what comes out of our mouths. God With Us is telling us that you cannot have wicked words come out of a good heart, and you cannot have truly good words come out of a bad heart.

The Lord Jesus’ half-brother, James, also writes about this in his letter. James 1:26 says, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.”

“But I attend church!” we cry. “I’m singing these hymns and worship songs with all I’ve got! And you should see how well I live all the rest of my life! Worthless? Just because I’m a little out of control with what I say from time to time?” And, of course, worshiping and fellowshipping and living our lives for the Lord is all wonderful! But life and death are in the tongue. What we say is a powerful part of our testimony to Jesus’ new life! James writes, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that if we don’t keep our tongues under control, that our religion is worthless and unacceptable to God.

I don’t know about all of you, but this is pretty sobering stuff to me. Because I’m a pretty good guy when I compare myself with other folks, and I can think I’m doing pretty good. But every now and then my tongue does get out of control – not as out of control as it used to – but at those times I am not speaking the life the Lord would have me speak and I’m am not enjoy the sweetness the Lord would have me enjoy! And I don’t want it to; I don’t mean for it to. But it does. And I try to control it, but just at all the wrong times…

Later on in his letter James writes more about the tongue and what we say with it. And I don’t know about you but I feel like he’s writing just for me. He writes, “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 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.”

Is that really what my heart is like, a salty spring? Is our Father letting us see the truth about our hearts – our selves – because of what comes out of our mouths? Do we think ourselves fresh, but are we in truth bitter? Do we think of ourselves as blessings, when really we’re cursings? Do we think of ourselves as good and life-giving, but are we really evil and full of deadly poison?

What a kind and gracious daddy we have to reveal such hidden things to us! But does He reveal it all only to leave us out of control? Aware of our great need but unable to do anything about it?

No, the Bible reveals to us very clearly the steps we can take toward the healing of our tongues and the right use of our lips. First, the Lord tells us we must call our problem by its true name: Sin.
1) Call your problem by its right name: Sin. As long as we try to excuse, cover up, or disguise our struggle, God seems content to leave us to our own devices. But when we’re willing to admit the truth, according to our faith and trust in Christ, God moves in and helps us with all His mighty power!

So once you’ve called it sin then confess it as sin, and receive His forgiveness and cleansing. 1 John 1:9 famously says, “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” We need the Father’s forgiveness to remove from us any guilt and any concern about future judgment or punishment that can keep us from Him and weigh us down. And we need His cleansing to wash our hearts so that we don’t go on committing the same sin again and again and again.

And then, fresh and renewed, we must then begin saying “no” to sin and saying “yes” to God. You need to do both! And only one power can give us such a victory to control our tongue for good: The power of God through the Holy Spirit. We must say to sin, “You cannot have my tongue; I refuse to surrender it to you any longer.” And then we must say to the Holy Spirit, “Holy Spirit, I surrender my tongue to You! I cannot control it. I ask You to control it for me.” And surrender it to Him regularly, daily even, and throughout each day, as needed, actively taking every opportunity to bring God in to sweeten the things we say and to make Him look good through the things we say.

Afterall, we were given our tongues to glorify God! On Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon those first disciples with tongues of fire so they might begin a new way of using their tongues! And the same is true for us! The key is controlling our tongues is to call upon the Holy Spirit. As men and women and boys and girls who trust in Jesus Christ, the presence and power of God by the Holy Spirit is ours. Call on Him. Ask Him to fill you or to fill you afresh. Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to always use our tongues for life.

Let’s start now!